Fall Kickoff

To make your trip as easy as possible, we’ve partnered with Team Travel Sourcefor all your lodging needs. 

Preferred hotels can be found online HERE

Route 1 to Exit 83, then follow the green directional signs to the only entrance. 4000 Bay Road, Frederica, DE 19946.

Scoring and Time

• Refs keep game time
• The table keeps the score and penalty time

Tournament Play – Pool Play

•  2 – 21 minutes halves
•  3 minute halftime
• 3 game guarantee (Pool Play)
• No Timeouts
• No Overtime
• 2025 NFHS Rules with modifications below

Playoff Rules 

•  2 – 21 minutes halves
• 3-minute halftime
•  Playoff Games…

• Teams are awarded (1) one-minute time-out per team in Regulation Time
• The clock will stop. Timeout does NOT roll over to OT.  No timeouts in OT
• A timeout can be called when the team calling the timeout is in possession of the ball, anywhere on the field
• Overtime will begin immediately and be decided by sudden victory.  OT will have a Running Clock on all whistles.  The first goal scored wins the game.

• Injuries
  • Any injury within 2 minutes and under that requires the game to be stopped, the clock stops with the injury.
  • For any injury with more than 2 minutes remaining when the game is stopped, a maximum of 1 minute will come off the clock to assess the injury before the clock is stopped

BOYS SPECIFIC RULES

•  No stick checks unless refs think a stick is outrageously illegal
•  4 pole maximum on the field
•  Mercy Rule
  • (applies to 2035 and below) Applied when there is a 5-goal deficit in pool play.  Teams down by 5 or more goals will get a free clear after each goal.  Coaches can agree to waive this rule. DOES NOT APPLY TO PLAYOFFS 
• Counts
  • 30 seconds to advance the ball into the box (Pool Play and Playoffs)
  • 2026 – 2033 Grad Years:  Clearing Counts.
  • No Counts – 2034 Grad Year and below.  Exception is a 4-second goalie count
  • The leading team must keep it in the box under 2 minutes if they are ahead by 4 goals or less.
    • If a score changes to 4 goals or less under 2 minutes, the clock will stop and start with the whistles
    • If teams are ahead by 5 goals or more, the clock will remain running
• Checking
  • Limited body checking in 2031 – 2035.  Big hits & physical play (even within three yards of a loose ball) constitute unnecessary roughness (90 sec penalty)
  • One-handed stick checks are not allowed in any youth divisions (2034 and below)
• Penalties
  • Penalties are running time starting on the whistle (45 or 90 seconds)  Penalty time stops during injuries, end of quarters, and while another penalty is being assessed

EJECTIONS

• Game ejections are handled by the referees
• Tournament ejections are handled by the tournament director (2 unsportsmanlike conduct penalties warrant ejection or a 1-game suspension)

RANKINGS:

• Win = 3 points
• Loss = 0 points
• Tie = 1 point
  • In the event that a team needs to play a 4th pool game in order to give a second team their 3rd game:
    •  The 4th game will be identified and acknowledged with a ‘*’ on Tourney Machine
    • The 4th game will not count for any potential points or Goals Against for the team playing their 4th game
    • For the team playing their 3rd game, the results will count for points and goals against
    • In the event that there is a tiebreaker scenario, which includes a teams head-to-head being their fourth game, that has been identified with ‘*’ the head-to-head will NOT be applied.
  • In the event, a team is declared a winner due to forfeit 
    • For ranking purposes, the goals against average for the pool play games will be the average of the games that were completed 
      • Team A wins, 10-8 and 12-8, and then forfeit is 1–0.  Their average of 8 GA will be used to rank

Tie Breakers

If 2 teams are tied with POINTS:

1. Head to Head
2. Goals Against TOTAL
3. Goals Against Common Opponent.  If multiple common opponents, take the sum.

If more than 2 teams tied with POINTS:

1. If 1 team beats the other 2 teams – that team will advance and the second 2 will fall back into tiebreaker rules
2. Goals Against Total
3. Goals Against Common Opponent (only used if all teams played a common opponent.  If multiple common opponents, take the sum)
4. Coin Toss/Braveheart
   1. If a team is still tied after these tie-breakers and is eligible for the championship playoff bracket, a Braveheart may be used to determine who advances.  The tournament director will determine the scheduling of a braveheart based on fields and availability

ROSTERING

• All players must be registered and can only play for 1 team, unless approved by the event director, in each event.
• Unregistered players are considered ineligible for play and if found may result in a team forfeiting games and player ejection from the event.
• Any teams who are found moving players or playing with ineligible players may forfeit that game and possibly any others already played.