Let me put it to you this way. Rowland-Rosemead kicked off at 7 p.m. After 16 first-half penalties thrown by a crew that seemingly wanted to make a statement just as bad as the players did, the game didn’t reach halftime until 8:49 p.m.!!!!!!!!!! The Tribune’s unofficial count when it was all said and done: 27 PENALTIES!!!!!!! It was quite honestly the worst officiating I’ve ever seen over the span of four quarters. The refs made it so that there was NO FLOW to Thursday’s game. I’ve never seen anything like it. I was horrified and angry. I spoke to a local coach who echoed the same sentiments. It was all everybody in the stands were talking about. Both coaches had comments, with Rosemead’s Matt Koffler putting it best by saying “Unbelievable, unbelievable.” Yeah, it was. I saw my first penalty for a horse-collar tackle that occurred FROM THE FRONT. And it didn’t result in an automatic first down, at least not according to the down marker. Unreal. I saw Rowland call a timeout and after 2 minutes for the coaches to talk to the players the refs decided to measure. LIKE MEASURE TOWARD THE END OF THE TIMEOUT. NOT DURING. NOT AT THE BEGINNING, BUT RIGHT AFTER. Amazing use of time. Never seen anything like it. These guys need to be told they’re there to MANAGE THE GAME, not GET IN THE WAY OF IT!

Also: Somebody please tell the Rosemead PA announcer to take the Jolly Rancher out of his mouth when he speaks. Excuse me, Holmes, but I don’t want to hear you sucking on something before and after you speak. BRUTAL. And I won’t even mention the profanity EVERYBODY in the stadium heard when he left his mic on. Oops, I just did mention it. OK, I won’t even mention that when you say “Rosemead will play San Marino Titans next week”, you need to stick in a “THE”. “Rosemead will play THE San Marino Titans next week.” Oops, I just mentioned it. Awful.