Odd But Interesting High School Football Entrance

((ht: maxpreps.com))

Clayton Valley Charter (HS)  in Concord, California has one of the more interesting team entrances we've seen in quite some time.

We like it, but wonder if the video becomes viral, will someone be offended. In part because it seems like even harmless fun seems to offend someone who inevitably complains loudly about it.

The teams nickname alone should tell you something different: The Ugly Eagles.

And at the beginning of games, while standing inside an inflatable Eagle head, two players get on their hands and legs and act as though they are tethered to a third player who appears to be holding them back. (Kind of like Junkyard Dogs, no?)

He eventually lets the players go and the rest of the Ugly Eagles follow them out on the field.

Your video from maxpreps.com:

OSG High: Ga High School Football Playoff Ends on Last Second TD

((ht: NFHSNetwork.com))

Nothing like winning a High School Football playoff game with a walk-off TD pass.

Which is exactly what happened in the Mays (Atlanta, GA) vs. Jones County (GA) game in Atlanta Friday night. The two teams squared off in a state quarterfinal game.

Jones County leads 41-38 with :04 seconds left. But Mays has the ball on the 17 yard line.

QB Asahnia Adderhold drops back to pass, avoids a couple of pass rushers and as the clock hits :00, throws the ball into the end zone where Julius Whitehead makes the catch.

Game over, Mays wins 44-41...and moves on to the semi-finals.

Highlights from the folks at NFHSNetwork.com:

Louisiana H.S Wins Playoff Game on Hail Mary Pass

This doesn't happen very often, but it's pretty cool when it does.

Set-up: Last play of the Dunham (Baton Rouge, LA) vs. Holy Savior Menard in the Louisiana Division III Select Playoffs. Menard is up 24-21, clock is nearing zero.

Dunham has the ball on Menard's 46 yard line.

Quarterback Jayron Walker drops back and throws the ball as far as he can into a crowded end zone full of players from both teams.

And somehow the ball ends up in receiver Joshua Matthews's hands.

Touchdown...game over, Dunham comes back and gets the win 27-24.

Wow!

Here's video of the fateful play--

OSG High: Tennessee's First-Ever Women's Head Football Coach

((HT: WSMV-TV))

We first got the attention of this story in the espnw piece by Ashley Scoby

But, circling back and checking out the best season Pickett County High has had in a handful of seasons, the HQ figured we would go back to the beginning.

Brittney Garner was named head coach for the Bobcats when they let her predecessor go over the summer. The bottom line was that Garner was already certified for softball and took the job so the team wouldn't be dissolved.

Former Pickett lineman Samantha Harden is helping out as a community coach and former coach O.B. Caudle has come out of retirement to help Garner out as well.

The fact that they're 2-7 doesn't matter...

Patrick McMurtry caught up with them at the beginning...
WSMV Channel 4

Like we said...

Cool stuff...

Seattle Area H.S Offers Division Title to Grieving Marysville-Pilchuck

((ht: seattletimes.com))

Great tragedy for some often brings out the best in others.

Which in the world of Sports often happens in strange and different ways.

On Friday, the students of Seattle area Marysville-Pilchuck High School had their worlds rocked when a freshman football player walked into the school cafeteria and began shooting, killing one student and injuring 4 others before taking his own life.

Friday night, Marysville-Pilchuck was scheduled to play their arch-rivals, Oak Harbor. Out of respect to what happened, the game was not played.

But in the spirit of the moment and out of respect for their fellow students, the football team at Oak Harbor did something that will always be remembered.

They forfeited the game.

And that forfeit gave Marysville-Pilchuck the district title. Oak Harbor gladly accepted second place. Along with that, several Oak Harbor players came to Marysville and attended a Pilchuck team meeting. A gesture that was happily accepted and appreciated by all concerned.

Read more from the Seattle Times RIGHT HERE

KING-TV gives us Video and the TV story:

Football Coach Fired for Postgame Watermelon Smashing

((ht: postandcourier.com))

A Charleston, South Carolina area football coach was fired Tuesday morning after what the County School district termed "inappropriate post game celebrations".

Bud Walpole, the now former coach at Academic Magnet school is alleged to have led a celebration that involved smashing watermelons which the players then picked up and ate. Someone apparently complained to the Charleston County School District.

Read the entire story from the Charleston Post and Courier RIGHT HERE

Magnet, located in North Charleston is 6-2 this season. According to reports, the school, which had been one of the worst football teams in the area, began the celebrations after winning their 1st game this season. They won their first 6 of the season.

WCSC-TV in Charleston reports that the complaint came after a parent from a team beaten by the Raptors complained saying the players were making monkey sounds while eating the Watermelon. The inference being that there were racial undertones.

Read the WCSC story RIGHT HERE

The Raptors have lost both games that happened since the investigation began.

Here is some video of the team in action:



Scott Eisberg over at News4 breaks down the firing
((HT: ABCNews4))
WCIV-TV | ABC News 4 - Charleston News, Sports, Weather

OSG High: $60-Million High School Stadium... And It's Broken...

((HT: WFAA-TV))

Everything is always bigger in Texas...

And football stadia were no different...

The Allen Independent School District and its families voted to built the Taj Mahal- a $60-million facility for its athletic teams. It doesn't work...

The repairs have to do with Rebar, joints, and an inability to actually support the stadium itself on the ground it sits on. And that's not good...

Here's the look from outside since repairs have to go on inside...

Neighboring Plano ISD is renting their facility to the Allen ISD for football season- at $5300 a game...

OSG High: Raekwon Chooses Ohio State

((HT: SouthernPigskin.com))

The HQ has seen Liberty County (GA) High School LB Raekwon McMillan up close- and he is a beast...

Today, he decided on his next place to attend, enroll early, and become one in the pile of all the other 5-star recruits heading to the next level...

So...
From Hinesville...


McMillan will be an interesting add for tOSU...

The HQ will be even more interested in how he would integrate

OSG High: Whoa! A 400 lb High School Football Running Back?

((ht: larrybrownsports.com))

Football analysts always talk about a 180 lb cornerback trying to stop a 230 lb running back.

Now imagine being a 160 lb high school football safety, and you see this coming at you…

My Dad started HOF career at White Swan HS w/a stud RB named Kelly Whitefoot. Same school, different RB...Heavyfoot? pic.twitter.com/ayq5YohfbP
— Brock Huard (@BrockESPN) November 16, 2013

Yeah, how exactly do you stop that?

By the way…that…is 6-4, 400 pound Tony Picard a senior at White Swan (WA) High School and yes, he really does play running back. And he's apparently pretty good at it.

According to a story on the Indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com website, Picard runs for 80-120 yards a game and is averaging over a touchdown a game.

Picard apparently began as a lineman, but impressed his coach with his athletic ability. Coach Andrew Bush says Picard still plays nose tackle too.

Read the Indian Country Today story RIGHT HERE

Ha! The whole premise of this is awesome. And yeah, the photo on Brock Huard's Twitter page is scary and impressive at the same time.

We will look for some video of Picard, but felt the photo alone was enough to show why this is a story worth mentioning….

GA High School QB Surprised on Senior Night by Brother

((ht: tift county board of education))

Imagine for a minute you are playing in your High School senior night football game. You are standing at midfield, at halftime, with MOST of, but not all of your family by your side to mark the occasion.

The P.A announcer is introducing them, and you. And all you can think about is your brother, a Navy serviceman, stationed in the Middle East and knowing he's never gotten the chance to see you play.

That's exactly what happened to Tift County (GA) Quarterback Ryan Wedgeworth Friday night. Wedgeworth and his family were standing at midfield during the halftime celebration at the Central Georgia High School listening to a list of his accomplishments when the announcer changed his description just a little bit.

Listen closely as the P.A guy starts to talk about Wedgeworth's brother Tyler, and how he's never gotten to see his younger brother play football.

Just a couple of seconds later, Ryan turns around and look who's standing---right behind him….

OSG High: Double Reverse Wins High School Football Game At The Gun

HT: Deseret News

The play "Ace Flipper Option" might go down along with "65 Toss Power Trap" as one of the best play calls in football.

At least on the high school level.

With time winding down in a Utah Class 4A high school football playoff game, Olympus High School (Salt Lake City, UT) broke out the "Ace Flipper Option" or a double reverse.

The result was Coleman Meier taking it in the end zone for the game winner.

(Thanks MaxPreps)

With that touchdown Olympus won their playoff game with Springville 43-37.

“We practice it all the time and it just worked perfectly,” Meier told the Deseret News. “I just saw the end zone and went for it as hard as I could. ... It was a team effort and it feels amazing.”

“I called it just hoping we’d get into field goal range because we had another timeout, but I admit that I was sort of (freaking out) right after it was called,” Olympus head coach Aaron Whitehead told the Deseret News. “But when you get the ball in (Meier’s) and (Haller’s) hands, great things happen.

"When Meier crossed the goaline, it was like Christmas.”

Merry Christmas coach Whitehead, your call won the game.

The "Wrecking Ball" Fake Field Goal?

((ht: yahoo.com/prep-rally))

Uh, yeah, okay.

Friend of OSG Sports Cameron Smith found him a doozy from this past weekend.

The video you are about to see is being called "The Wrecking Ball" play. It comes from Sherwood High School in Sherwood, Oregon.

Notice several things here.

1) The holder bounding away from the kicker in, well, an odd kind of way.

2) The deliberate standing around by the defenders from Putnam High School

3) The jump pass to an apparent 6-11 Tight End in the end zone. (No, we've not heard of a 6-11 TE either).

Check out the original story on Yahoo Sports, because there's more to it, RIGHT HERE

Here's the video in question:

Police Arrest Refs at Louisiana H.S Football Game

((wwltv.com))

What?

Two High School football referees were arrested at a Covington, Louisiana game Friday night by police officers after an argument appeared to escalate to the point the refs tried throwing an officer out of the game.

Sometime Friday during the Mandeville/St. Paul's game, it appears the refs and the chain crew from St. Paul's got into an argument. A Covington police officer apparently stepped in and the refs began arguing with him.

That's when it got weird. The two refs were taken from the field during the 3rd quarter of the game, a game won by St. Pauls 20-3.

Police say the refs will be charged with Public Intimidation.

Your story from WWL-TV RIGHT HERE

This is just bizarre. At this point, there's no explanation why the refs went crazy nor why they couldn't be calmed down.

WWL was at the game, but their photographer left before the craziness began. Here's the game highlights:

Here's an edited version of the arrest... ((HT: Trending Sports Zone))

Best H.S Hail Mary This Weekend

((ht: maxpreps.com))

We won't go overboard with the hyperbole here and say this is the greatest High School Hail Mary pass ever, because in part 1) It probably isn't and 2) There will be a better one next week.

But this one is pretty good.

Elk Grove, Illinois vs Rolling Meadows, 9 seconds to go on the 48 yard line and Elk Grove trails by a touchdown.

That's when QB Adam O'Malley drops back, somehow avoids a couple pass rushers, nearly gets sacked before escaping and throwing the ball as far as he can.

Somehow the ball ends up between two defensive backs and into the arms of WR Mike Bishoff, who drags two more Rolling Meadows defenders into the end zone. Rolling Meadows now trails by 1.

But there's more

Elk Grove tries to kick and extra point and misses. Except there was a penalty called on Rolling Meadows. Elk Grove goes for two, converts and walks away with a 34-33 win.

Your video proof:

ICYMI: Kansas H.S Football Star Has Stroke During Game and Dies

((ht: kansascity.com))

Geez, this is horrible.

17-year old Andre Maloney, a star wide receiver at Shawnee Mission High School in Kansas died early Friday morning after suffering a stroke on the field during a game Thursday night.

According to reports, Maloney became disoriented on the sideline during the game and was taken by ambulance to the Overland Park (Kansas) hospital. Doctors found a blood clot on his brain, but weren't able to remove it.

Maloney had committed to play college football at Kansas in 2014.

Read more details about what happened from the Kansas City Star RIGHT HERE

Doctors don't appear to have an explanation how a 17-year old can have a stroke like this, they say it's much more common in older adults.

Let's hope that it was just a horrible accident, a freak incident. It just makes you wonder with the head damage suffered by football players, if this was something caused by a hit during a game, with his helmet on.

Certainly, we hope not and extend sympathies to the Maloney's and the Shawnee Mission family.

KCTV in Kansas City gives us the Video Story:

KCTV5

OSG High: The Colquitt County Rush Propst

((HT: ESPN))

The HQ covers Colquitt County football every week in our other pair of pants...

We've seen Rush Propst come over from Hoover to Colquitt County (GA) High and return them to being competitive in Region 1-6A all over again with the likes of Valdosta, Lowndes, Camden County, Tift, Coffee, and Brunswick...

He's been through a lot personally and professionally and Wayne Drehs caught up with Rush and his wife, Stefnie, before the Packers game with Propst's old school, Hoover (AL)


Oh, by the way, Colquitt lost to Hoover 24-10.
And Rush being Rush blamed himself- not for something in the game plan, but transportation...

From Wayne Grandy's piece in the Moultrie Observer:

“It was so hot on those buses,” Propst said, adding that many of the players were soaking wet when they reached Auburn for a walk through before continuing on to Hoover. “I should know better.

“We were gassed at halftime,” he said...

Rush also said that he didn't need to make it that easy on Hoover...

ICYMI: OSG High: Best High School Football Final Play Ever to Start Season

((ht: maxpreps.com))

If you ever had any question about a last play of the game "Hook-and-Lateral" working, then you can now see proof that it does.

Check out what happens at the end of the A&M Consolidated (Texas) vs. Copperas Cove High School football game.

The two teams combined for 44 points in the final 4 minutes, capped off by this:

One second left in the game, Copperas is ahead 41-38 and kicking off to Consolidated. They pooch kick it. And that's when the fun begins.

Three laterals and a couple of field reversals later and all of a sudden, the sideline is wide-open for Derrick Dick.

Yup, that's right. Consolidated scores and wins, 44-41.

Your video proof:

OSG High: And We Have Our First Fight Of The Year ( SUNDAY UPDATE)

((HT: MyFoxAL))

For that, we go to Jasper, Alabama and Cullman's 13-10 victory over Walker...

A fight started on the field immediately following the game.

Cell phone video from Shannon Maze shows what looks like a lot of people involved...


The Cullman-Times newspaper reports the fight involved players and coaches from both teams.

Cullman defensive coordinator Matt Hopper could be seen emerging from the crowd with multiple bruises on his face. The Jasper Daily Mountain Eagle Facebook page shows a really

nasty photo of Hopper bruised and bloody (pictured, right, thanks Jeff Johnsey), with an officer grabbing him by the collar to keep him from getting back into the fray- whether on offense or defense, we don't know...

The brawl was broken up, but there isn't any word on arrests or any other discipline at present.

More when we know more...

TV 16 in Jasper, Alabama televised the game... the video of the fight is hyah...
And below...


From the looks of things, a Jasper coach took a swing at Hopper and it blew up from there...

SUNDAY UPDATE: The Mountain Eagle reports that Walker coach John Holladay has been placed on administrative leave pending the completion of the investigation.

From the article by Johnathan Bentley & Ron Harris:

“Coach Holladay is under administrative leave and has no involvement with the team,” Jasper City Schools AD Jimmie Alexander said. “You hate to see any situation that causes a blight on the program. There are a lot of factors that need to be looked at. We will continue to investigate and go from there. I can tell you we will have a thorough investigation.

“[Jasper Police Chief] Connie Rowe has been cooperative and is following up on her end.”

Police are investigating whether or not charges will be filed. Cullman officials have no thought of disciplining any of their coaches or players. The Alabama High School Football Athletic Association is reviewing the events with Cullman officials Tuesday

H.S Star Airlifted to Hospital After In-Game Hit (UPDATE)

((ht: espn.com))

Scary times for Apopka high school star QB Zack Darlington's family after he was airlifted to a South Carolina hospital during a game against Byrnes H.S Saturday afternoon on T.V.

Check out the video of Darlington getting crushed as he rolls out of bounds trying to throw a pass late in the 4th quarter.

According to reports, he laid motionless on the ground, unconscious after the hit, and was put on a stretcher as soon as medical personnel was able to get him on one.

Darlington, who has committed to play at the University of Nebraska was taken to a Spartanburg area hospital and according to his school's athletic director was conscious and moving, but appears to have a serious concussion.

His father, the coach of the team, left with family to go to the hospital shortly after the helicopter left the stadium.

Video is provided by ESPN here:



UPDATE: "The diagnosis is that he has a concussion and has to be under observation for 24 hours," Apopka athletic director Fred Priest told the Orlando Sentinel. "His parents (Rick, Apopka's coach, and Shelly) are staying here with him while the team returns home.'"

The HQ spent time with Darlington in his time as head coach at Valdosta (GA) High, and remembers his fondness for country music. Obviously, our thoughts are with everyone at Apopka.

OSG High: 1 Football Team, 16 Players

((HT: Fox 44 Burlington))

For those of you that played high school football, do you remember how many teammates you had...???

For the kids at Winooski (VT) High, they know it's me plus 15...
16 kids, one roster...

Here's the first day of practice...


The only problem (said somewhat ironically) is the numbers...
FOSG Cameron Smith, over at Prep Rally, says that only 12 kids are showing up for summer workouts...

It's a depth problem they can't afford...