So yesterday our junior varsity team almost went into overtime against Ridgewood, and guess what? None of us coaches actually knew NJ’s specific football overtime rules by heart. Total facepalm moment. Had to scramble.
How I Tackled This Mess
First thing I did was fire up my dusty laptop after practice. Searched “NJ high school football overtime rules” online. Man, finding a simple answer felt like pulling teeth. Found stuff on the NJSIAA site buried under layers of boring documents. Kept clicking.
Saw enough to get worried. Had to call the league commissioner this morning – Larry’s a good guy. Explained it slowly: Both teams get a turn starting at the opponent’s 25-yard line. No two-point conversion shortcuts allowed unless it goes super deep. And get this – you absolutely must go for two after any touchdown starting with the third overtime! Larry emphasized that point hard.
My Actual Prep Steps
Okay, decided I needed cheat sheets. Called Larry back and asked him to walk me through the exact procedure again, step by step, like I was a rookie coach. Wrote it down real messy:
- Overtime 1 & 2: Teams alternate tries from 25-yard line. Must kick PAT after TD if you’re still in OT1 or OT2? Yes, kick it.
- Starting OT3: All PATs? Gone. You score a TD, you MUST go for 2 points from the 3-yard line. No choice.
- OT4 and beyond: Now it gets wild. Still start at 25, but after a TD? You gotta go for a 2-point play again? Yup, same drill. Defense scores? Game over right there.
Cleaned up my chicken scratch notes, made it readable. Printed two copies: one for my clipboard, one for the timekeeper upstairs who always forgets stuff.
Tested myself after dinner. Grabbed a beer and pretended I was calling plays in different OT scenarios. “Okay, 2nd OT, we just scored… gotta kick the PAT… 3rd OT, touchdown? Slam the table for a 2-point play!” Wife thought I lost it.
Stuck the cheat sheet right under the coach’s pass on my clipboard. Used bright orange highlighter on the “MUST GO FOR TWO OT3+” parts so even my grumpy defensive coordinator couldn’t miss it.
Why This Matters Tomorrow
We play Paramus next week, and you know how those games get. Tight score lines, last-second field goals… prime overtime territory. Don’t wanna be that coach arguing about the rules with refs while everyone’s freezing their butts off. Been there, hated that. Had one game stall for twenty minutes once because nobody could agree how many timeouts were left in OT. Pure chaos. This time? We play by the book, no surprises.
Lesson learned? Don’t wait until the lights are on to learn the rules. Print them out. Make ’em visible. Save yourself the headache. Done.