Do we need an untimed down?

[mikesears]

Originally posted by Ed Maeder
Have a question on a situation we had tonight. After a play we had a double personal foul dead ball. There was 24 seconds left in the game both players were ejected. The clock was started on the ready for play and it ran out without a play being run. In the NFHS book in Rule 3-3 Art3 it states that a period must be extended with an untimed down if during the last timed down of the period a penalty is accepted. Are these penalties considered to be during a timed down and did we need to run a play or not?

The key to understanding this is the phrase during the last timed down.

A down begins when the ball is legally snapped or free-kicked and ends when the ball next becomes dead. So in order to have a down in progress, the ball must be snapped. In other words, to have a foul DURING a down, the ball is live by definition.