Courtney Jarrell was placed in two positions of strong authority at Jordan (Utah) Riverton High: teaching math and leading the sophomore team in the girls basketball program. In a disturbing turn, it now appears clear that Jarrell used that authority to violate one of the very students she was charged with protecting.

As reported by the Associated Press and a variety of other outlets, the Salt Lake Tribune among them, Jarrell was arrested on charges of object rape and felonious sexual abuse in connection with a disturbing sexual relationship she had with one of her 17-year-old female students. The Tribune reported that the object rape charge against Jarrell counts as a first-degree felony while the sexual abuse charge is weighted as a second-degree felony.

Jarrell is 22 years old while her alleged victim is 17.

According to Jordan School District officials, Jarrell was suspended from her positions with the school when allegations of the student affair first arose in March, with the school board turning the case over to police. When more specific details of the relationship between the two arose, including the degree to which the two participated in sexual acts at the coach's house, Jarrell resigned permanently.

"We immediately looked into it, and within hours of the complaint, she was suspended, and everything was turned over to Draper police," Jordan School District spokesperson Sandra Riesgraf told the Tribune. "We felt that it was something that rose to that level [of police involvement]."

The police clearly agreed, though Jarrell's attorney insisted that the departure was mutual, and that his client had left the school specifically to prepare to defend her name.

While such allegations about any teacher would stun their respective students, those who spoke up in the immediate aftermath of Jarrell's resignation remembered a teacher who was nearly universally beloved.

"Everybody loved her," Riverton student Kathryn Orchard told Salt Lake City TV network KSL. "My parents were even way shocked because my parents loved her too. They thought she was a great teacher."

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Usually, when an outfielder runs through or over the fence in pursuit of a potential home run, they are greeted with gusto when they return to the dugout. If an outfielder attempted to do that on the diamond at Union City (N.J.) High, they would end up in a hospital, or possibly worse … a funeral home. There’s a good reason for that: Union City plays its games on what is almost certainly the only baseball field in the country that is four stories above ground level.

As noted in a terrific profile piece in MaxPreps, Union City’s baseball field sits on top of Union City High in the midst of the most densely populated town in the nation. The baseball field is part of the school’s multi-purpose athletic field, part of a $173 million capital development project.

Despite the sticker shock that comes from any $173 million high school facility, the Union City field is a sight to behold. The capital project spans 366,000 square feet in total and features both a three-acre football field that includes bleachers for 4,500 and a state of the art gym that can seat 1,800.

The Union City baseball field is built into the football field on the roof, leaving plenty of room for home runs and foul balls to do significant damage to cars parked four stories below.

Fittingly, Union City High also probably features a more robust insurance policy guarding against damage from baseballs, too. According to MaxPreps, the school’s policy includes coverage for any foul balls that do any damage to school or private property. The policy would also likely cover physical injury should any bystander be struck with a foul ball below the field, but Union City has been lucky enough to avoid such a scenario so far.

That’s a remarkable feat in itself, given the fact that Union City is home to more than 66,000 New Jersey residents in the space of just 1.283 square miles, making it the most dense location in the nation.

So far, the rooftop baseball solution has been a great success, perhaps providing a mild home field advantage for Union City, which is more used to the football field lines and painted midfield logo in odd positions on the respective diamond once it is laid out in the spring.

And, if nothing else, the field speaks to the ingenuity of the New Jersey community, which has consistently found ways to work around the structural limitations imposed on it by its sheer lack of size.

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Sometimes when a team needs a lift, it turns to its bench. In the case of the Mira Costa (Cal.) High baseball team, it just had to look farther down the bench than most … like to the guy filling the water cups.

As reported by the Los Angeles Times, an honorable gesture usually intended to be just that – a gesture – became much more when Mira Costa suited up senior manager Spencer Knoche for his first varsity baseball game. With Mira Costa expecting a victory against Lawndale (Cal.) Leuzinger High, Mira Costa coach Cassidy Olson figured it would be a good time to get Knoche his first game action.

What neither Knoche or Olson expected was for the manager to emerge as the game’s star at the plate, with Knoche knocking out two home runs in a 20-1 victory. According to the Times, both of Knoche’s two homers were deep shots easily clearing the left field fence, something he had never even done in practice before suiting up in a game.

If there was any question whether Knoche was as surprised as the rest of the Mira Costa squad about his sudden power surge, that was answered when he approached second base and almost stopped; he didn’t realize his ball had cleared the fence, and intuitively assumed he couldn’t have hit a home run.

He did, and it put a nice cap on a dedicated four year career in which Knoche has been responsible for the freshman-sophomore team, junior varsity and varsity squads.

Yet, the Leuzinger game wasn’t the final matchup of Mira Costa’s season, and Knoche’s stunning success has inspired Olson to see what else his managers might be capable of. As a result, the coach has pledged to dress out both Knoche and the varsity squad’s other manager, Christian Carreathers, for the remainder of the season.

Now that is a legacy; Knoche was so effective, he not only made a name for himself, he made a name and opportunity for all managers.

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Imagine a major high school without any athletic program. Pretty soon you won’t have to imagine, it will be the actual case at one school outside St. Louis.

As reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, the Cahokia (Ill.) High finds itself mired in the budget crunch to end all budget crunches. With the district already operating at a shortfall, a series of steep cuts in state funding that are projected for the coming two years are forcing the school to cancel all extracurricular activities, varsity sports included.

According to the Sun Times, the political move that forcing the cuts is tied to the Illinois state legislature’s unwillingness to adjust funding for the long-running pension program. Without cuts or other funding reform to the pension program, Cahokie and handful of other districts might find their state funding cut back so severely that they will struggle to pay their core operational expenses, let alone the funds needed to back sports, music and arts programs.

The threat of complete elimination is already earning sympathy from other teen athletes, who are quick to note that it would be a travesty for one of the state’s longstanding high school sports programs to be pushed to the wayside for purely political reasons.

“It’d be terrible,” Hillcrest (Ill.) track star Moshood Adeyemo told the Sun Times. “They need to keep it going because it’s one of the best things about school.

“They can’t take that away from them.”

Unless things change, they might have to take it away, even if that would be a true travesty.

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One man's hazing is another man's sexual assault. Former Browerville (Minn.) High football and basketball standout Seth Kellen discovered that the hard way.

The 19-year-old pled guilty to fourth-degree criminal sexual assault in district court on Monday, admitting to the digitally penetration of a 17-year-old teammate in March 2012 among several other disturbing accusations, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Former Browerville teammates and co-defendants Connor S. Burns and Seth Christiansen also reached plea agreements back in November, the report said, but neither received as stiff a penalty as the 30-day jail sentence and 10 years of probation facing Kellen.

The gruesome charges against Kellen emerged last summer, when he and Burns were charged with 10 counts of criminal sexual misconduct. In addition to the digital penetration, here are a few of those charges from the Minneapolis Star Tribune report:

• "Pulling down his pants while in a Minneapolis parking-ramp elevator with his teammates and two student managers, ages 11 and 12."
• "Jumping on teammates’ backs and hitting them with his penis."
• "Sexually assaulting football and basketball teammates numerous times."

None of that sounds like ordinary hazing. Yet, Kellen's lawyer, Chris Karpan, continued to argue that those acts were not sexually driven, but instead "part of a common culture of horseplay and hazing that's gone on for years" at the small-town school.

What the case truly highlights is the always gray area between sexual assault and hazing, particularly when a hazing culture has truly taken root. While there is no question that Kellen's action constitute full sexual assault, the comments of multiple teens who were assaulted made it clear that they were never sure if they were being assaulted themselves.

That confusion among victims may have been a product of a degree of guilt for the plight that now faces Kellen and the others convicted earlier or it could have been because of a sense of anticipation regarding hazing within the school.

Either way, it's nothing to be proud of. If Kellen keeps his genitals in his pants and avoids trouble for the next decade, the felony charge will be dropped, according to the report. That may come too late, but it's better late than never.

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Emily Gale is one of the nation’s top pole vaulters. The senior at Miami (Fl.) Calvary Christian School is the reigning Florida Class 1A state champion in the event. Throughout her senior year, she has dominated at competitions across the state. In short, she should be a shoo-in to repeat. There’s just one catch, and that catch happens to look, speak and act just like her. In fact, it even shares her birthday.

No, Prep Rally isn’t using a cheesy metaphor about how Gale is her own biggest competitor here. Rather, Gale’s biggest foe is her identical twin sister, Amanda Gale, who finished as the Class 1A runner up in 2012. And in 2013, she absolutely wants to usurp her sister’s spot on the throne.

As noted by the Miami Herald, for the first time Amanda Gale has topped her sister in regular season competition. At two meets during the 2012 campaign, Amanda has won a jump-off to snatch a title from her sister, including the recent District 15-1A meet.

While Emily was the only sister to have cleared 11-feet entering their senior outdoor season, Amanda has surpassed her sister in the final campaign. They enter the state meet with Amanda ranked No. 2 across all divisions in the state with a vault of 12-feet and Emily not far behind with a vault of 11-feet. In past seasons, Emily has cleared a height of 11-foot-11.

“In some ways it’s hard because Amanda is my sister and I want her to win it,” Emily Gale told the Herald. “It almost makes me less competitive and I wish it made me more competitive. If I am going to win it, I would rather beat somebody else than Amanda. Our goal is be first and second.”

The twins have never let their own competitiveness get in the way of their friendship, calling themselves best friends and nearly inseparable. They won’t be escaping their friendly rivalry in college either, with the pair committing to compete for the University of Louisiana Lafayette together.

That tight bond has been forged in the crucible of a debilitating and rare disease. As reported by the South Florida Sun Sentinel, both sisters suffer from a disease called Common Variable Immune Deficiency, a very rare condition marked by low levels of serum immunoglobulins. In other words, the sisters have a rare case of antibody deficiency. The condition led to serious health concerns for both sisters, with Emily requiring surgery for a hole in her heart following her sophomore year and Amanda requiring advanced treatment that included antibody infusions and antibiotic therapy three times per week.

The paid has also become closer over dinner tables and, often, baking in the kitchen. The pair has an Instagram account called Twin Bakers (@twinbakers) and has more than enough talent to make a go of opening up a pastry shop once they’re done with school, if that’s what they decide they’d like to do.

For the moment they have more pressing issues, namely a state title to compete for. No matter who wins, they’ll then go home together and celebrate … perhaps with a batch of cupcakes.

“We’re very close,” Amanda Gale said. “I’ll start a sentence and Emily will know where I am going with it and just continue the conversation. It’s really helpful to always have your best friend at your side. If I get second and she gets first to us it’s like a win between both of us. It’s like we both won the meet.”

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It’s one record down, one to go for Ohio slugger Andrew Benintendi.

Benintendi, a five-tool player for Madeira (Oh.) High, set a new Ohio state record for career runs when he scored three times against Cincinnati (Oh.) St. Bernard School in a 16-1 rout. According to MaxPreps, Benintendi’s three runs pushed his career total to 174 runs, two more than the prior record set by Jeromesville (Oh.) Hillsdale star Doug Paullin between 2007 and 2010.

"It came as a surprise and I'm pretty happy about it,” Benintendi told MaxPreps. “You can't do it all by yourself. There have been a lot of good players hitting behind me. Before this year I had an idea how many hits I would need. I think I'm 10 hits away from tying it."

Benintendi alluded to the Ohio state record for career hits, another mark he is nearing. Though his calculation that puts him 10 hits behind the current state record of 200 has yet to be verified by official sources, it’s believed that he is within striking distance of that mark.

The Madeira senior, who also starred for his school’s football team, is a 5-foot-10 speedster who is a phenomenal contact hitter. Benintendi has hit better than .500 throughout his high school career, a talent which his coach said has garnered plenty of attention from pro scouts.

For now, Benintendi plans to attend Arkansas, though he won’t completely rule out considering a professional contract straight out of high school.

"It all depends on the right situation coming up,” the senior told MaxPreps. “It's going to take a lot for me to skip college."

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Prep Rally isn't entirely sure why we love this story so much, but it's great. Maybe because it's small town high school culture at its best. Sell worms, rent a beach house. Smart. Simple. Special.

In a long-standing tradition, the senior class at little Big Pine (Calif.) High sells worms to fishermen flocking to Bishop and Mammoth Lakes for opening day of Inyo County's trout season. The ritual that has spanned five decades is chronicled in a great L.A. Times post.

What makes this custom even more spectacular is the fact that Big Pine's current senior class includes all of 12 students -- most of whom are student-athletes. How a school that houses only 36 students in all even fields sports teams is a matter for another post, but remarkable nonetheless.

Yet, Eric Sondheimer, who publishes the great Varsity Times Insider blog, quotes members of the school's softball squad and 8-man football team. Those teams require a quarter of the school's entire enrollment just to put enough athletes on the field.

Somehow, Big Pine's boys and girls hoops teams each recorded wins this winter. That, in itself, is an accomplishment. But this school's students are used to working as a team.

All 12 seniors will stand on Highway 395 in front of the school, which is located about 15 minutes from Mammoth Lakes, and sell buckets of 10 worms for $5.50 to passing trout fishermen at 6 a.m. on Friday morning, according to the L.A. Times piece.

The proceeds pay for a beach house on their senior trip to Oxnard, Calif., in addition to a graduation night at Six Flags Magic Mountain, Sondheimer said. Awesome and awesome.

One not-so-awesome note: The seniors once dug their own worms; now they order them, Big Pine senior advisor Tim Steele told the paper. We hate to sound all old fogey, but kids these days can't even dig up their own worms? Guess there's no app for that.

At least their "Got worms!" signs make up for it a bit. The students reportedly stand by the roadside until all the worms are gone, which sounds way worse than it probably is. Then, some of them even go fishing. Good times. Americana at its finest.

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A high school girls basketball coach in Florida was fired after being charged with soliciting sexual favors from a student at the school at which he worked.

As reported by Orlando Fox affiliate WFTV and CBS affiliate WKMG, 27-year-old Bryan Lockley was fired from his position as girls basketball coach and teacher at Kissimmee (Fl.) Liberty High after he was charged with soliciting sex from one of his female students via a series of text messages.

WFTV reported that Lockley reportedly sent inappropriate pictures of himself to a teenage girl whom he tried to befriend by asking her to have lunch with him in his classroom. The teen in question mentioned the text messages to a close friend and discovered that Lockley had sent her a similar text message, with the duo then encouraged to contact officials.

Perhaps most disturbing are the rather direct text messages Lockley used to solicit sex from the teens, as noted in the basketball coach’s arrest warrant.

"When do you turn 18 so you can come to my side of town and party with me?"

Lockley allegedly invited her to stay in his Daytona Beach hotel room on spring break and explained, "No one would know because it was in Daytona."

While police and school officials acted quickly to eliminate Lockley’s access to the school, the students he left behind were quick to sing the plaudits of their former teacher.

"He seems like a great guy. He tells everyone to do their work, focus,” Liberty student Tristan Roman told WFTV. “You wouldn't expect it from him.”

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When he was tearing apart defenses for the Philadelphia Eagles, it was easy to daydream about how his athleticism might carry over, either to his future progeny or other members of the extended McNabb family. Now we can all rest assured that the athleticism really was in the family, even when it had to be expressed on a different surface. Like ice.

As noted by the Cherry Hill Courier Post, McNabb’s nephew, Darnell Nurse, has emerged as one of the top NHL draft prospects while starring for the Sault Saint Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League, the famed Canadian junior circuit. Nurse plays as a steady skating defenseman with a particular penchant for delivering offensive results to complement tough defense. The 18-year-old has scored 12 goals and 29 assists in 68 OHL games in a final tuneup before the NHL.

While Nurse’s natural physical development has been a key catalyst to his rising star, so has his famous uncle, whom the teen credited with having a profound impact on his ability to cope with a competitive athletic schedule.

“No matter what the question is or no matter what I’m going through, he’s always been available,” Nurse told the Courier-Post. “If I can’t get a hold of him at 10 o’clock in the morning, he’ll call me back at 10:30. It’s a relationship where we’re always in touch and we always know what’s going on in each other’s lives. He’s been someone that I’ve been real lucky to have.”

Nurse has spent summers training with his uncle since he was just entering his teenage years, with those conditioning workouts forming the basis of a devotion to the sport that continues to flourish. Now that McNabb’s professional football career has come to a close, the former Pro Bowler has taken an even more active role in mentoring Nurse.

In return, Nurse has tutored McNabb on hockey so he can speak more intelligently about the sport during his radio and television appearances.

Between his skills and pedigree, Nurse is a sure-fire first round pick in the 2013 NHL entry draft. He has emerged as the accepted second-most-talented defenseman behind Seth Jones, the son of former NBA player Popeye Jones.

Nurse isn’t taken the future for granted, particularly because of his rapid rise through the ranks of prospects. Still, he said that when his name is called to join an NHL franchise, he’ll be living out a dream that has previously been shared by both his uncle and his father, who was a receiver in the Canadian Football League himself.

“It’s something that every kid — no matter where you play, if it’s in Canada or Europe — dream of having your name called,” Nurse said. “It’s something I’m working for and hopefully I’ll be blessed enough to have that opportunity.”

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Bob Ladouceur is a high school coaching legend. A 34-year veteran of the sidelines at Concord (Cal.) De La Salle High, the recently-retired Ladouceur is among the nation’s winningest and most revered coaches. By his career’s end, Ladouceur racked up a 399-25-3 record, including a remarkable 151-game win streak that spanned 11 seasons.

Ladouceur was such a significant figure in the prep coaching scene that one California prep sports writer was moved to pen a full book based on Ladouceur’s life and legacy. That writer, former Contra Costa Times turned Chicago Sun Times columnist Neil Hayes, completed “When the Game Stands Tall” in 2003, with the book receiving significant critical acclaim and a 2005 re-issue since.

Now filming has begun on a cinematic version of “When the Game Stands Tall,” in New Orleans, with a figure no less than Jesus Christ himself taking on the role of Ladouceur. Well, not literally Jesus Christ, just the man who played him most recently, with Jim Caveizel leading a cast that also include The Shield’s Michael Chiklis and Academy Award nominee Laura Dern.

There is a unique sports entertainment B-celebrity tie in the directorial credits, too: The movie’s director is Thomas Carter. If that names sounds familiar, it may be from his director turn with “Coach Carter,” or it could be from his more distant past, when Carter was the character “Hayward” on the basketball drama “The White Shadow.”

Yup, Hayward from The White Shadow is a major feature director now. Who knew?

While the cast and investment in the film is sure to generate plenty of interest before its expected debut date in fall 2014, the underlying story of the film, focusing on the school’s 151-game winning streak, is also sure to earn attention. As one of the film’s producers made clear to the San Francisco Chronicle, the movie will thrive on the universal life truths that were spread by Ladouceur’s leadership.

“On the surface, it appears that these players just won a lot of football games, but what makes this story so special is that this is a coach who placed little value on winning, instead focusing his players on giving a ‘perfect effort’ in life,” said producer David Zelon. “Underneath it is a resounding testimonial about how much more kids can achieve when they are challenged with responsibility and commitment.”

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Student managers hold a special place in the heart of American prep sports. They are the dedicated athletes who don’t compete, those who are relegated to handing out towels and dealing with Gatorade cups willingly, all while their classmates receive the willing adulation of their peers in the crowd.

Yet it has become a tradition across the country for programs to flip the script for at least a game, having student managers compete in at least one varsity game as a homage to their dedication to the program. Never has that symbolic gesture been more moving than in Fairfax Virginia, where the Fairfax (Va.) High baseball program pulled out all the stops to ensure that student manager Drew Bonner could have a varsity at-bat against Fairfax (Va.) Madison High.

As reported by the Washington Post, Bonner’s appearance required plenty of special plans because the teen suffers from a condition called Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Bonner was able to participate in normal activities like baseball until the age of 11, when his Duchenne advanced to a point where it became debilitating for his general movement. He continued to walk until age 14, when Bonner had to give in and use a wheelchair.

That’s still how the Fairfax senior gets around, and is how he rolled to the plate in the bottom of the first inning against Madison. After making his way to the plate, Bonner watched four pitches from Madison pitcher Nick Brady sail by, granting him a free pass to first base.

That’s when things went from being memorable to truly special. Before Bonner’s teammates could reach him to celebrate, the Madison squad had already surrounded the wheelchair-bound teen to congratulate him enthusiastically on reaching base, all to a cacophonous backdrop of “D-Bo” chants.

“It was a lot of fun and brought back some good memories from when I used to play,” Bonner told the Post. “I wasn’t nervous, but I was pretty excited. I can remember playing baseball all my life and it’s just one of the things that I really love to do.

“I was kind of ready for anything. If [the pitches] were close enough in, I would have taken a poke.”

Hey, he was wearing eye black, so why not?

For Bonner, the opponent was as important as his place on the Fairfax squad. Madison is a perennial state power, so giving up a ceremonial walk holds a bit of extra relevance, but Madison is also particularly important for Bonner because it was where he began as a student manager. The Eagle Scout first became a student manager in seventh grade at Madison before eventually transferring to Fairfax for high school.

That’s where Bonner has flourished, motor skills be damned. In addition to earning his Eagle Scout rank, Bonner has served as the student manager for three Fairfax varsity sports teams and was named as a member of the school’s homecoming court. In recent months he capped those achievements with an academic scholarship to study computer science at the University of Virginia.

Still, baseball has always been one of Bonner’s true loves, so getting into a game was a particularly special occasion for a teen who has also been honored by throwing out a first pitch at a Nationals game and spent a day with slugger Jim Thome. That made his one high school at-bat an occasion for legitimate celebration, as his mother Jan Bonner told the Post.

“It was perfection,” Bonner’s mother, Jan, said. “It captured the sportsmanship, the love, the whole team, the school and even [Fairfax County]. The other team as well was just fabulous. It epitomizes what great sportsmanship is all about. …

“I said to my husband [Neil], ‘Turn around and take a picture of the stands,’” Jan Bonner said. “They were just filled with parents, mostly kids and teachers and people that normally don’t come out to these games. Then all of a sudden a group of lacrosse players comes in and fills in right up against the fences because there was no room left in the stands. It just overwhelmed me. The community there is just unbelievable. To be so supportive of Drew, it just takes my breath away.”

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It’s just the latest case of youth sports parents gone bad, but it’s a particularly disturbing one: A man is accused of shooting at the father of a California Little League t-ball division player as he attempted to drive away from the field.

As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, 23-year-old Vallejo resident Joshua Chi was arrested on Thursday and charged with attempted murder and violation of his probation.

The newspaper gave no indication as to what caused the argument between Chi and the intended victim, nor did it disclose what Chi had earned a probation for, but the incident understandably sent shock waves throughout the Northern California youth sports scene, with the North Vallejo Little League canceling games for a number of days following the shooting.

"It is our every intention to remain strong and vigilant against any negative influence within our fences," North Vallejo Little League wrote on its Facebook page. "Even though we know we will sometimes disagree, we will strive to maintain calm, mutual respect and self-dignity while resolving all conflicts."

According to the Chronicle, the two men began arguing in the parking lot adjacent to the North Vallejo Little League complex. As the argument began to become more heated, the father in question quickly retreated to his car and attempted to drive away, only to allegedly be fired upon by Chi.

While the true roots of the shooting may remain a mystery for some time, the fact that Chi is no longer at large will serve as a comfort to a number of Northern California parents, particularly those whose children find themselves running on sports fields. Regardless of one’s feelings about gun laws, it seems safe to assume that all would hold handguns belong nowhere near a Little League diamond.

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Usually, a squeeze play only gets attention when it works. This one didn’t, but the runner still scored anyway. All the credit for that goes to the runner, who pulled off one of the more ingenious moves in recent baseball history, if not baseball history altogether.

The play you see above comes from Ferris (Tex.) High, where the Yellowjackets were facing off against Gunter (Tex.) High. In the midst of a tight game, Ferris was looking for a little extra run security and coach Matt Wolfe decided to employ an old school suicide squeeze to get it.

The issue was that the suicide squeeze failed horribly, with Junior Guttierez wiffing at a bunt attempt at the plate and Lorenzo Garcia finding himself caught in a rundown. Yet, instead of capitulating to the inevitable and accepting a tag out between third and home, Garcia slithered out of a tag and scored.

How? Essentially by playing dead. As the Gunter catcher neared him, Garcia went limp and collapsed, sending the catcher in question flying over him, leaving a clear path to the plate after he popped up from the ground.

Beyond being a brilliant if un-premeditated move, the run it provided was also a huge lift for Ferris, which eventually escaped with a 9-7 victory.

Naturally, the headline grabber was the dramatic feint that earned the run, which will remain in the memory of most Ferris fans for months and years in the future, we’re sure.

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A nasty brawl between two New Jersey rivals has left both teams’ seasons and a parent in police custody after both teams had their entire rosters ejected.

The unseemly incident erupted in Little Silver, New Jersey, where the Little Silver (N.J.) Red Bank Regional High baseball team was hosting Rumson-Fair Haven (N.J.) High (R-FH). With the score tied 1-1, a Red Bank runner attempted to score after a botched suicide squeeze bunt by barging into home plate with a shoulder-block slide, an aggressive move aimed at taking out the catcher. The R-FH catcher in question didn’t take kindly to the tactic and came up swinging at the runner.

From there, a two-man fight morphed into a two-team brawl, with both benches emptying and a full-fledged melee ensuing. According to the Asbury Park Press, 22 R-FH players were ejected, as were 14 of their counterparts from Red Bank. And while coaches quickly swung into action to try and break up the brawl, they couldn’t keep the students from each other until it was already too late.

“The coaching staffs of both schools acted swiftly and as best as they could,” Vinny Smith, the game’s umpire, told the Press. “They did a commendable job in trying to break it up and they were very cooperative at the end of the game.”

The coaches were certainly more cooperative than the parents, one of whom charged on to the field to get involved in the fight himself. Police records showed that 49-year-old Rumson resident Patrick Maisto was charged with simple assault after charging on to the field and attacking a Red Bank player.

Naturally, the consequences for Maisto’s action could be severe, though the toll for the two teams involved could be equally caustic. NJSIAA, the governing body for all high school sports in New Jersey, calls for a mandatory two game ban for any player ejected for a game for any sort of unsportsmanlike conduct. That would mean that both teams will forfeit their next two games by default.

More troubling for both squads are the previous disciplinary issues that both had faced. The Press reported that both players had three or more players ejected from prior contests, which would push them beyond the threshold for number of ejections from events on the season. That would rule both teams ineligible for the postseason under NJSIAA regulations.

Naturally, feisty rivalries are a vibrant part of scholastic sports. That one would rule two competitive teams out of the postseason is a disturbing turn, let alone when a parent gets involved.

There have been no formal responses to the incident from administrators at the two schools as of yet, though that does not necessarily preclude either school from taking additional disciplinary measures against any of the students involved.

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Andrew Campolattano lost just once in his entire New Jersey prep wrestling career. Over the weekend, he equaled that total off the mat, getting arrested on felony drug charges.

Campolattano and 15 others were charged on Friday with selling $13,500 in narcotics and an assault rifle to undercover Ohio police, according to nbc4i.com (h/t NJ.com).

Here's the list of drugs those 16 individuals reportedly sold during 25 undercover stings:

• 354.2 grams of marijuana ($4,500)
• 200 hits of LSD ($2,000) and 200 hits of counterfeit LSD ($2,000)
• 2.1 grams of counterfeit Ecstasy ($150) and 3 MDMA pills ($30)
• 26.2 grams of bath salts ($2,600)
• 27 pills of Oxycodone ($600)
• 2.1 grams of THC Dabs ($100)
• 1.6 grams of cocaine ($100)
• 89.9 grams of Psilocyn mushrooms ($900)

In his prep wrestling career, Campolattano had almost as many victories as the number of grams allegedly sold by that group of 16 men and women mostly aged 19-21. At Bound Brook (N.J.) High from 2008-11, he finished 175-1 and became the second Garden State wrestler to win four straight state titles. His 175 wins and 116 pins both set state records.

Campolattano, 21, owned a 40-26 record while wrestling at 197 pounds for Ohio State University the past two seasons. He left the campus last week without withdrawing and has since been living with his older brother Michael in Orlando, Fla., NJ.com reported.

"My brother is not a drug dealer," Michael Campolattano told the online publication. "My brother has zero background of ever getting in trouble. He’s never even gotten a speeding ticket. He’s a good kid. He works really hard.

"We’re working on things. Anything that are facts, he’s going to figure out and face and anything that’s false we’re going to fight."

Ohio State University Police and the Franklin County Drug Task Force have conducted the ongoing investigation since April 2012, according to the report. The marijuana charges are punishable by 6-12 months of jail time and a $2,500 fine while the more severe drug charges bring those penalties to 18 months and $5,000.

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Mary Cain just keeps running along. Indoor, outdoor, it doesn’t matter, if you put the teen on a track, she’s ready to set a record.

The latest national mark in Cain’s evolving storied career came at the Drake Relays, where she finished sixth in the Invitational 1,500 meters. Cain was the only amateur competing against professionals in one of the nation’s top annual track and field events, but held her own by holding close to the lead pack.

Cain crossed the finish line at 4:10.77, a shade under her previous national scholastic outdoor record of 4:11.01, a mark recorded at the World Championships in Barcelona in July 2012. The Drake event was won by 2012 U.S. Olympian Jenny Simpson with a time of 4:03.35. That was good for a Drake Relays record, proving tangentially that Cain could remain a factor even in one of the fastest races at one of America’s most prestigious events.

None of this is to say that Cain’s feats are coming easily. The junior told the Des Moines Register that the blazing 1,500 meter pace clearly took a lot out of her.

"I really tried to keep up,” Cain told the newspaper. “I think based on my training I can do even better next time ... I felt so tired. They were running so fast."

Feeling tired is ok, particularly when you’re the first-ever 16-year-old to compete in a Drake Invitational event against the pros. For now, Cain is ready to move forward with more spring events to come.

After all, another day means room for another new record. Mary Cain is back on the prowl.

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One would think just surviving life would be difficult enough when one is blind. It is, yet that hasn’t stopped Arizona teen Aria Ottmueller from challenging herself to do things that most fully-sighted human beings would find remarkably difficult on their own; Ottmueller qualified for the Arizona track and field state championships in the pole vault.

Incredibly, Ottmueller has not just discovered a way to compete in the pole vault despite a near-complete lack of sight, she’s found a way to excel in the event. According to this terrific profile of the Phoenix (Az.) Valley Christian School junior form the Arizona Republic, Ottmueller has had to develop a precise routine while competing in the event because she can’t see a single thing while approaching her run up and the pole vault pit.

Ottmueller isn’t technically 100 percent blind, though she was born that way. Instead, she now technically has 20-400 vision, which essentially rules out her ability to see anything beyond very vague shapes. Even that goes away at night or when the weather is even partially overcast.

That kind of vision could prove extraordinarily challenging for someone to compete in any event, let alone the pole vault. Yet Ottmueller told the Republic that she began competing in distance events, then moved on to the pole vault because she found distance running too easy.

While that might seem chastening to most of us with normal vision, considering the fact that Ottmueller has also jumped horses and competed in gymnastics -- again, all while nearly completely blind -- perhaps pole vaulting wasn’t such a leap anyway.

“When I’m pole vaulting, I can’t see the pit. I can’t really see anything,” Ottmueller told the Republic. “I’ve always not liked being on the ground as much as I like being in the air. I was talking to one of my coaches, and he’s like, ‘She’s not pole vaulting,’ and I’m like, ‘Yes, I am,’ ‘’

Incredibly, Ottmueller has achieved just as much in the pole vault pit as she has in the classroom and in her past, leaving her parents and coaches positively amazed at her continued development.

“What a story,” Valley Christian assistant track and field coach Al Nelson told the Republic. “We have a little joke, that because she really can’t see where she’s landing, it’s almost easier for her. She has overcome so much in the classroom and on the field. She was determined that she was going to pole vault.

“She wasn’t going to use her handicap as an excuse. She’s as viable a part of our team as any athlete.”

A visible part of a flagship athletic program. What a fitting accolade for a superstar without vision.

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Lithonia (Ga.) High is looking for a new boys basketball coach. The search became necessary after the school’s previous coach, Barry Browner, was fired on Friday for one of the strangest reasons imaginable: He allowed a Harlem Shake video to be filmed in his classroom.

As reported by Atlanta TV network WSB-TV, Browner was terminated after a video featuring the coach and the students in one of his classes emerged on YouTube. In the video, an unidentified student jumps on top of a classroom table and begins gyrating in a style typically used to start off the viral Harlem Shake videos that exploded on the web in March and April.

At first, Browner appears to lash out at the student, emploring him to sit down and stop acting out. Instead -- in a move more telegraphed than a Michael Bay plot -- the other students in the class hop up on top of the tables and begin Harlem shaking, too.

About a minute into the video, Browner can be seen dancing along happily, taking part in a viral video trend that had long since swept the nation.

While the entire video seems innocent enough, it has sparked outrage at both its very existence and the punishment it engendered by different groups of DeKalb County residents. While some were quick to say that dancing like that performed in Harlem Shake videos belongs nowhere near a school, others accused the Lithonia administration of taking the entire incident a bit too seriously.

Two of those opposing viewpoints were juxtaposed back-to-back in a WSB video piece detailing the coach’s discipline.

“We have a classroom setting,” DeKalb county resident Eric Lockett told the TV network. “We have a bunch of students acting like savages, dancing on top of the desks and we have the teacher acknowledging that and participating in it.

“It’s the teacher’s responsibility to keep order in the classroom. He has to lead by example and he wasn’t leading by example."

Fellow DeKalb county resident Keith McDaniel had a different take on the incident.

“I think the problem is people overreact to everything. You know, it’s too much overreaction. I think DeKalb County has more problems to worry about than kids dancing in the classroom.”

There’s no word on the official reason for Browner’s termination, though it has been noted that no students who took part in the dancing outburst were penalized in any way for their involvement. Equally, it’s worth mentioning that there was no determination of why the students were allowed to film the Harlem Shake in the classroom.

Either way, further information appears to have come to late to save Browner from recriminations related to the fun-loving incident, whether that is truly fair or not.

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A major race row has emerged in Chicago, where a high school baseball game between two public schools scheduled for an evening start time was postponed because one school’s parents were allegedly afraid for their children’s safety at the rival South Side academy.

As reported by both the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun Times, as well as Chicago ABC affiliate WLS and a handful of other outlets, a scheduled prep baseball game for Chicago (Ill.) Walter Payton College Prep at Chicago (Ill.) Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep was cancelled when parents from the Payton Prep program allegedly raised concerns about the safety of their children in the Roseland neighborhood where Brooks is located.

Roseland is a section of Chicago’s South Side that has experienced a large amount of gun and gang violence over the previous 12-18 months.

"The parents didn't want to come down here due to the neighborhood we were in," Brooks assistant coach Bert Redmond told WLS. "They were in fear of their child's lives. They were afraid of being in a drive by shooting. I was kind of appalled."

So were many other Chicago parents and residents, who accused the Brooks parents of acting out racist biases for cancelling the matchup. To his credit, the coach of the Payton squad, William Wittleder, traveled to the game to apologize to his counterpart at Brooks and the Brooks squad, later specifically citing parental concerns as the primary reason why the game was cancelled in interviews with the media.

As one might expect, that didn’t go over well with the Brooks players, who live in the neighborhood that their counterparts from Payton Prep allegedly didn’t feel safe traveling to.

"It's heartbreaking to know a team wouldn't play us because of the location of our stadium,” Brooks player David McKnight told WLS. “We come out here every day and we dedicate our lives to playing the sport of baseball.”

The schools moved quickly to smooth over hurt feelings between the academies, with the principals from both schools issuing a joint statement on the incident, saying that they were looking forward to future interactions between the schools. Separately, Payton principal Tim Devine issued a statement to his own students claiming that the game was cancelled because of poor communication on the part of the Payton coach and not any racial tendencies on the part of the team’s parents.

"What I have found thus far is that the cancellation came about due to poor communication by the coach to our baseball parents about the date and time of the game, who would be responsible for transportation to and from the game, and which players would dress for the game. This poor communication led to frustration on the part of some families and the ultimate cancellation of the game.”

As if to reinforce that there were no racial hard feelings, the two teams will meet on the field on May 4, and they’ll do so under the lights at an evening game, just as they were originally scheduled to do.

The question now is whether that is enough to elevate relations between the two schools and larger communities back to the copacetic, cooperative friendship they had previously enjoyed.

The early signs seem to indicate that might require a lot more than a joint press release.

"We know exactly what it was," Brooks volunteer assistant baseball coach Anthony Beale, who also serves as a Chicago alderman, told WLS. "You can't sugar coat this thing and try to spin it in a certain light to make it lighter on one side or the other. It is what it is."

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