Officially Speaking: passing thought
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: If a pass is deflected by a defensive player, can the ball be caught and advanced by an offensive lineman? Does it matter if the ball is caught behind or beyond the line of scrimmage?
-- Amherst
Answer: Yes. Once a pass is touched by the defense, all ineligible receivers become eligible. Anyone can then catch and advance the ball, regardless of whether the ball is caught behind or beyond the neutral zone.
If the touching of the pass by the defense occurs behind the neutral zone, then there is no foul if ineligible players are downfield before the pass crosses the line of scrimmage, and pass interference restrictions are
cancelled. If the touching of the pass by the defense occurs beyond the neutral zone, there could still be a foul for ineligible downfield if the ineligible crossed the neutral zone before the pass was thrown. There could also be pass interference occurring before the pass is touched by the defense beyond the line of scrimmage. Essentially, touching of the pass by the defense behind the neutral zone eliminates any ineligible downfield or pass interference fouls.
ground. Can the kicking team gain a first down and keep the ball, or is this not allowed because the kick crossed the line of scrimmage?
-- Wolfeboro
Answer: Well, I saw Keene's blocked field goal, and it was a very heads-up play by Colby Wilkinson of Keene, who picked up and advanced the ball for a first down. A field goal is a scrimmage kick (as is a punt or drop kick
from a scrimmage formation). Any scrimmage kick can be caught or recovered in or behind the neutral zone and advanced by either team. This applies even if the kick goes beyond the neutral zone then bounces back behind the neutral zone. A scrimmage kick beyond the neutral zone can only be advanced by the receiving team. In the play that you describe above, if the kicking team caught the kick beyond the neutral zone after it was
blocked, the ball would become dead and it would belong to the receiving team, first and 10. The kicking team is not awarded a first down if it catches or recovers a kick beyond the neutral zone unless the ball has been
touched by a receiving team player beyond the neural zone. However, the kicking team could also be called for kick catching interference. If a kicking team player touches or catches a scrimmage kick in flight (i.e., before the ball touches the ground) and there is a receiving team player in position to catch the kick, it's kick catching interference. The receiving team has a choice of penalizing the kicking team 15 yards from the previous
spot and replaying the down, accepting an awarded fair catch at the spot where the kicking team caught the ball, or taking the results of the play (which would give the ball to the receiving team at the spot where the kick
was caught by the kicking team).
The last two options essentially produce the same result, except that after an awarded fair catch, the receiving team has a choice of snapping or free kicking the ball. If they free kick and the ball goes through the
uprights, it's a field goal. (Coach Lenahan of Plymouth is well aware of this rule, as we all discovered last year.)
Question: Mr. Hall, I'm sure you've seen fake field goals where the holder flips the ball forward to a running back. In this situation, is the running back allowed to throw a forward pass, or would it be considered illegal because two forward passes were thrown on the same play?
-- Hopkinton
Answer: The second pass would be illegal. Flipping a ball forward, even underhand, is a forward pass. Only one forward pass is allowed during a down. The penalty for an illegal forward pass is five yards from the spot of the pass plus loss of down. In the play above, the holder could not have a knee on the ground when he flipped the ball forward. If he did, the ball would become dead immediately.
Question: Red team punts the ball to the blue team. Blue team calls for a fair catch, but the ball is dropped (muffed) by the kick returner. It appears a player for the red team will jump on the ball, but he is held and
dragged to the ground by a player from the blue team (an obvious penalty). The blue team then recovers the ball. Who gets the ball, where and why?
-- East Kingston
Answer: The ball is awarded to the blue team (receiving team) because they are in possession at the end of the down. They may be guilty of holding, but it's a play that I'd have to see in order to render a judgment. A
player is allowed to pull an opponent out of the way if it's done in an effort to get at a loose ball that he may legally possess. If the receiving team player pulled his opponent out of the way in an attempt to get at the loose ball, then there is no foul. However, if the pulling was done only to prevent the opponent from getting to the ball, it would be
holding. If it was holding, then in the play you describe above, it would be what we refer to as a "post scrimmage kick" foul. The receiving team would be penalized 10 yards from either the spot of the recovery (where the
kick ended) or the spot of the foul if the foul occurred behind the spot where the kick ended. The receiving team would be awarded a first down after enforcement.
