High school football - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

High school football, in North America, refers to the game of football

Gridiron football

Gridiron football , sometimes known as North American football, is an umbrella term for related codes of football primarily played in the United States and Canada. The predominant forms of gridiron football are American football and Canadian football...

as it is played in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

and Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations.

High school football, also referred to as prep football or preps football, dates back to the late 19th century, concurrent with the start of many college football programs. In the late 19th and early 20th century, many college and high school teams played against one another. Many other traditions of high school football such as pep rallies

Pep rally

Pep rallies are events that occur primarily in the United States and Canada. A pep rally is a gathering of people, typically students of middle school, high school and college age, before a sports event. The purpose of such a gathering is to encourage school spirit and to support members of the...

, marching band

Marching band

Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...

s, mascots, and homecoming

Homecoming

Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni of a school. It most commonly refers to a tradition in many universities, colleges and high schools in North America...

s are mirrored in college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

Rules

The National Federation of State High School Associations

National Federation of State High School Associations

The National Federation of State High School Associations is the body that writes the rules of competition for most high school sports and activities in the United States. Most high schools, whether public or private, belong to their state's high school association; in turn, each state association...

(NFHS) establishes the rules of High School Football in the United States.

Two states, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

and Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, use NCAA playing rules except as shown below.

With their common ancestry, the NFHS rules of high school football are largely similar to the college game, though with some important differences:

The four quarters are each 12 minutes in length, as opposed to 15 minutes in all other forms of the game. (Texas uses the NFHS 12-minute quarter; Massachusetts uses 12-minute quarters except in playoffs, where they are 10 minutes because of the possibility of playing three games in 10 days.)
Kickoffs take place at the kicking team's 40-yard line, as opposed to the 30 in the college game and the 35 in the NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

. (Both Texas and Massachusetts have adopted the NFHS rule.)
If a ball crosses the plane of the goal line on a missed field goal
Field goal (football)
A field goal in American football and Canadian football is a goal that may be scored during general play . Field goals may be scored by a placekick or the now practically extinct drop kick.The drop kick fell out of favor in 1934 when the shape of the ball was changed...

, it would be a touchback
Touchback
In American football, a touchback is a ruling which is made and signaled by an official when the ball becomes dead behind or above a goal line and the team who is attacking that goal line is responsible for the ball being there. Responsibility is determined by which team gave the ball the impetus...

and the opposing team will start at the 20-yard line.
Any kick crossing the goal line is automatically a touchback; kicks cannot be returned out of the end zone.
Pass interference by the defense results in a 15-yard penalty (and automatic first down), regardless of where the foul occurred (unlike the pro ranks where the ball is placed at the spot of the foul).
The defense cannot return an extra-point attempt for a score.
The use of overtime
Overtime (sports)
Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw. In most sports, this extra period is only played if the game is required to have a clear winner, as in single-elimination...

, and the type of overtime used, is up to the individual state association. The NFHS offers a suggested overtime procedure based on the Kansas Playoff, but does not make its provisions mandatory.

At least one unique high school rule has been adopted by college football. In 1996, the overtime

Overtime (sports)

Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw. In most sports, this extra period is only played if the game is required to have a clear winner, as in single-elimination...

rules originally utilized by Kansas high school teams

Kansas State High School Activities Association

The Kansas State High School Activities Association is the organization which oversees interscholastic competition in the state of Kansas at the high school level. It oversees both athletic and non-athletic competition, and sponsors championships in several sports and activities.The KSHSAA was...

were adopted by the NCAA

National Collegiate Athletic Association

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...

.

Most Canadian schools use Canadian football

Canadian football

Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...

rules adapted for the high school game. The exception is British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, which uses NFHS rules as used in the United States.

Sanctioning organizations

Each state has at least one sanctioning organization for public schools. In many states a separate organization governs interscholastic athletics at most private school

Private school

Private schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory...

s. Each sanctioning body divides its member schools up into anywhere from two to eight size classifications based on the number of students enrolled at a school (so that schools are assured to compete against other schools of comparable size) and then each classification is further divided into geographic regions; the nomenclature and number of divisions vary from state to state. A school's size classification can change if its enrollment rises or declines over the years. At the smallest schools, particularly in rural communities or smaller private schools, variations on the game using six

Six-man football

Six-man football is a variant of American football that is played with six players per team, instead of 11.-History:6-man football was developed in 1934 by Chester High School coach Stephen Epler as an alternative means for small high schools to field a football team during the Great Depression...

, eight

Eight-man football

Eight-man football is a type of American football, generally played by small high schools. Rules and formations vary greatly among states and even among different organizations, but the one constant is eight players from each team on the field at one time, as opposed to eleven-man football, which...

, or nine

Nine-man football

Nine-man football is a type of American football played by high schools that are too small to play the usual eleven-man game. As of 2007, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota had nine man football....

players per side instead of the traditional eleven (or twelve in Canada

Canadian football

) are encountered.

Home schooling and high school football

Homeschooled

Homeschooling

Homeschooling or homeschool is the education of children at home, typically by parents but sometimes by tutors, rather than in other formal settings of public or private school...

students may also participate in high school football through independent or freelance teams, which compete against small private (or in a few cases, public) schools. In some states, such as Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, state law allows homeschooled students to compete in interscholastic athletics for their local school district. Thus, homeschooled Tim Tebow

Tim Tebow

Timothy Richard "Tim" Tebow is an American football player who is currently the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League . He was drafted by the Broncos as the 25th overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft...

, who was one of the top quarterback

Quarterback

Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...

prospects in the nation, was able to play for the nationally ranked public Nease High School

Allen D. Nease Senior High School

Allen D. Nease High School is a public high school in the St. Johns County School District, located in Ponte Vedra, Florida that was established in 1981. The school is a member of the International Baccalaureate program. The principal is Mr...

after he and his mother rented an apartment in that school district. Tebow won the Heisman Trophy

Heisman Trophy

The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...

in 2007

2007 Florida Gators football team

The 2007 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida in the sport of American football during the 2007 college football season...

as quarterback

Quarterback

Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...

for the University of Florida

Florida Gators football

The Florida Gators football team represents the University of Florida in the sport of American football. The Florida Gators compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference...

. The legislature in the state of Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

, where Tebow played in a nationally-televised loss against Hoover High School

Hoover High School (Alabama)

Hoover High School is a public high school in Hoover, Alabama, USA, serving grades 9-12. It was built as a replacement for W. A. Berry High School. It is currently one of the two International Baccalaureate schools in the Greater Birmingham Area...

, is considering a bill, dubbed the Tim Tebow Bill that would grant similar rights to Alabama's home schooled students.

Season

Training for the upcoming season usually starts with weightlifting

Weight training

Weight training is a common type of strength training for developing the strength and size of skeletal muscles. It uses the weight force of gravity to oppose the force generated by muscle through concentric or eccentric contraction...

and other conditioning activities, such as specialized speed and agility training. In some states, this begins a few weeks after the end of the previous season, and in others as late as August. Some states allow seven on seven scrimmages

Scrimmage

A scrimmage, or exhibition game, is an informal sports contest or practice match engaged in for practice purposes which does not go on the regular season record. Scrimmage may also refer to:* Line of scrimmage, in American football and related games...

, while others prohibit formal practices during most of the summer. Near the end of the summer in mid-August, double sessions

Two-A-Days (football)

Two-A-Days, sometimes referred to as Hell Week or Double Sessions, is a term in American football to describe when a team holds practice twice a day: once in the morning, and once in the afternoon or evening. For high school football, Two-A-Days are usually toward the end of summer vacation and the...

tend to begin and usually last for one week or until school starts. After double sessions end, regular season practices begin with daily sessions each week day afternoon except on game day. Practices are often held on Saturday as well, but almost never on Sunday.

The regular season typically consists of ten games in most states. The first game of the season is usually in early September, or late August, and the final regular season game is usually in mid to late October, with the end of the season varying by state and climate. Teams may have one or more bye weeks during the regular season. Larger schools (especially those with successful programs) can often draw attendances in the thousands, even for regular season games, and in some cases may play the game at a college or professional stadium to accommodate the expected large crowds.

The vast majority of high school football games are scheduled for Friday nights, with Thursday evenings and Saturdays being less heavily used. Alternate days are most common in larger school districts where the facilities are used by multiple schools, or where the playing field is not illuminated

Lighting

Lighting or illumination is the deliberate application of light to achieve some practical or aesthetic effect. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources such as lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight...

for nighttime use.

Playoffs and post-season

Prior to the 1970s, many states crowned state champions through polls, but playoff systems have become nearly universal since then and most states have steadily increased the number of teams eligible to participate and total number of classifications. Though the playoff scheme and number of teams eligible varies, regional champions will compete in elimination playoff rounds – in a tradition borrowed from pro football rather than college – to determine a state champion for each size classification.

Only three states do not have one state champion (New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

, and Rhode Island) and only crown regional state champions (however, New Jersey does crown state champions for non-public schools); New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

's championships are nominally statewide, but only include upstate New York

Upstate New York

Upstate New York is the region of the U.S. state of New York that is located north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.-Definition:There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York...

because the divisions representing New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

and Long Island

Long Island

Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

(which cover the majority of the state's population) abstain from the state tournaments. In many large cities, including Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Public Schools

Pittsburgh Public Schools is the public school district in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA and adjacent Mount Oliver.The combined land area of these municipalities is with a population of 342,503 according to the 2000 census. In August 2005, the superintendent became Mark Roosevelt. His tenure ends...

, Virginia Beach

AAA Beach District

The AAA Beach District is one of the four districts of the AAA Eastern Region of the Virginia High School League. The schools in the Beach District compete with the schools in the AAA Eastern District, the AAA Peninsula District, and the AAA Southeastern District...

, New York City

New York City Department of Education

The New York City Department of Education is the branch of municipal government in New York City that manages the city's public school system. It is the largest school system in the United States, with over 1.1 million students taught in more than 1,700 separate schools...

, Los Angeles

Los Angeles Unified School District

Los Angeles Unified School District is the largest public school system in California. It is the 2nd largest public school district in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population...

, as well as some very small districts in places such as Western New York

Western New York

Western New York is the westernmost region of the state of New York. It includes the cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Niagara Falls, the surrounding suburbs, as well as the outlying rural areas of the Great Lakes lowlands, the Genesee Valley, and the Southern Tier. Some historians, scholars and others...

, public high schools compete in their own "city leagues" and may or may not ever play opponents outside of them. At the other extreme are states such as Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

or West Virginia

West Virginia

West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

, in which regional championships do not exist; the state's playoffs are seeded on a statewide basis.

The championship games are usually held at a neutral site, usually a college or NFL stadium needed to accommodate the larger crowds. College and professional fields are also usually better equipped to handle inclement weather which is common since state championship games are typically held in late November to the middle of December.

The current record for number of state high school football championships is held by Washington High School in Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Sioux Falls is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Sioux Falls is the county seat of Minnehaha County, and also extends into Lincoln County to the south...

, which is 37 as of 2010.

Some publications and internet sites release nationwide rankings based on polls or mathematical formulas which take into account various factors like average margin of victory and strength of schedule. Schools that finish atop these rankings, particularly the USA Today

USA Today

USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...

poll, are sometimes considered to be the national champions

High School Football National Championship

The High School Football National Championship is a national championship honor awarded to the best high school football team in the United States of America based on rankings from USA Today and the National Prep Poll. There have been some efforts over the years at organizing a single-game playoff...

.

Outside of the playoff tournaments, high school football on Thanksgiving is also popular. Because of its overlap with the playoff season, many teams forego their rights to a playoff tournament to participate in exhibition rivalry games that are held over Thanksgiving weekend. Others will play a rivalry game only when they do not qualify for the playoffs. Many of the state championship tournaments are purposely scheduled to conclude on the weekend of Thanksgiving.

Canadian Post-Season games

In Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, high schools play in Bowl games similar to college football in the States. The difference though, is that these bowl games are determined by geographical location as opposed to a team's record. There are five bowl games for five different geographical regions; the Northern Bowl, the Golden Horseshoe Bowl, the National Capital Bowl, the Western Bowl and the Metro Bowl. For instance, the National Capital Bowl champion is determined through contests between teams from the Bay of Quinte, Simcoe County, Kawartha Lakes, Ottawa Valley and East Ontario. East Ontario or EOSSAA (Eastern Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association) champion is determined by the champions from divisions within itself such as KASSAA (Kingston Area Secondary School Athletic Association). The most recent AAA Bowl winners are Sir James Dunn (winner of the Northern Bowl), Notre Dame (winner of the Golden Horseshoe Bowl), St. Peter's (winner of the National Capital Bowl), Mother Theresa (winner of the Western Bowl) and Markham (winner of the Metro Bowl). OFSAA Bowls are divided into two different divisions, A/AA and AAA/AAAA, these are determined by the level of enrollment at a school. A/AA also play Bowl games similar to their AAA/AAAA counterparts, it is therefore possibly for two schools in the same region winning both a A/AA and an AAA/AAAA bowl. Most teams dress both a junior (grades 9 and 10) and senior (grade 11, 12 and returning students) teams. At this time there are no bowl games for junior teams.

Other provinces typically divide schools by size and hold playoffs in a similar manner to those contested in US states.

Coaching

See: Head coach#High school football and :Category:High school football coaches in the United States

Junior varsity and freshman teams

Many larger high schools, also have a separate junior varsity

Junior varsity

Primarily in North America, junior varsity or JV players are the members of a team who are not the main players in a competition , usually at the high school and college levels in the United States and Canada. The main players comprise the varsity team...

(JV) team along with their regular or varsity team

Varsity team

In the United States and Canada, varsity sports teams are the principal athletic teams representing a college, university, high school or other secondary school. Such teams compete against the principal athletic teams at other colleges/universities, or in the case of secondary schools, against...

. In most cases if there is a junior varsity team, freshman and some sophomores will play for the JV team, though occasionally these younger players may be called up to the varsity team to replace injured players. In rare instances younger players may go direct to the varsity team without having first played JV. In some places where football is very popular there may even be a third team for freshmen called the freshman team.

There are usually no playoffs for junior varsity teams and often the team with the best record is named champion in their individual league. Overtime is also usually disregarded, and games end in regulation even in the case of a tie. The JV team usually has the same schedule as the varsity, often with an additional bye week; if the varsity team plays at home, the JV squad will usually play away, and vice versa. JV games are usually held on Thursday nights or Saturday mornings with the varsity team playing on Friday nights. JV games may also be played directly before the varsity game. The JV team usually wears old varsity uniforms, handed down when the varsity team receives new ones. JV games are usually treated with much less fanfare than varsity games, often without the amenities found at most varsity games.

College recruiting

In all states, the HS football season will have ended by late December, but the recruiting process by which colleges offer scholarships to high school seniors often starts in the summer, before the school year and football season begin. Physical assessment is an increasingly important part of the recruiting process. Football camps are held at college campuses where a large number of potential recruits can be evaluated simultaneously in various speed and skills drills. Players are evaluated based on running the 40-yard dash, agility shuttle, vertical jump

Vertical jump

A vertical jump or vertical leap is the act of raising one's center of gravity higher in the vertical plane solely with the use of one's own muscles; it is a measure of how high an individual or athlete can elevate off the ground from a standstill.-Types of vertical jump:The vertical jump is...

and the number of repetitions on the bench press

Bench press

The bench press is an exercise of the upper body. For bodybuilding purposes, it is used to stimulate the pectorals, deltoids, and triceps. While on his or her back, the person performing the bench press lowers a weight to the level of the chest, then pushes it back up until the arm is straight...

that they can perform at a given weight. Recently, the SPARQ rating has become a popular composite metric to evaluate overall athleticism. Based on performance over the course of their careers and at camps, colleges will typically take potential recruits on tours of the campus and athletic facilities, or the college may have its team's coach visit the recruit at home or at school.

While all colleges do much of their recruiting from local and in-state high schools, where they can network with HS coaches and booster club

Booster club

A booster club is an organization that is formed to support an associated club, sports team, or organization. Booster clubs are popular in American schools at the high school and university level...

s, the nation's top college programs can easily recruit athletes from around the country. Some colleges have historically been aided in this regard through their prominence within their religious affiliation, such as Notre Dame

Notre Dame Fighting Irish football

Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the football team of the University of Notre Dame. The team is currently coached by Brian Kelly.Notre Dame competes as an Independent at the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision level, and is a founding member of the Bowl Championship Series coalition. It is an...

or BYU.

Students who played for larger high schools, or who competed in nationally televised matches, have a natural advantage towards recruitment, while players who competed at smaller schools – such as most states' 1A and 2A categories – will have their skills and achievements judged versus the lower-caliber opposition they faced and, as such, are rarely considered as top prospects. Occasionally, though, a student at a smaller school will receive a full scholarship – for example, Dallas Cowboys

Dallas Cowboys

The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...

offensive lineman Leonard Davis

Leonard Davis

Leonard Barnett Davis is an American football guard for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League . He was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in the first round of the 2001 NFL Draft. He played college football at Texas.Davis has also played for the Dallas Cowboys.-Early years:Davis is the...

received a scholarship to the University of Texas

Texas Longhorns football

The Texas Longhorns football program is the intercollegiate football team representing The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas. The team currently competes in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the Big 12 Conference which is a Division I Bowl Subdivision of the National...

despite playing football in Wortham, Texas

Wortham, Texas

Wortham is a town in Freestone County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,082 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Wortham is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all of it land...

, a class 1A school.

Though it is an expensive project, HS football players often increase their visibility by sending out video highlights of their playing skills to college recruiters. If a student receives no scholarship offers, they may still attempt to make a college team by becoming a "walk on" and paying their own tuition in the hopes that they can make the team and possibly receive a scholarship. Others will try out for a non-scholarship team, such as a Division III school, or a two-year junior college

Junior college

The term junior college refers to different educational institutions in different countries.-India:In India, most states provide schooling through 12th grade...

team. The latter option is also popular with students with academic or behavioral issues that would prevent them from playing at a four-year college.

While the vast majority of HS football players will not even be considered for a scholarship offer, players who receive nationwide attention will invariably receive scholarship offers from more than one school and will often hold a press conference to announce their final selection. "All Star"

All-star game

An all-star game is an exhibition game played by the best players in their sports league, except in the circumstances of professional sports systems in which a democratic voting system is used...

exhibition game

Exhibition game

An exhibition game is a sporting event in which there is no competitive value of any significant kind to any competitor regardless of the outcome of the competition...

s like the U.S. Army All-American Bowl

U.S. Army All-American Bowl

The U.S. Army All-American Bowl is a high school football all-star game held in early January in San Antonio, Texas. Currently played in the Alamodome, the game brings 90 of the nation's top high school football players in an East versus West matchup. In addition to the Bowl game, there is the U.S...

, which is televised nationally by NBC, give the nation's top prospects the opportunity to publicly announce their college selection or to provide one last opportunity to showcase their talents to college recruiters. By National Signing Day

National Signing Day

National Signing Day most commonly refers to a day in February, usually on the first Wednesday of that month, which is the first day that a high school senior can sign a binding National Letter of Intent for college football with a school that is a member of the NCAA, the main governing body for...

, the first Wednesday in February, most top recruits will have already signed non-binding letters of intent or verbally committed with colleges.

Rivalries

See: List of high school football rivalries (100 years+) and List of high school football rivalries (less than 100 years old)

Mascots

As with college and professional football teams, every high school team in every state has a mascot

Mascot

The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...

or team name. Many are generic allusion

Allusion

An allusion is a figure of speech that makes a reference to, or representation of, people, places, events, literary work, myths, or works of art, either directly or by implication. M. H...

s conveying an image sense of strength, speed, and/or bravery. Thus, plural

Plural

In linguistics, plurality or [a] plural is a concept of quantity representing a value of more-than-one. Typically applied to nouns, a plural word or marker is used to distinguish a value other than the default quantity of a noun, which is typically one...

ized team names such as Tigers, Eagles, Wildcats, Trojans, and Warriors are fairly common throughout the country. Other team names, however, have a historical connection to the town or area where the high school or school district is located, such as a locally important industry. For example, Yuma High School

Yuma Union High School

Yuma Union High School is the oldest high school in Yuma, Arizona.-History:The school was established in 1909, when Arizona Territory taxpayers voted to organize a union district from several elementary districts...

in Yuma, Arizona

Yuma, Arizona

Yuma is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. It is located in the southwestern corner of the state, and the population of the city was 77,515 at the 2000 census, with a 2008 Census Bureau estimated population of 90,041....

is known as the "Criminals" due to the school's historic connection to the infamous Yuma Territorial Prison. Many new schools, or schools that had merged with other schools, have allowed their students to "vote" on a new school mascot or team nickname.

Coverage by broadcast media

As most games take place during prime time

Prime time

Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast...

(albeit during the Friday night death slot

Friday night death slot

The Friday night death slot is a perceived graveyard slot in American television, referring to the concept that a television program in the United States scheduled on Friday evenings is destined for imminent cancellation....

), television exposure of high school football on both a local and national basis tends to be limited to championship games only. Local public access cable television

Cable television

Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...

and local radio station

Radio station

Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...

s often air regular season contests, and in some cases, the school's own radio station

High school radio

High school radio within the United States is almost as old as radio broadcasting itself. Simply defined as a radio station, with its studios located at a high school and usually operated by its students with faculty supervision, stations fitting this description existed in the mid-1920s...

(or a nearby college) broadcasts the game using student announcers. High school football is often an integral part of the modern full service

Full service (radio format)

The full service radio format consists of a wide range of programming. Mostly found on the AM band, the format can be found on a handful of FM stations...

radio format, which centers on local information; radio's prime times are traditionally earlier in the day

Drive time

Drive time is the daypart analog to prime time for radio broadcasting. It consists of the morning hours when listeners wake up, get ready, and/or head to work or school, and the afternoon hours when they are heading home and before their evening meal. These are the periods where the number of...

, and there is far less risk of preemption, since many stations would otherwise be automated or off the air during the times high school football games are played.

There has also been a marked increase in recent years of web-based media covering high school sporting events. Examples include Mid America Broadcasting in Indiana, Champs Sports Network and MSA Sports Network in Western Pennsylvania

Western Pennsylvania

Western Pennsylvania consists of the western third of the state of Pennsylvania in the United States. Pittsburgh is the largest city in the region, with a metropolitan area population of about 2.4 million people, and serves as its economic and cultural center. Erie, Altoona, and Johnstown are its...

, MSBN in Minnesota, and BSports.org in Washington. In many television markets, local stations

Television station

A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...

will air 30 or 60-minute 'scoreboard' shows following their late Friday newscast with scores and highlights from games in their coverage area.

Despite increased national media attention, some states restrict the broadcast of high school games. One example is the University Interscholastic League

University Interscholastic League

The University Interscholastic League is an organization that creates rules for and administers almost all athletic, music, and academic contests for public primary and secondary schools in the American state of Texas....

, which governs public school sports in Texas. The UIL has a long-standing ban on television broadcasting of high school football games on Friday nights, believing that doing so could hurt ticket sales (radio broadcasts are allowed, though). Because of this, several games that have been broadcast on ESPN and Fox Sports Net

Fox Sports Net

The Fox Sports Regional Networks, or simply Fox Sports Net , are a collection of cable TV regional sports networks in the United States owned and operated by News Corporation.- Beginnings :...

in recent years have had to be played on either Thursday night or on Saturday to avoid the UIL's ban. In Michigan, live television broadcasts of regular season games are prohibited by the state athletic association.

The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961

Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961

The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 affects Title 15 of the United States Code, Chapter 32 "Telecasting of Professional Sports Contest" -Overview:...

and Public Law 89-800, which govern the antitrust exemptions given to the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

, prohibit the broadcasting of NFL games

NFL on television

The television rights to broadcast National Football League games are the most lucrative and expensive rights of any American sport. It was television that brought professional football into prominence in the modern era after World War II...

within 75 miles of any high school football game on Friday nights between September and early December. Because most populated areas of the United States have at least one high school football game within a 75-mile radius, and because broadcasting is an integral part of the NFL's business model (roughly half of the league's revenue comes from television contracts), this effectively prohibits the playing of NFL games in competition with high school football. (These rules do not apply during preseason, when Friday night games are common, nor does it apply at the end of the season, though the only time regular season games are played on Friday in the NFL is on Christmas

National Football League Christmas games

The National Football League occasionally schedules matchups on Christmas, December 25 or Christmas Eve, December 24.Unlike their November holiday counterparts, the Thanksgiving Classic games, Christmas Day and Christmas Eve games in the National Football League are not a regular annual part of the...

.) Only recently have national sports television channels fully capitalized on this rule; since 2005

2005 in television

The year 2005 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 2005.For the American TV schedule, see: 2005–06 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:-Miniseries:...

, the ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

family of networks (usually the sub-networks ESPN2

ESPN2

ESPN2 is an American sports cable television network owned by ESPN. The channel debuted on October 1, 1993.Originally nicknamed "the deuce," ESPN2 was initially branded as a network for a younger generation of sports fans featuring edgier graphics as well as extreme sports like motocross,...

, ESPNU

ESPNU

ESPNU is a television channel that specializes in college sports, and is produced by, affiliated with and owned by parent network ESPN. ESPNU originates out of ESPN Regional Television's ESPNU (often referred to as The U) is a television channel that specializes in college sports, and is produced...

and online broadcaster ESPN3, although the main channel also shows occasional games) has aired regular season matchups between nationally ranked teams under the High School Showcase
High School Showcase
High School Showcase, known under its corporate sponsored name as the GEICO High School Showcase, is a presentation of high school football and high school basketball on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU.. Since debuting in 2005, it primarily airs on Friday at 8pm ET on ESPNU, following ESPNU Recruiting...

banner.

Portrayals in movies, television, and literature

Hollywood portrayals of high school football, whether comedies

Comedy film

Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

or dramas, often portray the game at the center of a small town's existence and the focus of its attention.
Also see Jock (subculture)
Jock (subculture)
The term jock, when used primarily in the United States, refers to the classic stereotype of a male athlete. It is generally a negative stereotype, and is attributed mostly to high school and college athletics participants who form a distinct youth subculture. In sociology, the jock is thought to...

All the Right Moves
All the Right Moves
All the Right Moves is a 1983 drama film directed by Michael Chapman and starring Tom Cruise, Craig T. Nelson, Lea Thompson, Chris Penn, and Gary Graham...

– A 1983 film about a Western Pennsylvania
Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League
The Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League is an interscholastic athletic association in Western Pennsylvania. It is District 7 of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association. The league is colloquially known as "WIP-ee-al"...

football player desperate to earn the scholarship
Athletic scholarship
An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport...

that would enable him to escape his economically depressed town.
American Dreams
American Dreams
American Dreams is an American television comedy-drama program broadcast on the NBC television network, produced by Once A Frog and Dick Clark Productions in association with Universal Network Television and NBC Studios...

– "JJ" Pryor is a star high school football running back
Running back
A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...

in the show, and many of the early episodes centered on his games.
The Best of Times
The Best of Times (film)
The Best of Times is a 1986 American film starring Robin Williams and Kurt Russell.-Plot:Robin Williams plays Jack Dundee, a banker obsessed with what he considers the most shameful moment in his life: The moment that he dropped a perfectly thrown pass in the final seconds of the 1972 high school...

– A 1986 film based on an actual rivalry and game between small town Taft High School Rockets and the larger and highly successful Bakersfield High School
Bakersfield High School
]Bakersfield High School is a high school located in Bakersfield, California, USA.Institutional names and dates of operation:*Kern County High School 1893-1915*Kern County Union High School 1915-1945*Bakersfield High School 1945–present...

Tigers who actually have the California high school record for most wins, most section titles, and most State titles.
Bleachers
Bleachers (novel)
Bleachers was published on June 22, 2004. The hardcover edition was published by Doubleday and the paperback edition by Dell.The book focuses on whether or not the famous Eddie Rake, former coach of the Messina High School football team, was loved or hated by his former players.- Main characters...

– A novel published in 2003. It tells of the fictitious Messina High School football team and its coach, Eddie Rake. Rake with 418 wins, 61 losses, and 13 state championships under his belt is on his deathbed, and many of his former players return to Messina to say goodbye.
Dazed and Confused
Dazed and Confused
"Dazed and Confused" is a song by Jake Holmes, which was covered by The Yardbirds, and later reworked by Led Zeppelin who hold a separate copyright on the song.-Jake Holmes:...

– A 1993 film set in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

in 1976. It is not a true high school football movie, but the main character Randy "Pink" Floyd, played by Jason London
Jason London
Jason Paul London is an American actor, best known for his role as Randall "Pink" Floyd in director Richard Linklater's film Dazed and Confused.-Personal life:...

, is the starting quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...

at his high school and most of his friends play football as well.
Facing the Giants
Facing the Giants
- Official listing :# Come Together - Third Day# Voice of Truth - Casting Crowns# Facing the Giants Theme - Mark Willard# I'm Finding You - Bebo Norman# The Deathcrawl - Mark Willard# Completely - Ana Laura...

– A 2006 film revolving around high school football coach Grant Taylor and his issues on and off the field.
Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream
Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream
Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream is a 1990 non-fiction book written by H. G. Bissinger. The book follows the story of the 1988 Permian High School Panthers football team from Odessa, Texas as they made a run towards the Texas state championship...

– a book about the 1988 season of Permian High School
Permian High School
Permian High School is a public high school located in Odessa, Texas and is part of the Ector County Independent School District. It was the subject of the book Friday Night Lights which in turn inspired a movie and TV series of the same name.-History:...

in Odessa, Texas
Odessa, Texas
Odessa is a city in and the county seat of Ector County, Texas, United States. It is located primarily in Ector County, although a small portion of the city extends into Midland County. Odessa's population was 99,940 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Odessa, Texas Metropolitan...

as they made a surprising run toward the state championship. In the end, however, the underdogs lost in the state semi-finals to Carter High School
David W. Carter High School
David Wendel Carter High School is a public school located in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas . David W. Carter High School, which covers grades 9-12, is a part of the Dallas Independent School District....

of Dallas. This book ultimately spawned two other media properties:
- Friday Night Lights – A 2004 film whose plot is very similar to that of the book.
- Friday Night Lights
  Friday Night Lights (TV series)
  Friday Night Lights is an American sports drama television series adapted by Peter Berg, Brian Grazer and David Nevins from a book and film of the same name. The series details events surrounding a high school football team based in fictional Dillon, Texas, with particular focus given to team...
  
  – A television series that aired 2006-2010, and was inspired by the above film.
Go Tigers!
Go Tigers!
Go Tigers! is a documentary film created about the Tigers of Massillon, Ohio. This full-length video informs the viewer about the football team, the city, and its rivalry against the Canton McKinley High School Bulldogs. The film follows the team during the 1999 regular season...

– A 2001 documentary on the rivalry between two Ohio high school teams: Massillon Washington High School
Massillon Washington High School
Massillon Washington High School, is a 9 to 12 grade secondary school within the Massillon City School District located in the city of Massillon, Ohio. It serves students within the city of Massillon as well as parts of Tuscarawas Township...

and Canton McKinley High School
Canton McKinley High School
Canton McKinley Senior High School is a public high school in Canton, Stark County, Ohio, U.S. It is one of the largest and oldest high schools in Ohio.-Athletics:...

.

Gridiron Gang
Gridiron Gang
Gridiron Gang is a 2006 American film starring Dwayne Johnson, Xzibit, L. Scott Caldwell, and Kevin Dunn. It was filmed in California at Camp Kilpatrick, a Los Angeles County Probation Department facility. It is loosely based on the true story of the Kilpatrick Mustangs during the 1990 season...

– A 2006 film about using football to rehabilitate juvenile delinquents.
Johnny Be Good
Johnny Be Good
Johnny Be Good is a 1988 American comedy film directed by Bud Smith, starring Anthony Michael Hall as the main character, Johnny Walker. The film also features Robert Downey Jr., Steve James, Jennifer Tilly and Uma Thurman in her film debut...

– A 1988 comedy film about the pressures of recruiting.
Lucas
Lucas (film)
Lucas is a 1986 American teen tragicomedy film directed by David Seltzer and starring Corey Haim, Kerri Green, Charlie Sheen and Courtney Thorne-Smith. The film is particularly notable for being the screen debut of actress Winona Ryder.-Plot:...

– A 1986 film about the coming of age of a small, intellectually gifted boy; one subplot revolves around his efforts to join the school's football team.
Married... with Children
Married... with Children
Married... with Children is an American surrealistic sitcom that aired for 11 seasons that featured a dysfunctional family living in Chicago, Illinois. The show, notable for being the first prime time television series to air on Fox, ran from April 5, 1987, to June 9, 1997. The series was created...

– A 1987-1998 TV series which featured Al Bundy
Al Bundy
Al Bundy is a fictional character from the U.S. television series Married... with Children. He was played by Ed O'Neill.-Character history:...

, a middle-aged, Chicago-area shoe salesman whose lifelong claim to fame was playing running back at (fictitious) Polk High and scoring "4 touchdowns in one game."
Nike's
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...

Football is Everything television and print ad campaign of 2006
2006 in television
2006 in television may refer to:*2006 in American television*2006 in Australian television*2006 in British television*2006 in Canadian television*2006 in Japanese television...

featuring numerous NFL stars and coaches as members of the fictional Marlin Briscoe
Marlin Briscoe
Marlin Oliver Briscoe is a former American collegiate and Professional Football wide receiver/quarterback who played professionally for nine years...

High School Hawks football team. Requires Macromedia Flash
Radio – A 2003 film based on the true story about T.L. Hanna High School football coach Harold Jones and a mentally challenged young man James Robert Kennedy, nicknamed "Radio" who becomes the team manager.
Remember the Titans
Remember the Titans
Remember the Titans is a 2000 American sports film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Boaz Yakin. Inspired by real events, the plot was conceived from a screenplay written by Gregory Allen Howard. The film starts as a new coach of the Titans, a football team previously coached by the...

– A 2000 film based on the actual story of the 1971 team of T. C. Williams High School
T. C. Williams High School
T. C. Williams High School is a public high school in Alexandria, Virginia, named after former superintendent Thomas Chambliss Williams of Alexandria City Public Schools who served from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s...

in Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...

.
The Season – a 1999 ESPN television documentary
Television documentary
Documentary television is a genre of television programming that broadcasts documentaries.* Documentary television series, a television series which is made up of documentary episodes....

of Eastern Pennsylvania's North Penn High School
North Penn High School
North Penn High School is a part of the North Penn School District and is located in Towamencin Township, Pennsylvania, about a mile outside of Lansdale borough, 25 miles northwest of Philadelphia, along Valley Forge Road . It operates under the Principal Burton T. Hynes and the school colors are...

.
Two-A-Days
Two-A-Days
Two-A-Days is a show on the United States cable television channel MTV. The show chronicled the lives of teens at Hoover High School in Hoover, Alabama, a suburb of nearby Birmingham...

– MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...

documentary
Television documentary
Documentary television is a genre of television programming that broadcasts documentaries.* Documentary television series, a television series which is made up of documentary episodes....

about the 2005 and 2006 football seasons at Hoover High School
Hoover High School (Alabama)
Hoover High School is a public high school in Hoover, Alabama, USA, serving grades 9-12. It was built as a replacement for W. A. Berry High School. It is currently one of the two International Baccalaureate schools in the Greater Birmingham Area...

in suburban Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...

.
Varsity Blues
Varsity Blues (film)
Varsity Blues is a 1999 American drama/sport film directed by Brian Robbins that follows a small-town high school football team and their overbearing coach through a tumultuous season. The players must deal with the pressures of adolescence and their football obsessed community while having their...

– A 1999 film.
Wildcats
Wildcats (film)
Wildcats is a 1986 film starring Goldie Hawn and costarring Jan Hooks and Swoosie Kurtz. It is the film debut of Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson. They also appeared together in White Men Can't Jump and Money Train...

– A 1986 film in which Goldie Hawn
Goldie Hawn
Goldie Jeanne Hawn is an American actress, film director, producer, and occasional singer. Hawn is known for her roles in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Private Benjamin, Foul Play, Overboard, Bird on a Wire, Death Becomes Her, The First Wives Club, and Cactus Flower, for which she won the 1969...

plays the daughter of a noted football coach who becomes head coach at an inner-city high school.