This past Saturday I was at the Mascoutah v.s. Rochester matchup. Late in the game, Mascoutah elected to try an onside kick. The ball was kicked in the air and Mascoutah caught the ball prior to a bounce, with nobody else able to get to the ball before it would have gone out of bounds. The ball was caught far enough down so that it was legal, but a flag was thrown afterwards(so it couldn’t be offsides) and Rochester was given possession. I figure maybe catching the ball before it bounces must be illegal but I’ve never seen it be called before. So can anyone confirm or deny that to me, and if that’s why, are there certain conditions it would be legal to catch it prior to a bounce? I’m sure it was the correct call but I’d like to educate myself on something new because it’s not too often I can do that in football anymore. Thanks for any help
Rules Question for the Board
- Thread starter Formicidae13
- Start date
I’d have to see the tape but you can touch it at the 9 yard mark and land 10 to 11 yards away from the kick, but it still is an illegal touch. Could this have happened?
I’ll look but I believe you can’t catch it on the fly like you can a punt
I don’t believe so. The ball was placed at the Mascoutah 45 yard line afterwards so it must have been at least 10 yards down field when it happened
Thank you. Not only did you help teach me a rule, but I learned a new word as well(verboten). Honestly, the main reason I come here anyways is to expand my dialect
I know they don’t allow pop up kicks anymore. Maybe they ruled it a pop up kick? @ref2 @Chief321 @stripes13
When you say pop up kicks, does that mean anything that doesn’t touch the ground or a ball that goes very high up?
Kick Catching Interference. Unless touched by R, K may not recover a free kick in flight. How far the ball was kicked does not matter. 15 yards.
a pop-up kick, by definition, is a free kick driven into the ground to pop the ball up. That’s an immediate blow of the whistle to kill it, and a five yarder. (I’m blanking here, but I believe it’s the illegal procedure signal).
a pop-up kick, by definition, is a free kick driven into the ground to pop the ball up. That’s an immediate blow of the whistle to kill it, and a five yarder. (I’m blanking here, but I believe it’s the illegal procedure signal).
No, it’s a kick driven immediately into the ground so that it pops in the air.
Tagged the refs for better clarity. The rule stems from player protection emphasis so whether it hits the ground and pops up or is a direct pop up, if it leaves R vulnerable, they’ll call dead ball. Just have to hit a hard grounder now. I thought I did see a kick off recovered this year (caught on the fly too) by K legally but aimed at a dead zone (20ish yards from the X) and an R player not in the area. I hope the refs chime in because I’m just assuming my interpretations.
You are correct that the pop up kick rationale is player safety, though unless I’m misreading (most likely issue), it doesn’t matter if R is in a position of vulnerability or not, you immediately kill it.
K cannot catch a free kick that has not touched the ground. If they do it’s kick catch interference even if there’s no R player anywhere near it. If the ball was driven into the ground and then popped up it should have been killed and rekicked as stated. Sounds like there was a KCI on the play in question here
That’s my read on things as well. Just so I stop having the brain fart, is it classified under illegal procedure for the pop up kick?
Ok I get the free kick that never touches the ground can’t be recovered by K. But if a kicker drills the ball into the ground and on the second hop it launches say 10 ft into the air, that’s illegal?
If a free kick bounces off a R player, it may be caught by a K player before it hits the ground.
Ball has to hit the ground or returning player before becoming recoverable by the kicking team. Has to travel 10 yds before kicking team can recover unless touched by a returning player.
Just to clarify a "pop up kick" thats ILLEGAL.
1- has to be driven into the ground.
2- it needs to go HIGHER than (general rule of thumb) 6 FEET on 1st bounce
If driven into the ground and it never goes higher than 6' its legal. So with that being sad it can be driven into the ground just as long as at stays low on the first bounce... and if after the first bounce it takes a second bounce and goes airborne to any height.... its legal
If it meets the requirements of a illegal pop up kick its a dead ball immediately, illegal procedure (BJ signals false start) 5 yard reset to the 35 and rekick.
1- has to be driven into the ground.
2- it needs to go HIGHER than (general rule of thumb) 6 FEET on 1st bounce
If driven into the ground and it never goes higher than 6' its legal. So with that being sad it can be driven into the ground just as long as at stays low on the first bounce... and if after the first bounce it takes a second bounce and goes airborne to any height.... its legal
If it meets the requirements of a illegal pop up kick its a dead ball immediately, illegal procedure (BJ signals false start) 5 yard reset to the 35 and rekick.
@stripes13 , @linetogain , @Chief321 , and @ref2 should form their own crew and appoint @LHSTigers94 the Referee. Talk amongst yourselves...
Even for thanksgiving its too early to be drinking that heavily! LoL
Are you kidding me? This conspiracy goes all the way to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. it’s in the presidents book of secrets. Been going on since Bush 1.
Is the conspiracy against ESL mandated by IHSA or rogue officials?
