Q: There were two plays from last week that were tricky from a statistics-keeping perspective. In the Peachtree Ridge-Lanier game, the Peachtree Ridge punter found himself in a bad way after a poor snap and punted from his end zone while under siege. The ball went straight up and was caught by Lanier in the end zone. Does this count as a punt even if it didn't go past the line of scrimmage? What if a defender deflected or got a piece of the punt? Also, in the Dalton game, Jahmyr Gibbs had an 83-yard touchdown run called back by a penalty 20 yards downfield. Does he get credit for any of that yardage? - GHSF Daily staff
A: "The punt would be minus-x yards, which would be from the line of scrimmage to the goal line in this case, and a 0-yard punt return for a touchdown. If the punt was deflected by a defender, it can be scored a blocked punt. Blocked punts are charged to the team, not to an individual. If the defense recovers the blocked punt, the return yards are calculated from the line of scrimmage. If a deflected punt goes past the line of scrimmage, it is scored as a punt and not a blocked punt. If in the scorer's opinion the block had a material effect on the distance, then it is a team punt, but it is punt yardage. If the block was minimal and did not affect the distance, it is ignored.
"On the running play that was called back, the runner gets rushing yards to the spot where the penalty is enforced as long as that is a positive number. So in this case, he gets 20 yards and one rushing attempt. If the penalty is enforced at or behind the line of scrimmage, there is no play. It is negated by the penalty. I should add a caveat that these are high school/NCAA scoring rules. The NFL is different." - Joe Sturniolo, head statistician for the Atlanta Falcons and the Peach Bowl committee
Note: Dalton originally credited Gibbs with the net yardage after the penalty but asked for a clarification on the high school rules. Sturniolo's response led to Gibbs picking up 15 more yards for his final total - 420 - which ranks ninth all-time in recorded GHSA history.
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