High School Playbook

I read this story and it irritates me greatly. What a shame that there is a need for people to memorialize and make a tribute to someone who killed herself, and nearly someone else by driving drunk. I thank God that none of my kids, other family members, or friends were on the road when she was.  Breast Cancer is a real situation that needs real attention. Drunk driving is also, but this is certainly not the way to go about it.  Every time this gets mentioned, the drunk driving needs to be included to remind EVERYONE how and why she died.  To take a situation like Breast Cancer and combine it with a "tribute"to someone who killed herself and nearly someone else by driving drunk is a travesty!  What kind of class even ALLOWS a tribute to someone who did such a thing? It is ridiculous.  Those unaware need to be made aware. 

When high school athlete Mary Lopez headed a ball while playing soccer in April 2008, she was initially said to have suffered whiplash, but several specialists failed to diagnose her concussion.

Headaches and blurred vision followed until a sports doctor gave her the ImPACT Test, a computer-based diagnostic tool developed by Dr. Michael Collins and the UPMC Sports Concussion Program.

"There is evolving literature where females may be more vulnerable to this injury, and several published papers that girls may take a little longer to recover from a concussion," said Dr. Michael Collins of UPMC Sports Medicine.

 (Mary Lopez)

Lopez hopes to return to soccer in the spring and Collins said he's also making that his goal for her.

An "A" student, Lopez will return to school in the fall thanks to rising scores on the ImPACT test. 

Since she was diagnosed with a concussion, she has been home-schooled because normal class work can irritate and lengthen the recovery process.

"When you compare high school kids to college athletes, high school kids take longer to recover from this injury and the vulnerabilities are much higher," said Collins.

Funding from the Ladies Hospital Aid Society has made it possible for the concussion program to have a research director.

"It is a way for the research dollars to reach through to school systems, and through technology today, spread throughout the country," said Dee Dee Troutman of the Ladies Hospital Aid Society.

Lopez said she ran a few days ago and it felt "really good."

"That is the goal of this -- to get kids back on the field to play the sport that they love," said Collins.

While opening kickoff for the upcoming high school football season is still a few weeks away, the heat was on as players took to the gridiron Monday for the official start of pre-season practic

Hard hits and injuries are part of the game, but coaches are being careful to monitor their players as temperatures climbed into the 90s.

"We've got four large five gallon containers of water.  We use some type of sports-related drink -- we have a container or two of that out there.  We obviously increase the number of water breaks that we give the kids," said Canon-McMillan head coach Guy Montecalvo.

As the Bigs Macs opened camp, coach Montecalvo and his trainers kept a close watch during drills.

The district has purchased two 48-inch fans to help create a cool zone.

"Make sure they get appropriate water breaks every 15 minutes or so, monitor to make sure they don't look disoriented or dizzy," said trainer Eric Kirschner.

Coaches and trainers said this summer has been especially tough because most of the season has been mild, making warm temperatures harder to deal with.

There was a time when boxing was considered a major sport in the Pittsburgh area, highlighted by the career of local native Billy Conn, who challenged the legendary Joe Louis for his heavyweight title in 1941.

These days two local fighters, Monty Meza-Clay and Paul Spadafora, are trying to put Pittsburgh back on the boxing map, each on their own epic journey to get there.

Meza-Clay, a Rankin native and 1999 graduate of Woodland Hills, met Fernando Beltran, Jr. last Friday night in a bid to win the IBF Latino featherweight belt. He lost a unanimous decision to Beltran, his second loss in a row after losing to the IBF top contender Jorge Solis in January.

With a career 28-3 record as a professional, Meza-Clay was the fifth-ranked contender in the IBF featherweight division entering last weekend's contest, and could still be in consideration for a title shot.

On the other end of the spectrum is Spadafora, a graduate of Sto-Rox, who will meet Ivan Bustos of Argentina in a junior welterweight bout Wednesday night at the Station Square Amphitheatre.

Spadafora, nicknamed "The Pittsburgh Kid" by Conn himself, reached the peak of his career when he defeated Israel Cardona on August 20, 1999 to win the IBF lightweight championship, and held it until he vacated it in 2003 to move up to the junior welterweight class.

Later that year, he was arrested for accidentally shooting his girlfriend, Nadine Russo. Within 11 months, he had been arrested three times, and eventually was sentenced to 21 to 60 months in prison for the shooting.

In November 2006, Spadafora returned to the ring to beat Jesus Francisco Zepeda in his first fight since his release from prison, but a parole violation landed him back in jail until he was released in July 2007.

Citing alcohol abuse as one of the main reasons for his decline out of the ring, he is now sober and focused on regaining his championship status.

In his second attempt at a comeback after being released from prison, Spadafora is back to his winning ways. In April 2008, he defeated Shad Howard in a unanimous decision to improve his record to 41-0-1 with 16 knockouts.

Although he is 33, it is believed by many in his camp that he still has plenty of time left to contend for another championship in his career. He has since employed the help of one of his idols, former boxing great Pernell "Sweet Pea" Whitaker, to help with his training.

Both fighters are on the long road to the top of the boxing profession. A measured level of success could be a blow for the championship cause, as well as the local boxing scene as a whole.

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For 90 years fans have been filling the stands at Owens Field, home to the Apollo-Ridge High School football team on Friday nights, but the dilapidated bleachers are one of many structural issues that have given the field the reputation of being the worst in the WPIAL.

A lot of pride resides in the field that was donated by the Owens family in the 1920s, but an abundance of problems exist as well -- a slanted field, rusted lights and outdated locker rooms to name a few.

A Highlands High School student’s artwork will be featured on more than 19 million Heinz Ketchup bottles, earning him national recognition and a whole lot of free ketchup in the process.

Sophomore Nathan Doverspike’s artwork was selected as one of 12 final winners out of 45,000 entries nationwide in the Heinz Ketchup Creativity Contest.

His winning design featured a cartoon pickle – looking cool in a pair of black sunglasses -- leaning against a bottle of Heinz Ketchup.  

Doverspike’s entry was the first from the Pittsburgh area to win in the contest’s three years.

Doverspike will receive a cash prize of $1,000.

His school will also get another $1,000 for the art department and another $1,000 worth of ketchup.

H.J. Heinz Company was founded in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1869 by Henry John Heinz.

Mt. Lebanon graduate and University of Akron freshman Jenna Compton won the NCAA individual air rifle championship last month, and has earned the opportunity to join the U.S. Olympic team.

Compton, who won a WPIAL gold medal for Mt. Lebanon last year as a senior, also led the Blue Devils to the state title. She came from behind in the last round to overtake West Virginia's Bryant Wallizer and win the NCAA championship during the March 14 competition at Texas Christian University.

She became one of the 48 national qualifiers by posting a mark of 587 points, a career best, at a qualifying event on February 14 at Ohio State. That score was 14th best in the nation this year.

All of this came after she had to learn how to use an air rifle after shooting with a .22 caliber rifle throughout her high school career.

She has been named to the U.S. Olympic National Development Team and will have a chance to compete for a spot in the 2012 Summer Olympics, which will take place in London, United Kingdom.

Athletic trainers at North Allegheny High School took no chances Friday after a student was hit in the head with a discus.

The student-athlete was flown to UPMC Presbyterian, but her injury did not appear to be serious.

"It was a premature release by one of our throwers, which usually doesn't happen.  Unfortunately it did happen and it did glance off her," said North Allegheny Principal Larry Butterini.  "At that time, she was stable and talking and alert."

Actress Natasha Richardson's death earlier this month after hitting her head in an apparent harmless skiing accident has already been credited with saving one life.

Ohio resident Morgan McCracken, 7, was hit in the head while tossing a baseball around.

She thought she was fine until two days later.

"She was complaining of a headache.  I said let me call a pediatrician and right away that's what we did.  Before I got off the phone, she was crying from the pain," said father Donald McCracken.

With an extra emphasis placed on head injuries following Richardson's death, a CAT scan was done and it was discovered that Morgan McCracken had an epidural hematoma.

"What happens is there is blood that develops inside the confines of the brain and the skin inside the brain can compress the brain and in doing so can cause severe brain damage," said neurosurgeon Dr. Alan Cohen.

Following surgery, Morgan McCracken was recovering and back to being a 7-year-old kid.

On Friday, two former members of the Woodland Hills Wolverines turned NFL pros returned to their old stomping grounds to stir up some motivation in the classroom.

Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back Ryan Mundy and Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Steve Breaston visited the junior high school, but this time as leaders inside the classroom rather than on the football field.

"I went to school here growing up, so I've been in this situation before and I understand what they're going through, and the biggest thing is, academics carried me a long way.  It got me into a lot of situations and gave me a lot of opportunity.  It helps you be successful in life, said Breaston, a letterman in football and track and field during his career at Woodland Hills.

 (Steve Breaston)

Breaston, along with Mundy, aimed to encourage the students for next week's Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) test.

"Hopefully I can inspire some students to one day be in my shoes.  You always want the next generation to succeed and do better than you did," said Mundy, who set a school career record with 54 receiving touchdowns while as a receiver at Woodland Hills.

(Ryan Mundy)

Mundy holds the highest score ever received on the NFL's players IQ test.

Junior high Principal Janet Wilson Carter said her students have worked hard preparing for the test, but thought some words of inspiration from two former Woodland Hills stars, both in the classroom and on the field, wouldn't hurt either.

"They're ready for the test and they're excited for the test, but I wanted someone to come out and motivate them even more," said Carter.

School leaders hope the assembly has an impact on the students' work in the classroom.

"That's just so important when they see people that are from where they're from and doing successful things -- that's incredible," said Rankin Intermediate Principla Reginald Hickman.

Mundy and Breaston continued playing as Wolverines teammates in college at the University of Michigan.

Mundy eventually transferred to West Virginia University when Michigan did not offer a Master's program he was looking for.

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