(S32) PT 5 - Bad Call

[Pat]

Few things get Christian Marciano as heated as thinking about times that officiating impacted his performance on the field. Every player has seen bad calls, but they all have one that always sticks in their memory, and for Christian the most impactful bad call for him was also the first he saw.

Way back as a 6th grade playing Pony League football, Christian was having another amazing game as he was the highest-ranked 6th grader in his class. It was the fourth quarter of the ninth game of the season, and his Summit Hill Stampede were beating the Ford Parkways Flames by a score of 72-0. Marciano was having a pretty standard game - 21/21, 593 yards, 6 touchdowns / 14 carries, 201 yards, 4 touchdowns / 12 tackles, 9 sacks, 2 interceptions. Now, keep in mind, Christian Marciano is the greatest player in the history of all sports, so stat lines like that are common.

Here it was, fourth and goal, no time on the clock, and his team has the ball on the three yard line. Marciano steps back and finds his receiver open in the back of the end zone. He delivers a perfect throw, but before it makes its way to its target the receiver is taken to the ground by an early hit. To everyone in the stands this was a clear pass interference call, but the referee refused to call it. Christian couldn't believe it. To this point in the season he had never thrown an incomplete pass, and he couldn't believe that the first time it happened was because a referee blew a blatant call.