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By joe McCullough
Rappahannock Newt Special Writer
Sports fans are always going to complain about the calls from the referees, and at every contest, there’s at least one loud-mouthed observer in the crowd.
Generally these hecklers just yell whenever the ref makes a close call against their team, and you wonder how these people would react to some truly poor officiating.
Those who witnessed the Rappahannock Panthers surprising 71-64 loss to the Brentsville Tigers Tuesday night in Nokesville know the answer. The reaction is stunned silence.
Referee Ron Curlings and umpire Steve Philips seemingly made calls at their discretion, opting for a touch foul over flagrant pushes on numerous occasions. Admittedly, two men can’t watch every inch of the court at a given moment, so a few misses are understandable.
For example, early in the first half Curlings was unable to make a call against the Tigers because he was too busy avoiding Panther Anthony Porter, who was set for a rebound when the Brentsville player simply pushed him out of the way.
But other missed calls are not as easily explained.
“Right now, we are not happy campers,” said Panther coach Gary Leake, in an interview following the loss. “This is the second time this year we’ve been outhustled and the second time we lost,” added Coach Leake, giving a lot of credit to the Tigers. ‘I knew when we got on the bus to come here it was going to be a tough game.’
Rappahannock fell behind early in the contest 10-3, but then rallied behind Porter and Eric Dunn to narrow the lead to 11-12. At this point Curlings and Philips made their presence felt. Questionable calls on both teams left the players flustered, and the tension on the court was obvious.
Amid all the pushing and shoving Dunn heisted the ball at half court and slammed it through the hoop, giving Rapp its first lead, 25-23. Following an exchange of buckets the
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