Unusual Penalty Accepted/Declined Situation
 

Here is an unusual situation I encountered in an 8th grade game a few years ago. I'd love to hear some input.

3rd and 30 from A's 40 yard line. Quarterback A7 drops back and throws a forward pass to A85. B20 commits defensive pass interference on A85, but A85 catches the pass anyway and is downed at B's 35 yard line, 5 yards short of the line to gain.

Accepting the 15-yard DPI penalty would place the ball at B's 45 yard line with an automatic first down. Declining the penalty would result in 4th and 5 from B's 35 yard line.

A's coach wishes to decline the 15-yard distance penalty but take the automatic first down, thus resulting in 1st and 10 from B's 35 yard line. Is this acceptable?

No.

Nope. No can do. Nice try though!

He CAN deline the distance penalty. Except that would leave the ball 1st & 10 at the previous spot. A's 40...... Dumb ***! :eek:

I would like to hear how the options were explained to the captain.

How would the spot be at A's 40 when the pass was caught? Wouldn't it be 1st and 10 from the B 35 with the catch and declining of the distance of the penalty?

No. If he accepts the penalty but declines the yardage, the play is erased.

Thank you. I'm a first year official in FB. 4 in HS Bsktbl. Just trying to get the rules right.

Canadian Ruling
 

CANADIAN RULING:

All aspects of the DPI penalty are applied from the PLS. The yardage can be declined, but the AFD will remain at the PLS.

The penalty for DPI is 15 yards from the previous spot (loose ball play) and an automatic 1st down. If A declines the distance portion, it's then ZERO yards from the previous spot and an automatic 1st down.