Be the Referee: Disconcerting Acts
October 8, 2020
This week, MHSAA officials coordinator Sam Davis explains a change in football meant to reduce a form of gamesmanship at the line of scrimmage.
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 - Disconcerting Acts - Listen
Among the rules changes in high school football for the 2020-21 school year is an adjustment in the penalty assessed to the defense for disconcerting acts and sounds.
Among the gamesmanship that sometimes takes place near the line of scrimmage at the start of the play, defensive players have been known to make sounds or act in a manner which otherwise might distract an offensive player waiting for the snap signal. Previously, the most egregious of these actions would be penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct.
But beginning this year, the disconcerting act foul is a five-yard penalty. The change in the rule actually makes it more likely that this kind of behavior will be flagged, and may eventually lead to a reduction is this type of activity.
Past editions
10/1: Ball Hits Soccer Referee - Listen
9/24: Clocking the Ball from the Shotgun - Listen
Moment: Fee Sets Stage with Record Kick
November 5, 2020
By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
In keeping with the theme of 50-yard field goals written in this space earlier this week by MHSAA historian Ron Pesch, let’s take this week’s "Moment" to remember the longest field goal ever in an MHSAA Playoff Championship.
No one has ever gone over 50 yards. Heck, no one has ever tired a field goal over 50 yards that I can remember. But Ben Fee came as close as you could in the 2016 Division 3 Final for Orchard Lake St. Mary’s against Muskegon with a 49-yard boot in the Eaglets’ 29-28 victory.
The call on FOX Sports Detroit was cute – Fee was wearing Number 50, and while his holder straddled the 40-yard line, giving the appearance of a 50-yard attempt – the kicking block was a good half-foot in front of the 40, and by rule making it a 49-yard attempt. The kick broke a record set in the previous game of 47 yards by Liam Putz of Grand Rapids West Catholic and tied a record for most field goals in the final game with three also set by Jake Townsley from Warren DeLaSalle in 2014. Fee also had field goals of 32 and 35 yards in the contest.
The kick gave St. Mary’s a 23-21 lead with 4:47 left in the fourth quarter, setting the stage for one of the most dramatic finishes in playoff history. Muskegon would return the ensuing kickoff to near midfield and then score six plays later, on a La’Darius Jefferson three-yard run, with the extra point making it a 28-23 game in favor of the Big Reds with 1:55 to play.
Starting on its own 20-yard line, St. Mary’s got three runs from Rashawn Allen for 37 yards and reeled off a total of nine plays in 1:51, culminating with Caden Prieskorn’s 18-yard pass to Ky'ren Cunningham for the game-winning score with four ticks left on the clock.