Are there enough football officials?

Rumors seem to have a way of getting around in the Mercer County sports arena.

The latest buzz making the rounds in this sports-oriented area has fans a little worried since the 2007 football season is knocking at the door.

The big worry: Is there a shortage of football officials in the Mercer County chapter and will there be enough to go around? You can’t play football without officials or for most any other sport for that matter.

So this whole big thing that has been circulating around the area, is nothing more than a huge rumor, one that has little bearing, if any, on the 2007 season. Rest easy fans, there will be football and plenty of it.

For an update and some insight into the rumor, we contacted one of the most experienced, qualified and talented officials in the Mercer County ranks, veteran Jim Bestwick, who has been on the scene as an official for 26 years while calling the shots in basketball for another 46.

With that much experience, we’re certain that Bestwick was the best man available to answer our questions.

Switch of nights

A former head football coach at Hickory High School, Bestwick has the inside track on the official situation and he certainly knows his stuff.

Said Bestwick, “A lot of this talk about shortage of officials came about when a number of schools switched from Friday night games to Saturday.

“Right now we have about 30 officials in the Mercer County Chapter and 22 or 23 of them are veterans and have plenty of experience.

“We also have a number of fairly new officials who will be on the scene this year. What we plan on doing is scheduling a group of veteran officials on a game and then spotting some of the newer guys with the veteran group.

“There shouldn’t be any problems at all,” Bestwick said. “There will be less games on Friday nights now and more on Saturday afternoons and evenings.

Larger crowds expected

“Sharpsville, for the longest time, was the only school around to play Saturday night games. But now some of the other schools are hoping to draw larger crowds by shifting some of their games to Saturday nights.

“Besides, if we ever do run into any kind of trouble, we can always call on our friends from the Erie or Lawrence County Chapters. They would be more than glad to help out if such a situation arises.”

All of Mercer County schools now have lights for night play with the exception of Kennedy Catholic which plays all of its home encounters on Saturday afternoons.

Bestwick concluded his statement by saying that no problem exists with the number of basketball officials in Mercer County.

“Right now, we have too many,” he said with a smile.