Alberto Riverón to ref AFC title game; Ed Hochuli, 2nd conference title in a row

Alberto Riverón will head an “all-star” crew in the AFC Championship on Sunday between the Ravens and Patriots. The officials getting the nod, listed here with the head referee of their regular season crews:

• R — #57 Alberto Riverón (8th year, 4th as referee)
• U — #115 Tony Michalek (10th year, Ron Winter)
• HL — Kent Payne (8th year, Carl Cheffers)
• LJ — #47 Tim Podraza (4th year, Mike Carey)
• FJ — #33 Steve Zimmer (15th year, Riverón)
• SJ — Tom Hill (13th year, Winter)
• BJ — #61 Keith Ferguson (12th year, Leavy
• Alternates — Walt Anderson (#66, R), Terry Brown (#43, FJ from Terry McAulay’s crew)

Podraza’s assignment goes against the prevailing guidelines for conference championship assignments. Typically, an official must have been in the NFL for five years before being assigned to a title game.
Veteran referee Ed Hochuli will be in San Francisco to officiate the Giants-49ers matchup for the NFC title. Hochuli was in last year’s AFC Championship game.

• R — #85 Ed Hochuli (22nd year, 20th as referee)
• U — #81 Roy Ellison (9th year, Walt Coleman)
• HL — Mark Hittner (15th year, Hochuli)
• LJ — #35 John Hussey (10th year, Pete Morelli)
• FJ — #4 Craig Wrolstad (9th year, Hochuli)
• SJ — #39 Don Carlsen (23rd year, Morelli)
• BJ — #46 Perry Paganelli (14th year, John Parry)
• Alternates — Jeff Triplette (#42, R), Jimmy DeBell (#58, SJ from Alberto Riverón’s crew)