Try after fair catch

[Bob M.]

Originally posted by JimNayzium
Coach's take on this again...

3. TRUE story here which is funny...Michael Groh the quarterback at UVA a couple of years back is one of my close friends...he kicked a 37 yard field goal to win his state chmpionship his senior year...it made like the 44th game in a row they won...the funny thing is he fair caught the punt with eight seconds left on the twenty and they did not know they coudl free kick...his thirty seven yarder squeeked in the right upright....pretty good a coach could win forty four in a row and not know the rule on this one...

REPLY: I distinctly remember this. Randolph HS vs. Montclair HS. Groh was the QB and kicker for Randolph. It was 1990, I think. I had just finished officiating another group's championship game and was driving home when I heard about it on the radio. Rather than drive directly home, I went to my parents' house to watch it on cable TV. I'm not sure that their coach (Bauer) didn't know the rule. There may have been another explanation. Here's what I saw. The punt was very high but very, very short. The receiver signalled and came running up hard to make the catch. He actually dove and made the catch just before he hit the ground. BUT...I'm not sure that the kick ever crossed the NZ. In that case, the ball was dead because of the signal, but it would not be a fair catch and they would have no choice but to kick the FG from a conventional scrimmage kick formation. The officials on that game were from outside our chapter, so I never got their perspective.