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"Behind the Stripes" is written by veteran WIAA official B.J. Ligocki, an active message board poster who has helped many people on the forum with rules questions and clarifications over the years. The purpose of this feature is to help educate readers on any rules changes, clarify procedures and rules, provide case studies and examples, and answer any questions people may have on officiating or rules.

Feel free to email any rules or officiating questions you have at flagthrow3r@gmail.com for inclusion in future articles.

B.J. Ligocki:  Football (Master Level - 11 yrs - State Championship); Basketball (Level 5 -19 years - Regional); Baseball/Softball (Level 5 - 19 years - Regional)

2017 NFHS Rules Changes

In order of least to most impactful:

Commercial advertising is no longer permitted on the ball.

Not a big issue in Wisconsin.

Clarifies that the home jersey must be a dark color that contrasts with the visiting home jerseys. (Implemented in 2021)

Apparently lighter shades of grey are becoming more popular in some areas and this rule change deals with that. As with most uniform/equipment changes, it is pushed out to the future to allow schools to plan for the expense if they need to change.

Any of the game officials may now accompany the referee to meet the head coach prior to the game.

Technically only the referee and umpire were supposed to meet with the coach prior to this change. Most crews did as they felt was appropriate. Coaches, be prepared for the inevitable blitz of friendly officials wanting to shake hands before the game.

The ball will become dead if a prosthetic limb comes completely off of a runner.

This is a safety issue (similar to the ball being dead if the runner’s helmet comes off) in addition to being incredibly disconcerting to the pursuing defenders. I’m sure there was a coach somewhere exploiting this rules loophole to distract the other team.

Illegal participation fouls that occur during a kick are penalized using post scrimmage kick enforcement.

Illegal participation (too many players on the field, coming off the sidelines during the play) is now enforced the same as other fouls on kick plays, as long as the conditions of post scrimmage kick enforcement are met.

Defenseless players were further defined

This addition allows for a player hit by a blind side block (explained further down in the list) to be classified as defenseless player. This change also draws attention to the rule keeping safety in everyone’s mind

A pop-up kick was defined and made illegal.

A pop up kick is generally seen in an onside kick situation. The ball is driven hard into the ground so it pops up and allows the kicking team members time to attempt to recover the ball before it comes down. It also prevents the receiving team signaling for a fair catch (since the ball hit the ground already). This is seen as dangerous since a player attempting to catch a kick like this won’t see the K team players bearing down on them and potentially hitting him. This will be a 15 yd. penalty.

It is now encroachment to strike the ball or snapper’s arms/hands prior to him releasing the ball

The defense was previously allowed to cross the neutral zone as soon as the ball initially moved and hit the center’s arms or the ball if they were quick enough. This if often attempted in late game situations when a turnover is needed. This was very hard to officiate and not in the spirit of the rules.

Face guarding is no longer considered pass interference

Prior to this year a defender was not allowed to obstruct the view of the receiver without turning and playing the ball. This was a significant difference between high school and higher levels of football. Contact is now required to have a pass interference foul.

After a penalty in the last 2 minutes of the half, the offended team will have the option of starting the clock on the ready for play signal or the snap.

Consider this play: Team A is up by one point and has the ball with 1:30 left in the 4th quarter. Team B has no timeouts left. Team A runs for 9 yards on 2nd down but is called for holding on the play. Before this year, if Team B accepts this penalty, it would be 2nd and 20 for Team A but the clock would start on the ready whistle, allowing Team A to run off another 25 seconds. They could essentially run out the clock to little or no time left before having to give up the ball, or Team B would have to decline the penalty and let Team A gain 9 yards and likely another 1st down. In reality, Team A has benefitted from committing the holding foul.

With this rule change, Team B can accept the penalty, have the clock start on the snap and only lose the few seconds it takes for an additional play instead of an entire play clock as well. Coaches, keep this in mind late in games if it can benefit you. Officials, have your sideline wings aware of these situations and communicate the options to the coach and then the decision back to the referee to keep the game moving.

A blindside block was defined and made illegal

This change will likely affect the most teams this year. These punishing blocks are now illegal. The exact wording is “This block involves contact by a blocker against an opponent who, because of physical positioning and focus of concentration, is vulnerable to injury. Unless initiated with open hands, it is a foul for excessive and unnecessary contact when the block is forceful and outside of the free-blocking zone.”

Seen often in peelback, crackback, and change of possession blocks, the committee felt this was a necessary change to increase safety of the players. Hopefully it will be called consistently.