BY JEFF FALK
ANNVILLE – It was something this reporter had never seen before. Or at least something he thought he had never seen before.
The venue was Annville-Cleona High School. The event was the Little Dutchmen’s Friday night home football game with Northern Lebanon.
It was the middle of the third quarter and the Little Dutchmen were protecting a 21-6 lead over their rivals, when A-C quarterback Anthony Pletz took a snap on a second-nine play from the NL 39. While dropping back to pass, Pletz, faced with a strong rush from the Northern Lebanon defense, turned quickly to his right to avoid it.
But when Pletz turned he appeared to run directly into the head referee near midfield. The official went to the ground, Pletz fell and the football popped loose.
Northern Lebanon recovered the football and had great field position at the A-C 44. But the Vikings could not convert the fortuitous bounce into points, as the Little Dutchmen defense rose up to stop them.
Asked about it after the game, ‘the guy in the white hat’ said that there had not been contact between himself and Pletz, and that Pletz had simply dropped the ball on his own. Though the head referee could take some amusement from the peculiar situation, he declined to identify himself by name.
Of note was the fact that the turnover was the only one endured by Annville-Cleona that evening.
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