One college referee unexpectedly got to live out his fantasy of being Ronnie Lott.
During the second quarter of Saturday’s showdown between Army and Boston College, Eagles quarterback Thomas Castellanos ran a read option on a 2nd-and-9 play. Castellanos ended up keeping the ball and finding some daylight in the middle of the field.
Regrettably though, Castellanos did not gameplan for a large zebra out in the wild getting in his way. Castellanos slammed into the referee who was perched at midfield and crumpled to the grass, suddenly forced to re-evaluate his life choices.
Take a look at the priceless video.
REF WITH THE HIT STICK 💪 pic.twitter.com/hRNupIRbTH
— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) October 7, 2023
In spite of the referee’s best efforts to get out of the way, he reacted about a beat or two too late to avoid the traffic collision. Though Castellanos is only roughly average to below-average size for a QB (5-foot-10, 196 pounds), he was moving at full speed there, and the official barely even moved. We are guessing that referee spends a lot of time in the gym.
Besides the bruised ego, there was at least a happy ending for Castellanos. He was awarded a first down on the play for his troubles and went on to lead Boston College to a 27-24 victory (rushing for the go-ahead TD with just 25 seconds left in the fourth quarter). Plus, that funny collision did mark a nice turning of the tables from the usual beating that officials take at the hands of college players.
