RULING:  In (a) this is NOT a dead ball foul.  Since it is a foul by A behind the basic spot, the foul will be administered from the spot of the foul.  A would retain the ball.  In (b) this is a dead ball foul.  The penalty would be administered on the try.  Since the foul was by A it is not an option available to B (8-2-2 – option is only available if the foul is by the opponents of the scoring team) to have the penalty enforced on the ensuing kickoff.   

While the discharge of the canon at the time the ball is kicked off creates a valid concern, the ball had not yet been touched by R and thus was not a violation of KSHSAA policy.  Even though the canon (or any other artificial noisemaker) may be discharged or used during the game when  KSHSAA policy restricts, IT IS NOT WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF OFFICIALS TO IMPOSE PENALITIES ON TEAMS FOR VIOLATION OF KSHSAA RULES/POLICIES.  Officials should contact the KSHSAA if they believe a violation of KSHSAA policies may have occurred.

Direct charge into a snapper – Again the question has arisen, how do you determine if there was a “direct” charge into a snapper (9-4-6).  Those of you that have attended a KSHSAA rules meeting may have heard this question asked before.  In order to determine if there is a violation of 9-4-6 (i.e., a charge directly into the snapper when the team is in a scrimmage kick formation) I’ve told officials to visually run a pole through the body of the snapper, going from the top of his helmet straight down.  When the snapper is in a scrimmage kick formation, if a defensive player’s direction of charge would go through that pole, then the defensive player has made illegal contact under rule 9-4-6.  Does this mean that there can be no contact at all with the snapper in a scrimmage kick formation?  Not at all – a defensive player may still make a charge that could carry them into contacting the snapper.  Defensive player lined up in a gap charges straight ahead.  If the offensive line is in a tight formation, there could be contact with the snapper by the defensive lineman’s charge.  So long at that contact or the direction of the charge is not through that imaginary pole, then the defensive player’s contact with the snapper is not a violation. 

I would consider the team is “on the field” when the squad/team is inside the track area (assuming there is a track around the football field) when the half-time has ended.  If the team is leaving the locker room and making their way to the field, if they are in “sight” of the officials but not yet inside the track, I don’t believe they have met the spirit of, nor the intent of the rule.  At some point a determination has to be made that the team is “on the field”.  The track does serve that purpose.

Required equipment – shoes on kickers – While questions concerning the wearing of football shoes by kickers have been relatively rare the last few years, I need to remind coaches and officials that NFHS rules DO REQUIRE that all players must wear shoes (ON BOTH FEET) in order to participate.   Confusion may occur in the minds of some when they watch a multitude of games at all levels of competition.  I can not speak to Youth Sports, NJCAA, NCAA or NFL rules re: required equipment.  But without question NFHS rulesgoverning all interscholastic ball in Kansas REQUIRES that all players must wear shoes.  The specific rule reference is 1-5-1f.  Officials this year were provided a new publication “Rules by Topic”.  On page 27 of that publication is a review of the shoe rule and it is very clear that ALL PLAYERS MUST BE WEARING SHOES IN ORDER TO BE LEGALLY EQUIPPED.  If officials misapply this rule requirement, please forward their names to my office.

Touching of a scrimmage kick by R – Some of you may remember the discussions conducted during the 2006 KSHSAA rules meetings with respect to a common situation – SITUATION:  R player touches a scrimmage kick behind the line (could be result of a great rush by R, an assignment breakdown by K, a poor snap or a mishandled snap by the kicker, etc.).  In any event the kicked ball is touched or partially blocked by an R player and there is subsequent contact by R on the kicker.  As I reviewed during the 2006 meetings, the touching of a scrimmage kick behind the line by R DOES NOT AUTOMATCIALLY MEAN THAT THE KICKER IS “FAIR GAME” FOR ANY CONTACT.  Officials need to review NFHS rule 9-4-5 periodically in their pre-game discussions.  Like many NFHS rules, officials will need to exercise some judgment in application of each of the provisions (a thru d) of 9-4-5.  Touching of the kicked ball by a K player does open the door for subsequent contact with the kicker to be ruled legal when such contact with the kicker when the ball is not touched would always be considered running into or roughing, but the touching of the kicked ball DOES NOT mean that all subsequent contact with the kicker is legal.  Officials annually are provided several NFHS publications.  The NFHS casebook is an excellent resource that officials will find of great value when considering how rules are to be applied and interpreted.  Page 69 of the 2007 NFHS Football casebook covers a number of situations that should be reviewed.  In particular, the COMMENT found in 9.4.5 Situation A should be reviewed to assist officials in applying the principles of 9-4-5.

For reference to help visualize the situation, A is the player who is initiating the block, B is the player that A is intending to block.  In the situation, either A or B is NOT a lineman, or the contact is outside the free blocking zone – that is the assumption is that play situation is NOT lineman blocking lineman in the free blocking zone.  Assumption is that for one or more reasons, A’s contact has to be above B’s waist.

POINT OF CLARIFICATION - UNIFORM ADORNMENTS:
Football - 5th quarter interpretations: KSHSAA Football rule 35-2-2 and 35-3-2 limit football players to no more than four quarters in a day. MS/JH players are also limited to no more than twenty-eight (28) total quarters in a season. During the course of the football season, questions often arise as to how the “fifth quarter” provisions in KSHSAA seasons of activities rule 30-1-5b are applied. The basic principle applied to the fifth quarter is that the fifth quarter is an extension of the fourth quarter in football.

POINT OF CLARIFICATION - 5TH QUARTER:
As a reminder to coaches and officials, the KSHSAA has interpreted NFHS football rule 1, section 5 article 3 k as follows: NFHS rules provide that no player shall participate while wearing illegal equipment. The rule goes on to provide that the illegal equipment list as provided in NFHS rule 1-5-3 is not all inclusive. Among the items listed is “Uniform adornments other than one unmarked moisture-absorbing white towel”. It has been a long standing interpretation by the KSHSAA of rule 1-5-3 k that the wearing of dew-rags, skull caps, bandanas, handkerchiefs, by players constitutes uniform adornment and thus by rule is illegal. This interpretation has not changed. Coaches and officials should be aware of this interpretation of NFHS rules and should not permit team members to enter a football game while wearing such items, even though they may not be visible.

Substitutions – legal or illegal???  From the number of calls I have received from both coaches and officials and from some of the statements made to me by coaches and/or officials during the course of those calls, the NFHS rules committee efforts over the last two years to “clarify” the differences between what actions constitute an illegal substitution and when is a violation an illegal participation may not have been as successful as the members of the committee had hoped for!  There still appears to be some misunderstanding or misinterpretation of just what the NFHS rules permit or do not permit when it comes to substitutions.  I would contend that the revisions of the last two years have helped in administration of penalties and some clarifications of terminology BUT the changes may not have addressed some still fundamental issues with respect to the determination of when or if a violation has occurred.  I’ll attempt one more try at explaining my understanding of how the NFHS rules are to be applied.

I believe that one of the best places to start in trying to understand how the NFHS substitution rules are to be applied is with the lengthy explanation given on the topic of Substitutions and Participation in the 2004 NFHS football rules book under the “Points of Emphasis” beginning on page 72 of the 2004 rules book.  In this rather detailed and lengthy discussion a number of fundamental issues of application of substitution and participation rules were discussed.  However, there still appears to be some basic issues that are left clouded.  Current rules on this issue still permit a considerable amount of “judgment” to be exercised by officials   

There changes made for the 2005 and 2006 seasons dealt with such items as:

So while there have been recent changes in the NFHS rules, the 2004 POE still appears to be the most detailed discussion on what appears to be the central issue dealing with the exercise of judgment by the official in applying and interpreting the substitution rules.   In the application and understanding of the NFHS rules both coaches and officials have to understand that the current rules are to apply uniformly to BOTH the offense and the defense.  While most of the time for an official and the coaches, the focus is on substitutions/participation on the offensive side, NFHS rules are the same when applied to the defensive side.  So while it is not permissible for 12 (or in the case of 8-man football – 9) players or replaced players to be in an offensive formation, neither is it permissible for there to be more than 11 (or 8) players or replaced players in a defensive formation.  The rules are applied the same on both sides of the line of scrimmage.

The one most common area of confusion/misunderstanding of NFHS substitution rules for coaches and, in some cases, officials, is that belief that “you can’t break the huddle with 12!”  As was pointed out in the 2004 POE, that prohibition is not listed or referenced in the NFHS code.  Nor have the 2005 or the 2006 revisions changed that aspect of the NFHS rules. 

As was discussed in the 2004 POE, the NFHS rules require “that replaced players must leave the field immediately”.  Players are replaced when a substitute enters the field and indicates to the player that he is replaced or when the substitute otherwise becomes a player.  I don’t believe it is realistic to interpret the NFHS code in a manner that removes totally the officials judgment in making a determination as to when the replaced player has to exit the huddle or the formation – there will be some time that will lapse in most substitution situations before the replaced player realizes that he must leave.  But once notified or once it becomes apparent that an incoming player is taking their spot in the formation (offensive or defensive) then the replaced player has to leave. 

The amount of time which can lapse before a substitution infraction occurs varies during a dead ball period – for example, once the offensive team takes their position/sets, if more than 11 (or 8) offensive players are in the formation, then a substitution violation has occurred.  Because of the challenges for defensive coverage and placement, in this example, there is very little time that can lapse in this type of substitution before it is a violation.  This has to be flagged when the officials recognize it.  This is a good time to  remind officials that during the dead ball, the officials need to track substitutions in a quick manner – for example “ if two come in, two need to leave” – sometimes the counting of players can be expedited by just tracking the “in’s and out’s” and not trying to recount all 11 (or 8) players.

Here’s another example - the team is preparing to enter a huddle and a player runs in from the sidelines, stops to give a play/defensive formation to the QB or Defensive signal caller (who are “in the huddle”). By rule the substitute is now a player and somebody has to leave.   But there still may be some momentary pause before one of the players knows who is to leave.  While I’ve never “timed” it while watching a game, I would guess that the defensive team will get by with longer periods of time to send out a player than officials would probably permit the offensive team to use in order to comply with the provision that “replaced players must leave the field immediately”. 

Receiver eligibility – Several calls concerning pass eligibility have come in during the last few days.  This is one of the cleanest rules in the book.  A quick review of the NFHS rules:

11-man football – Player in order to be an eligible pass receiver must be eligible both by position and by number.  It is legal for #55 (for example) to be lined up as a back and carry the ball.  BUT #55 is not an eligible receiver regardless of where he would line up.  If #75 was lined up at the end position on the line, he is not an eligible receiver.  Rule 7-2-5 - Other than for the exception in a scrimmage kick formation, in 11-man football, the offensive team must have at least five (5) players on the line of scrimmage numbered 50-79.  They could have more than five on the line of scrimmage, lets’ say all seven and all numbered 50-79.  That’s legal BUT in that formation, they don’t have any eligible receivers on the line of scrimmage.

8-man football – In eight man, receivers need only be eligible by position - the jersey number they are wearing does not affect their eligibility as a receiver.  #50 could be the running back and he would be eligible as a receiver by position.  Officials that may have limited experience with 8-man may wonder or ask, “how do we keep track of eligibility since numbers are not a factor in determining eligibility”.  The easiest way is just remember the numbers of the players who are NOT eligible – in 8-man there are only three players who are not eligible.

Reporting disqualifications – Officials if it is necessary to disqualify a player from a contest, it is important for the schools in working with their students to have an “OFFICIALS REPORT OF UNUSUAL SITUATION” on that disqualification.  Please fill out and send a report to Rick Bowden at the KSHSAA office for player disqualifications.

Application of 7-2-1: Officials' Time-Out
This question/situation has arisen “How is rule 7-2-1 (rule which requires all offensive players to be momentarily inside the “tic” marks or the tops of the yard line numbers) to be interpreted/applied in a situation in which there is an “Officials' Time-out” following the ready for play. If the offensive players were all inside the tic marks or numbers following the ready for play and then the officials' call for an officials' time-out, do they (the offensive players) have to re-set or re-establish themselves inside the tic marks/yard line numbers?” Example, following the referee marking the ball “ready for play” one of the officials' calls for an officials' time-out, assuming there is no substitution for one of the offensive team members, do the offensive team members have to re-establish themselves or re-position themselves inside the tic marks or the top of the yard-line marks, or can they stay outside the marks/numbers if they were outside the numbers as a result of a shift? The answer is no, they would not have to re-establish or re-set inside the numbers. It is important to point out that IF a substitute had entered the game during the officials' time-out then THAT new player would have to meet the requirements of 7-2-1.

KSHSAA interpretation – NFHS rule 3-6-5
The following situation was raised during the 2005 KSHSAA football rules meetings:
Situation: Both team A and team B return from the locker rooms to the football field prior to the lapse of the halftime. During halftime, the host school band/drill team performed. At the conclusion of the 15 minute scheduled halftime, the band and/or drill team was not yet done performing. Both teams had to wait several minutes for the band or the drill team to finish and leave the field before the teams could begin their required three minute warmup.
RULING: NFHS rule 3-6-5 provides that “game management is responsible for clearing the field of play and the end zones at the beginning of each half so play may begin at the scheduled time.” Under the penalty provisions a delay of game penalty is to be assessed against the home team for failing to have the field of play cleared so that the second half could begin on time. This would include having the field cleared so that the teams may begin their required warmup period.

Tinted eye shields – Several questions relevant to NFHS rule 1-5-3n have been raised.  At the interscholastic level any player wearing an “eye shield” is only permitted to wear a “clear, molded and rigid” eye shield.  Under NFHS rules, it is not permissible for a player to wear an eye shield that has any sort of or amount of “tinting”.  The rule DOES NOT require the student to have a letter from a doctor indicating that the eye shield needs to be worn.  The question that often arises is this, “What if a doctor sends in a letter saying that the eye shield must be tinted?  If this happens can the eye-shield be tinted?”  NO - Under NFHS rules and interpretation, the Doctor’s letter DOES NOT take precedence over this rule – in other words, the Doctor’s letter can not alter the rule.  A student could wear tinted eye glasses under a clear shield but the shield still has to be clear with no tinting.

The NFHS has posted rules interpretations, rules book revisions/clarifications, etc. on their web site.  The path to these interpretations is as follows:

These are the most recent NFHS rulings and corrections for the books.

Rule 7-2-8:  “Fumblerowski” play – A question has arisen with respect to the interpretation and application of this rule provision.  Specifically, the question is “is it legal for an A back to advance a planned loose ball?”  After reviewing the rule with the NFHS staff, it is now their interpretation that the provisions of 7-2-8 only apply to a planned loose ball being advanced by an A lineman.  Thus, it would be legal for an A back to advance a planned loose ball.

Rule 1-5-1i:  Mouth guards – A question has arisen with respect to the interpretation and application of this rule in regards to specially molded mouth guards medical staff prepares for students wearing braces.  It has been stated that many of these mouth guards are clear.  In some cases the cost of these has been significant.  The question is “is it permissible for the mouth guards to be all white or clear if they have been specifically prepared by orthodontists for students wearing braces?”  Again, after reviewing with the NFHS staff, it their interpretation that all mouth guards must conform to the rules that they be a color other than all white or clear.  Thus, it is not permissible for the mouth guards, even though they are provided by orthodontists, to be all white or clear.

Rule 7-2-1:  Tick marks for 8 man – On page 86 of the NFHS Football rules book, reference is made under rule 7-b, that “after the ball is ready and before the snap, each A must momentarily be within 12 yards of the spot where the ball is to be snapped.”  When the rule committee put in rule 1 for 8-man that there would be tick marks seven (7) yards in from the sideline (or the tops of the numbers would be 7 yards from the sideline), the committee failed to remove the reference to the 12 yard requirement.  The interpretation is that the 12 yard reference is not applicable now that the 7 yard marks (tops of the numbers) rule is in place.  As in 11-man, for 8-man following the ready and before the snap, all offensive players must momentarily be between the tick marks or the tops of the numbers.

Chin strap – covers?  There are some companies manufacturing “covers” or “protectors” for use on chip straps.  Ostensibly, they are designed to help pull perspiration away for the players chin, etc.  Two general questions have been raised re: the use of these by students in interscholastic play.  1)  It is permissible to use these?  Answer: yes, there is no rule that prohibits their use.  HOWEVER, it is important that the use of these by players does not compromise the purpose of the chin strap, such as – it has been observed that some of the players will loosen the strap when these are used and the chin strap then becomes so loose that it doesn’t securely keep the helmet in place on the player.  2)  Many of these have logo’s on them.  Is there a size limit on the size of the logo?  Answer:  yes, it still should be no greater than 2 ¼ square inches in size.

1-5-1i - Mouth guard update – Another question has arisen as to this rule and it’s application to the following type of mouth guard – this is a clear mouth guard other than a “stand” of color that is in the lower (biting surface) of the guard.  In the bottom of the guard there is a color “stand” that runs through the guard.  The question is “Does this guard comply with the requirements of rule 1-5-1i?”  The NFHS interpretation is that it DOES NOT COMPLY with the rule.  1-5-1i requires that the “tooth and mouth protector shall be of any readily visible color, other than completely white or completely clear”. The fact that there is a  color in this type of clear mouth guard does not make it legal - specifically the location of that colored strand makes it not “readily visible”.