By Mark Uyl, Asst. Director, MHSAA

Be the Referee is a weekly message from the Michigan High School Athletics Association that is designed to help educate people on the rules in different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.

Make the call: Intentional grounding 

A quarterback is rolling out wide toward the sideline and is being chased by two large defenders. To avoid a certain sack, the QB throws the ball away, deep down the field, where no offensive receiver is even in the same zip code where the ball hits the ground. What’s the call?

Under high school rules, this is intentional grounding, as there always has to be a receiver in the general area of the pass. At the college and pro levels, all the QB has to do is throw the ball beyond the line of scrimmage, if he has scrambled outside of the tackle box. When at your next game, know this important difference when it comes to intentional grounding.