High School Football

It’s not often that a football team loses by blocking an opponent’s last-minute field goal attempt, but that’s exactly what happened during a Pennsylvania high school football game between Penn Hills and Central Catholic this weekend.

Trailing 28-27 with just a few seconds left in the game, Central Catholic lined up for a very long 49-yard field goal in an attempt to win the game. Unfortunately for them, Penn Hills blocked the field goal attempt and appeared to win the game. But thanks to some quick thinking from an offensive lineman, Central Catholic was able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

While the Penn Hills team was celebrating, a Central Catholic offensive lineman ran over and picked up the ball after the blocked field goal, and ran it 32 yards for a touchdown to give his team a 33-28 victory as time expired.

You can watch the whole wild play here:

The Central Catholic lineman was able to pick up the ball and advance it for a touchdown because the referees ruled that the ball did not cross the line of scrimmage. As a result, it was a live ball – much like a fumble would be. Had the ball past the line of scrimmage after the blocked field goal, the kicking team would have been unable to advance it forwards.

Watching the play, the ball very nearly crossed the line of scrimmage before the player picked it up. Had he waited a split second later before grabbing the ball, his team would have lost the game.

[Chad Blue]