Thompson, Scottsboro, Susan Moore Set Pace In State Meet

 Ben Smith, the AHSAA record holder for career wrestling wins, is now ranked first nationally by Wrestling USA Magazine after advancing Friday to the Class 6A championship round at the State Wrestling Tournament in Huntsville.
 The Buckhorn High School senior set the AHSAA record for career wins earlier this season when he passed the 275 mark held by Kyle Cuthbertson of Scottsboro.

 Smith, now 63-2 after advancing to the 132-pound championship match Saturday with his Class 6A semifinal 13-6 win over Thomas Thagard of Mountain Brook, began the season with 262 career victories. His latest win was the 325^th of his career and now places him first nationally in the magazine’s rankings.

The book's previous record holder, Floridian Pete Baldwin of non-NFHS member school Life Academy, won 324 matches over an eight-year period from 2004-2011. Smith, like Cuthbertson, has wrestled at the varsity level for six years, beginning as a seventh grader in 2007.

 The National Federation of High School Associations (NFHS) Record Book, which only counts matches won at the high school varsity level from the ninth grade through 12^th grade, lists Colton Palmer of Durham, NC Riverside as its record holder. Palmer recorded 284 wins over a four-year period from 2004-07. Smith now has 220 career wins in his last four seasons.

Smith will face Brewer Gilliland of Thompson (44-3) in the finals Saturday.
Thompson held a commanding lead in Class 6A with 207.5 points heading into the final day. Grissom was a distant second with 132 points, followed by Vestavia Hills with 110 and Hoover 105.5. The defending champion Warriors also advanced seven grapplers to Saturday's finals.

 In Class 5A, Scottsboro holds a 16-point lead over Southside-Gadsden, 131-115. And in Class 1A-4A, a three-team race is on for the championship with Susan Moore leading after day one of its competition with 77 points. Oak Grove has 73.5 and defending champion Saint Clair County 73.
  Wrestling resumes at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at the Von Braun Center with the championship finals beginning at 11:30 a.m. Raycom will live-stream all finals.

Read more: Magazine Ranks Buckhorn Wrestler First In Wins

6.8 Seconds to Spare!

The Fairhope Pirates boys varsity team waited until the last 8 seconds to register their game winning goal against Davidson High School in Monday night's season opener. With ten seconds left in the game, Nathan Gillespie stole the ball at midfield and made a quick pass to Jacob Ard. Ard turned and spotted Welles Richardson wide open about 35 yards from the goal. Richardson, who had been watching the keeper pay well-off his line all night, turned the defender then launched a sweeping ball that cleared the keeper by six feet and landed in the top left corner of the net... with 6.8 seconds to spare! Grant Coley and Forest Huhn shared the clean sheet.

The JV boys beat Davidson 3-0 in the first game Monday at Majors Field.

The Pirates are back in action with the Lady Pirates on Tuesday when they visit the Satsuma Gators.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN (February 13, 2012) — In a continued emphasis on improving sportsmanship, the “soft red” has been eliminated in high school soccer.

Effective with the 2012-13 season, a second yellow card not only will disqualify a player, but the team will not be permitted to substitute for the disqualified player. Previously, a team was permitted to replace a player who had received a second yellow card.

This significant change was one of three rules revisions passed by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Soccer Rules Committee at its January 23-25 meeting in Indianapolis. These changes were subsequently approved by the NFHS Board of Directors.

Another change in Rule 12-8-1f now will disqualify a player who deliberately handles a ball in his/her own penalty area to prevent it from going in the goal only when the attempt to deny the goal is successful. If a goal is scored, the penalty is now a caution. Previously, a player was disqualified for trying to stop a goal from being scored, whether the try was successful or not.

“Obviously, with two of our three changes this year in Rule 12 (Fouls and Misconduct), the Soccer Rules Committee continues to focus on improving the level of sportsmanship in high school soccer,” said Mark Koski, NFHS director of sports and events and liaison to the Soccer Rules Committee.

The other change approved by the committee involves the taking of a penalty kick. If some unusual situation occurs after the penalty kick is properly taken and before the ball is played or touched by another player, or before the ball hits the goalpost or crossbar, which necessitates a temporary suspension in play, the penalty kick shall be retaken. Previously, this would have resulted in a drop ball.

“As an example, if the ball deflated immediately after a penalty kick was taken and play was suspended, the player now will have the opportunity to attempt the penalty kick again,” Koski said.

Soccer is the fifth-most popular sport for boys and girls at the high school level. According to the 2010-11High School Athletics Participation Survey, 398,351 boys are involved in soccer and 361,556 girls participate in the sport.

Two weeks ago, I wrote about dealing with a special kind of fan — your parents. This week, I want to give you some examples of what I’m talking about, in terms of balancing that relationship with your parents and your coaches.

Parents and players should be loyal to their program and coach; it’s imperative that everyone understands the chain of command especially if the goal is collegiate athletics.

James Jr. and Rayna Robinson are the parents of two DeMatha student-athletes; James III is a senior basketball player who has signed with Pittsburgh and Jamal is a sophomore football player.

A school like DeMatha attracts a certain type of athlete by virtue of its name and its history. But the basketball program makes its expectations for players and their parents very clear right from the beginning by handing out copies of “The 10 Commandments for Parents.”

The document addresses any issue a parent may have either directly or indirectly. The eighth commandment is my favorite: “Please don’t have the coaches think of your possible reaction when they are coaching your son. That is not fair to your son or the coaches.” This goes for players too; if you’re thinking about your parents’ reaction above that of your coach or teammates, something is severely wrong.

Read more: How to balance the relationship between your parents and your coach

Multiyear scholarship legislation, one of several measures the Division I Board of Directors adopted in the wake of an August 2011 presidential retreat, was upheld in a membership override vote that concluded Friday.

As such, Division I schools will have the option to offer scholarships guaranteed for more than one year.

Of 330 institutions voting, 62.12% percent voted to override the legislation. A 62.5% majority of those voting was required to override legislation. More than 90% of Division I institutions voted.

“I am pleased that student-athletes will continue to benefit from the ability of institutions to offer athletics aid for more than one year, but it’s clear that there are significant portions of the membership with legitimate concerns,” NCAA President Mark Emmert said. “As we continue to examine implementation of the rule, we want to work with the membership to address those concerns.”

Middle Tennessee State President Sidney McPhee, who chaired the student-athlete well-being working group that proposed multiyear grants, said his group will continue to work to address concerns identified by the membership through the override.

“Now is the time for us to work together on other measures to benefit student-athletes,” McPhee said. “As the reform effort continues, we will engage more closely with the membership on potential proposals and policy changes.”

To that end, both the rules and enforcement working groups have provided the membership with extensive documentation of their discussions to date and draft proposals for review and comment. Both groups are requesting feedback from the membership as they continue their examination of the Division I manual and enforcement/infractions processes, respectively.

The Board of Directors also is discussing, based on membership feedback, adjustments to the miscellaneous expense allowance. That legislation, also adopted last fall by the Board, would have allowed schools to award up to an additional $2,000 of athletics aid to students already receiving a full scholarship.

The Board of Directors announced in January that it continues to support the concept of a miscellaneous expense allowance, but want to adjust the proposal. The Board will consider new implementation options in April.

INDIANAPOLIS — High school football players must sit out one play next year if their helmet comes off while the ball is live, according to one of eight 2012 rules changes approved by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Football Rules Committee at its recent meeting.
         In cases where the helmet comes completely off without it being directly attributable to a foul by the opponent, the player will have to leave the game for at least one down under the addition to Rule 3-5-10.

All rules changes were subsequently approved by the NFHS Board of Directors.

“The committee made this rules change after reviewing data from multiple states regarding the frequency of helmets coming off during live-ball play,” said Julian Tackett, chair of the Football Rules Committee. “It is the committee’s hope that this serves notice for schools to properly fit players with helmets to reduce the incidence of these situations and remind the players not to take steps that alter the fit.”

Another significant change next season will be a new interpretation of a legal catch. A receiver now will be required to establish possession of the ball and contact the ground inbounds while maintaining possession, regardless of the opponent’s action.

“In previous years, the covering official could have ruled that an airborne player attempting to catch the ball would have come down inbounds but was prevented from doing so because of contact by the opponent,” said Bob Colgate, NFHS director of sports and sports medicine. “Now, the player must establish possession and contact the ground inbounds for a legal catch.”

Read more: Helmet Rule Addition One Of 8 Football Rule Changes

Derek Dooley does not like the SEC’s new “roster management” rules to address over-signing, and the Tennessee coach is not afraid to let everybody know it. Over-signing is when a school signs too many players than they have scholarships available.

Dooley, the son of UGA coaching legend Vince Dooley, spoke out strongly against the new rules this week to the AJC after wrapping up Tennessee’s 2012 class of 20 signees, which included five players from Georgia. Over-signing and related issues are one of recruiting’s hottest topics after Alabama coach Nick Saban told a couple of longtime commitments at the last minute that they couldn’t sign with the Crimson Tide this year. One of those was North Atlanta RB Justin Taylor, who was committed to Alabama for around a year and had plenty to say about the Crimson Tide’s tactics after he signed with Kentucky [Click on story link].

Tennessee's Derek Dooley (pictured): "I know Nick Saban feels the same way I feel. He may not tell you that. But a lot of us are at the mercy of our school presidents. Where we failed as coaches is we did not do a good job of communicating the positives of over-signing and being on the front end of the argument. So now we find ourselves in a real defensive posture." (AP photo)

Dooley basically blasted anything and everything associated with the SEC’s new rules, repeatedly emphasizing “the good things about over-signing.” He supported his argument with examples, told us what Nick Saban really thinks, and explained the connection to the SEC school presidents. Dooley also pointed out that that the SEC’s coaches (himself included) did a “poor job” of communicating the positives of over-signing, and he freely admitted he didn’t have all the answers. Even if you agree or totally disagree with Dooley’s comments on over-signing, you have to give him credit for going public with his strong opinions on such a sensitive issue, unlike many of his politically-correct peers.

Read more: Derek Dooley blasts SEC’s new over-signing rules

BIRMINGHAM -- AHSAA Class 6A 2011 cross country champion Carmen Carlos of McGill-Toolen Catholic High School in Mobile shattered the AHSAA state indoor 3,200-meter record here Friday with the fastest recorded time nationally this season on the opening day the 2012 Indoor State Championships at the Metro CrossPlex.

     Carlos, a junior, lapped the entire field in clocking a 10:34.02 time as she passed the other 11 runners in her heat. The time beat the previous record set by Jennifer Dunn of Austin (10:42.83) in the last indoor meet held at Priceville in 2007. The AHSAA indoor track championship program was discontinued after that meet and returned this season with the opening of the state-of-the-art CrossPlex facility in December.

     According to milesplit.com, her record-setting time was the fastest recorded this season nationally. Audrey Batzel of Ocean Lakes, VA, ran a 10:39.96 last weekend at the St. Christopher Invitational at Richmond, Va., to rank first until the performance by Carlos. Her 10:45.04 time last week at the CrossPlex in the Last Chance Invitational was ranked fourth nationally, giving her two of the five fastest times in the nation in 2012.

     The AHSAA state meet continues today and resumes Saturday at 9 a.m. Raycom will be live streaming Saturday’s events. The weblink can be accessed at www.ahsaa.com.

Read more: Carlos Runs Fastest 3,200 Time In Nation