High School Team Loses Championship After Celebrating Winning TD [Video]

A Massachusetts high school lost a state championship game because a player raised his arm (to celebrate) as he ran for what would have been a go-ahead touchdown. The referee was enforcing a sportsmanship rule that prohibits players from celebratory or taunting behavior while scoring a touchdown.

The penalty nullified the touchdown, and Cathedral lost the game 16-14.

In response, the losing school's athletic director:

"I just give people the analogy: imagine a basketball player making a clutch three-pointer right at the end of the game, and he turns around and he just kind of shakes his fist in the air kind of thing."And it was simply just that and it was nothing else ... I don't think it was anything further than just excitement on the player's behalf."