Public criticism of officiating, while more common and perhaps less odious at higher levels, has no place in high school sports. Perhaps it’s the residual effect of antisocial media, where so many dim bulbs now erroneously believe the rest of us could possibly care what’s on their minds.

And so I read Griswold High School football coach Gregg Wilcox’s musings about last Friday night’s officiating with some suspicion (because of where they came from) and some disgust (because they were made in the first place).

Full disclosure: My level of respect for many coaches and school officials in high schools north of Norwich Free Academy has swirled the bowl for some time. Their persecution complexes, dour dispositions and pathological aversions to cooperate have run the Eastern Connecticut Conference deeper into the roadside ditch.

I doubt many of them would be giddy about exchanging marinara recipes with me either.

Somehow, we trudge on.

OK. On to Wilcox:

“(The officials) may be absolutely right, maybe we misinterpreted what happened, but I’m going to look,” he said, alluding to a few calls after a 20-7 loss at Ledyard. “It doesn’t change anything. We still lost 20-7. They’re a very good team. We played toe-to-toe with them. We scored as many touchdowns as they did. We just got them called back.”

If only Wilcox stopped there.

He continued:

“Two years ago, we came down here, we got calls made that were just crazy,” Wilcox said. “Now we come back again and they do the same thing to us.

“Let me say this: There’s a high school team right there, other than a personal foul when they whacked our kid out of bounds, they had absolutely no penalties other than that personal foul. I haven’t seen a pro game, a college game, that that’s ever happened. God bless them. They are extraordinary.”

The officials nullified two Griswold touchdowns because of penalties. It’s here we summon one of football’s universal truths: “film don’t lie.” The film didn’t. The officials got both calls correct.

Call I: A Ledyard player was the victim of a “peel back” block on a touchdown. A “peel back,” or a form of a blindside hit, is a point of emphasis within the National Federation this year.

Call II: A receiver that caught a touchdown pass for Griswold was ineligible. Two receivers were already on the line, essentially making the (covered) inside receiver who caught the pass ineligible. Neither call was difficult. Neither are the concepts.

Kevin Moreland, the chairman of the Eastern Connecticut Board of Approved Football Officials’ Better Officiating Committee, didn’t want to speak for the record Tuesday, other than to say, “My crew did a damn good job.”

Griswold High School athletic director Steve Cravinho, also reached Tuesday, said “Griswold High School has no comment on Friday’s game or the officiating.”

Wise move.

Let me suggest that in no way do I believe officials on any level should be immune from criticism. That’s why the local officials have a Better Officiating Committee. If there’s a bad call, coaches are asked to send in the film. The film gets reviewed. Mistakes are admitted. In some cases, crews are changed. But to suggest there are integrity issues or that the world is out to get poor Griswold is absurd, but typical of the mindset north of NFA.

Doesn’t seem fair that a coach can say whatever he wants publicly, accurate or otherwise, while the officials must sit silent and rely on readers’ common sense to sort fact from fiction. Good luck with that.

I believe the officiating in this part of the state is among the best in Connecticut. Just go watch a game elsewhere in the state and report back.

Given the fact that an ECC school hasn’t won a state championship in football since Bob Backlund was the WWF champ, let me suggest the coaches start coaching their teams better and leave the officiating to the officials. They don’t get them all right. And they’re not out to get you. Not even in northeastern Connecticut.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.

Twitter: @BCgenius