he score is 10 to 6. The clock is winding down to two minutes and 37 seconds. The home team on the short end of the score has just taken possession on its own 25-yard line. Neither team has mounted a drive all game, and now the home team needs a 75-yard scoring strike to win the game.

If you're the Referee, what thoughts go through your mind? What should you the members of your crew be thinking?

Throughout the football season scenarios like that occur regularly:

• What makes a good officiating crew is how they deal with the situations.
• What makes a good game requires several things: leadership, teamwork, knowledge of the rules, ability to apply those rules, good mechanics, quick thinking, good physical ability and conditioning, and great attitude.

Nowhere do all those attributes come together better than in the final minutes of a close and challenging game. Let’s take a look at one crew and the communications and dynamics of finishing that close game.

Continued...