Officially Speaking: Get out of my face
Editor's Note: Officially Speaking with Steve Hall is a feature that allows readers to ask questions about high school football rules, and runs weekly throughout the season. Hall has been a New Hampshire high school official since 1989 and has officiated nearly 300 NHIAA regular-season varsity games. He has also officiated more than 25 playoff games, and worked his 11th championship game last year (Pinkerton at Nashua South). Hall, who is a member of the New Hampshire Football Officials' Association Board of Directors, has been the NHFOA rules interpreter since 2001, and is also the New Hampshire representative on the National Federation of High Schools rules committee. Questions, which may be edited for clarity, can be submitted to rbrown@nhfootballreport.com. Please include your hometown.
Question: Reading last week's question about ball placement on a conversion got me to thinking about moving the ball for a kickoff. Can a team/kicker select the spot it wants to kick from? I'm wondering if a team can kick from near one sideline and have 10 players on the other side of the ball in an attempt to recover an onside kick. I have seen teams shift players, but never move the ball. My guess is that this isn't allowed.
-- Merrimack
Answer: For a kickoff, the ball can be placed anywhere between the hash marks. Since there is no requirement to have a minimum number of players on each side of the ball, the team could kick from one hash mark and have
the remaining 10 players on the other side of the ball. Teams can also shift from one side of the ball to another, but the ball cannot be moved once the spot from which the kickoff will be made has been selected.
Question: Is face-guarding by a defensive back on a pass play illegal in high school football?
-- Gonic
Answer: Yes. It's pass interference. Unfortunately, most fans (and many coaches) are not aware of this rule, so when it's called, people assume that the official made a bad call. Face-guarding occurs when a player hinders an opponent's vision without making an attempt to catch, intercept or bat the ball, even if no contact is made.
Question: Following a safety, the kicking team elects to punt the ball. In this situation is it still a live ball if the ball is kicked more than 10 yards?
-- Bow
Answer: I assume that you are asking if the kicking team can recover a kick following a safety once the kick has traveled 10 yards. The answer is yes. A kick after a safety is a kickoff, so the kicking team can recover it after it has travelled 10 yards as long as the ball has touched the ground. If this happens, the ball belongs to the kicking team at the spot of recovery. The kicking team can never advance a free kick.
