The age-old debate of “what is a catch” reached its lowest point during a Tennessee high school football game on Thursday night. A blatant drop, that really could not have been any more clear, was called a catch.
There wasn’t even an argument to be made for the call.
Back in 2014, when Dez Bryant appeared to make a crucial catch against the Green Bay Packers during the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs, there was a clear debate to be had. By NFL rule (at the time), because the Cowboys wide receiver was not deemed to have made what the league referred to as a “football move,” the catch was overturned and the play was not upheld.
Bryant’s catch/no-catch remains a relevant talking point in sports, even nine years later. A case could absolutely be made for both sides — either a catch or a drop.
That was not the case in Lebanon, Tenn. on Sept. 22, 2023.
A Tennessee high school football game featured an all-time terrible call.
It all went down during a Junior Varsity football game between Friendship Christian School and Providence Christian Academy. The former is a private K-12 school located about an hour east of Nashville, the latter is a private preK-12 school located about an hour southeast of Nashville in Murfreesboro.
Providence Christian had the ball at its own 45-yard-line. The Lions quarterback dropped back and threw a high-arching pass (that might have been tipped?) down the sideline.
On the other end, his receiver was there to make the play. He went up for the jump ball against the Friendship Christian defensive back but could not come down with the catch. Or did he?!
No, he did not. The ball hit the turf.
Fans in the crowd can be heard letting out an audible groan because they knew that it was not a catch.
However, the receiver turned back around and fell on the should-have-been dead ball. It was ruled a catch on the field, and obviously, there is no review for JV games. A catch was the call and it stood.
Here is how the play looked and sounded in real time, courtesy of @christie0106:
Even when you slow it down and get a better look to see if the referee saw something that those in the stands could not, it is still a drop! And a very obvious drop at that.
Fortunately, this was not the Tennessee varsity state championship and the call did not cost either team the game. Unfortunately, Thursday night’s J.V. game in Lebanon, Tenn. will forever live in infamy because of one of the worst calls of all-time! It really could not have been any more clear.