Your coach always told you to play to the whistle. Two inglorious high school teams offer a sobering reminder of why that's good advice.
Even more amazing, those teams blew a sure victory in the exact same way: By celebrating after a blocked field goal while the opposing team won the game.
In both cases, the teams forgot that a ball blocked after a field goal attempt is still live when it's behind the line of scrimmage. Lake Forest High School in Delaware thought it'd lost the game when its opponent, Delmar, blocked a chip shot.
The Delmar squad then sprints down the field, away from a football sitting live and untouched on the ground. The kicker casually picks up the ball and trots completely unnoticed into the end zone.
Here is Lake Forest game tape from Saturday's blocked FG touchdown vs. Delmar. Play looks valid to me. #delhs pic.twitter.com/8X8KHIAbaU
— Brad Myers (@BradMyersTNJ) October 12, 2015
Meanwhile, in Ohio, the Boardman Spartans attempted a 29-yard chip shot to win the game. Boardman trailed 14-12.
Then the Warren G. Harding Raiders blocked it. The Raiders ran off to celebrate what they thought was a two-point win.
But just like the game in Delaware, the one of the players from the kicking team scoops up the ball and runs for a touchdown. Boardman won 18-14.
The Harding error is more surprising because its players should have reacted to several Spartans scrambling to grab the loose ball.
Let this be a lesson: Play to the whistle. Also, know the rules of the game you're playing.
