I’ve played and coached a lot of football and saw something last night that I never saw before. I’ve looked through the OHSAA rule book and there is no clarification.
Scenario: Team A scores with 2 minutes left to take a 14-13 lead. Team B gets the ball, moves down field and throws an interception. Team A needs one first down to run out the clock. They get it with 55 seconds left. They come to the line of scrimmage in the victory formation and the line gets set including the center putting his hand on the ball with about 20 seconds on the play clock. The line realizes the quarterback is waiting for the play clock to run down and they get up out of their stance. Here is the problem, the center also stood up and released the ball. An alert linebacker from Team B picked up the ball and raced to the end zone. It was originally ruled a touchdown. After some discussion, the touchdown was reversed and the play was ruled a false start on the center. Is this correct? Any thoughts?
Scenario: Team A scores with 2 minutes left to take a 14-13 lead. Team B gets the ball, moves down field and throws an interception. Team A needs one first down to run out the clock. They get it with 55 seconds left. They come to the line of scrimmage in the victory formation and the line gets set including the center putting his hand on the ball with about 20 seconds on the play clock. The line realizes the quarterback is waiting for the play clock to run down and they get up out of their stance. Here is the problem, the center also stood up and released the ball. An alert linebacker from Team B picked up the ball and raced to the end zone. It was originally ruled a touchdown. After some discussion, the touchdown was reversed and the play was ruled a false start on the center. Is this correct? Any thoughts?
