As the Walled Lake Western players gathered together to pose for the regional championship photo Saturday afternoon, holding the trophy was safety Darnell Lanier — and that was not by accident.

Lanier was holding the trophy because he won’t be allowed to play in next Saturday’s Division 2 semifinal game against Lowell after being ejected by referee Tom Rau from Western’s 35-14 victory over Midland Dow following a highly-disputed targeting penalty late in the fourth quarter.

After the game ended, Western coach Mike Zdebski was still arguing the call with Rau.

When I approached Rau with my recorder, he extended his left arm, stuck his left hand into my chest and said: “I don’t need to talk to you at all. You go. Go, Go, Go.” He then gave me a push.

Guess I was targeted by an official.

And it was as much of a targeting interaction as was Lanier’s.

“We were playing man and my back went out for a flat,” said Lanier. “He broke it down and I broke with him and as soon as he went up to touch the ball I just made contact and hit him in the chest. But they said I went helmet-to-helmet with him. They called it targeting.”

As I approached Rau, I heard him repeatedly telling Zdebski: “You’ll see it on film.”

Michigan high school football semifinals schedule

Maybe not.

Lanier had already seen the film — well, the video.

“I saw the replay,” Lanier said, “and it (showed) me clearly hitting him in the chest.”

Lanier certainly could have been called for a late hit, but watching it happen live, it seemed preposterous to label it a helmet-to-helmet hit.

The problem is that Michigan High School Athletic Association executive director Jack Roberts maintains an absolutely-no-review policy, no matter what video evidence there may be to contradict a ruling.

Each team had two video cameras taping the game, so Zdebski knows there is no video evidence that would support the helmet-to-helmet call.

“We’re at this point with technology that we can do that,” Zdebski said. “I’m not saying that you’ve got to do it right now, but we can watch plays like right now. We were in halftime and we made all of our adjustments live with all of the video.”

No. 2 Western (12-0) led, 14-7, midway through the second half when it had 10 consecutive running plays that resulted in quarterback Kyle Thomas’ keeper for a touchdown.

“We hadn’t come out in our two-back set yet,” Zdebski said. “We said hey, let’s jump into our two-back and see how they line up here. Once we saw how they lined up we were like, hey, we should have done this sooner.”

Western meant to squib the ensuing kickoff, but it wound up a line drive that bounced off a Dow player back to a Western player. On the next play, Thomas dropped back and rifled a 48-yard TD pass to Javon Gabriel, for a 28-7 lead over Dow (10-2, No. 10) with 49 seconds left in the third quarter.

“We came out in the same formation and they were thinking run because the last series we ran the ball every play,” Thomas said. “So we came out and play-action fake, right down the seam — touchdown.”

One of the keys to Western’s victory was the job cornerback Cody White was able to do on Dow’s Mike Robb, limiting him to six catches for 125 yards, including a 77-yard TD that bounced off White’s hands.

“I’m 6-3 and he was three more inches taller than me, so it was a tough task,” said White. “He’s a really big, strong kid, physical — good athlete. That one went right off my hands into his hands. I think I made up for it.”

White made up for it with two interceptions, including a 33-yard pick six.

But at this point there seems to be nothing do be done about referee Rau erroneously ejecting Lanier, Western’s leading tackler.

“Being in 2015, you throw a kid out of a game,” Zdebski said, “that should be an easy reviewable play, especially going into the state semifinals in the state tournament.”

Exactly.

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