NFHS: When Does a Kick Try End?

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by jchamp

Agreed. One of the first things I learned in sub-HS ball was that a kicked try should be blown dead the moment a kick was made. That is because in HS ball, the only thing that can happen once a kick is made is that the kick either scores or doesn't. If A or B recovers, the ball cannot be advanced play is dead. If the ball falls onto the field or OOB or somewhere else without meeting the requirements of a score, it's a missed attempt and cannot be advanced. If the ball is a scored attempt, it cannot be advanced. So in all cases, once the ball is kicked on a try, that's the last thing that can happen to it. It takes no effort to watch a try sail through or past the goalposts, and (at least in Vegas) it was considered safer to end action as soon as possible than to allow a play that could do nothing to develop.

ISTR this as common practice everywhere until NCAA legalized 2-way scoring. There's only 1 case in which I can see this making a difference, and that's where a B player in the end zone hears it & foregoes a chance to goaltend on a kick that's soft & drops barely over the bar. Can anyone here clarify for me whether such a flight qualifies as a "low scrimmage kick" that a player of R is allowed to bat? Even in that case, if you see there's no player of B back there, a quick whistle is harmless.