There are plenty of bad, rough and tumble playing surfaces at different schools across the country, particularly in the arid Southwest. Still, none of those dirt fields can hold a candle to the horrendous playing conditions that have forced the Kirkland (Wa.) Lake Washington High baseball team to become perpetual road warriors.

As reported by Seattle TV Network KING-5, and brought to Prep Rally’s attention by USA Today, the Lake Washington field was shut down by the school district because of exposed pipes and dangerous metal spikes. The closure has forced a crisis shift for the Lake Washington baseball team, which suddenly finds itself scrambling to host practices, let alone games.

Field of dreams? This is a field of nightmares, with any turn through the field a potential for a quick series of appointments with a tetanus shot.

Incredibly, the school district has yet to even announce formal plans to fix the field, leaving parents of athletes at the school moving forward with a unique blend of vigilante volunteerism and outright fury at school administrators that let the field’s condition deteriorate so rampantly, as one baseball parent, Sim Osborn, articulated to the news station.

"There are literally pipes that we have dug out or pulled out with a tractor. Parents, not the school district. Parents. The field has never ever been maintained by the school district even though it's their responsibility."

District officials have said that a plan to handle the field’s deteriorating conditions is forthcoming, though there is little chance that the field will be operational in time for any portion of the spring baseball season. In fact, if the district moves forward with a plan to re-seed the site, it won’t be playable for at least another year.

That delay has led to calls for a turf field, though district officials have balked at the cost of such a move, despite the decision being set against a backdrop of rapidly rising parental angst.

“These kids love the game,” another Lake Washington baseball parent told KING-5. “They go out and do their job.”

For now, they’re doing it on a distant site because someone else didn’t do their job.

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

After video revealed Mike Rice's physical abuse and homophobic berating of his players -- but before Rutgers fired its men's basketball coach on Wednesday -- New Jersey's most prominent high school coach claimed the behavior wouldn't have prevented him from sending his student-athletes to play for the Scarlet Knights.

"I think it’s very bad, but old news," St. Anthony (Jersey City, N.J.) High boys basketball coach Bob Hurley told The Star-Ledger. "The university did do something (in response). He did go through some counseling and I did watch the bench from that point when he came back the rest of the year. I thought I saw a guy who was really trying to be a different guy. So being in the coaching ranks, I would give him the benefit of the doubt.

"I’m not dismissing it. I just think it’s something that’s already been addressed."

Hurley, who has amassed more than 1,000 victories and 27 state championships in 40 seasons as head coach of the Friars, explained that he hadn't seen the video obtained by ESPN's "Outside the Lines" (embedded above). Even if he did see the footage, it wouldn't have kept him from sending his kids to play for Rice, Hurley told The Star-Ledger, in part because the university had already suspended its coach for three games in December.

Meanwhile, a pair of prominent Garden State prep basketball players also wouldn't have ruled out playing for Rice had he remained at Rutgers, their fathers told The Star-Ledger.

St. Benedict's (Newark, N.J.) Prep sophomore Isaiah Briscoe and Pope John XXIII (Sparta, N.J.) freshman Bryce Aiken -- both of whom already own offers from Rutgers -- reportedly would have still considered the Scarlet Knights regardless of Rice's future.

"I’ve known of the tape for a while and I’ve known of his actions," George Briscoe explained to the paper. "But I actually know Mike Rice as a man and as a father figure to his kids. I know him besides Rutgers basketball and it honestly does not change my perception of him. Everybody makes mistakes."

Mistakes? The video of Rice hurling basketballs at kids' heads and calling them a double-expletive made it seem more like the coach's standard operating procedure than mistakes. Regardless, considering Briscoe has received offers everywhere from Arizona to Duke, Rutgers was probably a long shot to land Rivals.com's No. 16 recruit in the Class of 2015.

At least St. Benedict’s boys basketball coach Mark Taylor was a voice of reason in the New Jersey high school basketball community, even if he too hadn't seen the tape.

"We’ve had seven guys in the last two years sign (elsewhere) so our guys seem to be attracted to a coach that they feel very comfortable with," Taylor told The Star-Ledger. "I think it’s important -- and Mike needs to understand that as well -- that players want to play for guys that they seem to be comfortable with and like. They don’t want to be abused. There’s always a fine line and you can’t cross that line."

Thankfully, as Yahoo!'s own Pat Forde urged on Tuesday, Rutgers drew that line.

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

He may not be Usain Bolt’s top rival, but Missouri City (Tx) Ridge Point High sprinter Cameron Burrell is at least a serious name to watch in the forthcoming years.

The Texas teen cemented that status with the fastest 100-meter dash of the year so far when the senior crossed the finish line of the 100-meter dash at the Texas Relays in just 10.07 seconds.

As reported by MaxPreps, the Houston Chronicle and other outlets, Burrell’s blazing time won’t count as an even par mark because the 2013 Texas Relays were run under wind-aided conditions that were just above the threshold for a wind-aided meet.

Still, Burrell’s 100 time was faster than the best of all-time in the prep divisions at the Texas Relays and a full 0.22 seconds faster than the prior mark in all events at Myers Stadium, which now hosts the event each spring.

For Burrell, the record run is the latest salvo in an extremely promising career. The Ridge Point senior has emerged as one of the nation’s top sprint talents, a talent he’s been gifted in part by immaculate genetics; Burrell’s father is Leroy Burrell, who won a gold and silver medal in different sprint events at the Barcelona Olympics.

Whether Burrell continues in the 100 or transitions to other races remains to be seen. He has also made a mark on the long jump in prior years, so that remains a possibility, too.

One thing is certain, however: Regardless of what Burrell does, he’ll do it fast.

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

The legacy of Ed O’Bannon and his pending lawsuit against the NCAA is alive and well with the next generation of college hoops stars … even if they aren’t entirely sure who Ed O’Bannon is.

In a series of interviews with athletes at the McDonald’s All-American Game in Chicago, ChicagoSide writer Daniel Lidbit asked each future college athlete whether they thought they deserved to be paid for competing at the Division I level. You probably won’t be surprised to learn that more than half of them believe they deserve to be compensated in some form or fashion for competing in collegiate athletics.

Specifically, Arkansas commit Bobby Portis Jr., future Washington Husky Nigel Williams-Goss, Arizona signee Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Indiana Hoosiers commit Noah Vonleh, Kansas signee Wayne Selden Jr. and Duke signee Matt Jones all agreed that athletes deserve to be compensated in some form, whether those funds come from schools for their participation or from sponsors, who could use the student basketball players as celebrity endorsers.

Naturally, that’s where O’Bannon comes in. As has been extensively chronicled here at Yahoo! and elsewhere, a lawsuit filed by O’Bannon seeking restitution for the use of his image after his graduation from UCLA may pose a greater threat to the NCAA’s functional existence than anything else. While O’Bannon’s case focuses on the rights that players maintain after they graduate, the case was enjoined with a second case against the NCAA filed by former Arizona quarterback Sam Keller That case, Keller v. NCAA, seeks compensation for the use of athletes’ likeness and image even during their collegiate years, essentially expanding the scope of the O’Bannon suit, whether the former Bruins star wants to or not.

What does all this mean? Well, it means that there is a legitimate chance that the NCAA may have to give up the ghost and begin compensating athletes in the future, or relax the existing amateurism standards.

Clearly, most of the next crop of top Division I recruits are fine with a final outcome of getting paid, no matter how they eventually get to that point.

“If they came to me and said you can get paid, I’d be happy,” Jones told Chicago Side. “Who would deny something like that? The fact that they haven’t done it I really don’t know what to say about it. If they changed it, I’d be all for it. I’d probably be the first one to ask Coach K where the money is at.”

Added Vonleh: “I think it is crazy. I think they should pay the players because they are going out there, working hard for the school, risking their body. And if they get hurt, it is over for them.

“If a few more players get hurt, like Nerlens [Noel at Kentucky] or Kevin Ware, if a few more players get hurt, I think they are going to bring up something and the players will end up getting paid.”

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

Memorable Moments from Yahoo! Sports:

Other popular content on Yahoo! Sports:
• Kevin Ware graciously adjusts the spotlight after horrific injury
• Minnesota’s gamble on Richard Pitino may look shrewd in a few years
• DeMaurice Smith asks agents for help in trying to prove NFL collusion
• Watch: Could Brittney Griner play in the NBA?

An Ohio high school has filmed one of the more involved, elaborate school YouTube videos of all-time, featuring the entire athletic department in prominent roles during a 9-minute “lip dub” video that is rapidly spreading across the viral internet, earning more than 50,000 views completely organically in the span of just five days without any major publicity.

As brought to Prep Rally’s attention by USA Today, members of the Akron (Oh.) Archbishop Hogan senior class planned and executed the remarkably intricate video you see above, taking a music video technique popularized by Walk the Moon’s Anna Sun video, among others, to a whole new level.

Considering the fact that Archbishop Hogan is significantly smaller than other local schools, it took practically the entire student body to successfully execute this kind of a stunt video. Naturally, that includes the entire athletic program, with cameos from the football team (see the weight room walk through), the girls lax squad and isolated practice scenes and individual flourishes turned in by prep athletes throughout.

It goes without saying that this video is pretty terrific. Sure, the audio dubbing may not sync just right, but considering the fact that the entire enterprise was shot in one long, nine-minute take is pretty remarkable.

In fact, such a stunt showcases the kind of teamwork that may be worth true sporting consideration in itself. For the moment, Prep Rally is declaring Archbishop Hogan the national lip dub champions. You’re move, Bishop Gorman and other athletic powerhouses …

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

Matthew Gooch is a state champion. In fact, the Howells-Dodge (Ne.) High senior is a perfect one at that, leading the small -- no, tiny -- town team to a state title without a single loss just a year after falling at the final hurdle. En route, Gooch earned all state honors, proving that his ability to dominate a game transferred from the football field to the basketball court.

The entire season was almost perfect, save for the crowd. It was missing two key people who were never going to be there. Matthew Gooch’s parents missed all of his games as a senior, just as they missed all of his games since the age of 9. They are both buried 40 miles away, leaving behind Matthew and his siblings after his father, Jim Gooch, killed his mother, Kathy, and then committed suicide himself.

As covered in more depth by a fantastic, emotionally-draining profile by the Omaha World-Herald, Gooch has found the strength to move beyond the tragic end that befell his parents thanks to the Howells-Dodge community and his adoptive parents, his uncle and aunt, Daylin and Chris Riesch. Over the course of nine years, Gooch has found a way to come to grips with the fact that his father killed his mother in cold blood, then hung himself from a tree. Miraculously, he’s found a way to respect both of their memories, all while growing and thriving into one of his new hometown’s favorite sons.

Gooch is talented enough to play college basketball somewhere. He might even have the skills to play defensive end on the football field. Yet the teen is driven by a love of fixing mechanical things, and plans to attend Southeast Community College and study electromechanical technology.

By the time the 2013 state title game arrived, Gooch was ready for a fitting swan song. He scored 16 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked 7 shots in leading Howells-Dodge to a 49-34 victory, as covered by the Lincoln Star Journal, a fitting capstone to an impressive career, and an even more impressive transformation.

“It kind of hit me that I just have to keep going,” Matthew told the World-Herald about coming to grips with his parents’ past. “I finally came to peace with it.”

Now, Howells-Dodge will have to come to grips with the departure of Gooch. They’ll be sure to do so with a smile, thinking back on all he has accomplished and overcome.

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

It’s been a big week for Aaron Gordon. First, the uber-recruit from San Jose (Ca.) Archbishop Mitty High finally decided on a college destination, choosing to attend Arizona. Then he competed in the McDonald’s Slam Dunk contest, and finally capped it with an MVP performance in the All-American game itself.

Yet along the way, Gordon had a goof that will likely outlive all those hallmark moments in everyone’s memory, particularly if he goes on to have the success everyone anticipates: He suffered one of the most galling rim rejections of all time after trying an elaborate between-the-legs slam during the All-American Game.

Luckily for Gordon, the senior had plenty of other awe-inspiring dunks, including all six of the dunks you see featured below.

In the end, those slam makes far outweighed the sole miss, even if the rim’s pyrrhic victory caught the eye and imagination more than the made dunks.

If nothing else, now Gordon can count on a spot in the weekly ESPN Not Top-10 list to go along with his MVP honor and Arizona announcement.

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

Over the summer, Inside Lacrosse asked Candace Pallitto what she hoped to accomplish in the final season of her girls lacrosse career at Villa Walsh (Morristown, N.J.) Academy.

"I would like to continue to lead my team to success on and off the field," said Pallitto. "At the same time, I want to continue to improve my playing while enjoying every game."

If her season opener is any indication, the Georgetown commit will have no problem achieving those goals. Speaking of goals, Pallitto remarkably had 11 of them in a 16-14 victory against Mount St. Dominic (Caldwell, N.J.) Academy on Tuesday.

Pallitto also had an assist, giving her a hand in 12 of her team's 16 goals. She scored seven goals in the second half, including one to put the game away in the final minute.

"I was really excited and extremely pumped up," Pallitto told The Star-Ledger. "I think the energy around me, just the fact that everyone was playing so hard, got me fired up. I was just glad to help everyone pull out the win."

Pallitto tallied 71 goals and 23 assists in 19 games as a junior midfielder for the Vikings (14-5) last season. For those counting at home, that's an average of 3.7 goals per game.

Her 11-goal performance puts her on pace to shatter the single-season state record of 148 goals, set by Allentown (N.J.) High's USC-bound senior Alex Moore last spring. Moore, a returning U.S. Lacrosse All-American, averaged 6.7 goals in her record-setting season.

It's safe to assume Pallitto won't catch the Allentown star for the state's career scoring mark, though. Moore entered her senior season with 315 goals, trailing former Red Bank (N.J.) Catholic High star Brie Moran by just 50 for the all-time record.

Moran went on to shine at Colgate, where she recorded the nation's top single-game scoring afternoon in 2009. She scored 10 goals that day -- another reminder of Pallitto's incredible performance in her season opener, albeit at the high school level.

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

Here’s a novel and deplorable way to earn yourself -- and your national team -- some worldwide disrepute.

The video you see above was taken from idyllic yet chilly Estonia, which is hosting the 2013 Under-18 boys hockey world championship tournament. While these tournaments tend to be back burner events here in the U.S., they are a very, very big deal in Europe, where the likes of Russia, Finland and Sweden realize they represent their best chance at winning a world title at something.

Evidently they take it very seriously in Lithuania as well (that is part of Europe, after all) because Lithuanian forward Danielius Nomanovas reacted to a 3-2 loss to Great Britain in the most inappropriate and inexcusable way possible: He hurled his stick at a referee, with a heck of a lot of velocity, at that.

As you can see in the video above, the shot was most definitely felt by the referee, who went down to a knee so he could clutch his shoulder after Nomanovas’ stick drilled him in the upper body. The attack also elicited a rapid response from a British player, though he was kept from getting to Nomanovas by another ref.

There has been no official word yet about what will happen to Nomanovas, either within the Lithuanian federation or the larger hockey community. He may still be a minor, but there would be no surprise if this incident essentially ended his international career, if not his career in whole.

If’s he’s going to attack referees, he deserves that, too.

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

Everyone knows that Rutgers has an impending transformation on the horizon. The school will leave the Big East for the Big Ten, becoming the conference’s eastern-most outpost and bringing Midwestern smashmouth college football -- and, perhaps more significantly in terms of decision making, the Big Ten Network -- to the New York region.

The move is a big one for the school and its football program, which was resurrected from the ashes in the mid 2000s and has since become an oft threatening but ultimately disappointing contender on the national scale. Some of those limited returns are clearly due to Rutgers’ general inability to recruit the nation’s top players, in part due to its lack of football heritage (beyond that whole playing the first organized game thing) and in part because it is located in Piscataway, N.J., not Miami or Southern California.

The move to the Big Ten should help that recruiting push. At the same time, the program may be trying to change the way it does things. Need evidence? Look no further than the school’s first scholarship offers for the Class of 2016. As noted by MaxPreps, both are quarterbacks, and both are among the highest-regarded prospects in the state of New Jersey.

Before we get any further, it’s worth taking a second look at precisely which class these athletes will be in: 2016. These are 14-year-old passers we’re talking about. No, they’re not USC offering a scholarship to David Sills, but it’s not far away from it.

The latter of the pair to receive a scholarship offer was Sonny Abramson, who was the freshman star of Sparta (N.J.) Pope John XXIII High in fall 2012. Abramson has also received significant attention from schools like Notre Dame, Michigan and Stanford, so it’s anything but a safe bet to assume that he’ll end up with the Scarlet Knights.

That didn’t deter the Knights from extending him an offer, of course. The school’s other freshman offer is significantly more specious. Jarrett Guarantano is a talented prospect at Oradell (N.J.) Bergen Catholic High, but he’s yet to start a single game on a varsity football field. Guarantano is expected to fight for a spot under center at Bergen Center, annually one of the nation’s best programs, during the fall 2013 season.

Compare that to Abramson’s 20 touchdowns and 2,137 yards, and it’s clear who is a safer bet … at the moment.

Of course, picking which freshman quarterback is more likely to pan out is a bit like trying to bet on which Sesame Street youngster is most apt to become the next Savion Glover. In short, you can take a wild guess, but it’s just that, a wild guess.

That’s precisely what makes Rutgers’ efforts to land a quarterback who won’t even stop on campus for more than three years feel all the more desperate. Or perhaps the offers are pro-actively forwarding thinking. After all, beauty and genius are in the eye of the beholder, even when it comes to recruiting.

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

A Texas wrestler has landed himself in hot water after objecting to a new standardized test he was forced to take in the most direct way possible, and possibly the most unwise as well: He opted to write “YOLO” (You Only Live Once) and a smiley face on his multiple choice answer sheet and tweeted it out to the world.

As reported by Dallas-Fort Worth news network WFAA, Kyron Birdine, a star wrestler for Arlington (Tx.) High, was suspended for four days because of his original tweet, which depicted his personal scantron sheet just before he handed it back in.

Before everyone throws Birdine under the bus -- and to be fair, there’s plenty of reason for that -- the teen was actually making a political statement with his test answers, even if the statement was made in a rather crude way. Below his YOLO test photo, Birdine wrote. “I have the TAKS to study for, not this unneeded craziness.” In Texas, the TAKS test is the standardized measure that determines if students graduate.

"It wasn't for a grade," Birdine told WFAA. "Colleges don't see it. It didn't benefit my personal life at all."

The test Birdine intentionally gave up on was the STAAAR, a new test that isn’t used for graduation eligibility.

Of course, that doesn’t justify Birdine’s decision to opt out of the test in the most melodramatic way possible. It also doesn’t justify his tweeting his original YOLO message directly at the Texas Education Agency and Arlington Independent School District; that’s just stupid.

Birdine has another year ahead of him (he's just a junior) but isn't in any kind of academic trouble. Rather, WFAA reported that he holds a 3.0 GPA and reportedly scored notably high on his PSAT.

Still, as USA Today noted, Birdine hasn’t given up his personal quest, either. He deleted his original tweet under duress from officials, but he quickly tweeted out a photo of him in his Arlington wrestling uniform with a rather direct message, as you can see directly above.

Free Kyron? Perhaps he can now free himself by proving that he’s learned adequately enough to graduate when he takes the TAKS. If he doesn’t, his political stance will be all the more phyrric.

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

Anyone up for a video of an 12-year-old drilling a shot from half court during halftime of an NBA game? We thought you might be.

During Toronto's Wednesday victory against the Washington Wizards, the Raptors used halftime to host that greatest of all traditions: A youth basketball game between teams comprised entirely of 11 and 12-year-olds. These gimmicks can never go wrong; the teams play hard, the kids are cute and once in a while some elementary schooler will make a play that will actually turn everyone's head.

Case in point: The video you see above from Toronto, in which an unnamed 12-year-old drilled a shot from just inside halfcourt as the buzzer sounded. Did he travel before the shot? Probably. Did that diminish his sense of accomplishment? Absolutely not.

While the shot itself was pretty good, the reaction of both teams is completely priceless. After all, no high school team would go nuts when an opponent hit a buzzer beater like that, but elementary schoolers are happy to do so. Heck, they probably would have celebrated just as excitedly if the shot had gone in at some small, dank gym in Sudbury, let alone inside the Air Canada Centre.

Who knows when we'll see another mid-court buzzer beater in a halftime youth game. Perhaps this season. Perhaps not until 2015. It could be either. Until then we'll all have to savor the wonderful innocence and excitement of what happened in Toronto, along with The Raptor, of course. Let's see him try to hit that shot ...

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

Two former executives of a Pennsylvania-based sporting goods company pled guilty to defrauding more than 100 schools in 12 states on Tuesday, according to multiple reports.

Circle Systems Group CEO Alan Abeshaus and CFO Mitchell Kurlander admitted in court that they had forged competitors' prices, inflated invoices and overbilled schools for almost a decade, according to an Associated Press report.

Each pled guilty to conspiring to commit wire and mail fraud -- a crime that could have meant 20 years behind bars -- but the 81-year-old Abeshaus will likely avoid prison time while his 54-year-old son-in-law faces up to 51 months in jail as part of their plea deals.

In 2011, the two men were indicted after another former Circle Systems Group executive and two New Jersey school officials also pled guilty as part of the conspiracy.

The company sent a bill and a similar looking invoice to schools in order to recoup two payments for refurbishing athletic equipment (mainly football helmets and pads), which led to almost $1 million in earnings, according to the 2011 New York Times report.

Circle also sent forged price quotes from competing companies in order to secure the lowest bid and then overcharge schools for additional services, the AP reported. Additionally, the company issued fraudulent invoices to make up for money it had donated to school's athletic programs, according to The Morning Call.

As U.S. District Judge William Walls asked Kurlander in court, "So, you gave with one hand and took back with the other?" The former CFO responded: "Yes, your Honor."

Meanwhile, Circle Systems Group also presented $40,000 in gifts -- including computers, flat-screen TVs, NFL tickets and golf outings -- to school officials who facilitated deals with the company. Former Long Branch (N.J.) High athletic director Charles Ferrara Jr. and former Elizabeth (N.J.) High Hall of Fame coach Robert Firestone pled guilty to accepting bribes more than two years ago, the New York Times reported.

In all, more than 100 high schools from Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia fell victim to the scam that robbed them of anywhere between $1-2.5 million.

Abeshaus will repay $1 million and Kurlander will also pay an undisclosed amount of restitution to the affected schools, according to the reports.

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

Jeremy Lopez is the kind of player coaches dream about. He is consistent at the plate and better in the dugout. He always wants to take the ball on the mound, even if his total of losses is rising as the season rolls on. Metaphorically, he’s the kind of player who stands 8 feet tall.

Physically, he barely stands 5 feet tall.

That, naturally, is what makes Lopez so special. The Camden County (N.J.) Tech School-Pennsauken High senior star is precisely 5-foot-1 and 110 pounds. He is one of the smallest players in all of prep baseball nationwide, yet he also has found a way to have a profound impact on his team’s fortunes.

As reported by the Philadelphia inquirer. Lopez was his team’s most consistent hitter as a junior, batting .386. He had 27 hits, scored 23 runs and finished with 14 steals. More impressively, he struck out just three times all season. That’s fewer times than many power hitters strike out in a single game.

Lopez was the team’s go-to man on the mound as well. And while he finished just 4-6, the then-junior had 32 strikeouts in just 58 innings of work.

"He got the ball in every one of our big games," Pennsauken Tech baseball coach Jon Repece told the Inquirer. “I knew he was a special kid the first day he came out. He was this little freshman, and he was helping all the other kids."

Now, Lopez is enjoying his final season on a competitive baseball field. The senior -- who is also the president of the school’s National Honor Society and reportedly earns straight A’s -- also competes in cross country and bowling, pursuits that he could be able to continue in the years ahead.

There’s less optimism about a baseball future for a player who is shorter than most ball boys. Still, that hardly speaks to Lopez’s overall future, with school officials insistent that the senior from hardscrabble East Camden is among the finest students the school has seen.

"Jeremy is a special young man," Pennsauken Tech assistant principal Greg Cappello told the Inquirer. "He's been a leader since he was a freshman. The students look up to him as a role model. He's one of the best we've ever had come through here."

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

When Cara Goodwin heads to the mound, the question is rarely whether she is going to win. Rather, it’s whether she’ll even allow a run.

Goodwin, a Cullman (Al.) Good Hope High senior and University of Alabama-Birmingham signee, is currently 21-4 in her final campaign. More impressively, nine of those wins have come on no-hitters, with Good Hope’s 11 most recent wins all shutouts pitched by Goodwin.

Clearly, Goodwin is hitting her stride at precisely the right time, just as her squad heads toward the state playoffs. Perhaps more impressively, according to the Cullman Times, Goodwin’s two most recent starts have both featured victories that came within two at-bats of a perfect game.

In a victory against Cold Springs (Al.) High she gave up her only walk with two outs in the seventh inning and Goodwin unintentionally struck two batters with pitches during the team’s rout of Falkville (Al.) High.

Goodwin's dominance is nothing new for the state of Alabama, with the teen previously setting single season state records for most strikeouts (525), innings pitched (318) and shutouts (19) in a single season. All of those marks may be under threat again this year, as well.

The plan for the rest of Good Hope’s season is clear: Keep giving Goodwin the ball, and keep hoping that she will mow down opposing batters.

“If they don’t score, they can’t beat us,” Good Hope coach Wayne Harris told the Times. “I just hope we can keep those zeros coming for another six weeks.”

Good Hope’s opponents may not be so thrilled of those zeroes, but they’re probably plenty used to seeing them at this point.

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

When Andres Arroyo took the track in Gainesville for the 2013 Florida Relays, he was already seen as a prohibitive favorite to win the 800 meters. By the time he finished, he would be considered a contender against anyone in the world.

Arroyo’s clocking of 1:47.79 in the 800 was the fastest prep time in the event in 2013, and the sixth fastest all time. It can almost go without saying that Arroyo’s time was the fastest in Florida history.

More notably, Arroyo’s time was faster than any 800 recorded by an NCAA runner this year, and the sixth fastest of any runner anywhere in 2013, regardless of age or status.

Yes, that makes an Orlando (Fl.) Colonial High senior the sixth fastest 800-meter runner in the world at the moment.

"I am speechless," Arroyo told the Orlando Sentinel. "I really have nothing I can say. During the race I was just concentrating on every 100 [meters] and every 400 [meters] and maintaining my technique during the race."

According to the track and field site Flo Track, Arroyo finished a full 5 meters ahead of the rest of the entire field in his race. And if anyone is looking to put Arroyo’s time in a broader perspective, his 1:47.79 was just five-hundredths of a second behind prep track legend Alan Webb’s best time in the distance, which he recorded just weeks after his sub-4:00 mile.

Does that mean that Arroyo is a likely 4:00 miler? Not necessarily, though no one would reasonably rule anything out the way he’s running at the moment, including a remarkable mile time.

Considering the fact that Arroyo recorded that blazing time on the same track on which he’ll perform in college, Gators fans should be awfully excited about his future, whether he goes on to set more records or not.

"You think you have seen it all, and then he goes out and does something like this," Colonial coach Rene Plasencia said. "I had no idea he could go out and go under 1:48. Our goal was to get him around a 1:50."

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

Apparently, it's a good thing when your pitching staff is composed of a bunch of zeroes.

It took almost a quarter of a season for St. Laurence (Burbank, Ill.) High's baseball team to surrender an earned run, producing a 0.00 ERA through its first eight games.

"It's been pretty amazing," St. Laurence coach Pete Lotus told the Chicago Sun-Times in a feature on the team's perfect pitching staff. "Every guy has just been incredible. I knew we had a very good staff, but you never expect to see this."

Right-handed starters Kyle Estand, Mike Kornacker, Zach Lewis and Brad Wood threw 41.2 of the Vikings' 49 earned run-less innings to start the season, per the Sun-Times.

St. Laurence started 7-1 after two rounds through the rotation, allowing just a pair of unearned runs in a 2-1 loss to Chicago's Simeon Career Academy. The Vikings outscored opponents 64-2 in that span, climbing to No. 4 on the Sun-Times rankings.

Kornacker, Lewis and Wood all reach the upper 80s to low 90s on their fastballs, and each could be a Division I pitcher down the road, the Sun-Times said. Lewis, the lone senior of that trio, is the son of former San Diego Padres draft pick Tony Lewis. Kornacker has committed to Purdue, and junior classmate Wood owns a few DI offers.

"This is the best rotation we've had, top to bottom," Lotus told the paper. "This group has the ability to be competitive every game. We've struck out a lot of guys. We haven't had to make many plays on defense."

In fact, the Vikings struck out 70 opponents while producing a 0.54 WHIP (21 hits, 17 walks) through their first 49 innings, but all good things must come to an end.

St. Laurence gave up a whopping 22 runs in a pair of losses over the weekend -- allowing two first-inning runs in a 6-5 loss to IMG (Bradenton, Fla.) Academy and suffering a 16-5, slaughter-rule defeat at the hands of St. Ignatius (Chicago, Ill.) High. Those defeats only serve as a reminder of how impressive that eight-game stretch actually was.

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

Timpview High School has one of the more impressive athletic programs in the state of Utah. The school won the 2008-09 Utah Class 4A “All Sports Award” for accumulating the most state and region titles across all different sports. In total, the school has won eight state football titles, at least seven state crowns in boys tennis and three state titles in girls swimming. It has also finished atop the state rankings in boys track and boys cross country.

By default, that means that the school has an awful lot of hardware that it has been awarded for those achievements. There are even more trophies that have come via regional titles. Yet, for a completely unknown reason, most of those trophies aren’t found inside the school in a display case, where one would expect them to be.

Instead, Timpview seems to have lost track of 75 -- seventy-five! -- trophies from past athletic achievements. Now, in an effort to remedy that, the school is trying to contact those who might have prior trophies to return them, regardless of what it takes.

The school reached out to the Deseret News to try and spread the word of the trophy hunt as it works to set up a robust school trophy cabinet, one which seems awfully overdue.

According to information posted by the Deseret News, Timpview is missing seven state title trophies and 68 trophies related to regional crowns. Naturally, these keepsakes come in different shapes and sizes, and it’s likely the school doesn’t even know what some of them look like.

It goes without saying that will make them harder to recover.

There’s no reason to believe that the old Timpview trophies have willfully be kept from the school. Rather, it simply seems as if no one was keeping track of precisely what happened to the school’s precious proof of athletic success.

Here’s hoping that they find their way back, for Timpview’s sake.

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

Usually a win is considered an awfully good way to start a season for a pitcher. Sarah Cornell went quite a bit further.

In her season debut for Westbury (N.Y.) Clarke High, the freshman struck out 20 of 21 batters to lead Clarke to a 9-0 victory. The 14-year-old was nearly perfect on the day, allowing just a single hit.

Do the math, and Cornell struck out an astounding 20 of 22 batters. That’s one heck of a way to get a season started.

One might think it’s a way to get a career started, too, but Cornell actually pitched for Clarke in 2012 as an eighth grader, helping lead the team to the New York Class A state semifinals.

Unfortunately for Cornell and Clarke, the 2013 campaign hasn’t rolled along the way they might have hoped after that first game. As chronicled by Newsday, Clarke currently stands at 4-4, with Cornell’s record at 3-4.

That’s despite Cornell holding opponents to 2 or fewer runs in six of Clarke’s eight contests.

Clearly, given her first game of the year Cornell has the talent on the mound to carry Clarke deep in the state tournament later in the year, assuming Clarke starts to hit enough to even get there. Even if it doesn’t, they’ll be able to look back on one remarkable season opener, for Clarke and her teammates.

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

Police in both Alaska and Oregon are investigating video of an assistant football coach who reportedly knocked a freshman linebacker unconscious during an impromptu boxing match in front of his team on an annual trip this past summer.

The video -- allegedly depicting Thunder Mountain (Juneau, Alaska) High assistant John Wahl striking the player multiple times in the head -- has been removed from YouTube as part of its anti-bullying policy, but the Juneau Empire detailed the alleged assault.

Upon learning of the incident, Juneau School District officials provided information to the Juneau Police Department and showed footage of the alleged assault to the player's father. The JPD has since notified police in Gold Beach, Ore., where the events occurred.

During an annual school-sponsored trip to an Oregon football camp this past summer, Wahl and the rising freshman donned boxing gloves but no headgear, according to the Juneau Empire report. Video reportedly showed Wahl striking the Thunder Mountain player in the face, punching him from behind and knocking him unconscious. The coach allegedly raised his arms and celebrated as Falcons teammates cheered.

“The parent in me wanted to go right over to his house and take care of this,” the player's father told the paper. “But I can't do that. The video shows ... Wahl knocking my son out -- sucker punching him. I guess they were boxing or something. My son clearly has his back to him and is hunched over and he hits him and knocks him out cold.”

Over the weekend, the Juneau School District placed two unnamed coaches on leave, according to the reports. Before hanging up on the Juneau Empire, Thunder Mountain head coach Bill Byouer told the paper that despite attending the trip to Oregon he wasn't aware of the video until recently. Meanwhile, Wahl, a math teacher at nearby Floyd Dryden Middle School, reportedly didn't show up to work on Friday.

"We are deeply concerned about these allegations and the details that are emerging regarding this incident," JSD superintendent Glenn Gelbrich said in a statement. "We are concerned further that this incident went unreported for nearly nine months. The Juneau School District has higher expectations of our staff and coaches who we entrust with our students."

Perhaps most disturbing is the effect the incident has had on the Thunder Mountain freshman. Complaining of neck problems since being knocked unconscious for almost a minute, the player has checked into a mental health center run by Juneau Youth Services, where the Juneau Empire reached him for comment.

“I was scared of the coach,” he told the paper. “I didn’t want anything to happen to me, like, with my football career. I love football more than anything and want to be a football player when I grow up.”

He also told the Empire that coaches approved the boxing and that he thought Byouer was aware of the incident. The TMHS freshman didn't tell his parents for fear of repercussions, but his school work mental well-being suffered, his father told the paper.

The player explained to the Juneau Empire that he would stay at Juneau Youth Services' Miller House "for a bit to work on his coping skills, self esteem and impulse concerns."

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