Courtesy from the MHSAA
A new feature of the MHSAA Website is called Be The Referee, a weekly message designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials. “Be The Referee” features MHSAA Assistant Director Mark Uyl’s insights on officiating. Uyl oversees the Association’s officiating efforts, and is an accomplished collegiate official in two sports who umpired the NCAA College World Series in 2014.
Overtime
There is nothing better for a football fan than a close game and the
ultimate is when that close game ends up going into overtime.
The high school overtime rules are quite similar to those used at the college level. In other words, both teams are going to be guaranteed one possession of the ball starting out first down and goal to go from the ten-yard line. A couple of keys differences is if the defense gets possession of the ball on an interception or on a fumble, the ball is dead and the teams switch offense and defense, In other words, that ball can’t be returned for a defensive score to end the game.
There is also no requirement that the offense at any point after a touchdown be required to go for two. If the game would go seven or eight overtimes, teams can continue to simply kick the one point extra point.