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Prep running sensation Mary Cain sets 4 more records in another stunning mile performance

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If you’re a fan of high school track and field and you have the good luck to see Bronxville (N.Y.) High junior Mary Cain compete, don’t miss the opportunity. Yet you better not blink. If you do, you might just miss her break another national record.

On Saturday at the 2013 Millrose Games, Cain broke four more national records in the span of a single race, Cain finishing the prestigious Wannamaker Mile with a time of 4:28.25. That was good for second among a field of professional athletes, but better than any indoor mile mark from an American teenager in the past.

In fact, it was Cain’s previous attempt that served as the prior record, with her new mark shaving a full four seconds off her previous time. The 4:28.25 mark was a new junior record for the mile as well, and her 1,500 meter split -- 4:11.72 -- was a new high school and junior record as well.

Considering the fact that Cain placed fourth place in the high school mile event at the Millrose Games in 2012, her advancement has been spectacular, to put it mildly.

"This is a dream come true,” Cain told the New York Times. “Last year I finished fourth in the high school mile, so I'm moving up."

One of the other top professionals competing that day agreed. Matt Centrowitz finished second in the men’s mile, yet he was quick to turn the attention back to Cain and her latest miraculous performance.

“Anything she does from here on out won’t be too surprising,” Centrowitz told the Times.

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Chip Kelly saves high school quarterback’s job by retaining longtime Philadelphia Eagles coach

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It's not always easy to please Philadelphia fans, but Chip Kelly's decision to retain longtime Eagles assistant coach Ted Williams kept one local town pretty happy.

With the new Eagles head coach's determination to keep Andy Reid's former running backs coach on as a tight ends coach on his staff, Williams' son Dan will return for his senior season as the starting quarterback at Timber Creek (Erial, N.J.) High.

"I love my dad, and he always has given me very good confidence in myself, and I am happy to be able to stay here," Dan told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "He's had a job with the Eagles my entire life, and it's been a great team and I have loved every moment."

Ted Williams originally joined the Eagles staff as a tight ends coach under Ray Rhodes in 1995, making him the longest tenured coach in franchise history. He spent 16 seasons as the team's running backs coach, recently developing Brian Westbrook and LeSean McCoy.

His son, however, played quarterback this past season for Timber Creek, about a half-hour from Philadelphia. Despite starting the season as the team's third-string QB, Dan Williams completed 97-of-130 attempts for 1,360 yards and 13 touchdowns against only three interceptions, according to the story by Inquirer columnist Marc Narducci.

"He went through some tough times being the third-string quarterback," Ted told the paper, "but his confidence stayed strong and he continued to work and exhibit to the coaches he was willing to work no matter what it took."

Remarkably, Dan led the Chargers (10-2) to New Jersey's Group IV South sectional title this past fall, completing 15-of-18 passes for 255 yards and five touchdowns in a 57-27 win over Kingsway (Woolwich Township, N.J.) High. No wonder everybody in his Jersey community kept asking Dan Williams if his father was staying put in Philly.

"I give him all the credit because he handled it probably as well as any 16-year-old can do," Ted explained to Narducci. "When people kept asking, 'What is your father going to do?,' he never once wilted."

Dan also earned all-conference honors as a sophomore pitcher and third baseman last spring on the varsity baseball team, according to the story.

"Danny kept pushing and kept getting better and studied so much film and really got a good grasp of what we were doing," Timber Creek football coach Rob Hinson told the Inquirer. "Nobody will outwork him."

Chip Kelly can only hope the same is true of his father.

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Mikaela Shiffrin, new 17-year-old slalom world champion, may be the Winter Games’ Missy Franklin

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The Winter Olympics in Sochi are less than a year away, and no sooner than American skiing superstar Lindsay Vonn suffered a gruesome knee injury, another young phenom has stepped forward to capture the American public’s attention. Her name is Mikaela Shiffrin, and she may be the Winter Olympics’ answer to breakout swimming star Missy Franklin.

On Saturday, 17-year-old Shiffrin captured the slalom world championship. She finished her run in Schladming, Austria (sidenote: Is Schladming the best named ski site in the world? Prep Rally votes yes) with a time of 1:39.85, 0.22 seconds faster than Austrian hometown hero Michaela Kirchgasser in the 2013 World Championships.

There were 30,000 fans in attendance to watch Shiffrin become the eighth youngest skiing world champion in any discipline all-time. The Vermont-based teen is the third youngest slalom champion, and the youngest in nearly 30 years (since 1985, when American Diann Roffe won the slalom, also at age 17).

Fittingly, the Vail, Colorado-born teen was beside herself after the upset victory.

"It's such a crazy day," Shiffrin told the AP. "It's so emotional ... I don't know yet, I can't feel yet. It's amazing.

"I keep saying it, I keep thinking it. It doesn't make sense. It's just me.”

It may just be Shiffrin, but Mikaela was almost genetically engineered to be a champion skier. The Colorado native was born to two competitive ski racers. After growing up in Vail she began school at the Burke Mountain Academy in East Burke Vermont, a school designed specifically to accommodate the hectic international schedules of competitive winter athletes.

Add to that the 17-year-old’s looks and charm behind a microphone, and she is a ready made Wheaties box smash hit, particularly if she can keep up her current level of performance.

“I was thinking so many things and I just can't even remember it,” Shiffrin said of her championship-winning run. “It's one of those things where everything is a blur and that's how you know it was good."

It may be the first of many blurs to come for Shiffrin. From here out, many of the other ones may land her front and center on your television.

Want more on the best stories in high school sports? Visit RivalsHigh or connect with Prep Rally on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

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Nebraska church youth league referee is attacked, has glasses crushed by unruly parent

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In the annals of over-aggressive parental behavior at youth sporting events, a recent incident in Nebraska may take the crown. Not only did a youth basketball referee suffer an attack from an unruly father of an athlete in a 7th grade church league basketball game, he had his glasses snapped by that same attacker.

As reported by Omaha NBC affiliate WOWT, veteran basketball referee Carlos Bradford suffered the attack following a game between players who were in the 7th grade division of a local church middle school league. Following a game between Omaha (Neb.) St. Columbkille School and Bellevue (Neb.) St. Mary’s School, an incendiary St. Mary’s parent walked right up to Bradford and assaulted the referee both vocally and physically.

"The guy walked up to me and said, 'You suck!'" Bradford told WOWT. "He reaches up and grabs my glasses. And I see his hand close around them and the pieces flying off. Next thing you know -- I started defending myself."

There has been no official discipline against the parent, who was not identified by either group. Meanwhile, Bradford has continued wearing his glasses, which are now held together by tape, and an official from the Omaha Archdiocese has spoken out against any acts of violence under their league’s purview.

"If one of our parents does something like this, it's inexcusable,” Omaha Archdiocese Deacon Timothy McNeil told WOWT. “It should never happen."

It should never happen, but it did. The question now is what the Omaha league and others like it will do to ensure it doesn’t happen again anytime soon.

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Minnesota superstar Anders Broman scores 70 points in little more than 3 quarters of win

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There will never be another Michael Jordan, but the closest facsimile to His Airness in Minnesota prep hoops is definitely Anders Broman. The legendary Duluth (Minn.) Lakeview Christian Academy senior further cemented his status as the greatest pure scorer in state history with yet another astounding single-game performance, pumping in 70 points in another victory.

As reported by the Duluth News Tribune, Broman -- the state's all-time leading scorer -- notched 70 of Lakeview Christian’s 117 total points in a 117-99 victory against Cass Lake-Bena (Minn.) High.

Broman’s scoring display was just as accurate as one would imagine it would have to be to reach 70 points in a prep basketball game. He hit 10 of 15 3-point attempts, hit 13-of-17 from inside the 3-point arc and hit all 14 of his free throws. Astoundingly, Broman had already hit the 70 point mark with six minutes remaining in the game (that’s nearly the entire fourth quarter), at which point he and the Lakeview Christian starters were sent to the bench with the game in hand.

“It was just one of those nights where everything was going in and my teammates kept finding me,” Broman told the News Tribune. “It was a fun night.”

It was a fun night, but not a personal best for Broman. The Lakeview superstar actually scored 71 points during a loss when he was a junior. You can see video highlights of that remarkable 71-point performance below (no video from his 70-point endeavor has yet surfaced). Then and now he continues to receive significant support from his brother, Bjorn Broman, who leads Lakeview Christian in assists.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to determine that more of those assists have gone to Anders Broman than anyone else.

“He hit his first five shots, so you have to keep giving it to him when he’s hot,” Bjorn said.

That’s an understatement from the younger Broman. For now, he can keep dishing the ball to his big brother and watch the points – and wins – pile up.

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The Harlem Shake is taking over high school sports … and it is fantastic

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The Harlem Shake is taking over high school sports, just as it speads like viral wildfire across the internet.

As brought to Prep Rally’s attention by both USA Today and PlayOn! Sports, high school fan groups have really taken to the burgeoning viral Harlem Shake trend.

The video you see above portrays the Blue Crew, the fan group at Mt. Sterling (Ky.) Montgomery County High, performing a bona fide, orthodox interpretation of the Harlem Shake just before Montgomery took the floor to face rival Versailles (Ky.) Woodford County High.

Montgomery County went on to cruise past Woodford by a final score of 72-40, so perhaps the Blue Crew’s antics proved just inspirational enough to push the team on to a win.

Meanwhile, what the Blue Crew achieved in authenticity and masked execution, Granite Bay (Cal.) High achieved in sheer mass. The student section from the Northern California school took the court at halftime of a recent game to explode into their own full-fledged Harlem Shake, with multiple sections of the entire stands rushing out and dancing out their white-out-ted selves.

But wait, it isn't just two schools that are pushing quality Harlem Shakes out there. There's also this rather sexual high school basketball version (one can understand why they didn't connect the dots as to which school these chaps play for).

Then there's the entire Perkiomen Valley (Pa.) High senior class celebrating a basketball league title.

There's the Boulder (Co.) High basketball squad ... and their most enterprising fans.

And the North Augusta (Ga.) High cheering section (love the space hopper cameo).

This Norcross (Ga.) High boys hoops version is rock solid. Keep an eye on the coaches before the breakdown.

The entirety of Kansas City (Mo.) Archbishop O'Hara High School was involved in its Harlem Shake video. The whole school. That's wild.

Here's the Fawn Grove (Pa.) Kennard-Dale High girls basketball team getting in on the act.

Not to mention the Wichita Falls (Tex.) High boys soccer squad.

And the Parsippany (N.J.) High boys basketball team.

The San Antonio (Tex.) Antonian Prep girls basketball team played it straight.

While the Lewisville (Tex.) High girls soccer squad incorporated a passed out teammate.

Clearly, this is a trend that should be encouraged. There are few things more entertaining than seeing teens act wild in an entirely controlled setting. Particularly when they get to wear goofy masks.

Consider these entrants the first salvo. Can they be topped? That’s up to you, American high school fan groups.

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Oregon wrestler overcomes rare cancer to return to state tournament

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Last winter, as he wrestled through four rounds of Oregon's Class 5A state wrestling tournament, Richard Bylund felt something wrong with his throat.

Soon afterwards, he couldn't breathe, and in May he was diagnosed with Burkitt's lymphoma, a rare and sometimes deadly form of cancer first discovered in Africa.

Less than a year later, the Corvallis (Ore.) High senior has fought his back into this weekend's state wrestling tournament in more ways than one, Albany's Democrat-Herald detailed.

“It’s like wrestling,” Bylund told the paper. "You’ve just got to keep going. Things kind of blur together when you’re lying around in a room.”

This past Saturday, Bylund defeated Silverton (Ore.) High's Randy Stocker, 15-7, at the Mid-Willamette Conference district championships to earn a chance to compete for the Class 5A state championship in the 170-pound division.

Not only did Bylund spend the summer before his senior year of high school in and out of the hospital undergoing treatment at two-week intervals, he couldn't play football this past fall due to concussion symptoms, according to the Democrat-Herald feature. He played both fullback and linebacker for the Spartans as a junior.

“It’s remarkable, because even when he was in stage three, he never had a negative attitude,” Corvallis wrestling coach Ron Sather explained to the paper. “It’s just amazing, his drive and his determination.”

If that's any indication of how he'll perform in the state tournament, where he's ranked No. 3 in his weight class, Bylund's opponent this weekend better be prepare to be pinned.

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Canadian teen suffers broken jaw after disturbing swing from foe, but was it intentional?

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In Canada, a 17-year-old juniors hockey player suffered one of the most painful looking injuries in recent memory, leaving him with a broken jaw that required surgery and will sideline him for as many as six weeks. Now the question is when the 19-year-old who inflicted the injury upon him will get a chance to return to the ice himself, a process which has solicited the kind of debates and inspection of video footage that is more often reserved for a criminal trial.

As covered in great detail by Prep Rally’s brotherly Canadian hockey blog Buzzing the Net, 17-year-old Halifax Mooseheads defenseman Brian Lovell suffered a fractured jaw during a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League game between the Mooseheads and Moncton Wildcats. The Moncton player who was responsible for damage was 19-year-old Ross Johnston, a forward who hit Lovell in the face with his stuck after swinging it with two hands.

There is no debate that Johnston struck Lovell with a violent action almost akin to a killing move out of The Hunger Games. The question was whether he intended to do so at all. As captured on video, Johnston’s stick was caught in between the boards, pulled hard to free his offensive implement and then connected with the jaw of Lovell, who was just getting up off the ice after losing his balance while tussling with Johnston.

While no penalty was called in the immediate aftermath of the nasty blow, the QMJHL wasted little time in handing down a suspension after the fact, sending Johnston to the Moncton bench indefinitely while the league determines his culpability.

No one thinks that Johnston’s penalty should be permanent. Still, as a 19-year-old he is as old as plenty of other full-fledged professional athletes. He could be playing in the NHL as soon as fall 2013 (though that seems unlikely) and he needs to be reticent of his actions.

Yet what if Johnston’s contact really was entirely accidental? What if the winger was just trying to release his stick? Then matters become a bit less clear-cut. Should Johnston have to sit out just because he accidentally inflicted an injury on a foe that will sideline him for the rest of the season?

Clearly, that seems harsh.

For his part, Johnston has yet to issue any kind of official statement about the incident, even though plenty of talking heads in the Canadian junior hockey world have parped up about it, particularly on Twitter (what a surprise!). You can see the best collection of those assorted tweets at Buzzing the Net.

For Lovell, the injury means an untimely end to a suddenly blossoming first season in the QMJHL. The teenager had just scored his first goal of the season one game before the sudden jaw injury led to the rather bloated face you see above, as he tweeted out himself.

Want more on the best stories in high school sports? Visit RivalsHigh or connect with Prep Rally on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.


Heartwarming assist from foe lands El Paso special needs student final basket in undefeated season

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It looked like Mitchell Marcus’ miraculous appearance in the only game of his high school basketball career was going to come up short. Instead, he got an assist from an opponent and hit a basket that sent the El Paso (Tex.) Coronado High gym into celebratory hysterics, all thrilled that one of their school’s favorite sons had made the most of a truly unique opportunity.

As reported by the El Paso Times (as brought to Prep Rally's attention by The Big Lead), Mitchell Marcus is a special needs senior at Coronado High, where he also serves as the team manager for the boys basketball squad. For the team’s final game of the regular season, a rivalry matchup against El Paso (Texas) Franklin High, Coronado allowed Marcus to suit up with the team.

With 1:30 remaining in a game which Coronado led by 10 points, the T-Birds brought Marcus in off the bench. The senior, wearing Kobe Bryant’s number 24, was given a handful of opportunities to shoot, with Coronado desperate to get him a basket so he would be on the official stat sheet.

He missed all his attempts, leaving just 13 seconds remaining and Franklin all but certain to dribble out the rest of the clock.

Instead, a Franklin player delivered the most heart-warming assist in El Paso high school basketball history. Franklin guard Jon Montanez grabbed a rebound and passed the ball right to Marcus. With the Coronado senior seemingly surprised to have received the ball from a foe, Montanez delivered the perfect line to assure Marcus and set the stage for the kind of moment that sends chills down one’s spine.

“Shoot it,” Montanez told Marcus. “It’s your time.

Marcus put up a final shot. It went in, the final points of a 55-40 victory and a perfect regular season record.

"Tears immediately came to my eyes, and it was just pure emotion," Clement Marcus, Marcus’ father, told the Times. "I'll take it to my grave. It was a community coming together. Forget the high school rivalry."

While Marcus’ parents were shedding tears of joy, their son was being carried off the court by Coronado fans, a fitting tribute to a student who has spent hours upon hours supporting the boys basketball team for four years.

Meanwhile, Franklin players looked on, their disappointment at losing to a crosstown rival mitigated by the sheer joy that came from his final basket and the role that a Franklin student athlete had played in it.

"I was just proud for him, that he actually got to play and get his first varsity basket,” Montanez told the Times.

Marcus’ mother was even more emphatic.

"To see the Franklin players do that for him was just, well, there are no words for it," Amy Marcus said. "It was the most amazing moment of my life."

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Josh Level, top NC hoops prospect, collapses during timeout and dies on the court

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Tragedy struck North Carolina on Tuesday night when Josh Level, one of the state’s most promising young basketball players, collapsed during a game and died shortly thereafter from unknown circumstances.

As reported by The Greensboro News & Record and Greensville Fox affiliate WGHP, Level, a 17-year-old star for Greensboro (N.C.) New Garden Friends School, collapsed during a timeout break in the third quarter of a game at Winston-Salem (N.C.) Quality Education Academy. While a nurse on hand immediately rushed to Level’s aid, he was never resuscitated and was pronounced dead shortly after being transported to nearby Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

“We called 911 immediately, and a nurse gave him artificial respiration,” Simon Johnson, CEO of Quality Education Academy told the News & Record. “We’re very saddened by what happened.”

Level was considered one of the top prospects in North Carolina’s Class of 2014. The junior had already received scholarship offers from the likes of Oklahoma State and Charlotte and was also being recruited by Wake Forest and North Carolina State, among other top programs. ScoutsFocus National Scouting Director Joe Davis told Prep Rally that Level was easily one of the top 10 players to compete at his Greensboro Invitational event in 2012. You can see Level in action at that event right here.

In an earlier interview with the Wolfpacker’s Jacey Zembal, Level said that he was motivated by his desire to prove those who had overlooked him wrong.

"I've been kind of overlooked and I just want to prove people wrong. That is my motivation,” Level told the Wolfpacker. “It's hard because I'm the middle child of seven, and it's hard to be away from family [at a boarding school]. You have to get it again. You have to do that in college, so I might as well start early."

Sadly, Level will never get that chance now, having passed far too soon while playing the game he loved.

“To play this game, you have to have a lot of heart,” Level said in an interview with the site BallisLife, which you can see below. “It’s a privilege.”

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McDonald’s All-American Game will put nation’s top prep hoops stars in sleeves

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The NBA’s Golden State Warriors have received a deluge of attention for their plan to compete while wearing jerseys with tight sleeves on Friday, Feb. 22. Not too long thereafter they’ll be joined in the sleeved-basketball uniform crusade by most of the best high school basketball players in America.

As noted by Dime Magazine and a handful of other outlets, the uniforms at the McDonald’s All-America Game will also feature sleeves. Like the NBA uniforms, the All-American duds are made by Adidas, with the German-based company pioneering the latest foray into trying to sleeve top basketball players.

You can see photos of the uniforms for both the West (top) and East (bottom) squads to the right. Clearly the East unis are significantly more gaudy, with a sublimated pseudo-lightning flash design incorporated into a largely white-and-black color scheme.

Regardless of colors and themes, both uniforms feature the aforementioned sleeves, meaning that the likes of hometown hero Jabari Parker (the All-American Game is played in Chicago) and Andrew Wiggins will steal the national spotlight wearing uniforms that are unlike whatever they’ll wear on a college campus.

That’s a strange development certainly, though it allegedly won’t hold back their performance. Adidas notes that the sleeves have been created with a “360-degree channel around the shoulders that connects the jersey portion to the sleeve portion, all in the name of full range-of-movement.”

That "breakthrough technology" may make arm motion quite a bit easier, but it's pretty difficult to believe that players will be able to shoot, block shots and stretch for full length as easily with sleeves on as they will without them. It seems like common sense, though perhaps the Warriors can prove that isn't the case on Friday.

We’ll leave it to the likes of Parker and Wiggins to determine just how full their motion is while wearing sleeves. If it holds back the annual slam dunk contest, those top teens won’t be happy.

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Virginia junior’s only 3-pointer results in perfect playoff buzzer-beater

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Re'Quan Hopson sure made the most of his only 3-pointer this season.

The Wakefield (Arlington, Va.) High junior's one and only attempt from long-distance this winter resulted in a tremendous game-winning buzzer-beater, sending his team to the next round of the playoffs and marking the final basket of his school's gymnasium.

With five seconds remaining, Warriors coach Tony Bentley drew up a play for either of his two senior stars -- Khory Moore and Ermias Nega -- but when both were covered, sophomore Marqua Walton found Hopson on the wing, and the 6-foot-3 junior forward connected from beyond the arc when all Wakefield needed was a two-point basket.

“When Re’Quan knocked it down, I was so excited that I jumped over the bench,” Bentley told The Washington Post in a story with more video detailing the memorable moment.

Nine seconds before Hopson's 3-pointer swished through the net, Langley (McLean, Va.) senior Brad Dotson had given his team a 44-43 lead on a layup, but the Wakefield junior's triple spoiled Dotson's heroics and sent the Warriors on to a Class AAA regional semifinal matchup at Robinson (Fairfax, Va.) High on Friday night.

Tuesday's win not only extended the Warriors' streak to 15, but also marked the final game on Wakefield's home court. Since the school is adding a new gymnasium in the fall, according to The Post, Hopson's 3-pointer counts as the last basket in the gym's history.

No wonder the Wakefield faithful exploded for a solid minute in the aftermath.

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Kathy Eisemann, 70-year-old grandma fan, banned from all basketball games for swinging purse at hecklers

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A bizarre situation has unfolded in Southwestern Illinois, where a devoted 70-year-old grandmother is being kept away from her grandson’s basketball games by school officials, all over a brief incident that was brought on by taunts aimed at her.

As reported in detail by the Belleville News-Democrat, 70-year-old Kathy Eisemann has been so upset by her ban from all Belleville (Ill.) West High basketball games that she has spent days at home crying at game time when she can't go to the West gym. According to Eisemann’s daughter Kriss Foster, the grandmother's ban from all Belleville West basketball games dates to December, when she swung her purse at two people in the nearby crowd who were heckling her.

"It's just heartbreaking," Foster told the News-Democrat.

"She can't even go and watch, because they won't let her in there. … It's aggravating. Grandma loves to go and show her support."

Lately, Grandma Eisemann has been stuck at home during games, despite the fact that her family has explained that she suffers from the early stages of Alzheimer’s. The senior citizen fan has also suffered two strokes and uses a wheelchair to get around.

The most disappointing game for Eisemann to miss came on Tuesday night, when her grandson, 18-year-old Donnie Foster, was celebrated along with the rest of the Belleville West senior class.

Now that’s gone, though school officials claim that they’ve relented for the forthcoming baseball season and will allow Eisemann to watch Donnie Foster’s baseball games from the stands. There’s no word if similar restrictions would be put in place for other sporting events inside Belleville West that involve Donnie Foster’s two younger brothers.

Regardless of the less stringent penalties to come, the all-out basketball ban is “ridiculous,” according to Kriss Foster.

"She [Eisemann] doesn't understand why she can't go and how do you explain it in the situation she is in," Foster said. "She doesn't think it was that big of a deal." ...

"She just wants to go watch her grandson," Foster said.

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Racially insensitive masks at middle school basketball game cause Indiana uproar

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A disturbing incident at a middle school basketball game in southeastern Indiana has forced school district officials to apologize to the NAACP for the behavior of its students.

As reported by the Associated Press and News & Tribune, among other sources, students from Floyd County (Ind.) Highland Hills Middle School wore gorilla and President Obama masks to a game against Floyd County (Ind.) Parkland Middle School on a spirit night when students were encouraged to wear black to the game. The fact that Highland Hills’ team was entirely white and Parkland’s squad included African American players added a disturbing layer of racial insensitivity to the incident.

“I really do think most of our kids emulate what they see on the college scene,” Highland Hills principal Steve Griffin told the News & Tribune. “If you watch that, there’s all kinds of different costumes that are worn in any college game. I really think our kids were trying to emulate what they were seeing on TV more than anything. I don’t think the kids themselves consciously thought about trying to offend someone, they were just trying to be goofy.”

Griffin acted quickly after the incident, calling the parents of the students who wore Obama and gorilla masks to explain why they were deemed inappropriate and drafting up new policies for spirit days in conjunction with the school’s guidance counselors. Those school counselors will also hold diversity awareness sessions for students throughout the school, which contains grades 5 through 8.

While those new guidelines should protect Highland Hills from future racially-tinged incidents -- albeit likely at the cost of elaborate costumes -- it didn’t go far enough for the parents of some of the Parkland players who were appalled at the Highland Hills’ crowd’s behavior.

“It seemed like a whole cheering section right in back of our basketball team that either had on black nylon masks, they had on Obama masks and a bunch of gorillas and monkeys,'' Lisa Barnett, whose son plays for Parkview told the News & Tribune. ''I couldn't focus on the game because of these masks behind our boys.”

Thanks in part to those concerns, New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp. school board members reached out to the NAACP’s affiliate in New Albany, letting them know that Highland Hills would write an official letter of apology for the incident.

It’s apparently hoped by both the NAACP and the New Albany-Floyd County district that the letter could serve as a final salvo to the distasteful incident, though only time will tell if the Parkview parents and students can be at peace with a simple letter accounting for an ugly incident.

''I do believe most people were satisfied with what they heard,'' NAACP branch president Nicole Yates told the AP after a public meeting about the incident. ''It is no secret that it has been in the past that African Americans are referred to as gorillas or anything, monkeys and what have you. And so it was offensive and it was offensive to a lot of people, a lot of parents.''

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California girls soccer playoff game lasts 42 penalty kicks to determine a winner

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The official scoreline will always read 0-0. That makes the fact that 39 balls hit the back of the net in a girls soccer playoff match all the more remarkable.

As chronicled in the Torrance Daily Breeze, a California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Division II playoff match saw Redondo (Cal.) Union High and Temecula (Cal.) Great Oak High play to a 0-0 tie through regulation, and overtime, necessitating a penalty kick shootout to determine which team would advance to the state quarterfinals. From there, things got loopy, with both teams connecting or missing on offsetting penalty attempts through 40 penalty kicks.

Finally Great Oak hit its 21st attempt to take a 20-19 PK lead. Redondo’s Janel De Curtis walked up, stroked an attempt at goal and saw it gobbled up by Great Oak goalie Sarah Victor. The save ended up the game, and Redondo’s season, after a stunning 42 penalty kick attempts.

No video of the incredible penalty kick sequence has emerged as of yet, but you can see great still shots from the game in this Daily Breeze photo gallery.

"They were a great team to play against," Great Oak coach Alicia Brennan told the Daily Breeze. "Obviously, we were both evenly matched. It didn't look like any of our girls or theirs either were going to miss during the penalty kicks.

"We've gone to [penalty kicks] before, but nothing like this. It was crazy. Even the referees were like, `We haven't been this far either."'

The ridiculous penalty kick matchup comes almost exactly a year after a similarly ludicrous PK playoff game in California between two boys teams lasted 50 penalty kicks … and two days.

Luckily, this matchup concluded on the same day it started, though that hardly made its conclusion easier for the Redondo players and coaches to stomach.

"The only reason it hurts so much is because this team really loves one another and I think we had the talent and chemistry to maybe go all the way," Redondo coach Shelly Marsden emotionally told the Daily Breeze. "Having so much to look forward to in a CIF run and have it cut short because we only made 19 of 21 [penalty kicks] is tough to swallow.

"They're probably going to be pretty upset for several days before the lingering sadness dissipates and they can start to look at all the positives that they had this season. It's tough."

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Budding California prep football star dies in sledding accident

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The only thing bigger than Dylan Ridolfi's football potential was his heart, family, friends and coaches said of the budding California prep football star who died in a freak sledding accident on Sunday at Mt. Rose in Reno, Nev.

"He was a big kid," Dylan's father Dan Ridolfi told The Sacramento Bee, "but he had a huge heart."

A day after staying on the north shore of Lake Tahoe and skiing Mt. Rose, the Ridolfi family and friends decided to spend Sunday sledding. Riding an inner tube, Dylan, 15, picked up speed on an icy hill over a short distance before losing control, the Bee said.

"It was very, very icy," his father told the paper. "He had gone up a hill. He had not gone more than 20 or 30 feet. He just picked up a head of steam and veered off the main area into a tree."

Dylan's father and other onlookers administered CPR and a nearby fire truck provided further support, but he died soon after the accident, according to multiple reports out of Sacramento.

“He’s a bigger guy, and he couldn’t really maneuver away, and there was a tree, and he, he hit it,” said Michael Bishoff, one of a number of friends and family who witnessed the tragedy, in a CBS Sacramento report. “I ran up as fast as I could, I checked his pulse and I yelled for somebody to call 911. This is just a freak accident. It should have never happened. He was only 15 years old.”

At 6-foot-2, 240 pounds, Ridolfi played offensive line for the Oak Ridge (El Dorado Hills, Calif.) High's undefeated freshman football team. He reportedly had Division I potential, even playing through a partially torn knee ligament, according to one report.

"Dylan was simply a great teammate and a great young man," Oak Ridge freshman football coach Bill Bunce told the Village Life. "He was an outstanding football player with enormous potential, but more importantly, he was kind, hard-working, happy and reliable. His teammates and his coaches cared deeply for him and loved him."

Ridolfi dreamed of studying engineering at his parents' alma mater, the University of Nevada at Reno, where he was inspired to play football after watching San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick play for the Wolf Pack as a senior two years ago, according to the Sacramento Bee report.

“Dylan was just a great kid," assistant coach Matt Flynn explained to the Village Life. His teammates loved him dearly. He always had a smile on his face -- rain or shine. He was a big kid but a gentle giant. However, once he put the pads on he became a football player. He was also the most spirited kid on the team with his giant Oak Ridge blue mohawk.”

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Teens claim to hit ‘luckiest basketball shot ever’, and they might be right

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The official YouTube title of the video you see below is "World's Luckiest Basketball Shot." Prep Rally is tempted to say that they're not over-selling their feat.

What Prep Rally knows about the primary actors in the video above is about as much as everyone else does. Clearly they're teenagers, and clearly they spent an extraordinary amount of time attempting bizarre trick shots. Eventually, they hit the shot in this highlight clip, then celebrated with as much youthful exuberance as one would imagine.

The fact that they connected on the shot is pretty remarkable in itself. The space hopper use is unique, as is the three-bounce, off the house, through-the-hoop trajectory.

What is more odd is why the video seems to be picking up steam again online now. It was originally posted in May, but has been linked on multiple sites this week alone.

Now, it's being featured here on Prep Rally. For good reason. Given how long it probably took to hit that circus shot, those kids deserve every cameo they get.

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Danielle Coughlin becomes first girl to win individual state wrestling title in Mass. history

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History was made in Massachusetts when a girl won an individual state wrestling title for the first time in state history. Even more Danielle Coughlin’s individual victory set the stage for a team crown as well, landing the senior two state titles in one of her final meets.

As reported by the Boston Globe and Boston Herald, among other sources, North Andover (Mass.) High senior Danielle Coughlin captured the MIAA Division 2 state title in the 106-pound weight class when she knocked off Winchester (Mass.) High star Jordan Darby, 5-3, in the class’ final bout. According to the Globe, Coughlin dominated the match throughout a majority of its three periods and won convincingly, setting the stage for another state title for the wrestling powerhouse.

“Going into [the match], I knew it was up to me not just individually but for my team to come out as state champs,” Coughlin told the media after her historic victory. “Coach was counting on me to start things off.

“I had a little advantage; I’ve been in this atmosphere before. There’s a lot of pressure when yours is the only match going on and everyone is watching. Being familiar with the setting was an advantage.”

By the end of the meet, North Andover’s advantages were undeniable. The Scarlet Knights raced to victories in four more individual state title bouts, clinching a state crown behind Coughlin’s lead.

“We knew going into Danielle’s match that she was the key to us winning. If she didn’t win, we would have still had a chance [to come back] but one of our guys would have needed a pin,” North Andover coach Carl Cincotta told the Globe.

For her part, Coughlin made it clear that it was the team crown that was more important to her, a fitting final epitaph for any true prep wrestler, let alone one who had just pulled off one of the most historic achievements in prep wrestling in the Northeast.

“I wouldn’t be anywhere without my team,” she said after North Andover had been crowned state champion.

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Texas baseball coach under fire after rant is captured in hidden camera by his own players

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One of the most successful high school baseball coaches in Texas finds himself under fire, after briefly being deposed, thanks to a hidden camera video taken by his athletes showing him angrily berating them before a practice.

As reported by The Big Lead, Port Neches-Grove (Tex.) High baseball coach Mark Brevell is back in the dugout at Port Neches as the Texas prep baseball season gets underway, even though he returns to action against the concerted efforts of his players.

Just before a preseason practice, Brevell entered the locker room and angrily lashed out at two of his players for not being ready to play. Unbeknownst to Brevell, one of those players was secretly videotaping his rant, with the subsequent product landing on YouTube shortly thereafter.

The video has since been removed from the social video site, but not before The Big Lead's Stephen Douglas took down a transcription of Brevell's comments.

"Are either one of y'all ever going to do anything I ever ask? Or are we going to go through this [expletive] [expletive] all year?

"What were y'all hoping? That practice was cancelled? Yeah,you were. One senior already told me. I ain't even going to practice with y'all today. Y'all want to go to practice? I'm going [expletive] home to spend time with my family. If you want to work, work. If you want to go home, go home. I couldn't even care less. Just be ready because there might be some things changing.

"I don't care who you are or what grade you're in. Things are going to change right now or I swear to God, I'll play ... I'llplay JV and Freshman teams and ill play with 22 Freshmen.

"I told Coach this morning that today was going to be a great day, a positive day. And the first thing that happen when I get here is ya'll dumb asses standing in the locker room talking, not even dressed."

Little was made in the local media about Brevell's antics, though the school acted quick to remove him from his position after word of his rant began to trickle out on a Port Neches-Groves online community. Yet the coach was apparently quietly reinstated for the start of the season, which officially kicked off on Tuesday.

Part of Brevell's ability to outlive the incident may come from his success on the diamond. The coach won the District 20-4A title in 2012, and enters 2013 with another potential playoff squad.

Yet, just as Brevell's rant had its attackers, the coach also had plenty of supporters who flocked to social media to convince officials to leave him as the team's coach, including this Facebook page, which drew plenty of attention.

That argument eventually won out, even if it may force at least two of his players to play through an incredibly awkward year ahead, sharing the dugout with a man who exploded against them before the season even started.

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Illinois player drills remarkable baseline-to-baseline buzzer beater

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Too often, impressive basketball shots are called a "full court buzzer beater." A shot in a game on Tuesday really was, just about literally.

As first noted by MaxPreps, Marion (Ill.) High forward Brant Hill connected on a buzzer beater from one baseline to the other at the end of the first quarter of a game against Salem (Ill.) High. Collecting a rebound of a missed Salem free throw, Hill had just enough time to launch a desperate heave toward the other bucket.

Incredibly, the ball went right through, swish and all.

The longest triple possible proved to be 3 of Hill's 16 points, all part of a dominant Marion performance in a 68-46 victory. Incredibly, the Springfield Republican actually undersold Hill's full-courter, calling it a three-quarter court basket when it was clearly much more than that.

Evidently the writer in attendance on Tuesday didn't go back and watch the game film before filing on deadline.

For his part, Marion coach Shane Hawkins told the Springfield Republican that he was proud of his team's effort, noting that if they continue to play that hard, "the next two or three weeks could be a lot of fun."

If Hill hits a few more baseline-to-baseline threes, that would probably help, too.

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College basketball video from Yahoo! Sports

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