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Clarification on Football Participation Rule

Submitted by webmaster on Thu, 07/23/2009 - 9:51am.

Some confusion has arisen about the participation of players in both varsity and sub-varsity games. Some situations reported to the GHSA office violate GHSA rules. Here is a summary of the applicable rules from the 2009-2010 GHSA Constitution and By-laws:

  1. (Page 65 – C4: Football Section) A player may play on one sub-varsity team only during the week in addition to playing on the varsity team.
  2. (Page 66 – C6: Football Section) JV (and 9th grade) games must be played with 10-minute quarters unless 8th grade students are participating.
  3. (By-law 2.92) Games must be played according to the rules published by the NFHS.
    (GHSA Interpretation) Any sub-varsity game using two 12-minute quarters is not a game under NHFS rules, and the GHSA does not allow interscholastic scrimmages for sub-varsity teams.

This means that a player may not play in a “modified” 9th grade on Monday, a JV game on Thursday, and a varsity game on Friday – even if the quarter total does not exceed six.