Back Porch FanHouse

Disgruntled Parent Hires PI in Effort to Get High School Coach Fired

Ryan Wilson — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:30:00 EST

Here's a fun story of an obsessive, overbearing parent desperately trying to live vicariously through his high school basketball-playing son. John Lekas, unhappy with his son's playing time, hired private investigator Debra Hennessee to dig up dirt on head coach David Adelman in an attempt to get him fired.

Hennessee would eventually call police after Adelman had a few adult beverages (depending on who you believe, it was either five or ten beers) and decided to drive to Taco Bell. (Because, really, nothing goes better with a buzz than a passenger seat full of 89-cent burritos.)

Adelman, who blew a .14, was arrested for driving drunk, and now his lawyer is hoping to get the case dismissed on the grounds that police didn't have probable cause to stop the coach in the first place.

Via The Oregonian:

"There was no other way to get the principal or the school board's attention on concerns about [Adelman's] drinking and behavior (than to hire a private investigator)," [Lekas' attorney Mike] Layne said at the end of a wild day before Multnomah Circuit Judge Jerome LaBarre. ...

In arguing there was no probable cause for the stop, Houze made much of the fact that the first two cops at the scene both said they did not see the traffic infraction -- changing lanes without signaling -- that Officer Josh Sparks cited as his reason for stopping Adelman after he pulled out onto West Burnside.

But Houze also contended that police should have known Hennessee's surveillance was part of a campaign "to discredit, subvert, harass and ultimately cause the firing of David Adelman."

Rick Adelman, David's father and the Houston Rockets head coach, also testified and admitted that he was so concerned about Lekas that he met with him for 90 minutes last September.

"I thought I could reason with him," Rick Adelman said. "He basically told me David should not be coaching at the high school and he would do everything he could to get him fired."

"I have seen many disgruntled parents over the years," the Rockets' coach later wrote to Lekas in an e-mail, "but I have never seen anyone as vindictive as you."

Clearly, Lekas is insane*, but if there's a lesson here it's this: in the future, if David Adelman wants to have a few pops, let somebody else drive. Even O.J. Simpson had Kato Kaelin to take him to McDonald's.

* Not a medical opinion, just speculation.

Disgruntled Parent Hires PI in Effort to Get High School Coach Fired originally appeared on Back Porch FanHouse on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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High School Touchdown Overshadowed by Ridiculous Block

Ryan Wilson — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:45:00 EST

Filed under: High School

The abundance of high school touchdown videos now on the internet lessens their impact (sorta like how you feel after watching a dunk contest for more than 10 minutes -- at first you're blown away by the athleticism, but after seeing some variation of the same dunk, you quickly get bored), so you're relegated to looking for absurdities within the absurdities.

And in the case of the 2009 Oregon 6A playoffs, I think we've found it.

Grant's Kenneth Acker's amazing punt return touchdown

Fine punt return by Grant High School's Kenneth Acker, but the real ridiculousness starts around the 15-second mark. As Acker makes his way across the field, a Grant blocker levels an unsuspecting opponent like they were reenacting Hines Ward on Keith Rivers. And like Ward, said blocker got to his feet and immediately went Hulk for teammates and fans.

Woo hoo! A block 20 yards from the play that had nothing to do with the outcome!

I'd hate to see what would happen if he recovered a fumble.

via Deadspin

High School Touchdown Overshadowed by Ridiculous Block originally appeared on Back Porch FanHouse on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:45:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Coaches, Players Suspended After High School Soccer Brawl

Ryan Wilson — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: High School, Women's Sports

A fight broke out between Tolman and Woonsocket high schools during the Rhode Island girls state soccer championship a couple weekends ago, and yesterday the Rhode Island Interscholastic League Principal's Committee on Athletics handed down the punishments.

Both coaches and nine students have been suspended, although Tolman coach Belmiro Pereira seemed baffled by the decision.

"I don't think they can justify why I'm getting three games, and the other coach is on the field and pushing players left and right and I'm on the bench."

Immediately following the fight, Woonsocket coach Kathleen Fagnant told Providence's WPRI that, "I know I pride myself and my girls on sportsmanship. And not to put a blame on anybody, it could be us too, we could have been going back and forth," she said. "We had the advantage, and we had good spirits, so I'm not going to take the fall for that."

She also received a three-game suspension.

The Providence Journal reports that "Penalties ranged from two games for leaving the bench to five games for fighting to one year for a Tolman player, most likely for instigating the incident." Seems sorta steep, particularly after watching New Mexico's Elizabeth Lambert spend 90 minutes assaulting most of the BYU soccer team only to get what amounted to a slap on the wrist. But this is high school, where young minds are molded, and sometimes, lessons must be learned.

Still, I can't help but think that this never would have happened if dodgeball had been an integral part of the curriculum.

Coaches, Players Suspended After High School Soccer Brawl originally appeared on Back Porch FanHouse on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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'Miracle at Moss': 80 Yards in 6.9 Seconds = Exciting HS Football Finish

Will Brinson — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:30:00 EST

Filed under: High School

Is it just me or have advances in technology led to higher quality videos from lower-end tech-people (read: high school athletic departments and fans of those schools can suddenly make really nice videos) and resulted in an insane abundance of crazy high school football plays on YouTube this year?

Even so, the "Miracle at Moss," an 80-yard touchdown from Webster Groves quarterback Derrick Dilworth to Demetrius Robinson against Chaminade, is being tabbed as the "best ever." Until next week at least.

Via The Big Lead.

Bonus, for you high school football junkies -- another view of the Miracle at Moss after the jump.

'Miracle at Moss': 80 Yards in 6.9 Seconds = Exciting HS Football Finish originally appeared on Back Porch FanHouse on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Duke Recruit Kyrie Irving Performs in 'High School Musical'

Ryan Wilson — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: College Sports, High School

Duke University recruit Kyrie Irving wants you to know that he's just a normal kid. Sure, he's a fantastic basketball player, but that doesn't define him. In fact, aside from his on-court skills, he's like most other teenagers ... who are active in the school's drama department.

Via the Star-Ledger, Irving stars in "High School Musical."

This is just like that time in Glee when Mr. Schuester tricked Finn Hudson into joining the Glee Club! Except that Finn was the star quarterback. And Kyrie did it willingly. And Sue Sylvester isn't sabotaging the production. But otherwise, it's exactly the same.

Lame pop culture references aside, credit to Irving. And while it might seem mildly embarrassing for an athlete to dabble in the dramatic arts, it barely merits a mention when put into perspective. See former Dukie Reggie Love, for example.

via Dana O'Neil's Twitter machine

Duke Recruit Kyrie Irving Performs in 'High School Musical' originally appeared on Back Porch FanHouse on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Brawl Breaks Out at High School Girls' Soccer Game in Rhode Island

Michael David Smith — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:09:00 EST

Filed under: High School, Women's Sports

The high school girls' soccer state championships in Rhode Island turned violent this weekend when, with a minute left in the game between Woonsocket and Tolman, Woonsocket's Kristen Cahill and Tolman's Maria Lopera started pushing, shoving and punching each other. The violence then spilled over into the stands, where fans of the two teams came to blows.

WPRI in Providence quotes Woonsocket soccer coach Kathleen Fagnant saying she thinks Tolman players were upset that her team won 5-0:

"Frustrations are frustrations," said . "[Tolman was ] down five-nothing. We're both physical teams, and you can only take so much; at a certain point, someone snapped."

"I know I pride myself and my girls on sportsmanship. And not to put a blame on anybody, it could be us too, we could have been going back and forth," she said. "We had the advantage, and we had good spirits, so I'm not going to take the fall for that."

This is the second time in the last four days we've written about violence in women's soccer; University of New Mexico junior Elizabeth Lambert was suspended indefinitely after punching, pushing, kicking and pulling the hair of BYU players in a game last week. The good news is that in both cases, there were apparently no serious injuries: The worst thing to come of the Woonsocket-Tolman brawl was one soccer player with a black eye.

Video via Sports Rubbish.

Brawl Breaks Out at High School Girls' Soccer Game in Rhode Island originally appeared on Back Porch FanHouse on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:09:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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High School Football Team Near Fort Hood Copes With Tragedy

Terrance Harris — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:45:00 EST

Filed under: High School, Youth Sports

KILLEEN, Tex. -- The scene here at Leo Buckley Stadium late Friday night was reminiscent of most high school football venues across the country, as the Shoemaker Grey Wolves dealt with the reality their season was over.

Tears were shed, hugs were exchanged between players, coaches and players, coaches and coaches. Then the coaches thanked the seniors for great effort.

But this was no ordinary season-finale ritual for the Grey Wolves. Just over 24 hours earlier, many of them weren't sure if their parents or loved ones were injured -- or worse, killed -- in the deadly shooting rampage at Fort Hood, the nation's largest military base.

Shoemaker High School, which is just a stone's throw away from Fort Hood, is heavily populated with kids whose families either live on base or are serving in the military. With wars going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, these young people have become accustomed to dealing with death.

But that didn't make news of Thursday's deadly rampage any easier for many of them to take. Twelve soldiers and one civilian were killed, and 30 others were wounded. If there was any solace, it was that none of the Grey Wolves' parents or immediate family members were affected by the shooting.

"We just sat there and put our heads together and wished for the best and hoped it was none of our relatives. Luckily, it wasn't. But we came out here to play for them, too, the people from Fort Hood."
-- Shoemaker QB Jammie Blount on Dealing With the Fort Hood Shooting "It was tough for us, knowing some of our players' moms and dads were probably hurt or injured," said Shoemaker sophomore quarterback Jammie Blount, whose family is awaiting orders to deployed to Korea soon. "We just sat there and put our heads together and wished for the best and hoped it was none of our relatives. Luckily it wasn't.

"But we came out here to play for them, too, the people from Fort Hood."

"It was really hard for us to come and play this game knowing what went on and that families some of us know were affected," said Shoemaker senior lineman Jaime Bennett, who shed tears when the game was finished. "It was really, really tough to get through. But we prayed and then we moved on."

Shoemaker head coach Ken Gray braced for the worst as news spread around Killeen that a shooter was on the loose on base. Around Shoemaker, much more so than the other high schools in the community, helping young kids deal with tragedy is just something teachers, coaches and administrators do.

"We are in a unique situation in that our kids' parents are fighting the war in Iraq and they are fighting the war in Afghanistan and Kuwait and places," Gray said. "So there have been events like this in their lives.

"What we try to do as coaches is we try to keep things as normal as we can and as consistent as we can with our kids. This tragedy from (Thursday) kind of wears on the kids, whether it's their dad or not. Whenever they hear of a soldier passing or getting killed we send up a prayer because you never know when it's one of their parents or relatives."

The Killeen school district shut down all extra-curricular activities the day of the shooting, but higher-ups at Fort Hood expressed the desire to get things back to normal. So it was business as usual Friday night at Buckley Stadium, where the night began as always with a prayer for the soldiers and their families.

"The message this morning from Fort Hood was they wanted to get things back as normal as possible with school and everything else," said Killeen District athletic director Tom Rogers. "So this is our regularly scheduled game.

"There was some discussion early but that went away fairly quickly.

"Any time I've been around football or a sporting event where there has been a tragedy that's happened during that week," he continued, "it's what the kids know and when they get to go to the field it gets them back to their normal life and they get to forget about anything that's going on outside."

But Rogers admitted Thursday was especially tough for the student-athletes.

"A lot of them went through a lot of stress (Thursday) because there was quite a bit of uncertainty for quite a bit of time because so many of their parents work on Fort Hood," Rogers said. "So when they locked things down, rumors started flying and kids start talking and people start talking. There are some things that come out ... There was just a lot of uncertainty so for them to come back and play a game like that tonight was unbelievable."

Winless this season, the Grey Wolves seemed to play inspired football Friday night as they took an early 6-0 lead over rival Temple and then another 12-7 lead in the second quarter before Temple and highly touted running back recruit Lache Seastrunk ran off with a 44-32 victory.

But Gray, whose team made the Texas high school playoffs last season, talked about his team with pride despite their 0-10 season. He saw his team, which lost its three Division I prospects to injury within the first two weeks of the season, fight until the end Friday night.

In fact, the outcome could have been much different for the Grey Wolves had their receivers not dropped three point-blank touchdown passes.

"They were ready to go. Like we told them all week, `You give it all you've got. There's a lot of people that are supporting you throughout the world,' Gray said. "We were getting calls from Iraq, kids were getting text messages from everywhere around the world, because that's where our kids' parents are.

"So there are a lot of people supporting us, so I kind of reminded them of that."

High School Football Team Near Fort Hood Copes With Tragedy originally appeared on Back Porch FanHouse on Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:45:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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High School Football Player Charged After Alleged Head-Butt

Adam Gretz — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 11:34:00 EST

Filed under: High School

James LaShoto, a high school football player from Arlington Catholic High School near Boston, is facing criminal charges for assault and battery after allegedly head-butting an opponent -- 17-year-old Daniel Curtin (pictured right) -- from Abington High School in a game on Sept. 19, according to The Boston Globe.

The paper reports that Curtin suffered two lacerations and a large bump on his head, and had to miss 10 days of football because of concussion concerns. LaShoto was suspended for two games by his own school.

You can see the incident during a video posted on the Globe's website, which comes from local public access television.

The incident occurs in the middle of the screen, just behind the original line of scrimmage, when LaShoto and Curtin were engaged in a block and fell to the ground. Curtin's helmet comes off in the process, which was when the alleged incident occurred.

LaShoto's lawyer had this to say:

[Ronald] Martignetti said the suspension, which was formulated in conjunction with both Arlington Catholic and Abington High School officials, was adequate. "We see this as an unfortunate incident,'' Martignetti said, and the filing of charges as "a misuse of the criminal process.'' "This was just in my mind a dirty play, not a clean one. I'm not going to defend the actions as far as the sport is concerned, but as far as the outcome, to have this boy charged with a crime - I believe it's inappropriate,'' he said, emphasizing that LaShoto had a "stellar record.''

Yet Curtin's mother doesn't quite see things the same way.

"We see this as an appropriate venue. We're hoping that by doing this, this doesn't happen again to anybody.''
...
"There is no place on the field or in high school sports for this sort of deliberate act,'' she said.

Because the incident happened behind the play and none of the on-field officials saw it take place, there was no penalty called on the field.

High School Football Player Charged After Alleged Head-Butt originally appeared on Back Porch FanHouse on Sat, 31 Oct 2009 11:34:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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'Horse' Play Ends in 25 Suspensions

Chris Sesno — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:32:00 EST

Filed under: High School

Every high school has a rivalry. Every rivalry has bitter moments in history. In Jefferson County La., this is one of those moments.

Twenty-five Male High school students -- including six football players -- were suspended Friday for their involvement in a school prank against Manual High that involved six toilets, a lot of waste and many cans of spray paint.

Gross you say? Well, the prank was in response to one supposedly pulled by Manual students who dumped a truckload of manure in the parking lot and spray-painted curse words on the football field.

Let's just say the manure really hit the fan for the 25 suspended Male students, but what about those responsible for the manure pile in the Male parking lot? So far, they have not been able to prove who was responsible.

The rivalry between Male High School and Manual High is over 100 years old, but never before have things gotten this ugly between the two schools. Jefferson County Public School officials say that pranks between the two schools are not uncommon leading up to big sporting events, but that the vandalism and manure crossed the line.

Pranks between rival schools and teams are common. But there is a line between a harmless prank and something much more serious. This one crossed the line.

In my Northern Va. high school, we certainly had one main rival school and pranks were not uncommon. During my tenure, the worst prank to go down (don't worry, I was not involved) was when some students dug our school letters into the opposing team's football field. It seemed like the end of the world to those six students, but they weren't even suspended.

That's because there is a huge difference between digging oversized letters into a football field, and putting a lot of poo and spray painting profanities around the school. Yes, vandalism is a crime, and graffiti is against the law. But with the outburst of swine flu, school officials have enough sanitation issues to deal with without worrying about contaminated manure.

Follow Chris Sesno on twitter: @csesno

'Horse' Play Ends in 25 Suspensions originally appeared on Back Porch FanHouse on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:32:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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High School Quarterback Completes Behind-the-Back Pass for 2 Points

Ryan Wilson — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: High School

Two-point conversions are a staple of high school football, mostly because at that level the quarterback or running back are more reliable options than the kicker.

So it's not altogether noteworthy that Central High School went for two after scoring a touchdown. What separates this particular attempt from any other I've ever seeen is that quarterback Will Briscoe went with the behind-the-back pass into the end zone. And he completed it for the converstion.

Video evidence after the jump.

This seems like something you'd do either in practice, or when your team is laying the beatdown to the schlubs scheduled for the homecoming game. In this case, it's the latter. The touchdown and extra point gave Central a 58-0 lead over Zachary High.

Bill Belichick remains unimpressed.

via sportsBYbrooks

High School Quarterback Completes Behind-the-Back Pass for 2 Points originally appeared on Back Porch FanHouse on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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High-Schooler Mark McDonagh Nears All-Time, All-Football Receiving Record

Michael David Smith — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: High School

Mark McDonagh, a senior at Riverside-Brookfield High School in suburban Chicago, is likely to do something on Friday that no one, at any level of organized football, has ever done: Catch his 145th pass in a season.

McDonagh already owns the national high school record for pass receptions in one season with 143 catches this year. But 143 catches in a season isn't only the high school record: It also happens to be the exact record in both the NFL (set by Marvin Harrison of the Indianapolis Colts in 2002) and the NCAA (set by Nick Smart of Division II Southwest Baptist in 2007).

The only player in the history of American football who has ever caught more than 143 balls in a season was Chris George of Glenville State College in West Virginia. George owns the NAIA record with 144 catches in 1993.

McDonagh only needs two catches to break George's record, and considering that McDonagh averages more than 17 catches a game (!), it's probably safe to say he's going to break the record in Riverside-Brookfield's game against Ridgewood on Friday.

At this point, I know what you're thinking: How on earth can anyone catch 17 passes a game? Well, it just so happens that I've seen McDonagh play (my nephew is a teammate of McDonagh's at Riverside-Brookfield), and I can report that the offense, while not like anything you'd see in an NFL game, is a lot more than just some gimmick designed to feed one player the ball.

Riverside-Brookfield uses a sophisticated passing game not unlike the offense Mike Leach runs at Texas Tech. It mixes in some deep balls with a lot of quick throws to McDonagh and other receivers near the line of scrimmage, and although Riverside-Brookfield hardly ever runs, some of the short passes to McDonagh aren't much different from handoffs.

After setting the national high school record, McDonagh told MaxPreps.com, "It feels great - pretty cool. It's nice to have a record that's long-term. I didn't expect these kind of numbers. It's been fun and my teammates have been doing a great job."

McDonagh has been doing a great job, too. And on Friday he'll do something that has never been done before.

High-Schooler Mark McDonagh Nears All-Time, All-Football Receiving Record originally appeared on Back Porch FanHouse on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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High School Heartbreak: Greenville Fumbles, Oil City Scores

Michael David Smith — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: High School

With four seconds remaining in Friday's game between Greenville High and Oil City High in Pennsylvania, Greenville had the ball and faced second-and-goal at the 1-yard line. Greenville decided to try to score a touchdown rather than kick a field goal, but certainly they knew that the worst-case scenario would be a game headed to overtime, and not a loss. Right?

Wrong.

Instead, the Greenville pitch was fumbled, and Oil City's Dallas Williams picked it up and ran 96 yards for a touchdown as time expired, winning the game, 33-27.

"Never say die," Oil City coach Matt LaVerde told Craig Phillips of The Derrick in a story posted on the school's Web site. "That's why you play every play until the final whistle."

LaVerde declined to criticize the Greenville coaches for eschewing a 19-yard field goal, saying, "If I had their huge line and back, I would have run, too."

According to Rivals.com, Greenville was considered the No. 6 team in all of Pennsylvania, and coach Brian Herrick said he thought his team would have no trouble scoring from one yard out on the last play of the game.

"Any time we have the ball at the 1-yard line, I think we can punch it in," he said.

But instead Greenville fumbled, and Oil City gave us another incredible high school football finish.

Previous High School Highlights on FanHouse:
High School Team Misses Field Goal as Time Expires, Wins Anyway
High School Kicker Kip Smith Makes 67-Yard Field Goal
Teen With Down Syndrome Scores Touchdown on Last Play of Game
High School Hail Mary: Dominique Mims to Colt Lyerla for 61 Yards
High School Team Misses Field Goal as Time Expires, Wins Anyway (Again)

High School Heartbreak: Greenville Fumbles, Oil City Scores originally appeared on Back Porch FanHouse on Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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High School Team Misses Field Goal as Time Expires, Wins Anyway (Again)

Ryan Wilson — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: High School

Last week, a Vermont high school football team won on a last-second field-goal attempt, even though the kick came up short. (It's a long story.)

Another week, another high school football game decided by a last-second field-goal attempt. This time, Westland John Glenn had a kicked block by Plymouth as time expired and that was that. Except it wasn't. The John Glenn holder picked up the ball and, after a few confusing seconds, ran into the end zone for the winning touchdown.

Moving pictures madness after the jump.

There are a few potential problems with how the game ended.

As the announcers correctly point out, because the ball didn't cross the line of scrimmage, it was still live. And FanHouse's resident high school official Matt Snyder confirms as much, citing Rule 6-2-3: "Any K[icking] player may catch or recover a scrimmage kick while it is in or behind the neutral zone and advance, unless it is on a try."

So no problem there. But MDS raises another issue: "It looks like players on both teams stepped onto the field after the kick was blocked. Shouldn't that have been too many men on the field on both teams, off-setting penalty and re-play the downs?"

Snyder explains: "From that camera angle, I think all of the [Plymouth] players stayed off the field until they scored (at which point, the game was over). It's hard to see from there, though. If a few [players] did come on, it was only a yard or two way behind the play .... this isn't college or the NFL ... we're never gonna see that with five guys nor are we going to call it if they aren't gaining an advantage. If anything, you'd call a sideline warning (which is no yards the first time, five the second and 15 every time after that). If they aren't participating, we're not saying they played with 12.

For example, if a player is furiously sprinting off the field and he's a yard from the sideline when the ball is snapped, linesmen just take one step forward and give him the benefit of the doubt. They weren't trying to gain an advantage ... no harm, no foul. [high school] is a whole different ball game."

So there ya go: John Glenn wins ... unless, as Sesno wonders, "Was the holder's knee was down when he possessed the ball?"

High School Team Misses Field Goal as Time Expires, Wins Anyway (Again) originally appeared on Back Porch FanHouse on Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Houston-Area High Schools Take Their Rivalries Very Seriously

Ryan Wilson — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: High School, Current Events

Rivalries between high schools can manifest itself in many ways. For example, kidnapped mascots (usually animals but not mandatory) and strategically placed stink bombs hearken back to the Leave it to Beaver good ol' days.

Something that you might not have considered, however: selling T-shirts that depict equine-on-human-on-equine coitus. Which is exactly what some enterprising students at Houston's Memorial High School decided to do in advance of their game against Stratford. That's the entrepreneurial spirit upon which this country was built.

(You can see the offending image here. Shouldn't have to say this but, yeah, it's NSFW.)

The Spring Branch school district, which includes Memorial, issued the following statement (via the Houston Press):

"Spring Branch ISD has learned about a t-shirt with an inappropriate graphic image that surfaced in connection with a recent high school football game. This t-shirt was not approved, condoned or sanctioned by SBISD or Memorial High. Several t-shirts were confiscated at the game, and several students have been questioned so far about them. This type of behavior is not acceptable. SBISD and Memorial High officials continue to investigate the situation. Any individuals found to be responsible will be dealt with appropriately."

So there's that. While we wait for names to be named, a reader with knowledge of the situation helps fill in the, um, backstory:

"The shirt in question is called 'The Underground Shirt.' The Underground Shirt is made every year by a senior boy or group of senior boys. The shirt isn't worn out in public but rather worn to the game under another shirt. Stratford also made their own underground shirts but they just had words on them -- can't remember what they said but they weren't that bad.

The 2009 Memorial Underground Shirt was much more outrageous than in years' past. It was made by a senior boy who isn't a bad guy, just a prankster.

They sold the shirts via a Facebook group but they were also sold inside the school -- very unofficially in the hallways.

The Memorial-Stratford rivalry tends to be pretty heated. This year was no exception.

During the week before the game, Memorial students fed some turkeys Ex-Lax and then let them loose at Stratford. In past years they have used chickens.

The Memorial students also made a Craigslist listing that said to call the Stratford main office if they wanted free diapers. Later, they changed the listing to read that people should drop off free diapers at the Stratford office. No word if clean or dirty diapers were dropped off.

Stratford students retaliated by writing in shoe polish all over the Memorial High School windows and paper banners. With a police escort, no less. The police escort was to make sure that the shoe polishers didn't do actual vandalism that damaged stuff. But the stuff they wrote was supposedly pretty nasty.

They also shoe polished car windows in the Memorial parking lot, along with putting streamers on them.

Memorial proceeded to put the beat down on Stratford, 20-6. This sent Stratford students over the edge. Some of them came to Memorial and spray painted 'FUK MHS' on the brick work at the school. They also used black spray paint on a white Escalade that transported the Memorial drill team.

The Memorial students then retaliated by tying up goats to long tethers that allowed them to roam Stratford's campus. These goats, of course, were fed Ex-Lax.

The End."

The only way this story gets any better is if we find out that Derek Anderson attended Memorial and was the inspiration for one of the horses.

via Feminist Law Professors, SbB, and Deadspin

Houston-Area High Schools Take Their Rivalries Very Seriously originally appeared on Back Porch FanHouse on Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fan Storms Field With Chair, Bum Rushes Officials After High School Game

Ryan Wilson — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: High School

Frankly, I'm surprised we don't hear about this every weekend: some drunk, frustrated father humping a crappy 9-to-5 and living his life vicariously through his son, storms the field after the game to confront the officials and administer a much needed beatdown. That's how he rationalizes it, anyway.

(I'd suggest watching the whole thing, but if you're only interested in the awkward confrontation, skip ahead to the 1:45 mark.)

Via the YouTube description: "Hackleburg High School Homecoming 2009 against Lynn. After the game a disgruntled (and intoxicated) Lynn fan attacked the referee with a stadium chair and chaos ensues."

And "chaos" obviously means "disgruntled (and intoxicated) Lynn fan gets his ass kicked."

Also worth noting:

1) Alper points out that the "team in white's offensive line needs to stop going to the Packers blocking camp."

2) And Snyder, professional blogger AND high school official, offers this: "My crew and I have dreamed about this scenario for years. Some cowardly fan wants to take on five guys? Bring it, [expletive deleted]."

(I can only assume Snyder made that remark while watching his Ed Hochuli pregame workout video.)

via Hot Clicks

Fan Storms Field With Chair, Bum Rushes Officials After High School Game originally appeared on Back Porch FanHouse on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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High School Hail Mary: Dominique Mims to Colt Lyerla for 61 Yards

Michael David Smith — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: High School

With five seconds remaining in a high school game in Hillsboro, Oregon, Friday night, Glencoe High School led Hillsboro High School 21-20. Hillsboro had the ball at the 39-yard line and time for one play. It also had Dominique Mims at quarterback and Colt Lyerla lined up along the right sideline. That's all it would need.

Mims rolled out and unleashed a bomb that traveled about 65 yards in the air, and Lylerla -- surrounded by three Glencoe players -- grabbed it at the 5-yard line, broke a tackle and fell into the end zone, giving Hillsboro a 26-21 victory.

I don't think there are many high schoolers who can throw a football as far as Mims did on the play, but Lyerla was the game's hero: He didn't just score that touchdown; he scored all four Hillsboro touchdowns. And he isn't just a threat as a receiver; he ran for 190 yards. He was also the star of the game on defense, leading Hillsboro in tackles, and on special teams, where he blocked an extra point.

A 6-foot-5, 228-pound junior, Lyerla is getting scholarship offers from across the country.

"It's kind of a shock to me," Lyerla said earlier this season of the attention he's getting. "It's all new, and I'm still getting used to it."

With this new YouTube highlight, Lyerla better get used to being a star.

For more sports videos, follow me on Twitter @MichaelDavSmith.

High School Hail Mary: Dominique Mims to Colt Lyerla for 61 Yards originally appeared on Back Porch FanHouse on Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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High School Team Misses Field Goal as Time Expires, Wins Anyway

Michael David Smith — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: High School

The above video looks, at first, like a fairly ordinary local news broadcast of high school football highlights. But you'll want to keep watching when the action gets really good -- or really bad, depending on your perspective -- at the 1:30 mark.

Here's what happened: In a game between two Vermont high schools, Otter Valley and Mount Mansfield, Otter Valley took a 16-14 lead with 16 seconds left. But Mount Mansfield managed to get inside the 30-yard line with a second to play, where they decided to try a 46-yard field goal.

Like most high-schoolers, the Mount Mansfield kicker couldn't even come close to hitting a 46-yarder, and so the game-winner fell short. But the game wasn't over.

An Otter Valley player caught the missed field goal on the fly and started running with it. Then, inexplicably, he just spiked the ball and started celebrating -- even though the play was going on. So Mount Mansfield junior Jeff Sutherland made the heads-up decision to pick the ball up and run it into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown. Mount Mansfield won, 20-16.

"The (official) ruling was that the kid fumbled the ball," Mount Mansfield coach Marty Richards told MaxPreps. "The last play continues until the referees call it dead. The Otter Valley coaches contested it for a few minutes. I had an injured player and had to take care of him. I really feel bad for the kid from Otter Valley. ... We coach our kids to play to the whistle -- like every other coach in America. Jeff really saved the game for us because he also stopped their quarterback (earlier) on a two-point conversion at the goal line. It was one of the best form tackles I've seen all year."

It was a great play on the part of Mount Mansfield, but I have to agree with Dashiell Bennett of Deadspin: I can't for the life of me figure out why the Otter Valley coach didn't explain to his players that if the field goal misses, they need to stay away from it. Lesson learned.

Follow me on Twitter @MichaelDavSmith.

High School Team Misses Field Goal as Time Expires, Wins Anyway originally appeared on Back Porch FanHouse on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Teen With Down Syndrome Scores Touchdown on Last Play of Game

Michael David Smith — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 07:54:00 EST

Filed under: High School

Matt Ziesel is a freshman at St. Joseph Benton High School in Missouri who has Down syndrome. He participates on St. Joseph's football team, but he doesn't actually get into the games -- at least he didn't until the last play of the school's game on Monday at Maryville High School, when he was allowed to score a touchdown at the end of a blowout.

Maryville was beating Benton 46-0 with 10 seconds left, and at that point, Benton called timeout, and coach Dan McCamy ran across the field to ask the Maryville coaches for a favor. He tells the Kansas City Star:

"I've got a special situation," McCamy remembers telling Maryville freshman defensive coach David McEnaney. "I know you guys want to get a shutout. Most teams would want a shutout, but in this situation I want to know if maybe you can let one of my guys run in for a touchdown."

Sure enough, the Maryville team agreed -- "The players, they didn't hesitate at all. They jumped right on board," McCamy said -- and Ziesel was permitted to run 64 yards for a score as time expired.

"It's just amazing how one play can mean so much to one kid and then to a team and then to a community," Ziesel said of the impact the touchdown had on Ziesel and his other players. "The end result, we lost the game, but when we went away, we were all kind of winners."

Teen With Down Syndrome Scores Touchdown on Last Play of Game originally appeared on Back Porch FanHouse on Sat, 19 Sep 2009 07:54:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WSJ: What's the Point of Cheerleading?

Ryan Wilson — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:30:00 EST

Filed under: High School, Women's Sports

Here's what I got out of this Wall Street Journal article titled, "What's the Point of Cheerleading?": Nobody knows how many cheerleaders there are in part because the NCAA doesn't track participation (because it doesn't consider it a sport).

I think that answers the "what's the point?" question, although the cheerleading lobby might feel differently. But the crux of the piece wasn't to denigrate the after-school activity (although, frankly, I'm fine with calling it a sport even if there aren't winners or losers), it was to investigate whether "... cheerleading has wandered too far from its original purpose, firing up crowds at football games."

And the reason anybody cares about this is because cheerleading now accounts for "65 percent of all female catastrophic injuries in high school and college, according to the University of North Carolina's National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research."

Much like* the East Coast-West Coast hip-hop debates of the mid-'90s, this is cheerleading's old school vs. its new school. On one side, the new schoolers are all about stunts -- the more technical, and tougher to pull off, the better. The old-schoolers prefer getting the crowd going by more traditional means: pom-poms, megaphones, cheers.

"The emphasis on stunting had detracted from the major purpose," says John Saddlemire, Connecticut's vice president for student affairs told the WSJ. "The focus, he says, should be on 'fan interaction and truly on cheering and cheerleading.'"

Exactly.

* Nothing like it, really.

WSJ: What's the Point of Cheerleading? originally appeared on Back Porch FanHouse on Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Concussions Hit Youth Football Hard

Michael David Smith — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:06:00 EST

Filed under: High School

Most football fans know that concussions are a major problem facing the National Football League, with players who have suffered concussions on the field often struggling with memory loss, depression and sometimes full-blown dementia later in life. But the problem of concussions in football isn't limited to the pros.

As the upcoming episode of HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel documents, concussions are also a problem for football players in high school and youth leagues. In at least eight different cases in just the last two years, children have died from head injuries suffered on the football field.

The Real Sports piece tells the story of concussions through the lens of Zack Lystedt, a teenage football player who suffered a concussion on what looked like a routine play, and then went right back into the game. Lystedt sustained more hits on the field after that first concussion, and just after the game ended, he collapsed. He required immediate brain surgery to stem hemorrhaging,and three years later he is still in a wheelchair, and his speech and memory are affected.

As Real Sports documents, people who have already suffered one concussion -- especially children -- are much more vulnerable to suffering a catastrophic brain injury. That's why Lystedt's parents are working hard to establish laws across the country requiring high schools to remove athletes from competitions if they're showing signs of concussions.

Such laws are clearly necessary, and the Real Sports piece should be a wakeup call to everyone involved in high school football -- from coaches to parents to the players themselves -- that no player who suffers a concussion should be told to shake it off and go back into the game.

Real Sports debuts Tuesday at 10 PM on HBO and re-airs throughout the month.

Concussions Hit Youth Football Hard originally appeared on Back Porch FanHouse on Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:06:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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