Catch These New Rules as Fall Kicks Off
August 7, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The first practices of 2014-15 begin next week for approximately 110,000 student-athletes taking part in eight sports in which the Michigan High School Athletic Association sponsors postseason tournaments, with nearly 41,000 football players practicing under a new policy in that sport aimed at continuing to improve player safety.
The new practice policy was proposed by a Football Task Force made up of coaches, administrators and MHSAA staff which met during 2012 and 2013, and approved by the MHSAA’s Representative Council at its Winter Meeting on March 21.
The modifications are meant to promote heat acclimatization and limit helmet-to-helmet contact during practices. They include:
- During the first week of practice, only helmets are allowed the first two days, only shoulder pads may be added on the third and fourth days, and full pads may not be worn until the fifth day of team practice.
- Before the first regular-season game, schools may not schedule more than one “collision” practice in a day. A collision practice is defined as one in which there is live, game-speed, player-versus-player contact in pads involving any number of players.
- After the first regular-season game, teams may conduct no more than two collision practice days in any week, Monday through Sunday.
- No single football practice may exceed three hours, and the total practice time for days with multiple practice sessions may not exceed five hours. Neither strength/weight training activities nor video/classroom sessions are considered practice for the purposes of the three or five-hour limits.
Previously, schools were required to conduct at least three days of practice without pads before beginning contact. The change to four days for gradual addition of pads was added to assist athletes in acclimating to being physically active in hot weather. Guidelines reducing the amount of collision practice go hand in hand with rules changes that have been made to reduce helmet-to-helmet contact in game situations. The policies in detail can be found on the Football page of the MHSAA Website.
“We think these new policies, with respect to the number of collision practices there can be before the first game, and after the first game, really are where 85 to 90 percent of our coaches already were,” said John E. “Jack” Roberts, executive director of the MHSAA. “This new policy sends a signal to that 10 to 15 percent to get on board with the rest of us to make football just as safe as it can possibly be.”
Practice in football must begin on August 11 for all schools wishing to begin regular-season games the weekend of August 28-30. Schools must have 12 days of preseason practice at all levels before their first game, and those 12 days of practice may not occur before 16 calendar days.
Practice sessions for all other sports begin on Wednesday (August 13). In golf and tennis, competition may commence no earlier than after three separate days of team practice, and not before seven calendar days. The first day competition may take place in golf and tennis is August 20. In all other fall sports, contests can take place after seven days of practice for the team and not before nine calendar days. The first day competition may take place in cross country, tennis, soccer, swimming and diving, and volleyball is August 22.
Only one football date precedes Labor Day, and most varsity games will take place on Thursday, August 28, that week. Subvarsity competition may begin on Wednesday, August 27. In Week 1, 255 games will be played on Thursday, 53 contests will be played on Friday, and five games will be played on Saturday.
Continuing the focus on player safety, a number of rules changes were made in football for 2014:
- Rules were added restricting targeting of opponent and illegal helmet contact with defenseless players, with both resulting in 15-yard penalties. Targeting is defined as taking aim at an opponent with the helmet, forearm, hand, fist, elbow or shoulder to initiate contact above the shoulders and with an intent beyond making a legal tackle or block, or playing the ball. A defenseless player can be considered one no longer involved in a play, a runner whose progress has been stopped, a player focused on receiving a kick or a receiver who has given up on an errant pass, or a player already on the ground.
- Illegal contact to a quarterback now will be considered roughing the passer, and the offense will receive an automatic first down in addition to the previous 15 yards from the penalty.
- On kickoffs, the kicking team must have at least four players on either side of the kicker, and no kicking team players except for the kicker may line up more than five yards behind the free-kick line. These changes were made to improve safety by balancing the kicking formation and shortening the potential run-up by kicking team players heading down the field to tackle the ball carrier.
A number of significant rules changes will go into effect for other fall sports:
- In cross country, the ban on wearing jewelry has been lifted (and also for track and field in the spring). The National Federation of State High School Associations deemed the ban unnecessary in these two sports because there is little risk of injury with minimal contact between competitors. Elimination of the rule will allow officials to further focus on the competition.
- In soccer, Michigan has adopted the National Federation rule stating home teams must wear solid white jerseys and socks, with visiting teams in dark jerseys and socks (dark defined as any color contrasting white). Also, officials may now wear green and blue shirts in addition to red and black as alternates to the primary yellow shirt with black pinstripes.
- Also for soccer, both field players and goalkeepers must now leave the field when injured and the referee has stopped the clock. Previously, an injured goalkeeper was not required to leave the game when the referee stopped the clock; going forward, the keeper must be replaced.
- In swimming and diving, one change affects the beginning of races and another impacts a specific event. The use of starter’s pistols is now prohibited; starters must use an alternative sounding device to start races. Additionally, in the backstroke, a swimmer may not submerge his or her entire body after the start except for during turns. The swimmer must remain on or above the water surface on the finish, eliminating the abuse of submerging well before touching the wall. This change also applies to the finish of the backstroke leg of the individual medley.
The 2014 Fall campaign culminates with postseason tournaments beginning with the Upper Peninsula Girls Tennis Finals the week of Sept. 29, and wraps up with the 11-Player Football Playoff Finals on Nov. 28-29. Here is a complete list of fall tournament dates:
Cross Country:
U.P. Finals – Oct. 18
L.P. Regionals – Oct. 24 or 25
L.P. Finals – Nov. 1
11-Player Football:
Selection Sunday – Oct. 26
Pre-Districts – Oct. 31 or Nov. 1
District Finals – Nov. 7 or 8
Regional Finals – Nov. 14 or 15
Semifinals – Nov. 22
Finals – Nov. 28-29
8-Player Football:
Selection Sunday – Oct. 26
Regional Semifinals – Oct. 31 or Nov. 1
Regional Finals – Nov. 7 or 8
Semifinals – Nov. 15
Finals – Nov. 21
L.P. Girls Golf:
Regionals – Oct. 8 or 9 or 10 or 11
Finals – Oct. 17-18
Soccer:
Boys L.P. Districts – Oct. 13-18
Boys L.P. Regionals – Oct. 21-25
Boys L.P. Semifinals – Oct. 29
Boys L.P. Finals – Nov. 1
L.P. Girls Swimming & Diving
Diving Regionals – Nov. 13
Swimming/Diving Finals – Nov. 21-22
Tennis:
U.P. Girls Finals – Oct. 1 or 2 or 3 or 4
L.P. Boys Regionals – Oct. 9 or 10 or 11
L.P. Finals – Oct. 17-18
Girls Volleyball:
Districts – Nov. 3-8
Regionals – Nov. 11 & 13
Quarterfinals – Nov. 18
Semifinals – Nov. 20-21
Finals – Nov. 22
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.
In the Long Run: Only 15 Rushers Share State Record with 99-Yard Scoring Sprint
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
August 26, 2024
Jakob Price remembers the defense forcing him into a subtle change of plans at the line of scrimmage, then about a dozen seconds later finishing his run into the MHSAA record book.
It's a rare story that only 15 football players in MHSAA history can tell, most involving similar circumstances. A couple of key blocks, the opening of but a sliver of a hole, a fortuitous breakdown on defense including a broken tackle or two, capped, in many cases, by simple luck.
When it comes to a rusher busting loose on a 99-yard run, there is much that has to fall into place. In the case of Price, a sophomore at Muskegon when he became the last player to make that rare record-tying dash on Oct. 8, 2021, it was all the above.
"I remember we ran what we called a "power 6" and I hit the line hard," Price said. "I saw that the hole off the center was clogged, and I thought I was going to get hit, but I made a move. Three guys had a shot at me, but someone took out the tackle with a block and I saw nothing but green. It was almost a safety, but then this hole opened up and I was gone."
In comparison, for instance, there have been 81 players who've thrown for at least six touchdowns in a game. But only 15 players in Michigan history have snatched a handoff and sped 99 yards to pay dirt. It's a wide cast of characters that stretches from one player who has played in 12 major league baseball games to another who collected three times as many receiving yards as rushing and whose previous longest run had been a modest 25.
The first 99-yard run chronicled in the MHSAA record book was by James Edington of Morrice, who raced 99 yards against Kingston on Oct. 29, 1999. Edington's run was one of his last during an outstanding four-year career that included being named all-state three times. He remembers the play, which came late in a playoff game, being an inside trap where he broke at least two tackles. Edington said the play wasn't designed for anything more than to keep the defense from notching a safety.
"I was just trying to get out of the end zone, get us some room," said Edington, who remembers having 4.7 speed in the 40-yard dash. "I remember it was at the end of the game and I was so tired. I was a two-way player who rarely came off the field. I know that in a 99-yard run the blocks have got to be there when the defense hits the box. I knew if I could just get past this linebacker, there was a lot of green grass in front of me."
Morrice, coincidentally, also is the only program to have a 99-yard runner in 8-player football. Morrice switched from 11 to 8-player with the start of the 2014 season, and Jake Rivers made the 99-yard sprint twice in 2015.
Saugatuck coach Bill Dunn is the only coach to have two players on the list, including his son Blake, on Sept. 25, 2015, against Decatur.
From a coaching standpoint, Bill Dunn said there is nothing like a crushing 99-yard burst to change a game's momentum. When a team is clinging to the ball at its 1-yard line, the possible outcomes are seemingly dark – from surrendering a safety to a punt that puts the opposition in prime position to score.
"A lot of things have to happen in a 99-yard run," Dunn said. "There can absolutely be luck. And it can be a backbreaker. You got a team at the 1-yard line, and the defense knows it's going to get good field position with a punt. But instead you get a guy who breaks one for 99."
Blake Dunn, now a prospect in the Cincinnati Reds system, was an all-state sprinter in high school as part of earning 16 varsity letters across four sports. Dunn said he made a "mid-line read" after the fullback dove into the line. The defense collapsed on him, Dunn cut back against the grain and was off to the races.
"Our fullback dove down the mid-line, and my read crashed down to him," said Dunn, whose 101 career touchdowns are fourth in state history while his 6,954 rushing yards rank eighth.
"When I followed my blocks through the hole, there was a bunch of open grass. I think there might have been a linebacker that almost tripped me up from the backside, but nobody was able to get me and then 99 yards later it ended in a touchdown. It was pretty cool fun in the moment and fun to look back on it now."
Kyle Raycraft of Frankenmuth made his 99-yard run against Caro on Sept. 5, 2003. Like many of his brethren’s stories, Raycraft, who remembers running for more than 200 yards and three or four touchdowns in the game, said the play came down to a couple of blocks, shaking off potential tacklers, and having daylight in front of him.
"I went up the middle and got good blocking at the line and broke a couple tackles," said Raycraft, also an all-state sprinter and currently an emergency room doctor in Sault Ste. Marie. "I really didn't think that much of it at the time. I think it got us the lead at a key time and that was exciting, but I didn't think it was so rare. There's been a lot of high school football and only (15) kids have done this, so that's a pretty short list."
Matthew Hoffman of Sanford Meridian, by his own admission, wasn't particularly fast. So speed played a minimal part in his run Sept. 11, 2015, against Beaverton.
Hoffman ran track in the spring, but not as a sprinter; he ran distances. His piece of football history was more a result of getting a couple of key blocks, breaking through the line, making a cut and finding running room along the sideline.
"I broke to the line and swerved to the left to the sidelines," said Hoffman, now a certified rescue boat operator working on the Gordie Howe International Bridge for the Bridging North America company. "I was quick and shifty and I'd get a few breakaways, but I wasn't fast. I think the defense was looking for me on the right side, and it was a counterplay to the left. The offensive line did a great job on that play.
"It was exciting, but (instead of records) it was more it just happened so quickly. People met me in the end zone after the play was over, but then we were just focused on defense and the next play."
Coleman's Mitch Franklin has another different slant on his 99-yard story. He was primarily a receiver who recorded 1,014 yards at that position as opposed to around 300 as a running back. But on Sept. 13, 2014, against Charlevoix, Franklin took advantage of a rare handoff after a quarterback sneak had netted virtually no gain on first down.
"Best blocking we had all year. A hole opened up, I stiff-armed a guy and just ran," said Franklin, a former Gladwin County sheriff’s deputy. "I remember I was fortunate to run on our right side where we had bigger guys. It was fortunate that we caught the defense off guard. I think it was about our first power run that game and a lot of fortunate things had to happen.
"One of the things I remember is our principal patting me on the back and telling me what a good run it was."
While the members of the select 99-Yard Club may have different memories as to how they successfully dashed from their team's 1-yard line into the other team's end zone, their goals were the same: Just somehow move their team from the shadow of their own goalposts into more favorable territory.
And one last goal, recalled Franklin.
"Hey, you just don't want to make that long drive home with a big, fat ‘L,’” he said. "You want to win the game. That's what was important."
The MHSAA is continuously adding to its record books, and there is no deadline for an accomplishment to be submitted. Find directions to do so and the football record books in full at this link.
PHOTOS (Top) Coleman's Mitch Franklin (right) turns upfield during a 99-yard scoring run against Charlevoix on Sept. 13, 2014. (Middle) Muskegon's Jakob Price (left) makes a move on the way to a 99-yard touchdown run against Muskegon Mona Shores in 2021. (Below) Saugatuck's Nick Stanberry breaks away for a 99-yard TD run against Kent City in 2018. (Photos provided by Franklin, Price and the Saugatuck football program.)