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GREENSBORO — It’s a classic fall night at Jaycee Park. Families and fans crowd the bleachers and stand at least six deep along one sideline.

They’ve come for the two city championships of youth football, particularly one contest pitting two recreation centers whose 10-, 11- and 12-year-olds have played each other in the title game for three years running.

The Lewis Panthers and the Windsor Rams.

Amid the hoarse yells of coaches and the screams of fans, you’ll find Mark Eggleston-Clark. He’s on the 20-yard line in his stripes, and he’s wearing his game face.

Mark is a youth football referee.

On this night, for two championship games, Mark will pocket $56. His uniform cost him nearly three times that. But money doesn’t bring him to the 20 and keep him running up and down the field for nearly three hours.

He’s an arbiter of something incredibly American.

The boys in their helmets. The girls with their pom-poms. And a coach with a scratchy voice pacing the sidelines and yelling the timeless clichés known by every football player, young and old.

Mark calls these “good energy moments.’’

He’s 37, married, the youngest son of a tobacco farmer. He works as a paralegal in Greensboro, immersed in a career. And every year, he gets further away from his playing days as No. 2.

Yet he remembers. In Dry Fork, Va., he played wide receiver and defensive back for the Tunstall High Trojans. Before that, he played football with his brothers and friends in an empty field across from his house.

And before that, he’d plan his fall weekends just right so he could catch his Miami Hurricanes on Saturdays and his San Francisco 49ers on Sundays. Like any rabid fan, he’d talk and shout at the TV screen all afternoon.

So, on Monday night, as he watches these boys hit hard and scrap for yardage, he understands. Before every game, he prays for their safety. And during every game, he tries to protect the game — and its players.

Yet when he throws a flag, he hears it. Like Monday night, deep in the fourth quarter, as a Windsor Ram runs toward the end zone. Clark sees something. He throws his yellow flag.

Pass interference. Against Lewis. Automatic first down. Windsor’s ball.

The score: 13-12. Lewis is leading.

So far.

“He ran into him!’’ a Lewis coach shouts, nearly running onto the field. “That’s garbage, ref! Garbage!’’

Mark has learned to zone it out. For four years, he’s officiated basketball and football, from youth to high school. And along the way, he’s come to realize some truisms about local athletics.

The most rabid fans come from Trinity High, East Davidson High and Dudley High. The better the competition, the easier to officiate. And the younger the competitor, the more unruly the fan.

He’s learned to deal with it. He talks to players, to parents, even to himself. He watches DVDs of games he officiates, and like he did as a kid, he’ll talk to the screen and ask, “What did I see there?’’

So, when one of his three brothers ribs him and says, “I know you’re quick with the whistle,’’ he laughs. He’s not. Or thinks he’s not.

He’s one of at least 50 refs, ages 17 to 70, working games for the Greensboro Parks and Recreation Department, where nearly 1,000 kids, ages 7 to 12, played football this fall.

“It’s just the love of the game,’’ he says. “To me, it’s something indescribable. It’s like, 'Why do I love my wife?’ or 'Why does a kid love that Tonka truck?’ It’s just hard to explain.’’

Yes, it is. But maybe no words are needed.

After Lewis beats Windsor in a real nail-biter, Mark walks off the field toward his car, toward his next season in stripes on a basketball court somewhere in or around Greensboro.

But before his reaches his car, someone taps him on the shoulder.

“Nice game, ref,’’ the guy says.

Mark smiles.

Contact Jeri Rowe at 373-7374 or jeri.rowe@news-record.com