I'm new to this refereeing thing, but I love football so I'm hooked. I'm refereeing 5th graders, using NFHS Rules. Let me apologize in advance if this Forum isn't intended for the lower levels, but I have a few questions I'd like to ask.
On the 2nd-half kick-off, K onside kicks and it becomes dead short of the receiving line, whereupon it's recovered by K (the fact that R didn't make a play on the ball is just short of miraculous since the ball died within a foot of the receiving line). After a short conference just to make sure that the ball hadn't reached the receiving line, I awarded the ball to R at the spot it was illegally touched by K. K's coach thought he should get a re-kick. I told him that "there's no re-kick unless the receiving team wants a re-kick" (with a 5 yard penalty against K from the previous kicking line).
My questions are:
1) Was I correct in awarding the ball to R at the spot of recovery? My fear is, I was relying on the kick-out-of-bounds rule instead of an actual basis on an illegal touch.
2) On an illegal touch, could R elect to have a re-kick? Are there other options as in a kick out-of-bounds?
3) Do I understand the following correctly?
On a kick-out-of-bounds, R gets three choices:
a) R's ball at the 35;
b) R's ball at the out-of-bounds spot;
c) K re-kicks after 5 yard penalty from kick line.
Thanks for your help. This Forum is great!
Eric
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