Penalty Assessments

[mickeyhickman]

Attended grandson's middle school football game on Thursday evening; there were two penalty calls and the administration of the penalties perplexed me!!!
First grandson's team's running back scored on a 40+ yard run from scrimmage on a 1st down and 10 play; there was an illegal block in the back penalty called around the 10 yard line on the offense. The officials nullified the touchdown ... and  took the ball back to point of the snap (original line of scrimmage) and assessed a 15 yard penalty ...in the ensuing dialogue after the stepoff...a 15 yard unsportsman like conduct penalty was called on the team as well. The team was also assessed a down for it was now 2nd down and 40 yards to go.  I think only the "unsportsman like" penalty was administered correctly. Should not the 1st penalty been assessed from the spot of the foul and the team gain credit for the yardage gained prior to the foul ----and of course the down question and even the yardage on the illegal block call??

2nd call: Running back was tackled in the backfield for a loss...the tackler grabbed the inside of the runner's helmet and pulled runner to the ground. One offical threw flag for face mask penalty...but somehow ruled it only an "inadvertent" facemask foul. They stepped off a 5 yard penalty from where the flag was thrown (about 7 yards deep in the backfield...and not even allowing for forward progress but where the runner was thrown backwards to the ground). The result the offense got to repeat 1st down ...but it was now 1st and 12 (permitting a 2 yard loss on the play) ...Shouldn't this penalty have been assesed from the line of scrimmage and it now be 1st down and 5 yards to go?

[maven]

For the first play, it's hard to know what's going on there. But there's no scenario on HS rules where you'd enforce from the previous spot for a foul downfield on a running play.

The second play sounds about right. HS rules still have the 5 yard FM, and it would be enforced from the spot/end of the run (sounds like those were the same). When that spot is more than 5 yards behind the LOS, you'll have a net loss on the play.