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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

Pixellot Games Dominate MHSAA TV

September 12, 2017

By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties 

The beauty of MHSAA member schools utilizing Pixellot to live stream video of home athletic events really shows this week, as two-thirds of the events scheduled for the MHSAA.tv website will be automatically produced.

Pixellot was introduced to schools by the NFHS Network earlier this year to provide those schools which wished to live stream video of their events, but lacked the equipment or personnel to do so.

To date, a half-dozen schools are streaming events using Pixellot, and this week those schools will put 30 events online, primarily Volleyball and Soccer doubleheaders and tripleheaders. Additional schools will be coming online with their Pixellot units as the school year progresses.

Pixellot is part of the School Broadcast Program, which also will feature this week the battle for the Rocket-Rebel Trophy in Football on Friday (Sept. 15) when Wyoming Lee hosts Wyoming Kelloggsville at 7 p.m. The rivalry has been ongoing since the 1950s, with the trophy becoming the prize in 2010, and Kelloggsville has won all six games since then.

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. The program also gives schools the opportunity to raise money through advertising and viewing subscriptions.

All sporting events – live or delayed - are available on a subscription basis only for their first 72 hours online. They become available for free, on-demand viewing approximately 72 hours following their completion.

Here’s this week’s MHSAA.tv schedule of video streams being produced by SBP members:

Tuesday, Sept. 12

Wednesday, Sept. 13

Thursday, Sept. 14

Friday, Sept. 15

Monday, Sept. 18

Tuesday, Sept. 19

Wednesday, Sept. 20

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 third week.  Featured games are in football with Shepherd at Freeland and West Bloomfield at Lake Orion, and a volleyball match Fennville at Wyoming Lee.

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 is the projected list of games to be featured on this week’s edition of MHSAA Extra Point:

  • Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood at Dearborn Divine Child
  • Detroit Henry Ford at Detroit Mumford
  • Wyoming Kelloggsville at Wyoming Lee
  • Linden at Fenton
  • Oak Park at Birmingham Groves
  • Marysville at Marine City
    Plus additional games from the Grand Rapids, Lansing, Northern Lower Peninsula and Upper Peninsula.

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 is the third of a three-part series on football rules changes for 2017, with this edition talking primarily about face guarding and defensive pass interference.

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.