2019 MIAA Football News Dear MIAA Football Schools, As we all prepare for the upcoming school year, the change to NFHS Football Rules is on the minds of many. The officials’ boards around the state have been working very, very hard to educate their members on the new set of rules. Their work began in earnest in the spring and has continued throughout the summer. A huge thanks goes out to all of the board leaders and NFHS rules “trainers” for all of their hard work and efforts to support officials as they transition to a new set of rules. Many coaches have also worked to learn about the new rules and share thoughts and questions with each other! A few items for all; 1) NFHS football hash marks are placed on the field differently than NCAA hash marks. NFHS hash marks are 53’4” from each sideline. These hash marks split the width of the field (160’) in three even sections. All MIAA games are to be played with NFHS hash marks. In the case of fields currently lined with NCAA hash marks: officials and visiting teams will be looking for temporary hash marks or other indicators of NFHS hash mark locations. An example of an indicator could be large orange traffic cone(s) outside the end of the end zone indicating the 53’4” hash mark location. Officials will use these indicators to approximate the NFHS hash mark line. Another indicator could be temporary NFHS marks every 5 or 10 yards. 2) Timing of quarters – A request from the MIAA to the NFHS for one final year of non- 12-minute periods was submitted but not approved this past June. NFHS rules state each period is 12 minutes with 1 minute intermission between periods. Halftime can be from 10-20 minutes. There is a mandatory 3 minute Warm-Up Period following halftime intermission. The game officials will work to have this posted on the game clock and indicate when the 3-minute period is to begin. 3) Point differential/running clock - The NFHS permits state associations to establish a point differential/running clock policy. MIAA schools will be using the following policy for the 2019-20 school year: “A running clock will be used: when a point differential reaches 42 points at the beginning of or any time during the 3rd quarter or a 30 point differential at the beginning of or any time during the 4th quarter. It will continue for the remainder of the game.” 4) Electronic devices - NFHS Rule 1 – 6 address coaches field equipment: Art. 1 Electronic communication devices including but not limited to audio recorder, Local Area network (LAN) … shall not be used to communicate with a player except during an outside 9-yard mark conference. Art. 2 Electronic communication devices including but not limited to audio recorder, Local Area network (LAN), still photograph(s), film, analog or digital video(s) and/or internet depiction may be used by coaches and non-players. 5) We are working on a “New NFHS Rules for 2019” information sheet to be disseminated to parents, booster groups and others to better understand the differences when attending the game. This will be sent out in the next few weeks. 6) 40/25 Second Clock – Officials will be working with new timing parameters of 40/25 second clock intervals. This will be managed by the officials on the field as many schools do not have a visible 40/25 second clock. During the past years, officials have worked diligently to efficiently manage getting the ball ready for play but with the new NFHS rules, the effort to adhere to 40/25 second intervals has created a new emphasis. Thoughts to consider as we help to manage the 40/25 second clock efforts: Ball Retrievers It will be extremely important to get the ball on the ground and ready for play as soon as possible. To that end, it will be highly recommended that game balls for both teams be on both sidelines. This means that both teams will either have to count on the opposing team’s ball retrievers to administer their game balls, or that each team will have to place ball retrievers on both sidelines. In the ideal situation there would be two ball retrievers (one for each team) and one ball retriever on each sideline. Chain Crew It will also be extremely important to get the chains set and ready quickly for the next play. The chain crew, but most importantly, the down box/marker must hustle (and sometimes run) to the succeeding spot. If the school is able, it could be valuable to have an ‘alternate’ down box on the opposite side of the field that can hold the previous spot in case it is necessary to return to that spot for some reason. In that scenario, the ‘alternate’ down box would remain at the previous line of scrimmage until the ball was marked ‘ready for play’ at the succeeding spot and then move to the spot for the ensuing snap. If you have additional questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me or contact one of your local football official board/leaders. Additionally, Tom Azevedo will be the football state interpreter for MIAA/NFHS football rules. He can be contacted at [email protected] or [email protected]. On behalf of the MIAA Football Committee and all football playing schools, I wish you and your school the best during the upcoming season. Richard Pearson MIAA Football Liaison .