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11-year-old foodball phenom banned from scoring touchdowns
'Madre Hill Rule' invoked
September 30th, 2011 by Prescott Carlson | Permalink
An Arkansas sixth grader is so good at football, officials are limiting how many touchdowns he can score.
Demias Jimerson, 11, a running back for the Wilson Intermediate School football team, is trouncing over opponents so badly, his school principal said that the boy “is going to score almost every time he touches the ball.”
So far, Jimerson’s record is seven touchdowns in one game, and his team is undefeated.
Jimerson’s dominance is far above not only his opponents, but also his own teammates, so officials are dusting off an old rule that was previously put in place for a Wilson alumni, Madre Hill.
Hill, who went on to play for the Arkansas Razorbacks and had a brief stint in the NFL, was also so good at his young age that a rule was put in place to keep him from scoring too much. The rule states that if a player scores more than three touchdowns in a game and the team is up by 14 or more points, that player is unable to score any more touchdowns for the rest of the game.
After Hill left over two decades ago there was no need to enforce the rule again — until Jimerson came along.
Jimerson said he was “shocked” at the rule, but that he was “OK with it.”
His principal, Terri Bryant, who also heads up the Wilson Intermediate Football League, said that the rule is in place simply to even things out so that “other fifth and sixth graders on the field develop as football players, too.”
But young Demias is free to sprint for the end zone and set new records next year — the “Madre Hill rule” only applies to fifth and sixth grade players.
'Madre Hill Rule' invoked
September 30th, 2011 by Prescott Carlson | Permalink
An Arkansas sixth grader is so good at football, officials are limiting how many touchdowns he can score.
Demias Jimerson, 11, a running back for the Wilson Intermediate School football team, is trouncing over opponents so badly, his school principal said that the boy “is going to score almost every time he touches the ball.”
So far, Jimerson’s record is seven touchdowns in one game, and his team is undefeated.
Jimerson’s dominance is far above not only his opponents, but also his own teammates, so officials are dusting off an old rule that was previously put in place for a Wilson alumni, Madre Hill.
Hill, who went on to play for the Arkansas Razorbacks and had a brief stint in the NFL, was also so good at his young age that a rule was put in place to keep him from scoring too much. The rule states that if a player scores more than three touchdowns in a game and the team is up by 14 or more points, that player is unable to score any more touchdowns for the rest of the game.
After Hill left over two decades ago there was no need to enforce the rule again — until Jimerson came along.
Jimerson said he was “shocked” at the rule, but that he was “OK with it.”
His principal, Terri Bryant, who also heads up the Wilson Intermediate Football League, said that the rule is in place simply to even things out so that “other fifth and sixth graders on the field develop as football players, too.”
But young Demias is free to sprint for the end zone and set new records next year — the “Madre Hill rule” only applies to fifth and sixth grade players.
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