High School Athletics

LAS VEGAS -- Those who thought that star guard Brandon Jennings might start a trend when he opted to bypass college and play in Europe for a year before entering the NBA draft can think again. The idea of going none and done to satisfy NBA rules that players must be 19 and a year removed from high school graduation to be drafted didn't seem to appeal to several elite high school players competing in tournaments throughout Las Vegas this week. "I want to go to college.

Offensive linemen love it, game officials tend to hate it and some high school athletic associations are plotting to stop it. The A-11 offense has created such a stir since its creation last year that it might as well be known as the A-!! offense. It is a formation in which any of a team's 11 players could become eligible to catch a pass, leading to mass confusion among defensive players, their coaches, fans and, well, just about everyone.

An Eagle Rock High School football coach allegedly was assaulted by a disgruntled former player who graduated last year, officials said Friday. It was the latest episode in a series of conflicts related to the firing of the previous head coach. Coach Johnny Lopez was bending down to pick up a ball when a young man struck him from behind during practice Thursday afternoon, witnesses told school Principal Salvador Velasco.

Gary McKnight is used to ridiculous riches. The boys' basketball coach at Santa Ana Mater Dei has averaged 30 victories a season, won 94% of his playoff games and coached 12 Southern Section players of the year in his 26 seasons. Now he has something new to behold. For the first time, every Monarchs starter is bound for a major-college program. Point guard Gary Franklin Jr.

It was a curious way to end up in a no-win situation. Westlake Village Oaks Christian High's football team has pounded all comers by an average of 35 points in eight varsity seasons. The Lions recently won 48 consecutive games and have a current streak of five consecutive league and Southern Section titles. And as a result, no one wants to play them. Their rivals in the Tri-Valley League wish them gone yesterday. Their proposed opponents in the Marmonte League want no part of them.

It took three years of tinkering and experimenting, but the CIF state football championship bowl games are here to stay, and they've helped create an exciting new era in high school football. There's a new realization taking hold among the stakeholders in California: You can't claim to be the best unless you're willing to play the best. It means any team that aspires to play in a bowl game can't simply rely on going unbeaten and winning a section title as evidence it deserves an invitation.

SILENCE. In the air was a symphony. Shoulder pads thumped and helmets cracked as Shawn McDonald and his teammates slammed into each other. But for Shawn, all was silence. The quarterback tripped and tumbled. The fullback plowed into a defender and fell to his knees. The coaches slapped their thighs in frustration. Everything made noise, but Shawn could not hear a thing. He was a lineman, a high school football player pounding and thudding through another hard practice.

For generations it has been one of the great American axioms, accepted truth on diamonds, courts and gridirons everywhere: Sports builds character, instilling the values of teamwork and good sportsmanship. But amid fresh headlines of alleged cheating in auto racing, continuing controversies over steroid use in baseball, track and cycling and ugly brawls among basketball players comes a nationwide survey suggesting a decidedly darker vision of sports.

A ban on booing? The idea has drawn a lot of jeers here. Amid concerns that unruly and profane fans are degrading high school sportsmanship, the association that oversees competition in Washington state is considering revisions to its code of conduct for spectators. And, after one Seattle newspaper reported over the weekend that it was considering a new "boo ban," the organization found itself enmeshed in controversy -- and flooded with phone calls -- over the concept.

Texas is poised to become the first state to randomly test high school athletes for steroids -- the most dramatic step yet in a nationwide backlash against the dangerous muscle-building drugs that have infested locker rooms across America. The Texas Senate this month approved a measure to test 3% of the state's 740,000 high school athletes, or about 22,000 boys and girls, for steroids every year.