Ron Annand, an ANEFO and college official; Steve Ultrino, an ANEFO official; Ed Dubish, an ANEFO and college official, and Tommy Brow, ANEFO rules interpreter, were the featured guest speakers at the ANEFO meeting on September 11, 2017. The topics of the evening included: Rule 2: Definitions; MIAA Football Rule Modifications; and Rule 3: Periods, Time Factors, and Substitutions. Their handouts, summary of their presentations, and/or resources are located at the bottom of this article.
First, Ron discussed specific football definitions, such as: blocking below the waist, chop blocks, clipping, catching requirements, fair catch signals, hurdling and leaping, scrimmage kick formations, shifts, and the various “spots” (enforcement spot, previous spot, succeeding spot, dead ball spot, spot of the foul, out-of-bounds spot, in bounds spot, spot where the run ends, spot where the kick ends, basic spot, and post-scrimmage kick spot). Ron also reviewed some of the MIAA high school rules modifications including: allowance for different colored helmets, different colored socks, cut off or shorter jerseys, 25 second play clock, five timeouts per half, no 10 second run offs, kickoffs at the 40 yard line and free kick touchbacks at the 20 yard line. A hot topic was also the prohibited tinted visors or shields. Next, Tommy’s activator was a video clip of that of an impressive, unidentified, (possibly an ANEFO official) running the length of the field and beating both teams to the goal line. He then presented an interesting “You Make the Call!” scenario involving holding an eligible receiving, a quarterback scramble, a run and a piling on call. Those present in the audience had an opportunity to “turn and talk” to other officials before the scenario was clarified. Tommy then presented an analogy between a baseball scoreboard and keeping track of MIAA overtime periods. Two interesting overtime plays were discussed that illustrated an MIAA rules exception at the end of the second overtime series. Finally, Steve and Ed presented information about Rule 3: Periods, Time Factors, and Substitutions. They discussed the start of each period, overtime, playing time, intermissions, timing adjustments, an extension of a period, starting and stopping a clock, suspending a game, charged timeouts, injury timeouts, substitutions and more than eleven men on the field. A video clip was presented of a recent Michigan vs. Cincinnati game in which the officials halted the play because an eleventh Cincinnati player ran out late onto the field thereby not allowing the Michigan team sufficient time to substitute a player.
For more information, please see posted handouts below.
MIAA Football Rules Modifications.2016.2017 <– (Annand’s Handout)
ANEFO.You.Make.the.Call.9.11.17 <–(Brow’s Handout)
ANEFO.Rule.3.Sept.11.17 <–(Ultrino & Dubish’s Handout)