National Group Bans Football’s ‘Fumblerooski’

One of the wackiest, most entertaining trick plays in high school football, the “fumblerooski,” has been banned starting with the 2006 season.

The decision, made by the National Federation of State High School Assns. football rules committee, will deny offensive linemen in Southern California and across the nation their best opportunity to score a touchdown while making a desperate, sometimes comedic dash toward the end zone.

“The times we practiced it, the times we ran it, the kids had a blast,” Thousand Oaks Coach Mike Sanders said. “The players absolutely loved it.”

The fumblerooski was banned in the NFL in the early 1960s and was outlawed in college football in 1993. But it has flourished at the high school level, particularly at Westlake Village Oaks Christian, where Coach Bill Redell has made it almost a trademark.

Last season, the Lions used it once, and offensive guard Duke Lemmens ran 74 yards for a touchdown against Palmdale.

The play involves placing the ball on the ground behind the center after the snap. While all the offensive players head in one direction, the guard picks up the ball and races the opposite direction, usually going unnoticed until it’s too late.

Redell started using the play in 1994 at La Canada St. Francis and estimates he has brought it out more than 20 times. Many of his former assistants, like Sanders, have also used it.

“The reality is it was a fun play and a safe play,” Sanders said.

Thousand Oaks lineman Jesse Border scored twice off the fumblerooski in one game in 2003.

Border, now playing at Ventura College, said, “The fumblerooskis were some of my best memories of my life. It’s too bad others won’t get the chance to experience it. It’s an awesome play.”

But Jerry Diehl, assistant director of the National Federation of State High School Assns., said the play was seldom used and put a burden on officials because teams had to inform the referee before running the play.

“It eliminates confusion in a ballgame,” Diehl said of the ban.

The 2006 football rules changes, approved in January, don’t specifically mention the fumblerooski by name, but Rule 7-2-8 states, “The option to use a ‘planned loose ball’ has been removed.”

Redell, who turned 65 last week, said he was not disappointed that the play has been eliminated.

“I think they should have banned it years ago,” he said. “I’ve questioned myself about running the play.”

Redell, though, is already thinking about what could succeed the fumblerooski. “There has to be a spinoff,” he said.

And there is. While linemen will no longer be able to run with the ball during a planned play, the rules do not prevent an eligible offensive back from picking up the ball.

-- Eric Sondheimer

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An appeals committee voted unanimously Wednesday to uphold a decision that will force Huntington Beach Edison’s football team to forfeit eight victories during the 2005 season for using an ineligible player.

Administrative officers of the Southern Section Executive Committee agreed by a 4-0 vote that section Commissioner James Staunton was correct when he determined in February that Edison had played 10 games with an ineligible player who did not have a bona fide change of address.

At issue was whether the former Fountain Valley player and his family -- both parents and a younger sister -- had moved from their house in Fountain Valley to a one-bedroom apartment in Huntington Beach. According to Edison Principal D’liese Melendrez, the house was being rented to the player’s adult sister, and the school fulfilled its obligation to prove residency in Huntington Beach.

John Dahlem, principal at Anaheim Western and president of the Southern Section Council, said there was little doubt that the family “hadn’t relinquished control of that house” in Fountain Valley and “had enjoyment of that domicile.”

Among other things, he said there was no rental agreement between the parents and the adult daughter, the Huntington Beach apartment was sparsely furnished and decorated for four people with established residence, and the family returned to the Fountain Valley location after the football season ended.

Top-seeded Edison, undefeated in Sunset League play, finished the season 10-2. With the forfeits, the program will instead be 2-10 overall, 2-5 in league.

Edison will forfeit victories to San Clemente, Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley, Anaheim Servite, Santa Ana Mater Dei, Anaheim Esperanza, Huntington Beach, Los Alamitos and Redlands. It retains victories over Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach Marina.

Esperanza, which lost to Los Angeles Loyola in the Division I championship game, assumes the league title.

-- Martin Henderson

Wrestling

Senior Shad Manigault, who became the first wrestler from Covina Northview to win a state title since 2000, is The Times’ wrestler of the year.

Competing at 140 pounds, Manigault won titles at five tournaments, including the Masters, Five Counties and the Southern Section Eastern Division, and finished with a 58-1 record.