The National Football League first used instant replay to determine a correct call on Sept. 7, 1986, as the Chicago Bears played the Cleveland Browns.
The following play was reviewed.
Cleveland safety Al Gross recovered possession in the Chicago end zone after a bad snap from Bears’ center Jay Hilgenberg.
The man in the replay booth made the ultimate decision to award the ball to Cleveland.
Instant replay has expanded since then, and the capability is there to use the technology even at the high school level these days.
There was a controversial finish to a high school game on Nov. 25 as Muenster played Munday in the Conference 2A Division II Region II semifinals.
The Moguls Day’veon Dockins was ruled to have scored on a 13-yard TD pass from Trevaul Mitchell on the game’s final play to give Munday a 40-34 victory over Muenster.
It appeared to plenty of different video angles that Dockins never crossed the plane, and despite that, it’s Munday who played Iraan in the regional finals this week.
It gave me the idea to ask around to various high school football coaches a simple question: “Should instant replay be used in the high school playoffs?”
“I think it’s all or none, but you don’t have the human element of the game if you have it,” Bowie head coach Dylan Stark said.
It was a hard way for Muenster’s season to end.
But, Stark wondered how much it would cost to rig equipment for instant replay to be used for high school games.
There is a dollar amount fixed to using a video board, and some stadiums are not currently equipped with those services.
Take a look at the site of Bowie’s first-round playoff game versus Merkel.
Panther Stadium in Seymour didn’t have a video board; rather the facility had just a basic scoreboard in operation.
In the second round, Bowie played at historic Mustang Bowl in Sweetwater. Although the stadium was built in the late 1930s, it has been equipped with modern technology. Read more from this column in the Dec. 3 Bowie News.

Editor’s Note: The Storm Center column is the expressed written views of sports editor Eric Viccaro and not The Bowie News.

Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls has full video capability, and instant replay could have been used in last Friday’s controversial game between Muenster and Munday. (News photo by Eric Viccaro)