This is where my mind went to. Yes, there are times where someone should be ejected (punching/kicking someone). But for something that is actually a regular football play (just performed illegally) I don't like kids being ejected in high school football. My reasoning isn't so much that I don't care about the safety of the player (I'm one of "those" guys that thinks we're starting to go a wee bit too far on trying to protect kids from every single hit, but that's neither here nor there), but as Nut stated...they're judgment calls. And no disrespect meant to the referee profession, but there really are referees that aren't good. No I'm not saying that out of bitterness toward any ref. But I played football throughout high school and college and I go to a high school game almost every week, and the quality of the ref has legitimately gone down in the past 10-15 years (there are a lot less of them in general in Nebraska). I can think of at least 4 instances in the past 3 years where I saw a ref, who upon talking with other coaches/refs/fans that knew certain refs, that they were reffing their first or second game and made objectively bad calls. It's inexperience and I don't blame them for that, but teams are ultimately the ones who pay the price for a ref making a bad call. The other issue I've seen with refs is them being badly out of shape and not capable of being in the proper position to make the right call.
So you combine all those things and you get a whistle-happy/out-of-position referee that makes one really bad call and a kid is ejected wrongfully...that team could be screwed. If it happens in the first, maybe the lose the game because in high school sports (particularly in lower classes where there aren't that many really good starters on a C2 team for example, an individual can make that much of a difference. If they get ejected in the second half...that team could lose that game because of it, and then they're out that player for a second game? Potentially miss 6 quarters of a season?
We don't have replay on the field like they do in college where they can review things and determine if an ejection is warranted for targeting. And these kids get 9 games to try and make the playoffs and one referee's wrong decision might cost a team 2 games? I don't like that one bit for an illegal hit that is actually a football play.
I would guess the NSAA allows a team to challenge whether a player should be suspended for a second game if they were ejected in the 2nd half of a game? If not, that's horrible. But even if they do...it's high school football where there is probably only one camera filming and it may not be on the player that actually made the illegal hit.
I do understand the letter of the law here and I do agree that by that rule, this player should have been ejected. But I agree with Nut that these judgment calls can literally turn the tide of a whole season for a small school program.
***This is not meant to bash refs. I am merely saying it's a reality of today as far as what type of ref is doing high school football in Nebraska. They will get the call right the vast majority of the time. Calls will always be missed. I generally do not believe that refs determine the outcomes of games...but in situations like this, they can be a major contributor to how a game ends up.