Corpus Christi = Championships

by Jeff Fisher
Host, NHSCA Sports Hour

It was great for this high school football nut to learn about how big the sport of baseball is in the Lone Star State, especially the in the Corpus Christi area.

If you missed yesterday's show, Carroll High School baseball coach Lee Yeager did a great job of describing how the costal city in South Texas loves the National Pastime when other cities may have moved-on to other sports.  Last year, MaxPreps.com called Corpus Christi one of the America's best high school sports cities.



Earlier this year when Yeager's defending 5-A champs opened the season against against cross-town rival Moody 4,200 fans showed-up to watch the Tigers pick-up a 7-4 victory.  Counting Carroll's state title last year, three Corpus Christi schools (Calallen, Carroll and Moody),  have combined to win six state titles since 2000. As you can see below, all three are highly ranked in the Texas High School Baseball Coaches' Pre-Season Poll.

This year Calallen and Moody are in the same district (31-4A) for the first time ever, which will take this incredible rivalry to a new level.  Since 2007 when Moody was re-classified from 5A to 4A, Calallen and Moody have played six post-season games at Whataburger Field before an average crowd of 5,551 fans.

The two will meet in regular season games on March 22nd and April 15th.

The championship city's midas touch doesn't stop with its public schools.   Aside from the three aforementioned schools, John Paul II, which opened four years ago, won the 2010 Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools' (TAPPS) Class 4A title.

Texas High School Coaches Association Poll
Pre-Season as of January 27, 2011

5A

1. CORPUS CHRISTI CARROLL
2. FT. BEND CLEMENTS
3. TYLER LEE
4. COPPELL
5. SPRING BRANCH MEMORIAL
6. KLEIN COLLINS
7. SOUTH LAKE CARROLL
8. BELLAIRE
9. THE WOODLANDS
10. SAN ANTONIO CHURCHILL

4A

1. BRENHAM
2. CORPUS CHRISTI CALALLEN
3. CORPUS CHRISTI MOODY
4. ROCKWALL HEATH
5. CANYON RANDALL
6. LAKE TRAVIS
7. FRIENDSWOOD
8. FRISCO WAKELAND
9. PORT NECHES GROVES
10. WICHITA FALLS RIDER

3A

1. WEST
2. ROBINSON
3. ROBSTOWN
4. LUCAS LOVEJOY
5. PLEASANT GROVE
6. ARGYLE
7. CARTHAGE
8. ROCKPORT
9. SINTON
10. LLANO

2A

1. BROCK
2. CENTRAL HEIGHTS
3. FALFURRIAS
4. CROCKETT
5. ROGERS
6. SUNNYVALLE
7. WEIMAR
8. COMFORT
9. BUSHLAND
10. FRANKLIN

1A

1. EVADALE
2. WINDTHORST
3. CAYUGA
4. SHELBYVILLE
5. BLUE RIDGE
6. LAPRYOR
7. STAMFORD
8. MERIDAN
9. MART
10. LOVELADY

Baseball America Pre-Season Rankings

by Jeff Fisher
Host, NHSCA Sports Hour

Excited to talk with Lee Yeager of Carroll High School in Corpus Christi, Texas on tomorrow's NHSCA Sports Hour.

Last year Carroll won its first-ever Texas baseball championship.  The 5A champs are off to a bit of a slow start after going 1-3 over the last three days in the Woodlands Tournament.  However, with eight  starters returning from last season, the Tigers may have a shot at becoming the first Texas team since 2002 (Elkins HS) to win back-to-back state titles.

In order to get his team focused and not paying attention to being ranked #1 by Baseball America in its pre-season poll, Yeager has made the team put away all memorabilia from last year's championship run.

Here's a look at Baseball America's pre-season poll...

Baseball America
Pre-Season Poll

1. Carroll (TX) 38-7
2. Farragut (TN) 42-6
3. St. Francis (CA) 26-6
4. Jesuit (FL) 29-4
5. Klein-Collins (TX) 29-15
6. Mountain Point (AZ) 22-12
7. Archbishop McCarty (FL) 27-5
8. Mission Viejo (CA) 18-10
9. Owasso (OK) 32-7
10. Bishop Gorman (NV) 36-4
11. Chaminade College Prep (CA) 25-7
12. Hamilton (AZ) 28-5
13. Parkview (GA) 25-5
14. Don Bosco Prep (NJ) 18-3
15. Gulliver Prep (FL) 26-6
16. Archbishop Mitty (CA) 31-3
17. Broken Arrow (OK) 32-8
18. Rockwall-Heath (TX) 39-3
19. Bishop Amat (CA) 27-4
20. West Boca (FL) 26-6
21. Columbus (GA) 32-5
22. Catholic (LA) 33-7
23. Edison (CA) 18-9
24. Sumrall (MS) 36-1
25. Petal (MS) 30-4

News Release: High School Baseball, Swimming and Wrestling on Tomorrow's NHCSA Sports Hour

           HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL MAKES ITS 2011 DEBUT ON SUNDAY’S
                                             NHSCA SPORTS HOUR

Easton, PA – February 25, 2011 – Snow is still covering a lot of high school baseball diamonds around the country, but Jeff Fisher and Trish Hoffman will start a spring thaw with a little high school baseball chat on the next edition of the NHSCA Sports Hour on Sunday, February 27, 2011 at 6 P.M. EST.

Carroll High School (Corpus Christi, TX) head baseball coach Lee Yeager will headline this week’s show that will also touch-on the topics of high school swimming, wrestling and booster clubs. Yeager’s Tigers won the Texas 5A championship last year, and with a large number of returning starters, Carroll began the year ranked #1 by Baseball America in its pre-season poll.

Fisher and Hoffman will then dive into the subject of high school swimming with Bishop Hendricken (Warwick, RI) swim coach Dave Hanson. Last week, the Hawks won their 22nd Rhode Island state championship.

Other guests on the show will be Sean Keeler, sports reporter for the Des Moines Register, and Martin Ludlow, creator of the not-for-profit Dorsey Football Boosters.

Keeler will talk about last week’s forfeit by Joel Northrup in the opening round of the Iowa State Wrestling Championship. Northrup forfeited his first round match because he didn’t want to wrestle Cassy Herkelman, who was the first girl to qualify for the boys’ championships.

The show will close with Ludlow talking about how one of the poorest school’s in America gets creative when it comes to raising money for its football program. Dorsey High School (Los Angeles, CA) is located in an area called “The Jungle”, an area known for high rates of gang violence, poverty and children living in foster care.

The NHSCA Sports Hour airs LIVE every Sunday night at 6 PM. EST on the ArtistFirst Radio Network. All shows are also available on-demand at www.artistfirst.com/nhsca.htm.

About the National High School Coaches Association
Founded in 1989, the National High School Coaches Association is a not-for-profit 501c3 service organization providing support and leadership programs for the nation's 500,000 high school coaches and 10 million high school athletes.

About Jeff Fisher/High School Football America
Jeff’s broadcasting career began at the age of 14 in Easton, Pennsylvania. In a career that has spanned 35-years, he’s worked in every aspect of sports journalism. He is the founder of High School Football America, a website dedicated to telling the stories of small town high school football across the United States. Prior to launching High School Football America, Jeff worked as a TV sports anchor at FOX Sports Net in Chicago. Fisher is best known as the creator, executive producer and host of The Big Ticket, a weekly 60-minute high school football wrap-up show that won him the Associated Press Best Sportscast in Pennsylvania Award.

About Trish Hoffman
Hoffman is the founder of Blitz Group LLC, an award-winning boutique media strategy company. In addition to her acting and modeling career, Hoffman, who has won several Associated Press awards for journalism, is the host of High School Football America’s video vignettes.

Congrats to Geneva Girls' Basketball Coach Gina Nolan on Berth in Illinois Round of 8

by Jeff Fisher
Host, NHSCA Sports Hour

One of our favorite interviews this year was Gina Nolan of Geneva High School.

Gina joined Trish and myself on January 16th to talk about her return to the bench after her battle against breast cancer.

Today we're happy to report that Nolan and the Vikings have advanced to the Illinois Class 4A quarterfinals.

Geneva advanced to the Round of 8 with a hard fought 55-53 win over Cary-Grove in the Jacobs Sectional final last night. Click here to read the game story of how the Vikings won it in the last seconds.

On Monday, Geneva will face Zion-Benton in the Super Sectional match-up in Barrington.

If you missed the NHSCA Sports Hour with Gina, click here to listen to the show.

Latest USA Today's Boys Basketball Super 25

I always like to keep our listeners up-to-date with what's going on with the coaches and players that come on the NHSCA Sports Hour.

Over the last couple of weeks, we've had some great boys' basketball coaches on-the-air.  Two of them, Bob Hurley of St. Anthony High School (NJ) and David Boyd of Milton High School (GA) are currently ranked in top 4 in the lastest USA Today Super 25.

Here's the latest poll....

1. St. Patricks (NJ) 22-0
2. St. Anthony (NJ) 23-0
3. Montrose Christian (MD) 21-1
4. Milton (GA) 25-2
5. Long Beach Poly (CA) 26-1
6. Benet Academy (IL) 26-0
7. Mater Dei (CA) 26-2
8. Oak Hill Academy (VA) 26-3
9. Wichita Heights (KS) 18-0
10. Norcom (VA) 23-1
11. Findlay Prep (NV) 26-3
12. Lakeview Centennial (TX) 31-1
13. Lincoln (CA) 25-1
14. Miller Grove (GA) 27-1
15. Bishop Gorman (NV) 25-5
16. Chaminade (MO) 24-0
17. Marcus (TX) 32-1
18. Simeon (IL) 23-2
19. Jesuit (OR) 20-2
20. Montverde (FL) 22-4
21. Lincoln (NY) 24-2
22. Hopkins (MN) 22-1
23. Eastern (KY) 26-2
24. Centennial (CA) 25-3
25. Arlington Country Day (FL) 19-2

February 20th NHSCA Sports Hour with Bob Hurley, Jack Curran and Bobby DeBerry Now Posted

If you missed Sunday's great show with legendary boys' basketball coaches Bob Hurley of St. Anthony (NJ) and Jack Curran of Archbishop Molloy (NY), it's now archived an available on-demand.  Sunnyside (AZ) head wrestling coach Bobby DeBerry is also on the show talking about his team's amazing 314 match win streak, which is a national record.

Click here to listen to the show

Fairfax HS Basketball Team Ends Season with Loss in Los Angeles City Playoffs

by Jeff Fisher
Host, NHSCA Sports Hour


Coach Harvey Kitani appeared on the December 12, 2010 NHSCA Sports Hour.  Click here to listen to the show

After opening the post-season with a 78-68 win over Birmingham in the first round of the Division I Los Angeles City Section boys basketball tournament, Fairfax's season came to a close a week later with a quarterfinal round loss.

The Lions, who entered the playoffs as the #7 seed, lost to defending city and state champ Westchester 59-34.  It was the third time this season that Westchester beat Harvey Kitani's team, who was the 2010 NHSCA Boys Basketball Coach of the Year.

Many consider this rivalry to be one of the best in the nation.  In 2009, both teams found themselves ranked in several Top 25 national rankings.

Fairfax, which finishes the season with a 17-10 record, was led by senior Oliver Mills, who scored seven points.  Kitani now looks to next season with the return of junior Landon Drew and sophomore Reggie Theus, Jr.  Both players are the sons of former NBA players...Landon (John Drew) and Reggie (Reggie Theus).

Westchester has now beaten Fairfax six straight times dating back to February 2009.

The Greatest Sports Team of All-Time??

by Jeff Fisher
Host, NHSCA Sports Hour

When I invited Sunnyside High School (Tucson, AZ) wrestling coach Bobby DeBerry onto the show, it was to spotlight the incredible wrestling program that he and three other coaches have created over the last four decades.

I knew about the team's national record dual match win streak of 314 straight that dates back to December 5, 1998.  What I didn't know was the incredible stat that DeBerry dropped on me during the show.

What stat?

The Blue Devils have ONLY lost 9 dual matches since 1969!!

No that's NOT a typo!

I don't know about you, but I think that may qualify the Blue Devils as the best dynasty EVER at any level!!

Here are some other amazing stats given to me by DeBerry, who is the very proud father of two boys (Kyle and Kory), who are both four-time winners of Arizona state wrestling championships.

• 314 Consecutive Dual Matches won since December 5, 1998
• 29 State Team Championships Trophies
• 7 State Team Runner-up Trophies
• Sunnyside Wrestling has been 1st or 2nd at the State Championships for the past 36 Years.
• 34 Region Team Championships
• 2 Region Team Runner-up Trophies
• 121 Individual State Champions
• 276 Individual Region Champions
• Countless numbers of Individual Region and State Placers
• 24 Top 30 National Ends of Year Rankings
• 22 Individual High School All-Americans
• 5 Individual 4 Time State Champions (National Record)
• 45 USA WRESTLING Cadet & Junior Greco-Roman & Freestyle National Placers
• 12 Individual USA WRESTLING Cadet & Junior Greco-Roman & Freestyle National Champions
• 3 NCAA Champions
• 3 NJCAA Champions
• 13 NCAA Placements
• 12 NJCAA Placements

Click here to learn more about Sunnyside High School.

Legendary Coaches Bob Hurley and Jack Curran Give History Lessons on NHSCA Sports Hour

Tonight's show with boys' basketball coaches Bob Hurley (St. Anthony HS - NJ) and Jack Curran (Archbishop Molloy HS - NYC) was like having a history book talk to our listeners.

Both coaches were very gracious to talk about things they have learned in their combined 90-plus years of coaching.

The most interesting thing that both men said is they are proud of their decision to stay in the high school game.

I applaud them both, because those decisions made a HUGE impact on thousands of young men.

In the meantime, here's a clip from earlier this month when Coach Hurley won his 1,000th game.



If you missed the interviews, I'll post a link to the show in a couple of days.

News Release: Two Coaching Icons to Appear on NHSCA Sports Hour

Legendary High School Basketball Coaches Bob Hurley & Jack Curran to Appear on NHSCA Sports Hour

Hurley and Curran have won nearly 2,000 games between them

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Easton, PA – Coaches Bob Hurley and Jack Curran have 90-plus years of experience coaching boys’ basketball. On the next edition of the NHSCA Sports Hour on Sunday, February 20, 2011 at 6 P.M. EST, the legendary coaches will join hosts Jeff Fisher and Trish Hoffman to talk about nearly a century on the sidelines.

Hurley, who’s been head coach at St. Anthony High School in Jersey City, New Jersey for 39 years, became the 10th coach in America to win 1,000 games on February 2nd when his Friars beat St. Mary’s. Hurley, who was named the 2007 National High School Coaches Association’s Coach of the Year, is a member of the Naismith National Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Also, closing-in on the 1,000-win mark is Curran, who has been coaching at New York City’s Archbishop Molloy since 1958. At 80-years young, Curran still coaches the baseball team at the Queens’ school. Between basketball and baseball, he has won over 2,500 games during his half century of service to Archbishop Molloy. Curran is the 2009 NHSCA Coach of Year.

Not to be outdone by his basketball counterparts, Sunnyside (Tucson, Arizona) High School wrestling coach Bobby DeBerry will join Fisher and Hoffman as the third guest on the show. DeBerry’s Blue Devils have won 314 straight matches, which is a record in America.

The NHSCA Sports Hour airs LIVE every Sunday night at 6 PM. EST on the ArtistFirst Radio Network. It is also rebroadcast Tuesday nights a 6 P.M. EST. All shows are also available on-demand at www.artistfirst.com/nhsca.htm.

# # #

About the National High School Coaches Association
Founded in 1989, the National High School Coaches Association is a not-for-profit 501C 3 service organization providing support and leadership programs for the nation's 500,000 high school coaches and 10 million high school athletes.

About Jeff Fisher/High School Football America
Jeff’s broadcasting career began at the age of 14 in Easton, Pennsylvania. In a career that has spanned 35-years, he’s worked in every aspect of sports journalism. He is the founder of High School Football America, a website dedicated to telling the stories of small town high school football across the United States. Prior to launching High School Football America, Jeff worked as a TV sports anchor at FOX Sports Net in Chicago.

About Trish Hoffman
Hoffman is the founder of Blitz Group, an award-winning boutique media strategy company. In addition to her acting and modeling career, Hoffman, has won several Associated Press awards for journalism

February 13th NHSCA Sports Hour Now Posted

by Jeff Fisher
Host, NHSCA Sports Hour

If you missed our interview with America's winningest high school basketball coach Leta Andrews of Granbury High School it's now posted in our archives.

The 73-year old head coach has been roaming the sidelines for 49 years, and still runs the grandstands with her players during practice.

Our interview is long ranging...it starts from her record-setting 1,334th win in December; journeys through her relationships with college basketball coaching greats John Wooden and Adolph Rupp; and finishes with Leta talking about her husband driving the team bus.

Click here to listen to the show

Also on the February 13th show...Stu Ross of Before The Were Pros and Bill Lechner, head hockey coach at Hill-Murray in Minnesota.

Leta Andrews Featured in NY Times

Yesterday, we spoke with America's winningest high school basketball coach Leta Andrews of Granbury High School, today she was featured in the NY Times.

Click here to check-out the story by Jere Longman

Hockey Day Minnesota: Hill-Murray Pioneers

by Jeff Fisher
Host, NHSCA Sports Hour

As a young 11-year old boy growing-up in Pennsylvania I loved the Philadelphia Flyers as they evolved into the Stanley Cup champion Broad Street Bullies.

Learning the great game imported from the north was fun.  At one point, I even thought hockey was only played in Canada until it was time for the players to move on to the NHL.  I didn't stop to think that the game was being played in the Lower 48 by high schoolers.

Then there was the little miracle in Lake Placid, and I was suddenly aware of the passion for the game in Massachusetts and Minnesota.

I guess that's why it was so much fun to talk high school hockey on the show today.  157 schools play hockey in the state of 1,000 lakes.

Bill Lechner, who is the head hockey coach at Hill-Murray School in St. Paul, joined Trish and myself to talk about his school's success, plus hockey day in Minnesota yesterday.

The Pioneers are one of the top team's in the state.  H-M has three state championship banners hanging in its rink, plus two others as an independent school before private schools were integrated into the state athletic association tournament.

Hill-Murray has had six Pioneers, who have gone on to the NHL...three have been Olympians.  Alum Steve Janaszak, who was the back-up goaltender to Jim Craig, was a member of the 1980 Miracle on Ice team.

On Saturday, over 4,000 high school hockey fans watched Lechner's team beat Moorhead 3-2 in a game that was played outside as part of Hockey Day in Minnesota.  Click here to read how the state's #1 AA team improved to 19-3-1.

Hockey Day in Minnesota, created by the NHL's Minnesota Wild, just celebrated its fifth anniversary.  It began with Wayzata High School facing Roseau in the morning at Moorhead, followed by the H-M/Moorhead.  It then moved to a game between the University in Minnesota and Denver.  The day was capped-off with a game between the Wild and St. Louis.

To learn more about Hill-Murray, click here to go to the Pioneers website.

Before They Were Pros

Here's a little bit more on the great new website Before They Were Pros that were discussed on today's show.

Stu Ross and his team at Ross Productions, outside of Philadelphia, have THE BEST library of NFL players when they were "diamonds-the-rough" playing high school football.

Have you ever wondered what Tom Brady looked like before he became a legendary Super Bowl quarterback?

Wonder no more!

Just go to Ross' website Before They Were Pros at www.beforetheywerepros.com. The website has videos from over 300 NFL players in their high school uniforms between 1994-2005.

Here's a sneak peak...below is a clip of Brady during his time at Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo, California.



The other great thing about Ross' library is it may contain video of you in high school!!

That's right, Ross Productions has a separate website www.myhighschool-sports.com that has over 30,000 videos that may involve you as a player between 1994-2005. These videos are available for purchase.

Commentary: Turn Down the Hype on Clowney!

by Jeff Fisher

Host, NHSCA Sports Hour

Editor-in-Chief, High School Football America

If you missed my commentary piece on the show today, here you go....

Turn Down the Hype!!

You know I’ve been on this soapbox before.

What soapbox? 

The one where I preach that ESPN and others HAVE to stop covering high school sports with the same parameters as pro sports. 

My soapbox preaching began in 2007 with a commentary piece on ESPN’s made-for-TV interstate high school football match-ups.  Made-for-TV high school basketball games are really out of control, but for now, I’ll keep my rant to football.

What put me back on the soapbox? 

It was an article in the NY Times by writers Mark Viera and Pete Thamel on Jadeveon Clowney of South Point High School in Rock Hill, South Carolina, who is considered the #1 college prospect in America.  It centers on Clowney’s expected decision on Monday, his birthday and Valentine’s Day, on where he’ll play his college football.

Now, it probably doesn’t seem like that topic should have me seeing red on the day before V-Day.  However, by the time of the second paragraph, I was boiling!

The NY Times article states that “two people with knowledge of Clowney’s classroom performance at South Pointe in Rock Hill, S.C., have raised questions about whether Clowney will be able to meet the NCAA minimum academic standard if he wants to play next season.”

That of course will be interesting news to Alabama, Clemson and South Carolina, who Clowney says are the finalists for his talents.

Whether Clowney academically qualifies or not, isn’t what has me mad.  I DO NOT know Clowney’s academic record, but my guess is, there’s a decent amount of truth to the Times’ article. 

What I want to focus on is this…is Clowney, who has been rumored to have questionable academics, being helped by missing school because ESPN comes calling for a cover shoot for ESPN The Magazine or a live hit in the middle of its 10-hour national signing day special on ESPNU?

I think the answer is NO!

Then there’s the other question of what’s the message being sent to other high school student-athletes when it comes to academics?  Meaning, are studies not that important, if you can get the cover of a national magazine?

ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit was spot-on when he said in the middle of ESPNU’s signing day coverage that he was concerned about these high school players showboating on the air by putting on hats from the school they chose. 

What seems to be lost during this so-called signing day event, is that the players will have a tremendous opportunity to get an awesome education as the result of the academic scholarship they’re being given. 

Yes, when the dream of NFL goes bye-bye, that degree will mean a lot.

Having worked as a sports journalist for over 35 years, I understand ESPN’s business plan when it comes to being the Worldwide Leader in Sports.  It makes total sense in ESPN’s business plan to create a storyline that goes from the NFL to college to high school.   However, when the lineage starts at the high school level and goes the other way, I believe it creates problems that won’t be able to be reversed.

Student is ALWAYS the first part in the term student-athlete. 

**Please note: This is the opinion of Jeff Fisher and does not reflect the opinion of the National High School Coaches Association.