JustRules

My understanding is this player tested positive but they suspected it may not be valid so they did a different test and he's now tested negative. The first test was a false positive. Many of these tests were developed very quickly and not completely validated so there will be false results. My question is how do they not know the first test was accurate and the second test is not?

I've always seen it as an easy way to reduce risk even just a little bit. You can't get away from players contacting each other during the play, but you can get away from players contacting each other after the game. We wear masks on the field before and after the game and during halftime but take them off during the game. It's not a huge difference, but it's an easy way to control when we can reduce exposure (never eliminate).

In most of our games the player on the field as the clock expires are shaking hands before they go to their hash and wave at the opposing team. We did have one game that is a fairly heated rival both teams headed directly to their respective locker rooms on either end of the stadium. I'm assuming there was an agreement by coaches prior to the game to do this.

A pretty good indication of why the regular season is largely meaningless. A team can give up a game or to quarantine because it has no impact on the post season. That is actually a positive for this particular season, but this is a unique year. I'm curious to see if schools will be as strict with quarantines if it would affect the tournament. If anyone is close to a team and willing to share, have any of the athletes who quarantined tested positive during their quarantine? If not the risk for those athletes to continue in the tournament may be very low. I'll be curious to see.

Further evidence there isn't a huge difference in the top of one class to the next. Congrats to South Putnam.

Per Robert there were 140 crews who applied and 122 received 1st round assignments. 13% is pretty close to 15% I guess. If you've worked 2 rounds you are still eligible for a sectional final so not getting a game this year has no bearing on next year. That message was more about a crew opting out being considered a new crew next year and starting the process over.

Observer feedback while helpful to the crew to improve has little or no direct impact on advancement. Crews get good observer feedback and don't advance beyond the first or second round. Other crews get negative reviews and work much deeper. Factors mentioned such as crew and previous tournament experience could hurt if the crew is very limited on those points. Most crews max out in those areas at least against the crews they are "competing" with. The biggest factor for most crews is the coach/school vote. There is no way Dirty D's crew knows their vote. They may know a few coaches who voted positively for them, but they don't know the full results until after the season. The number of votes is also a big factor. The crews who advance deep get a large number of votes which would explain his observation that a crew received negative votes from all schools in a sectional. If they received 100+ votes the number of positive votes would shadow the negative votes. If your crew only received a 10-15 votes then a negative vote will have a much bigger impact. It's a bad system, but it's our system for better or worse. The others have provided good advice, especially control what you control. Based on the way you are asking the question I'm guessing you are either a new official or your crew is a new crew. That likely means you have limited crew experience. That can be difficult to overcome as well. The top 3 officials by experience need to average 12 years of experience to get maximum points. Limited tournament experience would keep you from advancing to the second round, but there are several crews who have only worked 1 round so they are your main competition. Keep working at being a good official and crew and try not to let the ranking process determine your worth. Continue to watch video and ask those outside the crew to review your video and provide feedback.

Warren Central quarantined 40 players and their head coach in August off of one positive test and another showing symptoms (but eventually tested negative). I think they are taking this more seriously than most.

First, my preference would be a qualifying tournament with seeding. It's the most exciting approach for a tournament. But I also understand why it hasn't happened yet. The random draw doesn't create any more blowouts than seeding would You can have two 3-win teams playing in the first round while two 8-win teams also play in the first round. Both games could be close. But if the 8-win teams play the 3-win teams both are likely blowouts. The 8-win winner could play the 3-win winner in the sectional final in a blowout, but that's one fewer blowout than the current system. The other reason is most coaches and ADs realize they could be that 2 or 3-win team and hoping to draw another 2 or 3-win team in the first round and inject life into their program with a tournament win.

Winning 2 sectionals or a regional in a class is a pretty good indication you are competitive at that level.

If they are doing this to make sure they can play in the tournament, they may be the first team on the draw brackets with a record of 0-0. I'm glad they are getting a chance to try to play!

The way I often explain that is was the action by the defender and attempt to block a kick or execute a tackle? If the former then it is roughing the kicker because he obviously recognized it was going to be kicked. If it's the latter then he expected him to continue to be a runner and was trying to tackle him. Unless it's really late it's usually better to pass on it.

No foul for doing this. Even if the offense tells us they are taking a knee I tell the defense to play smart because if they muff the snap it's a live ball that can be recovered. Especially at the end of the first half you need to be ready for this kind of play.

Agree with Bob. It's a very severe penalty to eject a player from a HS game. I also don't think it's as big of an issue in HS as it is in college. We get maybe 1 or 2 per season. I don't see it as a major issues that needs to be addressed with something more punitive.

Beef House steak = bus granola bars and cheese crackers I may need to work a game there sometime so I can try the Beef House!

Since we are rarely mic'd up for HS games you are often left in the dark on what happened on some plays. There are times we really wish we had a mic to explain what happened.

Then you are fine! Just another strange variation of this play. It's why it's so important to understand the what of the rules and then be able to piece it together on the field so you know how to rule.

A common intentional formation some teams will use is to have the T as an end and two eligible numbers on the other side with one covering the other. Let's say you have the following numbers on the LOS: 82 22 54 57 62 68 71 This is a legal formation. 82 and 22 may be out wide with other players all tight. By definition #22 is an interior lineman even though he's split wide with the eligible number 82.

Exactly! In (a) it's 1st and 10 for K at the K41 and (b) 1st and 10 for K at the K28 (previous spot). It would be almost impossible for either to happen though where there weren't ineligible receivers downfield. If the pass itself was first touched beyond the NZ you'll have a flag. I believe you would have a 5 yard penalty from the previous spot and replay the down. 4th and 30 from the K23.

Thank you Bob! Imagine this scenario. K 4th and 25 from the K28. The ball is topped by R47 just after it leaves the kicker's leg. R21 sees it coming down at the K33 and attempts to field it. He muffs it and the ball bounds back to the K7 where it is recovered by the kicker. I don't think the R coach is going to be too happy when he finds out it's K's ball 1st and 10 at the K7. You have a kick touched by R beyond the NZ (I made it well beyond to avoid any confusion with the expanded NZ) and recovered by K.

Just to add some fun to this, if the ball is recovered behind the neutral zone after being touched by R beyond the neutral zone, K still has all their original options. They can run, pass, or kick the ball. If they run or pass it will still be their ball on the next down because of the touching by R beyond the neutral zone (assuming no other change of possession happens). For example, if the person who recovers throws a pass that is incomplete, it will be 1st and 10 for K at the previous spot! This is assuming the extremely unlikely scenario where K doesn't have ineligible linemen downfield and the pass is thrown beyond the neutral zone. If that happens R would accept the penalty enforced 5 yards from the previous spot and replay 4th down. This is often discussed and debated among officials and a good rules quiz question but extremely unlikely to occur.

It's a weird one that rarely happens (I've only seen it 2 or 3 times in all my years of officiating). Officials will sometimes get confused because it's legal on a punt if there is no R player in position to make the catch. If I had to bet it's probably called correctly 50% of the time it happens so you experience is not surprising. It's always an interesting sequence of emotions when it is called correctly. The coach from elated when his team executes to disappointed when he finds out it's not allowed to angry when he learns not only does the other team get the ball, but they get 15 yards tacked on for a penalty as well.

Let me try to explain this without lawyer-speak. 😎 K can legally touch the ball if it has touched the ground and traveled 10 yards OR has touched a receiving team player.

I would also like to clarify the waist of the snapper is where it in this play, not where it would be if he was standing up where his feet are. You will have situations (especially on punts) where they are so far back you will go directly to foul an skip the warning.

One potential fact is there have been a lot more positive cases but the person remained asymptomatic and were never tested. If that were true the good news is those individuals don't seem to be creating a major outburst to those who are more susceptible and more likely to become critically ill from the virus. The important thing is we have to keep doing what we are doing to make sure this continues. I didn't expect the season to start, and I definitely didn't expect the tournament to start. Now I'm cautiously optimistic. I am curious to see if some districts are as strict with contact tracing and quarantining when playoff games are at stake. It's actually a benefit of the Indiana all-in tournament process. You don't lose anything related to the post season if you miss a couple games during the season. Thank you and good luck to those who have helped make this happen.