Be the Referee: Forward Fumble
By
Paige Winne
MHSAA Marketing & Social Media Coordinator
September 9, 2025
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 – Forward Fumble - Listen
We have a Football “You Make the Call” for you today.
Team A has the ball at their 20-yard line. Team A’s quarterback gets the snap and starts running toward the sideline.
He’s tackled and fumbles the ball forward, towards the sideline. The ball rolls forward four yards and goes out of bounds before anyone can recover it.
Whose ball is it, and where is it marked?
Since the offense fumbled the ball, it went out of bounds and it wasn’t recovered by anyone, it remains the offense’s ball.
But the ball is marked back to the spot of the fumble. There’s no advantage to fumbling the ball forward.
If the ball had been fumbled backwards and out of bounds with no recovery, then the offense would retain possession where the ball went out of bounds.
Previous 2025-26 editions
Sept. 2: Field Hockey Basics - Listen
Aug. 26: Golf Ball Bounces Out - Listen
Moment: Marcotte's Return Sets Record
November 12, 2020
By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
Lake Linden-Hubbell took advantage of a Mendon miscue in the 1991 MHSAA Class DD Football Final to prevent a potential score and extend its lead at the time with one the longest defensive scoring plays in a championship game.
After falling behind 8-0 midway through the first quarter, Mendon marched down the field to the Lakes' 8-yard line. On a 3rd-and-8, quarterback Mike Smith rolled left and under pressure lofted an errant pitch which was picked up by Lake Linden linebacker Rick Marcotte, who ran 79 yards the other way on the final play of the first quarter for the longest fumble return in a title match.
It was the second time that weekend the fumble return record had been broken. In the Class C finale the day before, Nate Cierlak of Muskegon Catholic Central returned a fumble 56 yards for a score against Harbor Beach.
Marcotte's score gave the Lakes a 14-0 lead at the time. Smith, however, would engineer a scoring drive off the ensuing kickoff, negotiating the last 10 yards himself to start the comeback for the Hornets, who would score the next 22 points en route to a 30-14 victory and second championship in three years for coach John Schwartz’s squad.