I'm not sure if this has been posted here yet (I'm not a football guy).
http://www.idahostatesman.com/104/story/59338.html
IHSAA executive director denies Sandpoint's appeal after Bishop Kelly's 28-24 victory on Friday
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By Jesse Zentz
Idaho Statesman | Edition Date: 11/08/06
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The Idaho High School Activities Association has denied an appeal from Sandpoint High, whose football coaches argued that Bishop Kelly used an illegal trick play in Saturday's 4A quarterfinal victory, IHSAA executive director John Billetz said Tuesday.
Click here to see the play If the video link does not work in the post, it's also available in the article link.
The play in question, in which quarterback Kyle Cefalo handed off to left guard Javier Galindo, resulted in a 40-yard touchdown run that sparked Bishop Kelly to a 28-24, come-from-behind win in Sandpoint.
After the trick play with less than 5 minutes left in the game, Bishop Kelly converted an onside kick and scored a second touchdown with 36 seconds on the clock.
"Our stance is that the (trick) play was a legal play and we'll stand by that decision," Billetz said. "... I've contacted the rules interpreter in District One. I've contacted Paul Ostyn, the state rules interpreter. I've contacted the chairman of the National Federation of State High Schools Associations Football Rules Committee and I've contacted the vice chair of the NFHS rules committee. All four said the play was ruled correctly."
During the play in question, Cefalo received the snap and handed the ball to Galindo, who spun around from his left guard position and faced his own goal line. Cefalo and other BK players faked a sweep to the right, while Galindo waited a couple seconds with a Sandpoint player holding him from behind.
The Sandpoint player then let go of Galindo, unaware that he had the ball, and the Bishop Kelly senior raced down the left sideline and scored to trim Sandpoint's lead to 24-21.
"It was a trick play. It worked and that's the way it goes," Bishop Kelly coach Tim Brennan said. "Other plays in that game were just as key. That single play didn't win the game. If it was illegal, or if I had any idea that it was an illegal play, I wouldn't have run it. I don't coach that way."
In an e-mail to the Idaho Statesman, Casey McLaughlin, the assistant head coach at Sandpoint, said BK violated a rule in the rulebook used by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).
The rule states that a player can hand the ball "to a back or a teammate who, at the snap, was on an end of his line and was not the snapper nor adjacent to the snapper."
Said McLaughlin: "... There is no debate that (Galindo) is ‘adjacent to the snapper.' ''
Billetz used the NFHS 2006 Football Case Book to determine that a play involving a "planned loose ball'' is legal if "(the quarterback) takes the snap and hands the ball to (a guard), who has legally turned to face his own goal line.''
Brennan said the Knights ran the same play against Emmett during the regular season, but it didn't work.
Mountain View coach Nate Borchert said his team ran the same play twice against Centennial and once against Caldwell. When the Mavericks used the play against Caldwell, Borchert said his team scored a touchdown.
"They outlawed the old fumblerooskie, but we made sure with the officials before the season started that we could run the play," Borchert said. "It's legal because it's an actual handoff. The referee needs to see what's going on, so the guard turns around and exposes himself to the referee."
Sandpoint athletic director Cheryl Klein told The Spokesman-Review newspaper in Spokane that the school would accept the interpretation by Billetz and move on.
Bishop Kelly, the two-time defending 4A state champion, hosts Mountain Home at 7 p.m. Friday in the state semifinals at Nick Ysursa Field.