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New Football Practice Policies

March 25, 2014

Last Friday, the MHSAA Representative Council adopted the proposals of the Football Task Force revising practice policies that take effect this fall, helping Michigan schools keep pace with an advancing standard of care – a standard that is reducing head-to-head contact in football practice on every level and in every league.

Michigan’s Football Task Force proposal – the result of four meetings during 2013 and much research and work between them – reduces collision practices to one a day before the first game and to two per week after the first game.

A collision practice is one in which there is live, game-speed, player-vs-player contact in pads (not walk-throughs) involving any number of players. This includes practices with scrimmages, drills and simulation where action is live, game-speed, player-vs-player.

A non-collision practice may include players in protective gear. Blocking and tackling technique may be taught and practiced. However, full-speed contact is limited to players versus pads, shields, sleds or dummies.

The new policies also increase the acclimatization period at the start of fall practice from three days to four days – helmets only permitted on the first two days, helmets and shoulder pads only on the third and fourth days.

Click this link for the Complete policy and FAQs.
Unforgettable 5ive

Unforgettable 5ive: 2021 11-Player Football Finals

By Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties

December 1, 2021

Here's a look at our Playoff Week 4 "Unforgettable 5ive" from MHSAA.tv and MHSAA media partner broadcasts:

► Belleville's Jeremiah Caldwell hauls in the 72-yard touchdown pass from Bryce Underwood in a 55-33 Division 1 win over Rochester Adams.

► Warren De La Salle Collegiate's Brady Drogosh breaks for a 45-yard touchdown run in a 41-14 Division 2 win over Traverse City Central.

► Detroit Martin Luther King gets a huge 4th-down stop against DeWitt to preserve a Division 3 victory, 25-21.

► Hunter Shaw's 33-yard walk-off field goal clinches Chelsea's 55-52 come-from-behind Division 4 win over Hudsonville Unity Christian.

► Grand Rapids Catholic Central's Nolan Zeigler takes the John Passinault pass 59 yards for the score in GRCC's 31-7 win over Marine City in Division 5.

► Dan Shipman intercepts the pass and returns it 29 yards, one of four Lansing Catholic interceptions, in a 16-6 win over Warren Michigan Collegiate in Division 6.

► Pewamo-Westphalia's Dak Ewalt runs it in from 35 yards out as PW defeats Lawton 14-10 in the Division 7 Final.

► Hudson's Nick Kopin scored twice, including this 6-yard run, in a 14-7 win over Beal City in Division 8.