Editing Mercy rule (section)

===Middle and high school football===
At the middle- or high-school level, 34 states use a mercy rule that may involve a "continuous clock" (the clock continues to operate on most plays when the clock would normally stop, such as an incomplete pass) once a team has a certain lead (for example, 35 points) during the second half ([[Louisiana High School Athletic Association|Louisiana]] adopted a rule in 2022 which states the running clock is invoked when the margin reaches 42 points at any time during the game). That greatly decreases the amount of time taken for a game to complete, which reduces the leading team's chances to score more and the time that the trailing team must spend in facing an insurmountable deficit. In most states, the clock stops only for scores, timeouts (officials', injury, or charged), or the end of the quarter. Plays that would normally stop the clock, such as penalties, incomplete passes, going out of bounds, or change of possession, would not stop the clock. The rule varies by state; for example, the clock does not stop upon a score in [[Colorado High School Activities Association|Colorado]], [[Indiana High School Athletic Association|Indiana]], [[Kansas State High School Activities Association|Kansas]] (regular-season games only), or [[Missouri State High School Activities Association|Missouri]] (fourth quarter only).

In most states, once the point differential is reduced to below the mercy rule-invoking amount, normal timing procedures resume until either the end of the game or the mercy rule-invoking point differential is re-established; in Colorado, Georgia, Kansas and Louisiana, the clock continues to run even if the differential falls below the threshold. Most states that have mercy rules waive this rule for a championship game.

In some states, coaches and game officials may choose to end a game at their own discretion at any time during the second half if the continuous clock rule is in effect; that usually happens if a lopsided margin continues to increase or if threatening weather is imminent. Sometimes the coach of the team that is losing agrees to shorten the length of a quarter in addition to the continuous clock rule. Although it is rare, some states or high school conferences have rules in which the team with a very large lead may not run a certain play for the rest of the game, such as a deep pass or outside run.

In some states (where [[Eight-man football|8-man]] and [[Six-man football#Scoring|6-man football]] is widely used), the rules call for a game to end when one team is ahead by a certain score (like 45 or 50 points) at halftime or any time thereafter.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nfhs.org/core/contentmanager/uploads/2007MERCYRULE.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2008-10-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080921023325/http://www.nfhs.org/core/contentmanager/uploads/2007MERCYRULE.pdf |archive-date=2008-09-21 }}</ref> In other states with 6- or 8-man football, continuous clock rules are used, and the rule may be modified; for instance, in Iowa, the rule goes into effect if the 35-point differential is reached at any time after the first quarter.

In a variant on the mercy rule used in [[Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference|Connecticut high school football]] from 2006 to 2016, the team's coach was issued a one-game suspension (i.e., for the team's next game) if at any point the team had a 50-point lead.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.norwichbulletin.com/sports/20160627/ciac-eliminates-50-point-rule-in-high-school-football|title=CIAC eliminates 50-point rule in high school football|last=Poole|first=Owen|work=The Bulletin|access-date=2018-05-21|language=en}}</ref> In 2016 it was replaced with a running clock rule.