Hide Out Play in MHSAA Championship Game

[maven]

Originally Posted by HLin NC

Looking at the case play, I am wondering why it mentions that A5 "stops within the nine yard marks" yet declares it illegal.

In my communication today with our state supervisor, my take on why he deemed this play was legal was because the player was inside the 9 yard marks after the RFP. The case play would seem to go against the ruling.

It sounds to me as if he misinterpreted the phrase "stops within the nine yard marks." If the player is inside the numbers after the RFP, then he cannot be guilty of a formation foul for violating 7-2-1. I'm guessing that's why your interpreter said the play is legal.

But the point of "stops within the nine yard marks" is that this player remains in the field of play. He is thus not guilty of illegal substitution for violating 3-7-3 for leaving the field and returning. That's why the phrase is in the case play: we want to flag IP based on 9-6-4d and penalize 15 yds, not IS and penalize 5 yds.