Field Markings
 

I had the honor of doing a state championship game on Friday. One of the best things about it was working the wing position with college markings. There is a 2 yd white area between the 25 yd. lines where NO one can be in there except officials. Even the chain crew is lined up behind that zone. (on the back edge of it) This made my job a LOT easier and it was a whole lot safer. Behind the white zone is a 2 yd. zone where the coaches are and behind that is the players zone.

This year the FED made it mandatory that the chains are 2 yds off the field. I think this was a big step and I believe that we "broke the ice" with that. I urge you to contact your state rules guy ASAP and recommend that the FED go to the college field markings.

Now, of course, the first thing they will say is that there isn't enough room on some fields. So be it! Make it mandatory where the field has room for it. I don't think a minority of field situations should determine what the majority of schools can do for improved safety and game management. Don't accept the "not enough room" statement as an excuse for positive change.

Go for it! :)

I don't have my rule book handy, but given the new 6ft standoff for chains, where is the players box supposed to be? Every field I've done has the players box less than 2yds from the sideline, thus the chains can't get back far enough.

By rule, the team box is supposed to be 2 yards from the sideline.

Which game did you work? I saw my Magi lost to a dominating Fargo South team. My dad said the Bruins could beat some of the NAIA teams in the state. The Bison looked pretty awesome after falling behind 51-14. I have a friend who works for the NCAA and I was going to call him to request an exemption on the playoff ban for D-IAA transition teams. Probably won't fly but worth a shot. If they beat SDSU they will finish in the top 3 or 4 but still not make the playoffs!

We did the 9-man. Napoleon beat Turtle Lake-Mercer. A good clean game, but nothing exciting. I saw Fargo South. Minot hung with them for a while but the result was inevitible. Fargo is going to build a 3rd public high school and maybe that will cut down on the numbers at South. I understand that South is larger than Minot now in student enrollment.

I saw that on the NDHSAA web site. Minot was always the largest when I was there but their town is not growing like Fargo. I doubt they will ever add a second high school. They have similar issues here in the Indy metro area where a few schools have grown to 3500-4000 students and the school districts are not considering splitting the schools! Enrollment for the top class stops at about 1700 students so they are half the size of the largest schools. I've explained to others that in ND the largest class ranges from 2000 to 300. When I was in school schools like Trinity and Ryan were in Class A but I understand they have dropped down.

Thanks for old home week!