Aug 16, 2021 2 min read

The 2021 high school football season is fast approaching, so it is important to be caught up on changes made for the upcoming season.

In early 2021, the National Federation of State High School Associations, which dictates high school sports rules nationally, announced a revision for blocking below the waist. The WPIAL and PIAA follow the NFSH on issued rule changes.

The new rule states that the block must be immediate after the snap. Under the old rule, players could delay their block as long as they were in their determined blocking zone.

Points of emphasis for the 2021 season that the officials will continue to monitor include sportsmanship, intentional grounding and ineligible players downfield.

Intentional grounding, and the rules when a quarterback throws the ball away to avoid a loss of yardage, were also recently clarified at the high school level. The NFHS states there will be a penalty of a five-yard loss from the spot of the foul and a loss of down if there was no eligible receiver in the area of the pass, regardless of the passer’s position on the field.

An ineligible player downfield occurs when a lineman gets too far upfield on a pass.

The determining factor on whether a player is ineligible will be if the lineman is more than two yards past the line of scrimmage when the pass itself crosses the line of scrimmage.