Be the Referee: Most Important Line
October 31, 2019
This week, MHSAA officials coordinator Sam Davis explains what the goal line means for offenses, defenses and special teams in high school football.
Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.
Below is this week's segment - Most Important Line - Listen
There’s an old saying in football officiating that the most important line on the field is the goal line.
This is certainly true when it comes to touchdowns, as the high school rule is just like that at the college and pro level, where all the ball has to do is break the plane for the score.
One unique part of the goal line under high school rules deals with kicks. Whenever a kickoff or a punt breaks the plane of the goal line, it becomes a dead ball with an automatic touchback. Now, whenever the defense gets possession of the ball in the end zone, it can return a fumble or interception out of the end zone for advancement, except if it’s on an extra point or any time in overtime.
Past editions
Oct. 24: Automatic 1st Downs - Listen
Oct. 17: Catch Momentum - Listen
Oct. 10: Golf Rules Changes - Listen
Oct. 3: No Tackle Box - Listen
Sept. 26: You Make the Overtime Call - Listen
Sept. 19: Swimming Finishing Touch - Listen
Sept. 12: Curbing Gamesmanship By Substitution - Listen
Sept. 5: Football Safety Rules Changes - Listen
Aug. 29: 40-Second Play Clock - Listen
MHSAA TV Serves Up Key TVC Match
October 4, 2017
By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
A battle for control of the Tri-Valley Conference Central takes place today (Oct. 4) on MHSAA.tv when Freeland hosts Saginaw Swan Valley in girls volleyball at 7 p.m.
Swan Valley enters this week’s action 31-8-2 and ranked seventh in the latest Class B coaches poll. Freeland, which garnered honorable mention this week in the same poll, is 26-5-2 overall. Both teams are 3-0 in league play.
Freeland is one of more than 60 MHSAA member schools across the state participating in the
School Broadcast Program, and one of nearly a dozen schools to be streaming live video of its home athletic events using the NFHS Network’s Pixellot technology.
Pixellot is a unit equipped with four High Definition cameras which cover the length of the playing surface and then focus in on the ball and player movement to deliver the action. The unit communicates with the scoreboard to insert a time and score graphic on the screen. Ambient audio is picked up by the device, but the play-by-play of an in-person announce team can also be patched in. Freeland is one of several schools in the state using Pixellot in its gymnasium and at its football/multipurpose field.
In its ninth year, the School Broadcast Program gives members an opportunity to showcase excellence in their schools by creating video programming of athletic and non-athletic events, with students gaining skills in announcing, camera operation, directing/producing and graphics. Pixellot is used by schools wishing to stream games but which lack the ability to staff the events. The SBP program also gives schools the opportunity to raise money through advertising and viewing subscriptions.
Here’s this week’s MHSAA.tv schedule of video streams being produced by SBP members:
Tuesday, October 3
- Girls Volleyball - Houghton at Calumet, 6:30 p.m.
- Boys Soccer – Lansing Everett at Fowlerville, 6:30 p.m.
- Girls Volleyball - Gwinn at Marquette, 7 p.m.
- Girls Volleyball – Manistique at Negaunee, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, October 4
- Freshman Girls Volleyball – Saginaw Swan Valley at Freeland, 5 p.m.
- JV Girls Volleyball – Saginaw Swan Valley at Freeland, 6 p.m.
- Girls Volleyball - Saginaw Swan Valley at Freeland, 7 p.m.
Thursday, October 5
- Freshman Football – Sturgis at Plainwell, 4:30 p.m.
- Girls Volleyball - Mio at Rogers City, 6 p.m.
- JV Girls Volleyball – Crystal Falls Forest Park at Norway, 6 p.m.
- Freshman Girls Volleyball – Corunna at Otisville Lakeville, 6 p.m.
- JV Football – Standish-Sterling at Freeland, 6 p.m.
- JV Girls Volleyball – Corunna at Otisville Lakeville, 6 p.m.
- JV Football – Grand Rapids Catholic Central at Comstock Park, 6 p.m.
- JV Football – Sturgis at Plainwell, 6:15 p.m.
- Girls Volleyball - Corunna at Otisville Lakeville, 6:30 p.m.
- Girls Volleyball - West Iron County at Calumet, 6:30 p.m.
- Girls Volleyball - Menominee at Marquette, 7 p.m.
- Girls Volleyball – Crystal Falls Forest Park at Norway, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, October 6
- Football - Lakeland Union (WI) vs. Marquette @ Superior Dome, 7 p.m.
- Football – Carson City-Crystal at Vestaburg, 7 p.m.
- Football - Sanford Meridian at Clare, 7 p.m.
- Football - Lake Orion at Oxford, 7 p.m.
- Football – Mt. Morris at Montrose, 7 p.m.
- Football – Manistique at Negaunee, 7 p.m.
Monday, October 9
- JV Boys Soccer – Paw Paw at Plainwell, 5 p.m.
- Freshman Girls Volleyball – Plainwell Quad, 5 p.m.
- JV Girls Volleyball – Escanaba at Norway, 6 p.m.
- Boys Soccer - Paw Paw at Plainwell, 6:45 p.m. Plainwell 8 in D2, PP 18th D3
- Girls Volleyball - Escanaba at Norway, 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, October 10
- Girls Volleyball - Au Gres-Sims at Rogers City, 6 p.m.
- Girls Volleyball - Negaunee at Calumet, 6:30 p.m.
- Girls Volleyball – Grand Rapids Catholic Central at Comstock Park, 7 p.m.
- Girls Volleyball - Grand Rapids Catholic Central at Comstock Park, 7 p.m.
- Girls Volleyball - Merrill at Vestaburg, 7 p.m.
NFHS Network subscriptions begin at $9.95 per month. Subscribers will have access to all live video and streaming statistics across the country. All content becomes available for free, on- demand viewing 72 hours after being shown live. School Broadcast Program participants will also be selling Season and Annual Passes at a discounted rate. A portion of every subscription sold by a school goes to benefit its program.
A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA website.
Highlights of games produced in the past week by MHSAA School Broadcast Program members are in their fifth week. Featured events are in girls volleyball with Clarkston at Lake Orion, football with Lowell at Cedar Springs and football with Lansing Catholic at Fowlerville. Highlights can be found each week on the MHSAA.tv website, the home page of the MHSAA Website, and the MHSAASports Channel on YouTube.
More than 15 football games are featured each week on the State Champs! Sports Network Extra Point – powered by the Michigan High School Athletic Association – Saturday at 10 a.m. on FOX Sports Detroit.
The half-hour program features highlights from more than a dozen games each week, including clips from games produced by MHSAA School Broadcast Program members. The program airs multiple times each weekend on FOX Sports Detroit and on Comcast Channel 900, and will be archived on the State Champs YouTube Channel. Consult your local listings for additional playback times.
Here are some of the games to be featured this week on State Champs! Extra Point:
- Chelsea at Ypsilanti
- Warren Mott at Romeo
- Redford Union at Redford Thurston
- Clarkston Everest at Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes
- Warren Fitzgerald at Madison Heights Madison
- Hudsonville at Caledonia
- PLUS - Additional coverage from Grand Rapids, Lansing, Flint, Upper Peninsula and School Broadcast Program games.
The MHSAA also has a presence on other State Champs! Network programs throughout each weekend. The MHSAA Minute is a weekly part of the State Champs! High School Sports Show on FOX Sports Detroit at 9 a.m. every Sunday – with multiple replays on FOX Sports Detroit and Comcast Channel 900 throughout the week. That program also is archived on the State Champs YouTube Channel. Consult your local listings for additional playback times.
This week’s MHSAA Minute on State Champs talks about concussion protocols and the Association’s concussion insurance program.
The MHSAA also has content on the State Champs Scoreboard! High School Football Radio Show on Friday nights during the football and basketball seasons, originating on WXYT-FM (97.1) in Detroit and carried on more than 10 radio stations across the state. This Week In High School Sports and Be the Referee are weekly features on the program.