The High School Sports Magazine for the North Houston Metro Area

Vol 1 Num 9January, 27, 2011

www.highpointsmagazine.com

Rob’s Roll Weekly Sports Updates

The Show Curtice Knox and the Lady Eagles Take Control

Humble ISD • Conroe ISD • Huffman ISD • New Caney ISD • Area Private Schools

Inside:

Lady Eagles Big Win

Hargraves Rev Up for Spring Ball

Press Release “The King of Comeback

District Swimming

HighPoints Online Magazine

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Weekly Sports Updates

find their way into parents griping about their “pride and joy” not getting a starting assignment on the local schoolboy squad. It seems that everyone who was ever denied their “rightful” place on the school team throne were wrongfully and willfully the victims of a heinous crime. There have even been reports in the past of coaches receiving death threats if “Junior” didn’t make the squad or if the person that displaced ole June Bug didn’t get the job done. Guess what? In addition to those in Chicago with too much time on their hands burning Cutler’s jersey after the game Sunday, there were also reports of … wait for it!... DEATH THREATS issued to the former Southeastern Conference Player of the Year at Vanderbilt U.

When will some of us learn?

While we have been fortunate that nothing like that kind of behavior has visited this area’s high schools, at least lately, and “knock on wood” that it doesn’t in the future, we still have to be very vigilant. A sharp eye out on our own attitudes, a willingness to step back and get things in perspective, and a focus that we constantly put things in the context of the big picture-not the kind that ends up with a favorite athlete signing a free agent contract with someone else’s team, or someone else’s district championship game photo or shot in the media, infuriating us-should instead be the frame of reference that asks us if hurtful words, vandalism or petty jealousies are really what the sporting life is all about or even in our own community’s kids’ best interests.

I admit I let my anger toward Jay Cutler get in the way. If he didn’t insist on chiming in that he wasn’t happy about my team, the Denver Broncos-proud rooter since ’71-letting his favorite head coach Mike Shanahan go two years ago, he probably doesn’t end up on an incoming ineptly inexperienced head coach’s trading block. Cutler

I ought to be ashamed of myself. It’s time for me and others to grow past the knee-jerk.

Yes, I along with millions of other sports fans around the Country were way too quick to pile on Chicago Bears NFL quarterback Jay Cutler. Yes, he struggled, even before his injury, against Green Bay. We all thought that the man from Santa Claus, Indiana had quit on his team, some of us not necessarily because we thought he was “jaking” it with the reported knee injury in last Sunday’s National Conference Championship game but rather because we thought he looked disengaged from his team’s victory cause as he waited out the last 27 minutes on the game clock, standing or sitting away from the team’s other QBs.

We were wrong, dead wrong!

However, as I looked on my cellphone at the report about how the torn or possibly torn medial collateral knee ligament did not keep Cutler from issuing words of encouragement to the Bears third string signal caller Caleb Hanie who had entered the game, one thing came to mind. How quickly sports fans or in many cases high school sports enthusiasts lose perspective when things don’t go the way that they like. How many times does television have to portray high school fans as crazed myopic people who wouldn’t think twice about leaving strewn garbage or nasty, vitriolic notes attached to someone’s property because the coach or player who lived there didn’t win the game? How many times does the boob tube have to do that before some folks out there finally get it? The real shame of it all is the fact that every now and then these incidents happen in real life.

These short-sighted attitudes even

had a surly attitude with the fans in Denver, with Chargers quarterback Phillip Rivers, and with the fans in Chicago. He is a bit of a, how do they say it?, a diva!, even reportedly remarking negatively this year during a game when the opposing team’s QB’s face was on the video jumbotron scoreboard too long.

That all aside, just like NFL fellow pros sitting in front of their big screens on Sunday who questioned Cutler’s character via their “tweets” that day, I should have waited until I had all the facts, or gathered some perspective together before I even allowed myself to go down a cynical road. In short, I(some) should have asked myself (ourselves) some perspective building questions.

What about if it was my (our) son out there on the Chicago bench or even a friend’s offspring? Would I(we) have the temerity to question then, or would we want someone else doing that? What do you think? I know, Jay’s a “big boy”, he can take it and it comes with the territory. But, are we behaving like “big boys”, and should we give it out without all the facts?

Finally, in a much more serious situation the same thought from above should enter into any of our minds before we castigate an honest kid athlete, something we should never do. What if it was our kid, or even a friend’s out there having a tough time on the field? Or even, what if it were… US? Also, what about if we were the high school coach who had to make a personnel or strategy decision and knew that if we made the wrong one that some of the more passionate and influential fans would call for our FIRING? In addition, does the school losing a game call for the infliction of damage on their family’s yard and peace of mind?

It’s time to be adults and say: There but for the grace of–fate, physics, God?-...there goes us.

Rob’s Rhetoric Time For Some of Us to Grow Up

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Atascocita Lady Eagles Head Basketball Coach Valerie Jackson is capitalizing on a second

half schedule benefit that may have already given her the edge that her team needs. If her squad wins out the rest of the way, they will, at worst, finish in a tie with a neutral court one game title playoff looming for both AHS and the Lady Highlanders of The Woodlands. If the latter school suffers a blemish and they still have to visit playoff contender Oak Ridge High while Atascocita will host Oak Ridge and third place TW College Park during the back end of the round robin, then the Eagles can take the loop crown by ending the district’s second half spotless. That’s all thanks to the Lady Eagles very convincing 71-58 conquest of TWHS Tuesday night at Eagle Gym.

After losing to the Lady Highlanders in single digits on the road in December thanks in no small part to a concussion suffered by star Curtyce Knox in the game’s opening minutes when she collided head first with the hip of another player, things ran differently in the rematch for the Lady Eagles this time around. Or did they? Knox once again presented a problematic situation for AHS when instead of an injury, she was slammed by foul problems. Coach Jackson knew that the team and the player could overcome the predicament.

“I told Curtyce that she is a junior classman now and that she has the experience and ability to play with three fouls for most of the game without letting it affect her to the point of being less of a contributor to the team or even to being much more prone to fouling out quickly,” Jackson said.

The Atascocita roundball boss allowed last year’s TABC All-regional performer to gather extensive playing time on the floor even with that threat

of even greater foul-trouble looming, and it paid off. Knox threw in 22 points to lead all scorers. Her baskets were set up by a trapping defense and her ability to break the pressing backcourt Lady Highlander defense.

“She gives us the ability to handle that press, and she can contribute steals (three out of the team’s eleven) on the defensive side,” Jackson said.

There is also the height factor involved in any of the Lady Eagles’ successes. Former Channelview High sub-varsity player Rachel Mitchell used every bit of her 6-7 frame to shut down TWHS’s board play. The player who once transferred to AHS as a sophomore, took care of the middle of the paint, with only backdoor baseline cutting plays producing any inside Lady Highlander points. That kind of inside defense attached itself to the outside-the-paint full-court or three-quarter court pressing “D” and brought the win home for the Lady Eagles.

That offense/defense combination also may have swung all the

momentum on the red and navy’s side as the Lady Eagles overcame the four point Woodlands’ lead at the end of the first quarter. When the rally was complete, AHS held a four point lead of their own, this one coming at the end of the first half. They tacked on an even bigger point-spread, at one time showing them ahead by over 20 points in the contest, and despite a bit of a Woodlands rally at the end built on three-pointers and those backdoor layups, controlled the game the rest of the way as they grabbed the joyous victory. Jackson felt that joy.

“I’m very happy to win at home, to beat a good team and to win a big game like this,” Jackson said.

For the visiting red and green, Anna Strickland led the way with 17 points while Ashlyn Hargraves tossed in ten markers. Adding to the win cause for Atascocita was point-guard Rachel Arthur with 16 points and a pair of ten spots from scorers Chrishuana Parker, and Lauren Price.

The Woodlands will have this Friday

Lady Eagles Big Win Squares Loss Column with Leader TWHS

Weekly Sports Updates

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Weekly Sports Updates Montage

nite off before hosting Lufkin next Tuesday nite, while AHS will hit the road Friday nite and take on Lufkin, before coming back home where next Tuesday they will tussle with Oak Ridge High. Atascocita rose to 28-5 with the win and are now 7-1 in 14-5A. The Woodlands is now 21-5 and 8-1 in the district. However, even though the Lady Highlanders are still a half-game ahead in the standings, their upcoming bye coupled with an AHS win over Lufkin Friday nite, will not the knot up the two teams. So, virtually after the win over TWHS the two moved into a tie scenario for the lead. Of course, one doesn’t want to take Lufkin on the road for granted. Still, Coach Jackson knows what the evening out of the loss column and the season series with the Lady Highlanders means.

“This win puts us back in the hunt for district title and we want to win it for pride’s sake,” Jackson said.

It’s getting closer to springtime when the sounds of golf balls being driven down a fairway bring

Baseball to mind. High School Baseball to be exact and beginning with this Saturday morning’s “shotgun” style fundraising golf tourney at Crosby’s Newport Country Club, the Hargrave High Falcon baseball program begins its campaign for Austin’s Class 3A State Championship. The registration for the golf battle,

which will feature Hargrave ex and former major league baseballer Keith Foulke and current major leaguer and New Caney High ex Adam Dunn, begins at 7AM. The “shotgun” golf commences at 9AM. For more information contact Tom DeBerry at Hargrave High, at 281-324-1845.

Speaking of spring ball-not the football practice kind- it’s almost Softball time as well and tonite at six o’clock it will be time to “Meet the

Hargrave Revs Up for Spring BallFalcons”, the Lady Falcons of Hargrave to be precise. The dinner will feature baked potatoes and all the trimmings. Again, for more info. contact Hargrave at the above number. The softball club will try to surpass last year’s marvelous four round playoff run. They’ll have to do it without graduating mound ace Savannah Wiggins who is readying to begin the season in Springfield, Missouri with her new college teammates at Division One Missouri State U.

HighPoints Magazine Press Release Contact us at highpointsmagazine@yahoo.com January 27, 2011

HighPoints Magazine and Family Team Up for “The King of Comeback” Project

(Humble,Tx.) - Beginning February 1st, the HighPoints family of publications (Rob’s Roll the weekly internet sports page, HighPoints KidSports and HighPoints high school sports magazine) will team together with the Thomas Joseph Stanton II Trust Committee as they try to financially fortify the Stanton family and raise money for the long term care of Joseph as well as promoting helmet safety legislation.

Fund raising will occur when advertisers purchase ad-space from HighPoints publications. HighPoints founder/co-owner and Managing Editor Rob L Sprouse was ecstatic to receive the go-ahead from Danielle Stephens, a member on the Stanton Trust Committee. The philanthropic group’s actions will mean that sixty percent of the funds accrued from the aforementioned HighPoints sales, will go to the Stanton trust. It’s all part of “The King of Comeback” Project. The campaign’s name comes from one of Joseph Stanton’s mom’s favorite nicknames for her son which was given to him by his Kingwood Park High School swim teammates after the 2009 UIL 4A State Championship where the State title rested on the winner of the final event, the 4X100 Freestyle Relay. Joseph was the anchor their and after the championship winning relay performance he gained his nickname “The King of Comeback”! Terri Stanton and others continue to be inspired by Joseph’s will to battle his condition. That, coupled with the amazing amount of progress he has made on the road to recovery, continues to inspire her and others to dub him as the “The King of Comeback”. “I think this will do more than just allow our business to continue to grow because it will provide the Trust with the much needed funding for Joseph’s long term care and the much needed funding for helmet safety education as well as a healthy push for legislative efforts toward that end,” Sprouse said. He added, “As for businesses who contribute to the effort, they will reap the benefits from associating themselves with the Stanton’s determination and the ‘King of Comeback’ cause. It’s a win-win situation for advertisers and the community.”

“Those that have suffered major head injury and trauma will also reap the benefits as the Stanton family continues to push for more awareness and greater hope for better treatment techniques and procedures,” the HighPoints owner/Senior Writer added.

The Stanton’s themselves are seeing the effects of newer and advanced treatments as Joseph is undergoing head injury therapy at the Texas Institute of Rehabilitation and Research (TIRR), a Memorial Hermann owned facility. The Houston based center is also treating Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona U.S. Congresswoman who was recently shot during an attempted assassination in Tucson on January 8, 2011. As a result of that, Giffords received head injuries at an in-district congressional town meeting that she was holding at a local grocery store there. She is receiving state of the art care at TIRR, as she attempts to recuperate from the catastrophic act.

Joseph Stanton is being treated at TIRR for injuries suffered from a horrific skateboarding accident last summer. He of course, as most people know, was a UIL 4A State Champion 100 yard Swimming Freestyler, an All-American in multiple other events, and multiple relay title holder in the sport. Stanton was preparing to enter his junior year at Kingwood Park High School in the Humble Independent School District. He also was to have seen playing time on the Panther’s varsity football team.

Now, his “Team Joseph”, and the HighPoints team, will join forces to help as they unveil the “King of Comeback” Project.

“My wife had a brother tragically killed by head injury trauma. We at HighPoints want to do all that we can possibly do,” Rob Sprouse said.

HighPoints Magazine covers all Humble ISD high schools, in addition to the Conroe ISD, Huffman ISD, New Caney ISD, and Aldine ISDs, and private schools in the Humble-Kingwood and Conroe-Woodlands area. HighPoints KidSports provides scholastic, club, freelance amateur, and youth league/association coverage for children ages 5-14 who live in the Humble-Kingwood-West Lake Houston area. HighPoints Rob’s Roll – Weekly Sports Updates an internet publication provides updates for all sports in the Humble/Kingwood, Huffman, New Caney and Conroe/Woodlands area. HighPoints’ publications are published ten times a year; HighPoints KidSports is published during most of the months that HighPoints is not published, and Rob’s Roll Weekly Sports Updates is published 47 times a year on Thursday, each of those weeks. The group can be reached at highpointsmagazine@yahoo.com. HighPoints family of publications is The High School Sports Experience for the North Houston Metro area.

(for immediate release) (contact us at 281-380-7804) email : highpointsmagazine@yahoo.com RLS

Special Notice

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Weekly Sports Updates

For the second time in less than three months the Summer Creek High athletic story has

written a regional ticket, with the first female Region Six(swimming) appearance for a Bulldog athlete also coming to fruition as a result. The S-Creek Varsity Swimming team’s boys and girls second place finishes in the 21-4A (swimming district) Championship meet at Kingwood Park High’s Natatorium last Saturday paved the way for the water squads’ initial appearance in the next level of UIL competition. In addition, girl swimming relayers: Kayla Bennett, Kim Carlson, Savanah Zempoalteca, Shelby Smith, Amber Gonzalez, Peyton Donnell and Courtenay Siegrist; made Year One V. history when they became the first females in Creek maroon and Vegas gold to qualify for a regional meet in any sport. Both squads were the first varsity Sumdogs to finish as high as second at a district meet, in any sport, again Year One V. history.

The boys did their share for Head Coach John Dissinger, too. While Bennett and her aforementioned lady relayers were joined by Frannie Zelezinski and Mary Alice Waddel.on the Girls’ 21-4A All-district meet team; Boys’ team members: Tommy Morris, Michael Headlee, Hunter Attard, Kyle Adams, Liam Davies, John Correa, Connor Nickell, Justus Pennington, Alex Blair, Jared Jones, John Correa and Rolly Reyna were grabbing All-district honors on the male side.

As for the results, the Swimmin’ Bulldogs were led by Justus Pennington making Year One V. history with the first Creek District Gold medal-this one in the 500 yard freestyle individual race. He also made

squadmate and little brother Jarvus further proud when he finished with the silver in the 200 yard “Free”. Also winning solo race medals were: Morris (Silver in the 100 Free, and bronze in Free); Siegrist (Silver in the 500 free, bronze in the 200 free); Headlee( Silver 200 Individual Medley-IM); and Attard (Bronze in the 200 IM).

Finishing second in the relays were girls: Bennett, Carlson, Zempoalteca, and Donnell (200 Medley); Carlson, Siegrist, Donnell, and Bennett (200 Free); and Zempoalteca, Smith, Gonzalez and Siegrist( 400 Free). Taking the runnerup spot in their relays were, boys: Adams, Attard, Davies, and Correa (200 Medley); and Justus Pennington, Nickell, Headlee, and Morris(200 and 400 Free relays).

Head Coach of the Meet recipient Dissinger was ecstatic about his neophyte program’s breakthrough varsity performance which beat established schools such as Galena Park, Crosby, and Barber’s Hill, the latter a relatively new swimming participant which ended surprisingly in second last year in the old 19-4A. The Bulldog boss attributed one major reason for the double second place finish. He called it geometrical in nature.

“It’s the ‘triangle’(Summerwood area summer leagues at one point providing swimmers to the Eagle Swim Club which at that point develops and provides swimmers for SCHS which at that further point continues to develop swimmers who will head back to those same summer leagues and in-turn back to the Eagle Club League and then back to high school, with the process continuing uninterruptedly each year). The second phase of that is

the hard work that the kids here at Summer Creek continue to put in. Without that nothing would work, not even the triangle,” Dissinger said.

Dissinger says the team is looking forward to the upcoming regional. Up and coming could also describe his hard-charging program. Humble finished third behind a strong performance by its lone Gold winner-Sam Boulet in the 100 yd. backstroke. The Wildcats swam their way to a regional appearance but Galena Park, “the Hill”, the next door Cougars, and C.E. King all ended the season by bringing up the rear. None of those non-qualifiers had any individual finishers (top six go to region) make it to the February, 4-5 meet at The Woodlands very state of the art community Natatorium.

Meanwhile, Kingwood Park basically dominated both Boys and Girls diving and swimming events, and the defending State champs rolled to the 21-4A Crown. Panthers Brooks Powell, and Savanna Golson were the District Swimmer of the Meet honorees in the Boys and Girls events respectively.

Next up this weekend on Friday and Saturday is the 14-5A District Swim Meet. Once again, The Woodlands Natatorium is the host with Diving kicking off the first day and Swimming transpiring during the final one. Kingwood,and Atascocita from the Humble ISD, will join The Woodlands, TW College Park, Conroe and Oak Ridge High from the Conroe ISD. In addition, northern district neighbor Lufkin will also make an appearance in the battle for pride and the upcoming Region Two Meet. .

Summer Creek Gets Another Inaugural Varsity Regional Slot, K-Park Wins Again

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Publisher HighPoints© Magazine = Managing Editor/Writer = Rob L Sprouse = Photography Ed. = Mila Sprouse=HighPoints© Magazine is published = by HighPoints© Magazine=4847 Canyon Shore Dr, =Humble, TX. 77396 Telephone-281-380-7804 or 281-253-0080-E-mail @ highpointsmagazine@yahoo.com

HighPointsMagazine.com 7January 21, 2011

Cross-Country Montage

Weekly Sports Updates

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Fall 2010 HighPointsMagazine.com8

Swimming