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Be the Referee: Dead Ball Penalty

By Paige Winne
MHSAA Director of Brand Management

September 15, 2026

Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.

Below is this week's segment – Dead Ball Penalty - Listen

We’ve got 4th-and-10 on the football field today. Team A has the ball on their own 40 and is going for it.

The quarterback scrambles and is pushed out of bounds at the 49-yard line, one yard short of a first down.

A defensive player from Team B hits the quarterback after he’s been pushed out of bounds and is flagged for a dead-ball personal foul. Where should the ball be marked and who has possession?

Is it 1st-and-10 for Team A at Team B’s 36-yard line? Or does the defense get the ball, 1st-and-10 for Team B at their own 36?

If you said Team B’s ball, you are correct. The personal foul was a dead-ball penalty that is enforced after the change of possession.

Previous 2026-27 editions

Sept. 8: Libero Ejected - Listen
Sept. 1: Soccer Foul After Shot on Goal - Listen
Aug. 25: Fumble Out of Bounds - Listen

Moment: Nick & Nick Go 90, 27 Years Apart

October 30, 2020

By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties

The longest rushing play in the MHSAA Football Finals is one of two marks that has two players tied for the top spot.

Nick Williams of Farmington Hills Harrison originally set the standard in 1994, in the Class A Final against Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, a game won by the Hawks, 17-13.

It took 27 years for the equalizer, when Edwardsburg’s Nick Bradley ripped off a 90-yard scoring run in the Division 4 finale against Grand Rapids Catholic Central, a game in which the Eddies fell to the Cougars, 42-31.

Williams, at 6-foot-2 and 248 pounds, blasted from his fullback’s spot through a hole and went untouched to start the second quarter for the Hawks against Forest Hills Central. Roy Granger followed-up with an 80-yard scoring run in the third quarter to stake coach John Herrington’s team to a 14-0 lead.

“It was the big play.” Williams told the Detroit Free Press after the game. “We’ve got a lot of guys on this team who can make the big play, and everybody wants to make the big play. If you’ve got guys who can make the big play, and they want to make the big play, then they will make the big play.”

Bradley’s 90-yarder was one of two championship game records set in 2017 – the only time that has happened. Caden Coggins had a 99-yard kickoff return for a score in the same game. Bradley's TD cut the Cougars' lead to 35-31 with just over eight minutes left to play.

It was a wild game in the respect that Edwardsburg had five scoring plays in excess of 50 yards, but in the end it was Nolan Fugate, rushing for four touchdowns, who gave CC the victory. Fugate caught a pass for a record-tying fifth touchdown in the game and had 306 yards rushing – one yard short of a Finals game record.