Penns. High School football

[bulldogs1msu]

Did anyone see the game on last night?  It was in Penn.with two pretty good teams.  One team had a running back who used a stiff arm all night long.  I had no problem with it until his stiff arm was in the defensive players face mask.  He would stick his hand on the defenders face mask and push.  The defensive players heads were being pushed back and up. Hard to tackle that way.  No flags all night.  The one that took the cake was when the runner took 3 swings at the defensive players face mask on one play. The runnner had an open hand and would hit the face mask of the defensive player.  The officials did a good job overall.   

[Atlanta Blue]

It is perfectly legal for a running back to use a stiff arm, even to the face mask of a defender.  He may not grasp the face mask, he may not STRIKE the player, but a stiff arm to the face mask is in itself perfectly legal.

[FBUmp]

Did anyone see the game on last night?  It was in Penn.with two pretty good teams.  One team had a running back who used a stiff arm all night long.  I had no problem with it until his stiff arm was in the defensive players face mask.

Why did you have a problem with this?  It's perfectly legal.  The defenders can do the same thing to the runner's face mask.  As long as it's not grabbed, it's nothing.

[bulldogs1msu]

The swinging is the part that got me.  He was like he was throwing an open handed punch directly into the defenders facemask.  The running back was one heck of an athlete. 

[FBUmp]

Never heard of an "open handed punch."  Striking a player in a combative manner unrelated to football is fighting.  A stiff arm to the face isn't fighting.  I see in every game I work.

[busman]

Sounds like he was coached good.

[dch]

I saw a brief portion of this game on TV - including the "3 swinging stiff arms".  Deacon Jones of the old LA Rams couldn't have done a more effective head slap.  In my opinion, the last two should have been flagged has a personal foul on the runner. It wasn't a stiff arm push.  It was a hard swing / chop to the head.  I started officiating in 1969 and I have not ever seen a runner deliver those kind of blows -- three in succession at that.  http://www.refstripes.com/forum/Smileys/classic/refflag.gif

[blandis]

Stiff arms are simply fending the defender away from your body. Any type of blow delivered is a personal foul.