Rules Changes Minimize Health Risks
August 3, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A pair of football rules changes taking effect this season build on continuing work to minimize health risks in all interscholastic sports as 2017-18 fall practices begin next week for member schools of the Michigan High School Athletic Association.
Practice in football must begin on Aug. 7 for all schools wishing to begin regular-season games the weekend of Aug. 24-26. Schools must have 12 days of preseason practice at all levels before their first game, over a period of 16 calendar days before the first kickoff.
Practice sessions for all other sports begin Wednesday (Aug. 9). In golf and tennis, competition may commence no earlier than after three separate days of team practice, and not before seven calendar days. The first day competition may take place in golf and tennis is Aug. 16. In all other fall sports, contests can take place after seven days of practice for the team and not before nine calendar days. The first day competition may take place in cross country, soccer, swimming & diving, and volleyball is Aug. 18.
This fall, two football game dates again precede Labor Day, and a number of MHSAA schools will play their first varsity games on Thursday, Aug. 24. In Week 1, 141 varsity games will be played on Thursday, 153 contests will be played on Friday, and 16 games will be played on Saturday. In the second week, four games will be played Wednesday, 238 games will take place Thursday, 64 will be played Friday, and five contests are Saturday.
A change to the allowable level of contact on a blindside block in football is one of the latest rules changes aimed at increasing player safety. A blindside block involves contact by a blocker against an opponent who, because of physical positioning and focus of concentration (for example, while following a ball carrier on a kickoff return), is vulnerable to injury by a block coming from outside his field of vision. Blindside blocks now must be initiated with open hands only; blindside contact that is forceful and initiated with other parts of the body outside of the free blocking zone will be penalized as excessive and unnecessary.
In addition to redefining the blindside block, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) sought to also minimize risk by eliminating the pop-up kick – that is, any free kick during which the kicker drives the ball immediately to the ground, causing it to bounce only once and into the air similar to the flight of a ball kicked directly off the tee. Kicks off a tee that bounce multiple times and then pop into the air remain allowed.
A few other notable rules changes in football will be apparent this fall:
• A defensive player will be called for encroachment for striking the offensive snapper’s hand or arm, or the ball, prior to the snapper releasing the ball to begin a play.
• Non-contact face guarding is no longer considered pass interference.
• A team accepting a penalty during the final two minutes of either half now will have the option of re-starting the clock at the snap of the ball rather than the referee’s ready-for-play signal.
While most fall sports face at least minor rules changes this season, a few more of the most noticeable adjustments will come in boys soccer and girls swimming & diving.
• In boys soccer, overtime periods and shootouts during the regular season have been eliminated. Leagues and conferences are allowed an overtime option for their end-of-season bracketed tournaments, but overtime in those cases must not exceed two 10-minute periods plus a shootout. Multi-team regular-season tournaments also may receive waivers to employ a shootout if it is used to determine the winner of a game.
• Also in soccer, kickoffs may now travel in any direction from the center of the field. Previously, kickoffs at the high school level were required to move forward down the field of play.
• In girls swimming & diving, a diver will need only four regular-season wins (instead of the previous five) to qualify for the Regional Diving Qualification Meet. A diver also may qualify if she places ahead of all divers from opposing schools in varsity competition in at least four meets, even if she does not finish ahead of her teammates.
• Also in swimming & diving, to promote safer take-offs during relays, the second, third and fourth swimmers must have at least one foot in contact with the starting platform in front of the starting block wedge during take-off. Those second, third and fourths swimmers may not take off with both feet on top of the starting block wedge.
The 2017 fall campaign culminates with postseason tournaments beginning with the Upper Peninsula Girls Tennis Finals the week of Sept. 25 and wraps up with the 11-Player Football Playoff Finals on Nov. 24 and 25. Here is a complete list of fall tournament dates:
Cross Country
U.P. Finals – Oct. 21
L.P. Regionals – Oct. 27 or 28
L.P. Finals – Nov. 4
11-Player Football
Selection Sunday – Oct. 22
Pre-Districts – Oct. 27 or Oct. 28
District Finals – Nov. 3 or 4
Regional Finals – Nov. 10 or 11
Semifinals – Nov. 18
Finals – Nov. 24-25
8-Player Football
Selection Sunday – Oct. 22
Regional Semifinals – Oct. 27 or Oct. 28
Regional Finals – Nov. 3 or 4
Semifinals – Nov. 11
Finals – Nov. 17
L.P. Girls Golf
Regionals – Oct. 11 or 12 or 13 or 14
Finals – Oct. 20-21
Soccer
Boys L.P. Districts – Oct. 16-21
Boys L.P. Regionals – Oct. 24-28
Boys L.P. Semifinals – Nov. 1
Boys L.P. Finals – Nov. 4
L.P. Girls Swimming & Diving
Diving Regionals – Nov. 9
Swimming/Diving Finals – Nov. 17-18
Tennis
U.P. Girls Finals – Sept. 27-30
L.P. Boys Regionals – Oct. 12 or 13 or 14
L.P. Finals – Oct. 20-21
Girls Volleyball
Districts – Oct. 30-Nov. 4
Regionals – Nov. 7 & 9
Quarterfinals – Nov. 14
Semifinals – Nov. 16-17
Finals – Nov. 18
2021 Scholar-Athlete Finalists Announced
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
January 19, 2021
The 120 finalists for the Michigan High School Athletic Association's Scholar-Athlete Awards for the 2020-21 school year, presented by Farm Bureau Insurance, have been announced.
The program, in its 32nd year, has recognized student-athletes since the 1989-90 school year and again this winter will honor 32 individuals from MHSAA member schools who participate in at least one sport in which the Association sponsors a postseason tournament.
Farm Bureau Insurance underwrites the Scholar-Athlete Awards and will present a $1,000 scholarship to each recipient. Since the beginning of the program, 832 scholarships have been awarded.
Scholarships will be presented proportionately by school classification, with 12 scholarships to be awarded to Class A student-athletes, six female and six male; eight scholarships will be awarded to Class B student-athletes, four female and four male; six scholarships will be awarded to Class C student-athletes, three female and three male; and four scholarships will be awarded to Class D student-athletes, two female and two male. In addition, two scholarships will be awarded at-large to minority recipients, regardless of school size.
Every MHSAA member high school could submit as many applications as there are scholarships available in its classification, and could have more than one finalist. Traverse City Central has four finalists this year while Hillsdale Academy has three. Fifteen schools each have two finalists: Adrian Lenawee Christian, Ann Arbor Greenhills, Bad Axe, Clare, Dollar Bay, Grand Haven, Grosse Pointe North, Grosse Pointe South, Holland West Ottawa, Lapeer, Leland, Montague, Mount Pleasant, Newaygo and Pontiac Notre Dame Prep.
Multiple-sport participation remains the norm among applicants. The average sport participation rate of the finalists is 2.858. There are 74 three-plus sport participants in the finalists field, and all but one of the 28 sports in which the MHSAA sponsors postseason tournaments are represented.
Of 418 schools which submitted applicants, 12 submitted the maximum allowed. This year, 1,356 applications were received. All applicants will be presented with certificates commemorating their achievement. Additional Scholar-Athlete information, including a complete list of scholarship nominees, can be found on the MHSAA Website.
The applications were judged by a 72-member committee of school coaches, counselors, faculty members, administrators and board members from MHSAA member schools. Selection of the 32 scholarship recipients will take place in early February. Class C and D scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 9, Class B scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 16 and Class A scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 23. All announcements will be made on the MHSAA Website.
To be eligible for the award, students must have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.50 (on a 4.0 scale) and previously have won a varsity letter in at least one sport in which the MHSAA sponsors a postseason tournament. Students also were asked to respond to a series of short essay questions, submit two letters of recommendation and a 500-word essay on the importance of sportsmanship in educational athletics.
Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan was founded in 1949 by Michigan farmers who wanted an insurance company that worked as hard as they did. Those values still guide the company today and are a big reason why it is known as Michigan’s Insurance Company, dedicated to protecting the farms, families, and businesses of this great state. Farm Bureau Insurance agents across Michigan provide a full range of insurance services—life, home, auto, farm, business, retirement, Lake Estate®, and more—protecting nearly 500,000 Michigan policyholders.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.
2020-21 Scholar-Athlete Award Finalists
GIRLS CLASS A
Sadie Freisthler, Ann Arbor Pioneer
Laura O'Brien, Ann Arbor Skyline
Audrey DaDamio, Birmingham Seaholm
Samantha Yamin, Bloomfield Hills
Emily Song, Canton
Sadie Gerlach, Dearborn Edsel Ford
Tatiana Mason, Grand Ledge
Catelyn Gagnier, Grosse Pointe North
Madeline Kohler, Grosse Pointe North
Alexa Downey, Grosse Pointe South
Kennedy Dumas, Holland West Ottawa
Alyssa M. Karner, Holland West Ottawa
Michaela Castle, Ionia
Jane C. Heystek, Kalamazoo Loy Norrix
Charity Dundas, Lapeer
Emma Muir, Lapeer
Addison Bruwer, Lowell
Grace Ann Whipple, Mason
Iris Hwang, Mount Pleasant
Zoe Ziegler, Okemos
Sarah Liederbach, Petoskey
Megan Lorenzo, Rochester
Regina Duerst, Saline
Katherine Potter, South Lyon
BOYS CLASS A
Michael Kim, Ann Arbor Huron
Charles Frank, Dearborn
Matthew Kozma, Detroit Catholic Central
Lawrence Gilliam, Detroit U-D Jesuit
Grant Uyl, DeWitt
Thomas MacDonald, Grand Haven
Michael MacDonald, Grand Haven
Jacob Harris, Grosse Pointe South
Kyle Hamlin, Hartland
Kameron Karp, Marquette
Chase R Mahabir, Midland
Caleb Qiu, Midland Dow
Daniel Forsythe, Mount Pleasant
Alex Mooney, Orchard Lake St. Mary's
Aidan Eichman, Portage Central
Jack Eiden, Portage Northern
Liam Smith, Rockford
Troy Pratley, St. Joseph
Brendan Evert, Sterling Heights
Ryan Royston, Traverse City Central
Drew Seabase, Traverse City Central
Ethan Vander Roest, Traverse City Central
Maxwell Werner, Traverse City Central
Jonathan Holland, Walled Lake Western
GIRLS CLASS B
Katie DeVlaminck, Buchanan
London Eldridge, Central Montcalm
Andrea Kowalski, Chelsea
Riley Schroeder, Clare
Bailey Taylor, Clare
Caitlin Mullen, Grand Rapids Catholic Central
Katelyn Moore, Grayling
Jordyn Disbrow, Kalkaska
Katie Acker, Lake Odessa Lakewood
Allison R. Hall, Montague
Kendall Mathis, Newaygo
Elena Schwegman, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep
Rachel Joslyn, Saginaw Swan Valley
Haleigh Knowles, Sault Ste. Marie
Illyanna Marie Taylor, Three Rivers
Anna Gerardy, Yale
BOYS CLASS B
Dillon Dennison, Alma
Dhilan Nagaraju, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood
Ryan Tang, Detroit Country Day
Ryan Atkinson, Dundee
Brock Holek, Durand
Jackson Hoover, Edwardsburg
Wilson Bragg, Gladwin
Stuart Hamilton, Lansing Catholic
Drew Collins, Montague
Hudson Alexander Harkness, Newaygo
Cade M. Vota, Niles
Ian Burke, Ortonville Brandon
Nickolai J. Emde, Plainwell
Cole Bennett, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep
Jack Parker, Spring Lake
Zachary Huitema, Tawas
GIRLS CLASS C
Makayla Harris, Ann Arbor Greenhills
Avery McNally, Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart
Meagan Lasky, Bronson
Hannah Penfold, Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker
Reese Martin, Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett
Elizabeth M. Williams, Ishpeming Westwood
Kenzie Bowers, Kent City
Grace Graham, Laingsburg
Mahrle Siddall, Maple City Glen Lake
Hope Johnson, North Muskegon
Sophia Rayes, Oscoda
Grace Kalb, Petersburg Summerfield
BOYS CLASS C
Jameson Chesser, Adrian Lenawee Christian
Brennan Griffith, Adrian Lenawee Christian
Zachary Stephenson, Alcona
Finn Feldeisen, Ann Arbor Greenhills
Nicholas Errer, Bad Axe
Micah Gordon, Bad Axe
Braxton Lamey, Ithaca
Trayton Wenzlaff, Kingston
Caden Kienitz, Munising
Drew Kohlmann, New Lothrop
Jeffrey Vanholla, Norway
David Jahnke, Saginaw Valley Lutheran
GIRLS CLASS D
Aubrie Sparks, Boyne Falls
Molly Myllyoja, Dollar Bay
Elise Besonen, Ewen-Trout Creek
Kiera Welden, Hillsdale Academy
Mollie Zaleski, Kinde North Huron
Olivia Lowe, Leland
Sophia Stowe, Northport
Josephine Gusa, Ubly
BOYS CLASS D
Jacob M. Werner, Bay City All Saints
Connor LeClaire, Dollar Bay
Jack Kaplan, Dryden
Jäeger Griswold, Ellsworth
Quincy Thayer, Frankfort
Christian Gossage, Hillsdale Academy
Nicholas Treloar, Hillsdale Academy
Wyatt Sirrine, Leland