How can a team score only one point in a game? Three things you might not know about high school football

As a four-year high school football player and lifelong football fan, I thought I knew all of the ins and outs of the game. After recently becoming a high school football official, I now know that was not entirely true. There are a few unique characteristics of the high school rules book that make the game different than the game played in the NFL. This first one might even win you a bar bet.

How a team can score only one point in a game

Diehard football fans will likely tell you this is an impossibility. Casual fans will attempt to think up ways for this situation to occur (i.e. "A touchdown was scored, the extra point was kicked, the touchdown gets called off for a penalty?"). The answer is something much more basic, but much less likely to occur: The team won by forfeit.

According to Rule 8-1, the final score of a forfeited game is "Offended Team: 1, Opponent: 0". The exception to this is if the offended team is ahead at the time of the forfeit; in which case the score at the time of forfeiture stands. Thus, the only way a team can score only one point in a game is if they win by forfeit before a game begins, or after a game in which they were tied with or losing to their opponent.

Catchability is not a factor in determining pass interference

The NFL's pass interference rule specifies a few actions that do not constitute pass interference. One of them includes this article:

(c) Contact that would normally be considered pass interference, but the pass is clearly uncatchable by the involved players.

The high school rule book has no such article. It does not include catchability as a factor in determining pass interference. While a holding call may be more appropriate on a ball that is clearly uncatchable, pass interference may be called no matter how close the ball was to the intended receiver.

There is no consideration of the "pocket" in ruling itentional grounding

The pocket area (a point two yards outside of either offensive tackle or pass protecting tight end) is used to determine intentional grounding in the NFL. A player may throw the ball away to avoid a loss if he is outside of the pocket and behind the line of scrimmage.

In high school, a player who throws a ball away to avoid a loss is penalized for intentional grounding whether he is inside or outside of the pocket area. However, it is legal for a player to throw the ball away so long as it is a backwards pass out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage.

I'm sure there are other idiosyncrasies of the high school football game that I did not note. Like I said, I'm new to this (not an expert!). I hope you found some of this interesting anyhow. At the least, you're now prepared to stump your football fiend friend and win a round of drinks. You can thank me with one next time you see me!