seen the video of the incident watching the players sprint toward watts as soon as the ball was snapped one player slamming into the official from behind and the other spearing watts as he crashed to the ground few refs have even felt threatened while working a football game much less ever seen anything like those hits i just hope the rest of the country doesnt think thats how high school football is played in texas because its not ontiveros said its far from it id say 99 percent of the kids that we deal with are good kids said dale cowan a retired police officer from central texas who is in his 26th season calling games if they werent having fun several of the refs said theyd find another way to fill their friday nights in the fall its not like theyre getting rich calling games and most even pick up their penalty flags and work at least a few nights per week officiating subvarsity games as well texas high school football can be big business publicly funded high school football palaces have price tags of up to 60 million a lot of athletic directors and head coaches get sixfigure salaries not many of those dollars trickle down to the men in stripes the pay for subvarsity games is typically around 50 officials make anywhere from 80 to 250 for varsity games depending on the gate receipts they get some reimbursement for travel expenses but theyre responsible for paying for their uniforms about 200 and annual state registration fees 35 if youre just doing it just to get a paycheck every once in a while you need to quit said rob jasper a 31year officiating veteran based in fort worth who makes a living as a sales director for an office equipment company youd make better money if youd work parttime at home depot youve got to love it nobody likes getting yelled at so you better be out there for the love of the game but theres no better place to officiate high school football than texas while safety is rarely a concern refereeing texas high school football games is far from a glamorous job in fact several elected officials from the texas association of sports officials chapters across the state expressed concern about dwindling numbers in their ranks the result of difficulty recruiting and retaining young officials to replace those who are retiring were happy if half of them come back for the second year said strickland the waco chapter president veteran officials have learned how to tune out upset fans interact with irate coaches and manage mouthy players in many cases theyve established rapport with coaches and earned their respect theyve developed a routine of schmoozing the captains at the coin toss laying the foundation that will encourage those leaders to help keep their teammates in line they take great pride in their ability to fade into the background when appropriate but maintain control of a