There have been numerous schedule changes for local high school teams in the prep sports landscape this fall.

In football alone, the long-standing “Friday Night Lights” tradition has been expanded to include more games on Saturdays and even more games on Thursdays.

Casa Grande High School’s varsity team had to play a league game against Tamalpais on Thursday night – Tam’s second Thursday night game of the season.

Why? There are not enough game officials for a full slate of Friday night games.

The North Bay Officials Organization, which oversees umpires and other game officials in the area, has 66 names on its roster, with three currently on the injured list. Of the remaining 63, seven are in their first year, 18 have less than three years of experience, and 45 have more than three years of experience. This year, the total number of officials able to run games decreased by 10%.

“If you look at the National Athletic Officials Association, sportsmanship is at an all-time low,” said Spencer Crum, president of the North Bay officials group, which is in its 27th year working high school games.

NBOO members cover a wide area and officiate games in Sonoma, Marin and Napa counties, as well as Middletown and Ukiah. That’s more than 30 high schools.

This is not a glamorous job.

“A lot of referees are really hesitant to come into this game because of the negative reaction from fans and coaches,” Crum said. “There’s a real hesitancy to get involved at the moment and once they get in it’s really hard to keep them there. because they get yelled at a lot. “As much as we enjoy it, there are times when the crowd, the kids and the coaches get too loud.”

Crum said members of the NBOO group have encountered hostile coaches and crowds — from a coach spraying a water bottle in a referee’s face to a team of referees being followed into the locker room by a coach yelling profanities. them.

Officials charge $100 for the varsity match and $59 for the JV contest.

Before each match, referees will give evaluation cards to the coaches of both teams. They can be returned anonymously to NBOO after the game, but Crum said only 25% are returned.

And this fall, a league realignment for the largest football schools that make up the four-tiered Redwood Empire Conference has led to more Friday night games; This was a new wrinkle for Crum’s group that was extremely difficult to overcome.

“We’ve played about 11 games on Friday nights in the past,” Crum said. “This year for some reason we are getting more than 15 requests on Friday night. “We have more lights than ever before, a lot of single-game teams are in demand, and it’s been really difficult for us to get a handle on that.”

The first round of this weekend’s North Coast Region play-offs has eight matches scheduled for Friday night and a further four matches scheduled for Saturday night.

So why should we become civil servants? Crum has an answer.

“It’s a lot of fun to be a part of, it’s a great thing to do on Friday nights and it’s a good way to give back to the community,” he said.

Trying to keep up with demand, NBOO is always looking for new help. Anyone interested can sign up at: nbofficials.org.

Reach Staff Writer Kienan O’Doherty at 415-887-8650 or [email protected]. @kodoherty22 on X (Twitter).