It seems like it’s tough finding quality football refs on the West Coast. Not only is the Pac-10 notorious for having its issues with their officiating crew, but apparently there’s a shortage of decent refs at the high school level. Take the end result of the game on Friday in Southern California between league rivals Westlake and Agoura.

The LOS ANGELES TIMES reports that a potentially game-winning 41-yard field goal by Westlake was ruled no good after officials said it hit the crossbar and bounced forward. But videos taken of the kick clearly showed that the ball actually hit the “gooseneck bar” behind the crossbar that connects it to the ground.

Grainy, Zapruder-like video after the jump.

When watching that video, please note the two referees standing directly under the goal post who make the call and couldn’t see where a ball hit standing five feet away from it. The Westlake coach called the play a “million-to-one” shot.

Although I agree it’s rare, I seem to remember a play in the NFL happening just last year that every agreed was a million-to-one shot. The big difference here being that the officials actually talked it out and got the call on Phil Dawson’s kick right, while the crew in this high school game blew it.

I hate to rag on high school officials too much - these aren’t pros, but amateurs who take time out of their regular lives to work games because they love the sport. But really? Two officials standing five feet away whose only job on that play is to see if the ball crossed the uprights and crossbar or not, and they couldn’t get that right?

What were they, too distracted by the delicious smell of kettle corn in the concession stand? Busy leering at a player’s MILF-y mom in the stands? Yeesh.