December 9, 2007                               Check Out Previous Blogs

The Coaches' All-State Football team in its entirety may be found here.

Some thoughts about this team. First of all CONGRATULATIONS to all the players for this recognition!  Everyone should remember that this ISN'T a recruiting list for the University of Missouri (or any other university). This award recognizes achievement at the high school level. For some players who are very good high school players, the college level of play is beyond their ability. There are many players who are NOT recognized by this award but who DO possess college potential.  Why ?  Usually those players are on teams that were not highly successful. This is especially true for offensive lineman who can't accumulate any meaningful, measurable stats. Collegiate coaches hunt far and wide for the best athletes. They don't care a lick about the record of the team.

It is fun however to save this list and see which players do move to the next plateau and play on Saturdays.

While we on the podium talking about football awards, the Greater KC Football Coaches Association votes on a collection of awards. Rockhurst Jr. QB,Nate Scheelhaase won the Simone Award for the Best High School Player in the Area.

Scheelhaase, a dual-threat quarterback for the Hawklets, completed 86 of 137 passes for 1,861 yards, 20 touchdown passes. Meanwhile he ran for 917 yards and 14 more touchdowns as he led Rockhurst to the STATE class 6 Championship. Remember, he's only a Junior !!

Now to some basketball...

One of the teams opening eyes around St Louis girls basketball are the Parkway South Patriots (5-0). Always a fast paced, high energy defensive team, the Patriots were young last year and improved as the season unfolded. Transfer Ebony Davis (from Metro) adds a "go-to" offensive person and a shot blocker.

At the Springfield Kickapoo Tournament, Rock Bridge Bruins (5-1) cut down one the annual state-powers in girls basketball, St Joseph 64-30 in the semifinal round to send a loud message around the state about their program.

Coach Danny Farmer know when to "fold em" and try something else on Friday. His Charleston boys team trailed Jackson 43-35 in mid-3rd quarter. Deciding that his outside shooting game was "off" for the night, he directed his Bluejays to pound it inside. His team rallied gradually took a 58-56 lead with 2 minutes remaining and the lightning quick Bluejay defense forced 3 consecutive turnovers as the final margin of victory 63-56 doesn't tell the whole story.

The high anticipation of the Sikeston-Cape ND game was popped when two of the Cape Players, including star player-Ryan Willen, were out with injury. The Bulldogs romped past ND easily 78-45. It points out perfectly, coaches and yes good coaches, have to play the hands dealt them. Without high quality players available, teams and coaches can't compete against the highest level teams (like Sikeston). Coach Paul Hale hasn't forgot how to coach (Class 4 -- 2nd place last year), it's in the talent. Now, coaches do make a difference, real difference in competition between two evenly (or almost even) matched teams.

Free throws...free throws...free throws...close games ALWAYS come down to free throws, rebounding and turnovers. McAuley Warriors converted 6 of 8 from the line in the final 23 seconds as part of a 12-2 run on way to their 57-47 win over Southwest in Ozark 7 action last Friday.

Delta Lady Bobcats knew that they couldn't run with the speedy Kelly team. So Delta used a tight zone, strong rebounding and few turnovers as the recipe to beat Kelly 40-28 on Saturday in the Championship game of Chaffee Girls Tournament. Ah yes....both talented teams learned a lot about themselves in this game.

The inaugural Show Me Show Down Shootout at UMSL had some growing pains on Saturday but it was a success. Terrell Ramy worked very hard to bring in some great teams from Memphis, Chicago, Nashville, Bloomington, KC to tangle with St Louis teams.  The feature game involving IMG Academy of Brandenton Florida against Urban Christian of Savannah, GA featured several D-1 players. Our congratulations to the organizers, financial supporters and fans of this wonderful day of basketball. Hopefully, more will come in the future ! Listen to the replays of all 7 games right here on Prepcasts.

MISSOURI ATHLETIC CLUB

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