I’ve been unfairly accused of mimicking the fat, old guys in “The Muppet Show” balcony when it comes to the Maine Principals’ Association’s every move.

True, when the MPA gets it wrong – such as the ongoing failure to address the alarmingly askew caste system in high school hockey and football – I light matches underneath administrators’ feet.

But when common sense and good judgment prevail in Augusta, which is a vast majority of the time compared to the other bureaucratic bodies in that fair city, I’m one of the first to say hurrah.

Last week’s rare overturning of a miserable misinterpretation of the rulebook surrounding a Livermore Falls-Dirigo boys’ soccer game was a textbook display of thoughtful leadership.

They got it right, which is more than we can say for the first line of defense in this sorry episode.

Roll the videotape:

Livermore Falls and Dirigo played to a tie through regulation on Sept. 5. The Mountain Valley Conference rivals retreated to their benches to prepare for overtime.

Khyle Whittemore whipped up a goal for the Andies with 25 seconds remaining in the second and final extra period.

Whoo-hoo! Pig-pile on Khyle! Game over, right?

Wrong, sudden-death breath.

The two game officials inexplicably allowed the game to continue, giving Dirigo a bonus possession on its home field. Livermore Falls’ defensive players, forgivably sleepwalking through the snafu like six-year-olds who’d just had all their Christmas gifts repossessed, watched incredulously as Tyler Gates hooked one around the post, inside the horn, to earn the Cougars an alleged tie.

Now, I don’t pretend to have the soccer rulebook memorized forward and reverse. My day-after reaction to this goofy sequence, however, was the same as that of 99.999 percent of the people who’ve ever watched a high school soccer, hockey or field hockey game: The Andies were robbed.

I’m left to wonder how Livermore Falls coach Larry Thornton avoided acquiring a yellow card, a red card, a green card, a sympathy card or any other punishment officials are empowered to dole out. He’s a better man than I, or at least blessed with superior self-control.

Livermore Falls, instead, employed the proper channels and allowed justice to take its course, scary a proposition as that seems.

Scary, because if there’s one thing most of us lifers know about the Maine Principals’ Association, they don’t intrude and overturn judgment calls. That’s a splendid quality, actually. The sanctioning body generally trusts and defers to the adults who oversee its events.

There was no precedent for changing the result of a game from a tie to a win, or vice versa. The MPA is reluctant to set such precedents, because then they’ll have every knucklehead coach from here to Masardis mailing videotape of whistles or non-whistles that “cost” them a game.

Its committee stepped in here, just this once, and made Livermore Falls the rightful winner. This was not the case of meddling in a judgment call. It’s a case of correcting the officials’ failure to enforce a clearly defined rule that would have ended the game, period, end of paragraph.

All of which begs the question, how in the name of Ed Hochuli did it get that far?

If there’s ever a time when the rulebook should be fresh in the officials’ mind, it’s opening day. They’ve had time to bone up on the fine print and review any changes. They’ve presumably had a full slate of summer and preseason games to sharpen those eyes and legs.

Twenty years covering high school sports equals dozens of overtime games in all sports. Rarely have I witnessed one at which the officials did not briefly convene with the coaches and/or captains before OT to review the basic procedures.

Guess you can’t enforce those procedures if you don’t know them.

I understand that the statewide shortage of officials in all sports means diminished overall quality. I understand that Class C regular-season games aren’t assigners’ first priority. And I also get that rampant second-guessing and verbal abuse of referees are the reason they’re bailing from this avocation in droves.

This is not like picking apart a traveling, pass interference or obstruction call, though. It’s expecting the people in charge to have a basic understanding of a black-and-white housekeeping issue.

The kids who play the game deserve that much. Cheers to the MPA for restoring their faith.

Kalle Oakes is a staff writer. His e-mail is [email protected].