Coach LaPo-plectic after officials’ time-clock error

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/11/2010 (5452 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HOLD off on storming Maroons Road, Winnipeg Blue Bomber fans. It turns out head coach Paul LaPolice & Co. did not mismanage the final moments of regulation time in Saturday’s overtime loss to the Edmonton Eskimos.

To recap a crazy scene that saw LaPolice and defensive co-ordinator Kavis Reed, among others, going berserk on the sidelines in the final minute, here’s what unfolded:

With the Bombers trailing 10-7 quarterback Joey Elliott had driven the club to the Eskimo 23-yard line with 55 seconds left. On a second-and-five play he was sacked for an eight-yard loss, pushing the ball back to the Eskimo 31.

Elliott was told to stay on the field and wait for 19 seconds to tick off the clock before calling a time out. At that point Justin Palardy and the field-goal crew would trot out for the potential game-tying three.

Instead, the 20-second play clock counted down but not the time clock — the two should have been running simultaneously — and the Bombers, watching the time clock, were nailed for a time-count penalty.

It pushed the club back another 10 yards and forced Palardy to connect on a 48-yarder instead of a 38-yard attempt.

The call incensed LaPolice.

Sunday morning, Tom Higgins, the CFL’s director of officiating, spoke to LaPolice. Here’s what Higgins then told the Free Press:

“Paul and his staff did everything right. What occurred was an official error that occurred on the field. The delay-of-game penalty never should have happened. The quarterback was waiting for the time clock to go and the time clock wasn’t going, and when the 20-second clock expired the referee called a delay of game.

“Thankfully, it didn’t cost them anything because they kicked a field goal and there was a roughing-the-kicker penalty that moved the football closer and they kicked a field goal again with no time left. It’s nice how that worked out.”

Well, that part worked out. What unfolded in overtime is a different story.

But the screw-up Saturday is also the latest example of some officiating mistakes that have hurt the Bombers this year, including a quick whistle that took a turnover away from the Bombers in a loss to Hamilton and some iffy work in a 44-40 home defeat to Montreal.

All of this just further fuels the frustration of the 2010 season.

“I think I might have gotten excited, too, although I’m a very calm person,” said Higgins. “I just talked to Paul and told him I’m disappointed it happened but appreciative that they worked their way out of it.”

Told LaPolice was getting criticized by fans for a perceived time-management error, Higgins was quick to rush to the defence of the Bombers head coach.

“That’s what hurts me,” he said. “There’s three teams on the field (the two squads and the officials) and that third team, every once in a while, they’re not perfect either.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca