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Wild Card assignments: Blakeman, Cheffers, Hochuli, Morelli

Football Zebras has confirmed that Clete Blakeman, Carl Cheffers, Ed Hochuli, and Pete Morelli have been assigned to a Wild Card game.

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week18 Football Zebras has confirmed the officiating crews for the Wild Card weekend. Officials are listed with their uniform number, years experience (including this season), the crew each official worked with in the regular season (by the referee’s name), college, and outside occupation.

All times are Eastern.

Three alternates are assigned to each game: generally, one is designated for the offensive backfield (a referee or umpire), one is on the line of scrimmage (head linesman or line judge), and one is a deep position (side judge, field judge, or back judge).

The prior playoff experience listed for the crew chief includes his service as an NFL official, including as referee and any other crew position (excluding alternate assignments).

Saturday, Jan. 3

NFC Wild Card: Cardinals at Panthers, 4:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Ed Hochuli is the referee. This is his 25th year as an official and 23rd as referee. This is Hochuli’s 23rd postseason assignment, the most of any active official (8 Wild Card Playoffs, 6 Divisional Playoffs, 7 Conference Championships, and Super Bowls XXXII and XXXVIII).

Yrs 2014 crew College Occupation
R 85 Ed Hochuli 25 Hochuli Texas-El Paso attorney
U 115 Tony Michalek 13 Boger Indiana USA Football officiating director
HL 22 Steve Stelljes 13 Anderson Friends business planning manager
LJ 107 Ron Marinucci 18 Blakeman Glassboro State vice president, novelty cone company
FJ 29 Adrian Hill 5 Hochuli Buffalo software engineer
SJ 41 Boris Cheek 19 Triplette Morgan State director of operations and management
BJ 93 Scott Helverson 12 Hochuli Iowa sales, printing and promotions
  • Replay official: Tom Sifferman
  • Replay assistant: Roger Ruth

AFC Wild Card: Ravens at Steelers, 8 p.m. (NBC)

Clete Blakeman is the referee, who is in his 7th season and 5th as referee. This is Blakeman’s 4th postseason assignment (3 Wild Card Playoffs, 1 Divisional Playoff); he has only missed the playoffs one season in which he was eligible.

Yrs 2014 crew College Occupation
R 34 Clete Blakeman 7 Blakeman Nebraska attorney
U 40 Butch Hannah 16 Triplette Middle Tennessee State retired federal probation officer
HL 28 Mark Hittner 18 Wrolstad Pittsburg State investment broker
LJ 45 Jeff Seeman 13 Cheffers Minnesota brokerage sales
FJ 82 Buddy Horton 16 Morelli Oregon State water service worker
SJ 15 Rick Patterson 19 Blakeman Wofford banker
BJ 46 Perry Paganelli 17 Parry Hope College retired high school administrator
  •   Replay official: Carl Madsen

Sunday, Jan. 4

AFC Wild Card: Bengals at Colts, 1 p.m. (CBS)

Carl Cheffers is the referee, who is in his 15th year and 7th as referee. This is Cheffers’ 9th postseason assignment (4 Wild Card Playoffs, 3 Divisional Playoffs, and 2 Conference Championships).

Yrs 2014 crew College Occupation
R 51 Carl Cheffers 15 Cheffers California-Irvine sales manager
U 121 Paul King 6 Vinovich Nicholls State school teacher
HL 54 George Hayward 24 Corrente Missouri Western vice-president and manager, warehouse company
LJ 100 Tom Symonette 11 Allen Florida certified public accountant
FJ 67 Doug Rosenbaum 14 Allen Illinois Wesleyan financial consultant
SJ 3 Scott Edwards 16 Torbert Alabama environmental engineer
BJ 119 Greg Wilson 7 Corrente USC law enforcement
  • Replay official: Jim Lampetina
  • Replay assistant Jim Pearson
  • Supervisor: Johnny Grier

NFC Wild Card: Lions at Cowboys, 4:30 p.m. (Fox)

Pete Morelli is the referee, who is in his 18th season and 13th as referee. This is Morelli’s 15th postseason assignment (7 Wild Card Playoffs, 5 Divisional Playoffs, 2 Conference Championships, and Super Bowl XXXVI). His Super Bowl assignment was as a field judge. Thanks to Dave Birkett for the crew list.

Yrs 2014 crew College Occupation
R 135 Pete Morelli 18 Morelli St Mary’s high school principal
U 81 Roy Ellison 12 Wrolstad Savannah State technical staff member
HL 91 Jerry Bergman 13 Coleman Robert Morris sales executive
LJ 90 Mike Spanier 16 Coleman St Cloud State middle school principal
FJ 20 Barry Anderson 8 Torbert North Carolina State builder/developer
SJ 56 Allen Baynes 7 Boger Auburn realtor
BJ 27 Lee Dyer 12 Wrolstad Tennessee-Chattanooga sales manager
  • Replay official: Bob McGrath

Ben Austro is the editor and founder of Football Zebras and the author of So You Think You Know Football?: The Armchair Ref's Guide to the Official Rules (on sale now)

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