Catch or no Catch
 

Looking for some input on this situation.

Pass into the end zone, airborne receiver controls the pass then on his way to the ground...

A) Hits the pad on the goal post then his foot touches the ground inbounds.
B) His foot touches the ground inbounds then bumps into the goal post padding.

A..Incomplete pass. The goal post is out-of-bounds.

B..Complete pass. Touchdown.The receiver landed inbounds in the end zone before contacting the goal post.

Bob

A - Incomplete, as BZ said.
B - Complete pass, but TD or no-TD depends on where the BALL was when the foot contacted out of bounds (i.e. the pylon in this case).

The post said that he came down in the end zone, then contacted the goal post padding. No mention of pylon, which should not be near the goal post.

Bob

OK, good point, BZ. I read this as pylon, not goal post. Sorry about that BZ.

OP - did you really mean goal post?!?! Most goal posts (at least where I've worked) are a couple of yards out of play, so I'm having trouble visualizing your play if you truly meant goal post and not pylon.

REPLY: Some schools--especially older ones--still have goal posts with two vertical uprights extending from the end line as opposed to the newer single curved upright that extends from a point off the endline.

You brought up a good point though. If the airborn player first contact is with the pylon, it is incomplete the same as the goal post.

That's for sure. I was just at one this weekend.
What a pain for the BJ and "appropriate" wing official when under the posts, make that behind the posts for trys and field goals.
The referee had a good laugh after one try. He said, he thought we went into the woods because he couldn't even see us.

Since this was a rare 5-man game in my area, the wing guys had a hell of a time trying to remember who should be under/behind the posts with me. The R kept forgetting to let one know who was to go even though we discussed the looking at the "rear-end" of the ref key.

We did move EZ pylons off the end-line as they are supposed to be. Running over one of those was the least of my worries if you know what I mean.

I did mean make contact with the goal post.

This was at an older school and the posts are as close to the field as the pylons are in the corners, just located in the center. The goal post is the older "H" style post.

What about this now...

If the airborne reciever controls the pass then contacts the pylon prior to the ground. Is this a TD, incomplete pass, Illegal Participation.

Incomplete pass.

There are those who will remind you that if WR touches the pylon on the way UP, then he is out of bounds BEFORE making the catch, and should be treated the same as a receiver who has run out of bounds and returned.