Palm Beach HS Sports

Pahokee punishment revealed

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 22:50:23 -0500

The Pahokee football team officially withdrew from the Adidas 7-on-7 National Championship on July 30-31 in Atlanta after the team was involved in a fight at the Nike 7-on-7 tournament in Miramar last weekend. "We initially talked about [canceling the trip to Atlanta] with our administration on Monday due to the incident in the Nike Tournament," Pahokee coach Blaze Thompson said. "We thought it was the right decision...we don't condone fighting." Thompson informed Adidas officials of the school's decision today. The Blue Devil players and staff involved in the incident will also undergo a Sportsmanship Seminar tomorrow afternoon. Booker T. Washington will go through the same training in the morning.

Glades Central QB arrested

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:38:18 -0500

The Raiders' senior quarterback Kentavious McCoy was arrested on Thursday on charges of carrying a concealed weapon-firearm. He was released that same day. McCoy split time at quarterback with primarily with Rantavious Wooten and a bit with Deandre Holley last season as a junior. He was an honorable mention All-County selection for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel after completing 76 of 127 passes for 1283 yards and 19 touchdowns. Listed this spring as 6 foot 3, 195-pounds, McCoy is considered to be among the top recruits this season in Palm Beach County. This looks like the first big problem new coach Jessie Hester must deal with. No coach wants to handle this kind of situation, but the timing of it makes it even more difficult. The legal process isn't exactly speedy and fall practice begins in just three weeks. Hester said he's hoping the incident doesn't become a distraction for the team. Here are a few comments from Hester: "While the team hasn't been officially selected, the athlete code of conduct has been violated. We are disappointed how things went down at this point for [McCoy]." "Kids sometimes put themselves in bad situations, but as a coach you try to help them. But some situations you can't help. Hopefully, we can intervene and help the kid out. Besides football this is his life." "We are going to have to see how things pan out and let the process take its course. Hopefully, its not bad as it seems." Hester said no action has been taken yet to discipline McCoy and he has yet to get the full story from McCoy himself. We'll have to stay tuned to see how this one develops in the coming weeks. How much would McCoy's absence hurt the Raiders this season?

Pahokee's win streak ends

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:34:19 -0500

While it wasn't an official FHSAA event, the Pahokee football team took its first loss in any football related contest in nearly three years. Pahokee last loss was to King's Academy during the beginning of the 2005 season. Booker T. Washington beat the Blue Devil's 20-12 in the championship game of the Adidas 7-on-7 Orlando Region Football Tournament this weekend. Pahokee still advances, however, to the National Championship in Atlanta July 30-31. From what I hear, some major trash talking was exchanged throughout the game and most certainly afterward. I'd love to see a re-match of those squads now that emotions have been jacked even higher. Tampa Plant, Booker T., Jupiter Christian and Pahokee all went undefeated to advance to the semifinal games. Pahokee drew Tampa Plant in the semi's. The Blue Devils were in the red zone looking to tie the game, but before doing so the clock ran out. Emmanuel Perez played quarterback for the Blue Devils with Nu'Keese Richardson at wide out and defensive back.

All-state baseball players in PBC

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:22:23 -0500

The Florida Sports Writers Association released the complete list of all-state selections for baseball. 24 players from Palm Beach County made the cut. Here they are: Class 6A *First Team: Chris Matulis (Park Vista), Tyler Thompson (Jupiter), Kamm Washington (Park Vista) *Second Team: John Brebbia (Wellington), Ryan Lashley (Park Vista), Devon Travis (Palm Beach Central) *Third Team: Carlos Lopez (Atlantic), Nick Rickles (Palm Beach Gardens) *Honorable Mention: Taylor Davis (Jupiter) Class 5A *First Team: Brian Busch (West Boca) Class 4A NONE Class 3A *Honorable Mention: RJ Alvarez (Cardinal Newman), Mike Groover (Cardinal Newman), Kota Yaguchi (St. Andrew's), Tyler Hoffman (Pope John Paul II) Class 2A *First Team: TJ Thornton (American Heritage-Delray), Derek Niesman (American Heritage-Delray) *Third Team: Eddie Cody (Summit Christian) *Honorable Mention: Taylor Kaprive (King's Academy), Stephen Spradling (American Heritage-Delray) Class 1A *Second Team: David Tressler (Trinity Christian), Nick Lettas (Trinity Christian), Patrick Mullen (Lake Worth Christian), Brandon Murray (Trinity Christian) *Honorable Mention: Kevin Goff (Wellington Christian) Anyone you thought was missing from the list?

Six PBC HS players taken in draft

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 12:52:51 -0500

After the dust settled from the 50-round, 2-day Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, teams selected six Palm Beach County high school players. Four of those players were from Jupiter. Jack Armstrong (Jupiter): 36th round, 1083rd pick, Texas Tyler Thompson (Jupiter): 42nd round, 1257th pick, San Francisco Logan Thompson (Jupiter): 42nd round, 1281st pick, Cleveland Joe Babrick (King's Academy), 43rd round, 1295 pick, St. Louis Chris Matulis (Park Vista): 47th round, 1397th pick, Tampa Bay Taylor Davis (Jupiter): 49th round, 1456th pick, Florida

Jupiter's Jack Armstrong drafted by Texas

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:10:05 -0500

FINALLY...At about 5 p.m. on the second day of the MLB draft, the first Palm Beach County high school player finally received a call from a major league organization. The Texas Rangers drafted Jupiter pitcher Jack Armstrong with the 11th pick of the 36th round. He was chosen No. 1083 overall. Will he sign or head to Vanderbilt? I talked to Armstrong just a few minutes after he was picked. He had actually sort of given up on watching the computer and the draft as he, his dad and younger brother headed out to the baseball field to get in a workout. Shortly thereafter, Armstrong's mom called to share the draft news with him. A few minutes later, the Rangers called. "I was losing hope for awhile," Armstrong said. "I guess I was expecting to go higher, but I knew I had a pretty high price tag because of how much I want to play in college as well. Once it started getting so late, I thought [getting drafted] might not end up happing." Honestly, after watching how the Craig Gullickson situation played out last year I wasn't sure Armstrong was going to get drafted after the first 15 rounds came and went. Gullickson's dad (Bill Gullickson) was a former major leaguer himself and teams knew they were going to have to pay up for it to be worth it to forgo a college career. A top prospect, Gullickson was never drafted and went to Clemson. With Armstrong it was a similar situation with his dad, Jack Armstrong Sr. another former major leaguer, there to act as an advisor. His family knows how the game is played as well. It would take a pretty good offer/situation to steal him from the college ranks. Armstrong admitted he was a bit caught off guard by the team that drafted him. While he did fill out a questionnaire for the Rangers (like for most teams), he didn't have much contact with them. The Rangers told Armstrong they're looking forward to watching his progress this summer and will talk again in August about his decision to sign with their organization or head off to college. "All of the scouting reports say I'm a tall, lanky kid still growing into my body so it's going to take more time to develop my talent either way [if I sign or go to college]," Armstrong said. "It was just an honor to be drafted though." Now that Armstrong will finally be able to concentrate on just baseball, it'll be exciting to see his progress.

Park Vista & St. Andrew's win All-Sports Trophies

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 12:32:40 -0500

The results went public today: Park Vista is crowned the large school South Florida Sun-Sentinel's All-Sports Trophy winner in Palm Beach County, with St. Andrew's winning the small school honor. Trinity Christian was selected as the Most Improved program in the county. I recommend picking up a copy of the paper today to see the full-color two-page spread dedicated to the 2007-2008 high school season. Included are stories about the winners, a year in review column, complete charts on how the school stacked up to one another and pictures from a variety of sports and schools. Here are the classification winners for the area: Class 6A: Park Vista Class 5A: West Boca Class 4A: Suncoast Class 3A: St. Andrew's Class 2A: American Heritage-Delray Class 1A: Grandview Prep Any predictions for next season? Is the large school trophy going to change hands for a third year in a row or will the Cobras keep it in their trophy case once again? Can anyone in the small school category wrestle the title away from St. Andrew's?

"561" MLB draft prospects?

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:58:07 -0500

The 2008 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft begins Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m...will any players from Palm Beach County hear their names called this year? You can listen live on mlb.com or tune into ESPN2. Here are a couple of names I wouldn't be surprised to see picked in the next two days. Feel free to leave comments and add to this list. It is by no means a complete list, but more of a conversation starter! Jack Armstrong (Jupiter) John Brebbia (Wellington) Brian Busch (West Boca) Taylor Davis (Jupiter) Carlos Lopez (Atlantic) Chris Matulis (Park Vista) Nick Rickles (Palm Beach Gardens) Tyler Thompson (Jupiter) What do you think of their chances? How high will they go if they get picked at all? Who else would you add to the list?

Sun-Sentinel All-County

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 13:57:18 -0500

I'm starting to get a number of questions on the topic. The Sun-Sentinel All-County special section will be on the newsstands on Wednesday, June 4th. We will also post pdf's of the pages online.

Pahokee's Nu'keese Richardson picks Florida

Fri, 30 May 2008 14:30:29 -0500

We didn't have to wait long to see where Pahokee wide receiver Nu'Keese Richardson plans on going. The junior standout held a press conference today to announce that he's verbally committing to Florida. His final two came down to Florida and South Carolina. While he did commit, Richardson still plans on taking all five of his official visits. Orgeon, Georgia and USC rounded out his top five. Richardson was the third leading receiver for the nationally ranked Blue Devils this fall behind Martavious Odoms and Antavious Wilson. He caught 26 passes for 451 yards with seven touchdowns. Richardson also threw for 277 yards, completing 11 of his 15 passes with four touchdowns. Rivals.com has Richardson ranked as the 22nd best wide receiver in the country. He will be one of the most highly recruited seniors in Palm Beach County this fall. Richardson said he had to shut off his phone two weeks ago because of all the calls he was getting. He said it was too “crazy.” And not from coaches either. Apparently fans from Alabama, Michigan, Oregon and South Carolina have been randomly calling. He said nothing has been too weird except some of the callers told him they wanted to hang out with him if he picked their school. Guys and girls. This kind of attention, in addition to all the pressure, was why Richardson made this early commitment. Like many high school athletes, he just wanted to make the decision and focus on his senior year instead of having to talk to coach after coach all season. I’ve heard some talk about Richardson deciding early so he can graduate in December. I don’t think that’s exactly set in stone yet. I asked Richardson what Florida has told him about where they want him to play and he said: “They are recruiting me to be the next Percy Harvin. They want to use me in direct snaps, reverses and trick plays. They want to put the ball in my hands and let me make plays.” Do you think UF is a good fit for Richardson?

Pahokee football streak continues

Fri, 30 May 2008 13:31:03 -0500

It's football season again!!! Well, kind of...at least we got a sneak peak of it in the past week or so with spring games. With Pahokee and Dwyer looking to be two of the best three teams in the county next year, their match up in spring was a can't miss game. The Blue Devils continued their winning ways, beating Dwyer 18-7 on Thursday in Pahokee. Dwyer's only score game came on its first drive. The Panthers were all over the Blue Devil defense, moving downfield with ease. I was standing on the Dwyer sideline near the end zone and could hear Pahokee D-Coordinator Rick Lammons' choice words for his squad from across the field crystal clear. Pahokee responded with a nice drive of its own, pulling to within 7-6 on a 13-yard run by Vincent Smith. He showed he's not all speed as he hit Dwyer's Bradley Wallace head on and ran over him to get into the end zone. Smith added another touchdown run midway through the second quarter to put Pahokee up 12-7. The Blue Devils scored again in the second half on a Nu'Keese Richardson pass to Dexter Holmes. Some additional thoughts: *Both team were ironing out some issues at quarterback. *Richardson has made it no secret that he doesn't want to play quarterback, but is willing to do it if it means the Blue Devils will keep winning. On one of his first runs of the game, Mike Fleurizard absolutely smashed him in the backfield. He admitted afterward that hit stung and he wasn't as excited to run with the ball after that. He looked good though throwing and kept the offense moving efficiently for the most part. *The bigger news was backup quarterback Emanuel Perez did much better than most expected. So much so that the Blue Devil coaching staff is holding out hope they can develop him into a starter - or at least play significant minutes - by the end of the season to put Richardson back at wide out. Richardson said he plans to workout with Perez all summer. *Dwyer running back Donald Russell had some nice runs, including a nearly 30-yard run in the fourth quarter. He also played some cornerback, where he will also play if James Jones doesn't return to the team. *Wallace didn't take too many snaps at quarterback for the Panthers. Instead, freshman Jacoby Brissett spent most of the time behind center. He had a nice run to score Dwyer's touchdown, but had some fumbling issues. I think Wallace expected a bit more time at quarterback, but like David Pittman did this fall he'll accept whatever role coach Jack Daniels asks him to play. Wallace will have to be a defensive leader no matter where he plays on offense. It will be interesting to see how the quarterback picture shapes up this August. *Benjamin freshman Nick O'Leary transferred to Dwyer. He played linebacker and seemed to fit right in. At 6 foot 2 and 185-pounds as only a freshman, expect to see lots of playing time for him in the next three years. *Dwyer had some fumbling issues in general, turning the ball over three times. Some of that may have been fatigue. Daniels doesn't believe in doing much conditioning in spring, instead focusing on teaching and get the new guys up to speed -- especially since Dwyer lost nearly its entire defense to graduation. *The Pahokee offensive line is light years ahead of where the unit was last year at this time. Ask former QB Anthony Sheppard, who had no time to throw in last year's spring game. The Blue Devils will return four linemen that played significant minutes last year. *On the flip side of the ball, it was strange not to see Dwyer defensive players flying into the backfield. I guess I got spoiled seeing Bruce Stone, Kevin Hamlin and Rose Maggitt (all of whom where there watching) tormet opposing linemen. Can't wait until August! Anyone else see anything interesting at spring games around the county?

Park Vista advances to Class 6A title game

Fri, 16 May 2008 19:26:21 -0500

It wasn't exactly a flawless game, but Park Vista beat Lakeland 9-4 and will play for a state championship against Lake Brantley at 7 p.m. Saturday night. The Cobras will try to become the first Palm Beach County 6A team since the '99 Wellington squad to win a state title. Park Vista never trailed Lakeland. The score got as close as 4-2, but the Cobras extended their lead to 7-2 in the next top of the inning. Click here for the game story. The most encouraging thing for the team was ace Chris Matulis was far from his best and the team didn't panic, played flawless defense and continued to hit the cover off the ball all game. Matulis gave up as many earned runs against Lakeland (4) as he gave up all season. One thing I like about him is that he's always pretty honest. I asked him how he felt out there and he laughed and said, "I played horrible out there. I don't even know why you guys have me up here [in the post game interview room." I think Matulis was being pretty hard on himself. It wasn't his best outing, but a so-so outing for him is a pretty good outing for a lot of high school pitchers. Every pitcher has a rough inning or two - his just came in the state semifinals. It's a shame that Matulis, Eric Rice, RJ Neal and Peter Fusco all had to miss graduation this morning, but I'm sure playing for a state title will more than make up for the situation. What do you think...will the Cobras break the Palm Beach County 6A drought?

Park Vista baseball No. 4 in country

Wed, 14 May 2008 18:31:59 -0500

The new RISE Magazine national high school baseball poll lists Park Vista as the No. 4 team in the country. The Cobras moved up one spot since last week. American Heritage-Plantation is still holding down the No. 1 spot with just three Florida teams still hanging in the top 25. 1. American Heritage (Plantation, Fla.) - (29-2) 2. Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.) - (20-0) 3. Plano West (Plano, Texas) - (32-0) 4. Park Vista (Lake Worth, Fla.) - (30-1) 5. Opelika (Opelika, Ala.) - (41-2) 6. Brookwood (Snellville, Ga.) - (26-2) 7. Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) - (38-3) 8. Rowlett (Rowlett, Texas) - (32-1-2) 9. Los Alamitos (Los Alamitos, Calif.) - (24-3) 10. Farragut (Knoxville, Tenn.) - (36-3) 11. Lakota West (West Chester, Ohio) - (21-1) 12. Tupelo (Tupelo, Miss.) - (31-5) 13. Owasso (Owasso, Okla.) - (33-3) 14. Crespi (Encino, Calif.) - (22-5) 15. Reagan (San Antonio, Texas) - (32-2) 16. Brookland-Cayce (Cayce, S.C.) - (28-2) 17. George Washington (New York, N.Y.) - (35-0) 18. Richland (Richland, Wash.) - (21-1) 19. South Caldwell (Hudson, N.C.) - (22-1) 20. Brandon (Brandon, Fla.) - (25-6) 21. Barbe (Lake Charles, La.) - (35-7) 22. Orange Lutheran (Orange, Calif.) - (21-5) 23. Pleasure Ridge Park (Louisville, Ky.) - (23-2) 24. Lake Orion (Lake Orion, Mich.) - (19-2) 25. Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) - (22-4)

West Boca's Busch commits to FSU

Tue, 13 May 2008 13:16:21 -0500

Left-handed pitcher Brian Busch had a change of heart. He had originally planned to attend FAU if he didn't get drafted or go high enough, but last week he committed to Florida State. He plans on signing his National Letter of Intent this week. The West Boca ace was 8-2 this season with a 0.45 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 63 innings pitched. He didn't give up an earned run until his 48th inning of the season against Jupiter.

Grandview's Isaac Sosa signed with UCF

Wed, 07 May 2008 15:52:33 -0500

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel small school boys' basketball Player of the Year in Grandview Prep's Isaac Sosa signed with Central Florida. He took official visits to UCF, Colorado and Hofstra, but in the end was happy to play somewhere closer to his family, Sosa averaged 19.5 points, 6.5 assists and 6 rebounds during his senior year for the Pride.