So now we’re relying on the refs to be mind-readers. “He clearly had an attitude of superiority for the .56 seconds that his arms were spread, therefore, penalty.”
The score was meaningless because it was in the first quarter? Is there some rule that you don’t score as often as you can because it’s unsporting to be better than your opponent now? Come on.
Good rule. It’s clearly needed to force these young men to play gentlemanly and sportsmanlike.
I said nothing about not scoring. It was meaningless as it was early in the game and it was already a blow-out in the making. The score was not a game changer or winning a major championship.
Celebrating is fine. Taunting never has any place on the field for any reason. In the immortal words of Bear Bryant “When you get to the endzone, act like you’ve been there before”. Same goes before you get there. If it costs you a TD and embarrasses you on national tv, all the better. You can bet #15 wil keep his arms tucked in until after he has scored the next chance he gets.
It was clearly taunting. The rule is stupid.
So this essentially happened in a high school state championship game. I haven’t seen the specific details, but as “time wound down” the QB was running for a go ahead TD. He put his hand up in celebration around the 25, was flagged, and the TD negated. They ended up losing 16-14, but I’m not sure what happened after the play or how much time was left. ESPN has a video:
So, are ya’ll happy about this?
Celebrating before the line is taunting. There were several defensive players nearby and it was clearly an “in your face, I beat you” gesture. The kid just learned a valuable lesson.
It has nothing to do with the NCAA, but leaving that aside - I never liked the idea of taking points off the board, not that I liked players doing backflips into the endzone very much either. Either way this looks like an overzealous call to me. The celebration could have been premature, but he briefly raises his fist after seeing he was going to score the championship-winning TD. I don’t think raising your fist in celebration is the same as taunting the other team.
I don’t know if this has anything to do with what happened, but the LSU punter who got penalized was from Australia, and might not have been familiar with US football codes of conduct. Even in Aussie Rules, which is about ten miles tougher than US football will ever be, a bit of celebration like that would be shrugged off with a post-game pint; nobody would ever think “I would get the same penalty for that as if I’d grabbed a guy’s facemask and tried to recreate that scene in The Exorcist.”
It’s Maine, so they use modified NCAA rules (timing differences and safety changes largely) instead of the NFHS rulebook that the rest of the country uses (except Texas, which also uses modified NCAA).
Massachusetts, not Maine. MIAA rules apply.
The call made the difference in the state championship game, too. But it stands.
yes. those little shitstains get their egos fluffed enough just because they play a game; the least they can do is not be assholes about it.
well, he wasn’t going to generate any lift by doing that, so I’m wondering just what alternative conclusion the refs would be able to come to.