What's the ruling on this?

[Cam]

Last weeks game: Burnet punts. The return man appears to be getting under it. Then suddenly decides to move away towards his sideline. But he gets tackled by a Burnet defender as he was trying to move away. The ball bounces and hits the return man. It was ruled a fumble and recovered by Burnet. Was this the right call? By this time I was as confused as the refs were before the game even started! Anyway, I argued with a friend of mine about the call. He claimed the return man must be given room to make the catch. I claimed because he moved away and didn't attempt to make the catch he was fair game to get hit. But I was just arguing with him just for the sake of arguing. Cause I really wasn't sure.:vrycnfsd:
Anyway, back to the refs: At one point they marked off an 8 yard penalty on Burnet. To which our announcer, sounding almost amused, called an "8 yard penalty" after the refs walked it off!.....:doh:

[panfan]

Last weeks game: Burnet punts. The return man appears to be getting under it. Then suddenly decides to move away towards his sideline. But he gets tackled by a Burnet defender as he was trying to move away. The ball bounces and hits the return man. It was ruled a fumble and recovered by Burnet. Was this the right call? By this time I was as confused as the refs were before the game even started! Anyway, I argued with a friend of mine about the call. He claimed the return man must be given room to make the catch. I claimed because he moved away and didn't attempt to make the catch he was fair game to get hit. But I was just arguing with him just for the sake of arguing. Cause I really wasn't sure.:vrycnfsd:
Anyway, back to the refs: At one point they marked off an 8 yard penalty on Burnet. To which our announcer, sounding almost amused, called an "8 yard penalty" after the refs walked it off!.....:doh:

I don't know about the correct call, but you know that higher math gets the best of some folks some of the time.

[TexMike]

Last weeks game: Burnet punts. The return man appears to be getting under it. Then suddenly decides to move away towards his sideline. But he gets tackled by a Burnet defender as he was trying to move away. The ball bounces and hits the return man. It was ruled a fumble and recovered by Burnet. Was this the right call? By this time I was as confused as the refs were before the game even started! Anyway, I argued with a friend of mine about the call. He claimed the return man must be given room to make the catch. I claimed because he moved away and didn't attempt to make the catch he was fair game to get hit. But I was just arguing with him just for the sake of arguing. Cause I really wasn't sure.:vrycnfsd:
Anyway, back to the refs: At one point they marked off an 8 yard penalty on Burnet. To which our announcer, sounding almost amused, called an "8 yard penalty" after the refs walked it off!.....:doh: A player only gets kick catch interference if he is in position to attempt to catch a kick AND he is trying to cacth it. Sounds like this fella may have met neither prerequisite. Furthermore, if a player makes contact with the ball while being blocked/tackled he is deemed NOT to have touched the ball (forced touching).

As for the penalty, I would need more details to try to assess what happened there.

Which game was this? F-Burg or Rockdale?

[waterboy]

The eight-yard penalty was probably a spot foul. I've seen holding calls and illegal blocks where they mark the ball from the spot of the foul.

[YTBulldogs]

The eight-yard penalty was probably a spot foul. I've seen holding calls and illegal blocks where they mark the ball from the spot of the foul.

Sounds like we might have one of the few announcers who know the rules.

[Cam]

The eight-yard penalty was probably a spot foul. I've seen holding calls and illegal blocks where they mark the ball from the spot of the foul.

No, I think it was just a boo-boo...they actually corrected it after further discussion and marked off 5 yards......

[Cam]

A player only gets kick catch interference if he is in position to attempt to catch a kick AND he is trying to cacth it. Sounds like this fella may have met neither prerequisite. Furthermore, if a player makes contact with the ball while being blocked/tackled he is deemed NOT to have touched the ball (forced touching).

As for the penalty, I would need more details to try to assess what happened there.

Which game was this? F-Burg or Rockdale?

Rockdale...It looked to me like the return man decided to get away from the ball at the last second.....as soon as he moved he was hit, fell, and the ball bounced and touched him....refs gave possession to Burnet....

[TexMike]

I would have to see the video but if they ruled he was moving because he saw he was about to get hit then that DID interfere with his opportunity to make the catch and WOULD be a foul. But if he was hit and then the ball hit him, that would still be forced touching. If I understand what you are saying there was no flag so they must have ruled he was not trying to catch the ball and was moving away on his own.

[Cam]

I would have to see the video but if they ruled he was moving because he saw he was about to get hit then that DID interfere with his opportunity to make the catch and WOULD be a foul. But if he was hit and then the ball hit him, that would still be forced touching. If I understand what you are saying there was no flag so they must have ruled he was not trying to catch the ball and was moving away on his own.

I think he changed his mind about trying to catch it and began to move away....that's when he got hit....there was no flag....does that still make it forced touching? If so, the punt team should not have taken possession. Am I correct?

[TexMike]

If he was hit by opponents and then as, or just after, he was hit, then it is forced touching and ball would NOT go to the punting team