OFFICIAL PYLON 7on7 FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT RULES 

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NEW RULES FOR 2025!

• Players cannot come onto the field at any time prior to the exchange of possession. Teams must remain in the designated on-deck position until the previous series ends
• An interception will result in an immediate stoppage of play and a change of possession with the intercepting team gaining possession at the 30-yard line AND WILL BE AWARDED TWO (2) POINTS. If an un-sportsman penalty is given to the intercepting team, they will be penalized 10 yards and will start from the 40-yard line and WILL NOT be awarded two (2) points
• Coaches – and any assistant coaches, players, team personnel – all must remain in designated coach’s box, restricted to the 20-yard line. The defensive coordinator is permitted to advance to the 15-yard line for better visibility and communication
• Coaches will be given 1 sideline warning during play. Second warning will result in a 10-yard penalty or half the distance to the goal. Third warning will result in the head coach’s removal from that game

MAXIMUM PLAYERS ON A TEAM

24 players

UNIFORM REQUIREMENTS

All players must wear uniform tops of the same color. It is highly recommended that jerseys be numbered for identification purposes

FIELD DIMENSIONS

Field Length will be 50 yards. 40-yard playing field with a 10-yard end zone

STARTING EACH GAME

• A coin toss will determine which team gets the ball first. That team will begin with possession of the ball on the 40-yard line with their choice of hash
• A whistle will begin each game
• Each game lasts 25 minutes with a running clock

(There is no overtime in Pool Play)

• If a team scores a touchdown with no time remaining on the clock, and they are down by 2 points or less, they get to attempt their extra point(s)
• The official will declare when the clock is under 2 minutes
• The clock never stops, with the exception of an injury or referee timeout
• A whistle will end each game
• The referees will keep the official score and time on the field for each game
• Mandated Game Breaker Soft Helmets and mouthguards must be worn correctly at all times by all players except the QB. If a player does not have a helmet they cannot participate until they do

MOVING THE BALL  

• Offense always starts on 40-yard line with their choice of the hash. After any change of possession
• All snaps at the 40-yard line must be off the QB-TEE (No Shotgun). Upon gaining a yard or more, QB may take a shotgun off QB-TEE
• Offense has three (3) downs to gain a first down. First down markers will be at the 25, and 10-yard lines
• Once inside the 10-yard line, the offense has 3 downs to score a touchdown
• The first person to control the football off the QB-Tee is the QB. The QB is never eligible to run
• The offense may run the ball as many times as they want on any down during the game, with the exception of overtime. The QB is allowed to make one exchange (ex. Pass, handoff or toss). No toss passes nor reverses
• Defensive players cannot cross the line on a run play until the quarterback hands the ball off to the RB
• Quarterback can NEVER run the ball
• After the offense scores a touchdown, they have the option of going for 1 point from the 5-yard line or go for 2 points from the 10-yard line. Offense chooses hash for ball placement. If the coach doesn’t respond to the official on which yard-line, the official will place the ball on the 5-yard line to go for 1 point. Once this decision is made, coaches cannot overturn this decision

COACHING YOUR TEAM

• There will be one offensive coach allowed on the field at any time
• The coach must be positioned behind the offensive huddle
• Coaches are not allowed to challenge any official ruling
• Remaining team coaches can work from the sidelines
• NO defensive coaches allowed on the field at any time
• Coach’s Box and Sideline
  • Coaches – and any assistant coaches, players, team personnel – must remain in designated coach’s box, restricted to the 20-yard line. The defensive coordinator is permitted to advance to the 15-yard line for better visibility and communication
  • Coaches will be given 1 sideline warning during play. Second warning will result in a 10-yard penalty or half the distance to the goal. Third warning will result in the coach’s removal from that game
• Players cannot come onto the field at any time prior to the exchange of possession. Teams must remain in the designated on-deck position until the previous series ends
• Only one (1) team photographer is allowed on the playing field 10-yards behind the offensive team
• Any form of cheating qualifies for automatic team disqualification at the tournament!

COACHING RESPONSIBILITY AND CONDUCT RULE

• Head coaches are responsible for the behavior of their coaches, players, and fans
• Any unsportsmanlike conduct deemed unacceptable according to the code of conduct will result in a 15-yard penalty

SPECIAL RULES

• NO BLITZING AT THE 40-YARD LINE ALLOWED. IF A DEFENSE BLITZES, THIS WILL BE DEEMED AN ILLEGAL PROCEDURE AND AN AUTOMATIC 1st DOWN AND FIVE (5) YARDS FOR OFFENSE. THE DEFENSE WILL GET THEIR BLITZ BACK IF IT WAS NOT ALREADY USED
• ONE BLITZ PER GAME IS ALLOWED – during regular game play once a yard is gained on the offensive possession, the defense can now use their blitz. Multiple players can blitz at one time. If a team has already used their ONE blitz any blitz thereafter will be penalized 15 yards (un-sportsman penalty) and the offense will get an automatic first down
• NO substitutes may position themselves behind the offensive team at any time during play
• NO blocking – Blocking will result in a loss of down, return to the previous spot
• Face guarding is allowed
• Ball carrier is legally down when touched below the neck with one hand or the ball carrier’s elbow/knee, or the football touches the ground. A defender CAN leave his feet to make a tag. The offensive player is allowed leave his/her feet
• Fumbles (Including snap) are dead balls at the spot with the last team in control retaining possession at the spot
• Offensive team will have 25 seconds to put the ball into play. Delay of game is a loss of down
• The offensive team is responsible for retrieving and returning the ball to the official. The clock does not stop, and any delay of the offense in retrieving and returning the ball to the official will result in delay of game
• Defensive pass interference will result in a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down. Defensive holding will result in a 10-yard penalty and repeat the down
• Offensive pass interference will result in a return to the previous spot plus a loss of down
• QB is allowed 4.0 seconds to throw the ball. Referees will stop play if 4.0 seconds is surpassed, which will result in a loss of down
• An interception will result in an immediate stoppage of play and a change of possession with the intercepting team gaining possession at the 30-yard line AND WILL BE AWARDED TWO (2) POINTS. If an un-sportsman penalty is given to the intercepting team, they will be penalized 10 yards and will start from the 40-yard line and WILL NOT be awarded two (2) points
• Excessive celebration is not allowed and will not be tolerated. At the discretion of the referee, if a team is penalized for excessively celebrating or clearing of the sideline, the result is an unsportsmanlike penalty and a loss of down
• A game cannot end on a defensive penalty. If this occurs, the offense will have an untimed down if time has expired
• The offense (wide receivers) must line up outside the tackle box, and one receiver has to be on the line on each side. If not, the offense will be penalized illegal formation and a loss of down
• Fighting will not be tolerated. If a player throws a punch, he is ejected immediately and CANNOT return to the remaining portion of the tournament. If players are involved in pushing or shoving, they may be ejected immediately from the game at the referees’ discretion. If a second incident occurs with the same player(s), they will be ejected from the tournament in its entirety. If a team’s bench clears, resulting in a fight, both of the teams are ejected, resulting in a forfeit. The referee has the right to throw out any player, players, or team out of the game. The Pylon staff has the right in extreme cases to eject players, coaches, teams, and by-standers of any tournament and they will have to leave the facility immediately. A referee can also give a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty
• Pylon staff WILL NOT overturn a referee’s call unless it goes against the Pylon rulebook!

OVERTIME / TIE BREAKER

• Games in BRACKET PLAY (SINGLE-ELIMINATION) that end in a tie will go to a tiebreaker. There will be a coin toss at the beginning of the tiebreaker with the home team calling the toss. The winner will choose to be on either offense or defense
• Each team will have 2 plays from the QB-tee from the 10-yard line, choice of hash. If you score, you receive the standard 6 points
• There is NO running in overtime. All plays MUST be a pass
• If the offense scores, then they MUST choose to go for 1 point from the 5-yard line, or 2 points from the 10-yard line. If the coach doesn’t respond to the official on which yard-line, the official will place the ball on the 5-yard line to go for 1 point. Once this decision is made, coaches cannot overturn this decision
• The opposing team gets the same opportunity to win
• If neither team scores or it still ends as a tie, we will flip the coin again then back to the standard longest passing yard from the 40-yard line. There is no running allowed in the longest yard situations
• The team with the most yards will be declared the winner of the tiebreaker and will add 1 point to the final score
• If there is no completion, or the deepest completion is equal, the tiebreaker will be repeated with the team that lost the initial coin toss making the choice to either take offense or defense
• This format will be repeated until a clear winner is declared
• This tiebreaker format will be used in SINGLE-ELIMINATION GAMES ONLY, NO BLITZING ALLOWED
• If there is an invariant whistle on a play the offense will decide if the entire play will be done over, or the runner will be down where the invariant whistle was blown.

BRACKET FORMAT

• All teams will be seeded in the bracket based on Day 1 win/loss and day 1 schedule
• All teams will play minimum of 4 games during the event, unless otherwise noted

BRACKET SEEDING WILL BE DETERMINED BY:

• Wins/losses, points scored and point differential. If after these determinations there is still a tie, the system will automatically do a coin flip to determine team seeding

POINT VALUES

• Offensive touchdown = 6 points. After the touchdown, the team MUST elect to go for 1 point from the 5-yard line or 2 points from the 10-yard line.
• Interceptions = 2 points, if no penalty(ies)

PYLON FOOTBALL BAG POLICY