Calhoun City and Okolona chose not to shake hands after the high school football game in Mississippi on Thursday night. They ran straight to their respective locker rooms to avoid any additional conflict that might stem from the referees.
It was a bizarre scene in the Magnolia State.
However, this problem does not only apply to high school football in Mississippi. Every state is dealing with an officiating shortage. The lack of referees often leads to controversy. There is no clear solution beyond additional training.
The Mississippi high school football referees created chaos.
Calhoun City High School, located in Calhoun City, Mississippi, enrolls approximately 400 students in Grades 5-12 with roughly 200 students in Grades 9-12. Okolona High School, located in Okolona, Mississippi, enrolls approximately 160 students in Grades 9-12. They are two of the smallest high schools in the state. As such, they are assigned to Class 1A by the MHSAA.
The reigning state champion Wildcats played the first regional high school football game of the season against the Chieftains on Thursday. It quickly devolved into mayhem during the first quarter.
We had a play in the 1Q where side judge got fooled by fake handoff so he blew play dead when RB without the ball was tackled. When refs realized they messed up, they decided to call it a 15 yard gain instead of replaying the down. Neither team understood what was happening.
— Joel McNeece (@joelmcneece) October 16, 2026
It got even weirder right before halftime.
Calhoun City appeared to score a touchdown on the final play of the second quarter to take a 22-6 lead but Okolona was still upset about a missed fumble call on the penultimate play of the second quarter. The Wildcats expected the officials to call a touchdown because the ball crossed the goal line. The Chieftains expected the officials to grant them possession because they recovered a fumble before the ball was snapped on the touchdown play.
After a lengthy discussion, the referees essentially decided to cancel the last two plays of the half and declared it as halftime.
As you could imagine, Calhoun City head coach MD Jennings was furious with the lack of points. If the second-to-last play was not ruled a fumble in real time and the Wildcats scored a touchdown on the next play without the officials ruling a fumble, they should’ve been awarded six points. Jennings was irate. The officiating crew threw him out of the game.
The third quarter was not any better than the first two.
Both sidelines — and the officials — looked confused.
Everybody seems a bit loss with this one. #CalhounCity #Okolona pic.twitter.com/TVb9JPfCvb
— Calhoun Co. Journal (@CalhCoJournal) October 16, 2026
Okolona eventully got back within four points with 10:43 remaining in the fourth quarter. The score held at 24-20 until the three-minute mark of the fourth quarter. Ish. Nobody seemed to know exactly how much time was remaining!!
This trend continued throughout the last two minutes of the game. It was extremely confusing.
Never seen a game like this. pic.twitter.com/qsHLPWDhGj
— Calhoun Co. Journal (@CalhCoJournal) October 16, 2026
As you can tell, the officiating was a problem.
Calhoun City and Okolona chose not to shake hands.
Calhoun City ultimately defeated Okolona by a final score of 30-20. The Wildcats moved to 4-3. The Chieftains dropped to 3-5. It was a most unusual game.
More than 20 penalties were called in 48 minutes. Both teams finished with double-digit flags. One head coach was ejected.
There was a lot of tension between the two sides, and the referees. You could cut it with a knife. Everybody was confused. Nobody was happy. As a result, Calhoun City and Okolona decided not to shake hands to avoid a potential fight or conflict.
I would not be surprised if the MHSAA decides to investigate this officiating crew. They took over the game in a bad way.
Unfortunately, there may not be a solution. The Magnolia State is already dealing with a shortage of referees. This game was actually supposed to be played on Friday. It was moved to Thursday because there were not enough officials on Friday.
Even if the MHSAA wanted to suspend this specific crew, it does not have anyone to replace them. It is what it is.