Driscoll Middle School Trick Play

[George H. Smith]

Ghs

[BaalChatzaf]

Ghs

What the hell was that? How can the QB just stand up and walk through the line without being tackled? The opposing team must have had their Stupid Pills for breakfast.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[George H. Smith]

What the hell was that? How can the QB just stand up and walk through the line without being tackled? The opposing team must have had their Stupid Pills for breakfast.

Ba'al Chatzaf

The key to the play was how the center handed the ball to the quarterback. The opposing team was obviously confused; they may have thought that a time out had been called. I can't think of any other explanation.

Ghs

[Selene]

Nice clip George.

When I was playing, the second the ball moved we, our defense would have attacked the ball, but, the defensive team here was obviously distracted by the "act" between the sidelines and the QB. Very clever, but the defense fell asleep on this one!

I really liked the pursuit of #19 on the defense. He never gave up and almost brought the QB down at about the ten (10) yard line.

Adam

[Rich Engle]

Sometimes brilliance comes from the most obvious. That was great.

"Sorry, Coach . .they won't get that past us again."

[anthony]

This has got to be that strange version of a game where you're allowed to tackle a guy WITHOUT the ball.

And to top that, you can pass the ball FORWARDS?

Just not done, old boy.

Harrumph.

(But kinda cute.)

Tony

[Jonathan]

What the hell was that? How can the QB just stand up and walk through the line without being tackled? The opposing team must have had their Stupid Pills for breakfast.

Ba'al Chatzaf

The key to the play was how the center handed the ball to the quarterback. The opposing team was obviously confused; they may have thought that a time out had been called. I can't think of any other explanation.

Ghs

It's a legendary trick play called "the penalty play." You hear of it being tried every few years by high school teams, but it's usually not successful since most football players have heard of it. After a play in which the defense has been charged with a penalty, the quarterback pretends to dispute the number of penalty yards that the officials have given his team. He claims that his team deserves five more yards, takes matters into his own hands and tells the center to give him the ball so that he can march off the additional yardage that they're owed and place the ball where he claims the line of scrimmage should be. Once he gets past the defensive line, he runs like hell.

J

[George H. Smith]

Here are some details from the NY Daily News:

There's a new legend that deserves a place alongside legendary football trick plays like the Music City Miracle, Nebraska's "Fumblerooksi" and the Dolphins' Hook and Ladder.

The Driscoll Middle School varsity team unleashed its own play for the ages with a piece of show-stopping chicanery called "The Penalty Play," which has become a YouTube sensation with 168,000 views and counting. [The count is now nearly 250,000.]

Down 6-0 with one minute to go in the third quarter of their championship game against rival Wynn Seale Saturday, the Corpus Christi middle school coaching staff pulled off a master deception. And it could only be unleashed after getting flagged for a penalty, Driscoll Rangers coach Art Rodriguez told the Daily News.

"They marked out five yards, but then [Eighth-grade quarterback Jason Garza] tells the center they're marking out five more yards," says Rodriguez.

Garza then told the center to give him the ball - technically hiking it to start the play - and pretended to mark off the additional yardage. Once he was clear of the defensive line, Garza made a break for the end zone. The 6-6 score after the missed extra point was the game's final.

"This is first time we ever tried it," says Rodriguez of the Penalty Play drawn up by assistant coach John Delosantos. "And it worked."

The trick play has gotten notice from as far as 5039 miles away in an incredulous writeup on London's Daily Mail Website. Monday morning, Rodriguez and the school have fielded calls from CNN, Fox News and CBS' The Early Show.

"This has been one of the highlights [of my 31-year] career," says Rodriguez.

Ghs

[Jonathan]

Now that I think of it, the trick penalty play might have been invented long ago by a comedian. Perhaps Bill Cosby or someone from around the same time period that he was starting out. I remember hearing it as a part of a comedy routine when I was a kid.

J