Quote:
Originally Posted by RichMSN
In practice, 5 yard facemask fouls are extremely rare.
Any movement of the head/helmet should simply be a personal foul. I wouldn't be opposed to removing the 5 yard mask from the NFHS code and simply ignoring the grab and release without a head turn/tackle by the mask.
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For what it's worth, the
SPECIFIC purpose for adding the 5 yard facemask foul was that NFHS concluded that "incidental" type interactions with a face mask were being routinely ignored because the severity of the penalty was not merited by the type of incidental contact.
Because NFHS wants to discourage any and all contact with the face mask, the 5 yard penalty was added to encourage penalizing less severe grasping of the mask. The "Penalty" description for NF: 9-4-3h differentiates between the two as, "incidental grasping-5 yards" and "grasping AND twisting, turning or pulling the face mask of helmet opening-15 yards".