The GSHA made a change to Boys Lacrosse timing rules at its annual summer meeting. Now, a game may have a running clock in the first half when one team is up by ten or more goals.
In prior years, a running clock could only occur in the second half. The change now means that at ANY time there is a ten-goal differential, we will begin a running clock. Per NFHS Rule 3:1-2, the clock will only stop for time outs. If the goal-differential is 9 goals or less, the game returns to normal stop-start timing rules.
Here is the text found in the 2019-2020 GHSA Constitution Section 8:
H. When there is a competitive imbalance between two teams in a contest, the game will be shortened as follows:
1. If a team is more than ten (10) goals down at any time, the remainder of the game will be played with a running?
clock that will stop only for timeouts and injuries.?
2. If the team that is behind draws within ten (10) goals, the game will return to normal clock operation.
If you have any rules question, please reach out to GLOA state rules interpreter Jeremy Redmon at [email protected].