Even after all this is said and done....we can still play the what if game...
1). The "fumble" - No one knows if Bettendorf would have fallen on the ball and even if they did they could have fumbled it the next play.
2). The "No Catch" - No one knows if Dowling would have scored on the next play or in two plays or forced to kick a FG.
3). The "TD" - Remember that was to tie the game. No one ultimately knows what would have happened in the subsequent OT's.
The semi-final and final games were not a good look for the refs in high school. High school officiating is pretty brutal. The missed calls are pretty bad and there is zero flow to the game. I saw countless blatant holds missed, especially in the Dowling/Bettendorf games. Bell was able to get to the outside on a number of plays due to tackles hold across the chest of Dowling players.
I don't think there's any debate on the missed calls, but there are missed calls every week in high school football....tons of them. The magnitude of these are far greater due to the importance of the game as well as there's a television broadcast. Hopefully the IHSAA can clean these up.