Timeouts

[TheKOB]

I watched one game where the refs let a team call a time out with the ball on their defensive end of the field. Then the next day, a different set of refs wouldn't let the team call a time out on their defensive end and hit 'em with an illegal procedure call. Which one's right? Our home games are reffed by the second pair, so we've gotten used to the rule. I looked at a rule book (from '98, so it was probably out of date) and it didn't mention where the team had to have the ball in order to call a TO. We were supposed to be going by NCAA rules, but it is possible that the refs got confused between hs and NCAA.... At any rate, anyone know?

[rilax]

The following rules govern timeouts in both sets of rules:

2 per half and 1 per O.T. period
each is 2:00 in length
either team can call a T.O. when the ball is dead
When the ball is live the team with possession may call a time out:

All the time in NFHS rules

When the team is in its offensive half of the field in NCAA, this was further defined by the NCAA this year as to mean that a player needs both feet on the ground in the offensive half of the field when the T.O. is called.

[shiftylax]

yeah, college rules state that you must have possession on the offensive side of the field. Some refs don't even let you call timeouts on a dead ball. the *******s. also, dive shots are never enforced correctly. The shooter ALWAYS gets the benefit of the doubt. It was great when I was playing last year, but now that I'm coaching it's pissing me off.

[TheKOB]

I've also heard that you can't call a time out unless it goes out of bounds on the sideline, not the end line.

It seems like there's a large range of refs, which you run into trouble with the different officials. It's a strange advantage we have, since lacrosse hasn't really spread much here in SC, we always get two of the four refs in the area, and we know how they'll call the game.

[Snake~eyes]

Nope that's incorrect, a timeout can be called during any deadball time. A team may call a timeout while the ball is live if they have posession; anywhere on the field for NFHS and only an offensive half for NCAA. Like everybody said above. :)

[TheKOB]

Does it matter how it goes out of bounds? I think I might of been talking about a shot, which could be considered not a dead ball...

[Snake~eyes]

I didn't see a definition for it in the book but deadball means the clock isn't ticking. :)

[LaxRef]

The confusion is NCAA vs. NFHS rules. In the NCAA, you need to have possession in the offensive end, both feet down, to call a timeout during a live ball (so technically you can't call a TO if you're running, since both feet aren't touching the ground, but that's not why they phrased it this way; they didn't want people calling TO when falling out of bounds). In NFHS, live-ball TOs can be called anywhere on the field if you have possession.

Dead ball timeouts can be taken by either team (as long as they're "nonconsecutive," which I take to mean you can't call a TO after a TO by either team without play restarting first). There is no restriction regarding "where the ball went out" for TOs, although there is of course such a restriction for horn subs.