We had this play last night at the JV game and I wanted your thoughts. 4Th and 2 on A's 38. A decides to go for the 1st down instead of punting. A comes up to the line of scrimmage and is set. B anticipates the snap and encroaches. The head lines man then throws his flag and calls failure to wear required equipment on A (our QB's mouth piece was dangling from his facemask). The officials rule that the penalties offset and replay the down. My question is, The failure to wear required equipment rule says during the down, and since the ball never became live, this infraction should not have been called, thus A would have a first down. Your thoughts...

Failure to wear required equipment does not have to be a live ball foul...it can be a dead ball foul.

The official did exactly what he was instructed, blow the whistle and kill the play before it becomes alive.

The job of officials is safety and to knowingly let the ball come alive when a player is not wearing required equipment goes against the philosophy of NFHS.

Check rule 3-6-2d. I think this is what you are looking for.

Since both of these fouls are dead ball fouls, they should be enforce in order of occurrence. In this particular case, if the encroachment came first, then you really shouldn't have an equipment penalty. If the equipment penalty came first then how could B encroach?

SoGaRef nailed it for the equipment. I think he's supposed to be equipped when the ball is marked ready for play.

complicated... is the whistle was blown for the mouth piece no encroachment... if it was blown for the encroachment then that's the foul.. failure to wear equipment isn't a foul till the snap...however i would not charge a penalty on either great ... no call

Rule 3-6-2d
Ball ready for play and delay
Art. 2 - action or inaction which prevents promptness in putting the ball in play is delay of game. This includes:
Failure to properly wear legal or required player equipment when the ball is about to become live.

I'd say the mouthpiece trumps the encroachment....

Thanks to everyone for their input on my post--there seems to be some difference of opinion and I appreciate the discussion.

which ever came first ... the chicken or the egg! It is possible, but highly unlikely, that they both happened at the same instant!