A had a try after touch down play where the right defensive tackle busted through the line and soccer kicked the ball off the tee that was being held by A. I ruled that the kick by B was illegal kicking.

The B coach was livid as his player kicked it off a tee.

I explained that his team was not in a scrimmage kick formation and could not kick the ball legally.

I penalized his team and replayed down.

How often do you see this?

[Edited by HSrookie on Sep 20th, 2004 at 03:02 PM]

Let me get this straigth, Team B kicked the ball? Team B can never kick the ball, you were correct, illegal kick.

Some reasons why this is illegal:

2-23-4
... For a place kick, the ball must be controlled on the ground or on a legal kicking tee <B><i>by a teammate</i></b>.
<i>This means that B can't kick the ball being held for a place kick by A.</i>

6-2-1
<I><b>A</b></i> may punt, drop kick, or place kick from in or behind the neutral zone before team possession has changed.
<I>NOTE: This doesn't necessarily preclude B from kicking, but it's clear that the rule that allows A to kick doesn't allow B to kick...</i>


And to be clear that it's not just place kicks we're referring to:

2-23-8
A punt is a legal kick by a player who drops the ball and kicks it before it has touched the ground...
<i>The punter must be the dropper, so B can't punt the ball that A drops...</i>

2-23-6
A drop kick is a legal kick by a player who drops the ball and kicks it when it touches the ground or as it is rising from the ground.
<i>Ditto...</i>

But A does not have to be in scrimmage kick formation to legally kick the ball...

Thanks for input. I'll be able to better explain this to the coach the next time that it happens.

[Edited by HSrookie on Sep 20th, 2004 at 03:05 PM]

This is another one of those plays that shows why we should not say that something will NEVER happen. It always seems to.

BTW in 50 years of watching, and 33 years of calling, I've never seen it before. You have a conversation piece there.

Here is one I'd never seen until it happened in a game we were doing. Team A to kick on a try. The kicker kicks the ball, then a B player attempting to block dives and lands at the feet of the kicker. (not on by right next to the kicker) The kicker then attempts to kick the B player while the B player is on the ground. (Apparently the kicker was upset that the B player came so close to him.) We had two flags on the kicker for a personal foul and ejection. The B coach goes nuts but we had two flags and no doubt in our minds what we just saw, although it was a shock to see it happen. Our white hat got a call from the guy at the state office since the B coach called to complain about it. (AND the ejected B player was not allowed to play in their next game because of the ejection.) Unfortunately, the camera people for both teams had shut off their cameras since the kick was over by that time so there was no replay to look at. But, we saw what we saw and it wasn't pretty! :)

WHAT?? You ejected the team-B player? Wasn't he the player on the ground being kicked at by the team-A player? Please correct your post if you really meant to say team-A.

You only needed one flag on the player doing the kicking, and as part of that penalty is a DQ.

How often do I see this??? I've never seen it.

As others have said before me, this is not a legal kick. Furthermore, being in a scrimmage kick formation does not, in and of itself, make a kick legal.