K.J. Hamler, a four-star wide receiver from No. 2 IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) committed to Penn State on Friday night with a video he released on Twitter.

Hamler did not play his senior season because of a knee injury suffered in a preseason game, but intends to enroll early and be on campus next month to continue his rehab. He is expected to be ready for next season.

Ranked as the No. 44 receiver in the 247Sports Composite rankings for 2017, Hamler is 5-9, 160 pounds but has incredible speed and footwork to make catches in small spaces.

He transferred from St Mary’s (Orchard Lake, Mich.) to IMG for his senior season.

He is the third wide receiver commitment among Penn State’s 16 pledges in the class. Interestingly, all three receivers are under 6-1.

Hamler chose Penn State over Oregon and Michigan State, among others. He had 24 reported offers.

Here are his junior season highlights at St. Mary’s:

Basketball Hall of Famer Allen Iverson was in the house Friday night for a high school basketball in North Carolina, according to The Charlotte Observer.

Iverson sat behind the North Mecklenburg (Huntersville) bench during its 66-47 victory against West Charlotte.

The Answer sat alongside former NBA player Vernon Maxwell, whose son Tristan is a freshman at North Meck.

Tristan had 21 points in the win.

Defending state champion West Orange-Stark (Orange, Texas) is heading to its third consecutive state title game after beating Navarro 49-7 in a Class 4A Division II semifinal.

The defense has been dominant throughout the season — a hallmark of the program — but here is one stat that crystallized that domination Friday. At halftime, West Orange-Stark had 35 points. Navarro had 32 yards. Yes, yards.

That first half included West Orange-Stark stopping Navarro on all eight third-down conversion attempts.

Navarro finished with 116 yards rushing and 46 yards passing — much of it accumulated after the outcome was clear.

“Hell, we’d seen this type of team 10 times,” coach Cornel Thompson told the Beaumont Enterprise of the Navarro Slot-T offense. “We finally got lined up correctly. Everybody has something they do special and we knew what we had to stop.”

As noted by our partners at TexasHSFootball.com, West Orange-Stark always does defense:

2015 — 10.5 points per game allowed (state champion)

2014 — 13.8 (state runner-up)
2013 — 11.8 (regional finish)
2012 — 5.7 (quarterfinalist)
2011 — 15.6 (quarterfinalist)

This season, West Orange has outscored its opponents 787-63 in 15 games, an average of 4.3 points per game.

The team has eight shutouts on the season and allowed only a safety in the first five games of the year.

In the postseason, the margin is 256-33. The opponent has scored seven points or less in four of the five games.

Up next is the state title game against Sweetwater at AT&T Stadium next Saturday.

Forward Shareef O’Neal, shown last season at Windward Academy. (Photo: Richard Lui/The Desert Sun)

Shareef O’Neal transferred to the Crossroads School in Santa Monica and the program is already benefitting from the hard work the 6-9-plus son of Shaquille O’Neal put in over the summer.

Here are highlights via BallIsLife.com of O’Neal, a member of the Class of 2018, at the Santa Monica Tournament during which Crossroads went 4-0.

Crossroads went 12-17 during the 2015-16 season.

In what was one of the wildest endings to a high school basketball game in Nebraska, two halfcourt shots were waved off — one for each team — before a buzzer beater went in to give Waverly a 53-50 victory against Blair.

The three shots came within a span of 4.5 seconds.

First, with the game tied at 50-50, Blair’s Quincy Nichols is fouled and launches a shot from three-courter court. It goes in, but the officials say he was fouled before the release.

Second, Waverly had fouls to give so was willing to commit the foul on the inbounds pass. But Waverly’s Jay Adams made the steal and shot from halfcourt. After bouncing on the rim, it went in. Except that was waved off because a timeout had been called.

Finally, senior Merrick Deger came off a screen and banked in the three to send Waverly home the winner.

Trinity Christian (Jacksonville) joined an elite club with its fourth consecutive Florida 3A football championship Saturday.

By beating Chaminade-Madonna (Hollywood) 24-13 in Orlando, the Conquerors joined Booker T. Washington (Miami), Miami Central, North Florida Christian (Tallahassee) and Suwannee as the only schools to four-peat in any classification.

Coach Verlon Dorminey won his seventh career state championship.

The verdict was closer this time after Trinity Christian won the previous three titles games by 27, 20 and 27 points, respectively, but the result was the same.

Trinity Christian (11-3) won nine of its last 10 games and was largely dominant in the postseason leading up to the state final. The Conquerors did not help themselves Saturday, though, with six fumbles, losing two.

Most of the scoring happened in the first half as each team managed only a field goal in the final 24 minutes.

Chaminade (10-4) scored 15 seconds into the game on an 80-yard run by Shaun Shivers for a 7-0 lead.

Trinity Christian answered with a 17-yard TD pass from D.J. Matthews to Isaiah Washington to even the score at 10. A 23-yard field goal gave Chaminade the lead back at 10-7. It was the last time it would be in front.

Rasheed Martin then ran in for a 13-yard score from the Wildcat for a 14-10 lead.  Matthews’ 21-yard TD run on a fourth-and-1 play gave Trinity the 21-10 lead that it would take into halftime.

Chaminade kept the game from turning into a rout and had some chances in the second half, but the Conquerors left as state champions again.

After three consecutive state titles, Allen (Texas) saw its season end in the state semifinals for the second consecutive year.

The Woodlands jumped out to a 26-3 and held on for a 36-28 victory Saturday in Austin to earn a berth in the 6A Division I state final.

The win puts The Woodlands into the state final for the first time since 2003.

The Woodlands is dedicating its postseason run to Grant Milton, who remains in a coma after being taken to the hospital during a victory against Bowie (Austin) more than two weeks ago.

For No. 5 Allen (14-1), it was only their second loss in five years.

Allen rallied in the fourth quarter as quarterback Mitchell Jonke scored on a 2-yard run with 7:03 remaining to cut the lead to 33-20. The Eagles held The Woodlands to a field goal with 3:02 remaining to keep the game to within two scores at 36-20.

Allen went to work again and Theo Wease caught a 2-yard pass from Jonke and Tevyn Stevenson caught the two-point pass to cut the margin to 36-28 with 51 seconds remaining. Allen went for the onside kick, but Kesean Carter fell on the ball for The Woodlands.

A pair of long touchdown passes had helped The Woodlands build its lead. Ahead 10-3 in the second quarter, Dylan Casey caught a 68-yard pass from Sam Houston State commit Eric Schmid with 3:17 remaining in the half. Schmid then connected on a 72-yard pass to Carter within the first 90 seconds of the third quarter and the lead had bulged to 26-3.

The Woodlands posted nearly 500 yards on total offense led by Schmid’s 353 yards passing and three touchdowns. Carlos Ramos led the rushing attack with 76 yards and a TD.

After 11 consecutive weeks of scoring at least 40 points, The Woodlands just missed extended that streak, but it was enough to get to the state final.

Jonke, in his final high school game before heading to Brown, threw for 309 yards with the two touchdowns and an interception. Wease had 107 yards receiving. The usually potent Allen ground attack was held to 86 yards.

The Woodlands (15-0) will face No. 17 Lake Travis for the state title next Saturday night at AT&T Stadium.

Lake Travis beat Atascocita (Humble) 63-21 to advance.

The DeSoto magic continues.

Two defensive touchdowns in a span of 23 seconds in the fourth quarter gave the Eagles the lead for the first time and No. 3 DeSoto beat Klein Collins (Spring) 42-31  on Saturday in a 6A Division II semifinal in Houston.

DeSoto (15-0) faces Steele (Cibolo) in the state title game next weekend. Steele beat Cinco Ranch (Katy), 35-14, Saturday.

The Eagles opened the fourth quarter by cutting the lead to 31-28 with 9:44 remaining on a 5-yard touchdown run by Richie Washington. The drive was extended by a pair of fourth-down conversions: quarterback Shawn Robinson ran for 27 yards on a fourth-and-2 play and later Robinson found Orion Smith for 29 yards on fourth-and-10.

On the next possession, DeSoto took the lead when linebacker Ashton Brooks recovered a fumble and went 42 yards for the score. Then, safety Isaiah Stewart stripped the ball from the running back and went 40 yards the other way for the score to give DeSoto the 42-31 lead with 7:23 lead.

The defense made another big play as Klein Collins (13-2) was driving toward the red zone when Gemon Green made an interception. That allowed DeSoto’s offense to start using the clock with a nine-point edge.

DeSoto had to punt with a little more than two minutes left, but Byron Hanspard Jr. made his second interception of the game to end it. Klein Collins finished with five turnovers, including four on four consecutive possessions.

Klein Collins did not get a first down in the second half until midway through the fourth quarter.

“Defense wins championships” coach Todd Peterman told partner TexasHSFootball.com. “That’s what happened tonight. We put our defense in bad situations all night. They responded by scoring touchdowns. The defense’s will to win showed itself.”

Klein Collins led 28-14 at halftime, but DeSoto’s defense came out firing as Hanspard made an interception. DeSoto was not able to generate any points, but the momentum was shifting. After another strong series by the DeSoto defense, Robinson went 42 yards to cut the lead to 28-21 midway through the quarter.

On DeSoto’s next series, the ball deflected off a wide receiver for an interception that Klein Collins took to the 8-yard line, but DeSoto stiffened to force a field goal. That made the score 31-21, setting up the Eagles’ rally.

Robinson finished with 133 passing and 114 yards rushing. Washington had 83 yards on the ground and two TDs.

Klein Collins QB Brett Bridges threw for 141 yards with a touchdown but had three interceptions. D’Anthony Doyle ran for 94 yards and Bryson Powers ran for 70 yards and two touchdowns.

Former Heisman Trophy winner Rashaan Salaam was a star high school player at La Jolla Country Day in San Diego and was inducted into the school’s athletic hall of fame.

Salaam, 42, was found dead in a parking lot in Boulder, Colo., on Monday night, not far from where he starred as a running back from 1992-94 for the University of Colorado. Salaam’s mother, Khalada, told USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday that Boulder police suspect he took his own life and that a note was found indicating as much.

Salaam’s alma mater, La Jolla Country Day, played Arroyo (El Monte) on Saturday night in the CIF playoffs and the school honored Salaam with a moment of silence before the game.

La Lumiere basketball remains No. 1 in the Super 25 (Photo: Matt Cashore, USA TODAY Sports)

The Lakers, ranked No. 1 in the Super 25, shot 51 percent from the field and had five players in double figures. La Lumiere has scored at least 89 points in its last four games.

Isaiah Coleman-Lands had 21 points, Jordan Poole had 20, Brian Bowen had 16, Jaren Jackson had 14 (along with 10 rebounds) and Jacob Epperson had 10. Tyger Campbell finished with 16 assists.

The game was tied at 10-10, but La Lu led 41-25 at halftime before pushing the margin to 47 late in the game.

La Lumiere faces No. 13 New Albany on Thursday, although the Bulldogs are likely to fall in the rankings after an 84-60 loss Saturday to North Central in the Tip Off Classic at Southport Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Blair Academy’s Chase Singletary seen last season ( Vincent Carchietta, USA TODAY Sports)

Blair won the title team with 196 points, followed by St. Edward with 127.5 and Lake Highland with 118. Super 25 No. 6 St. Paris Graham (Ohio) was fourth with 116 and No. 8 Bethlehem Catholic (Pa.) was fifth with 115.5.

Blair got an individual title at 220 pounds from Ohio State-bound Chase Singletary. He won by 4-2 decision over Cohlton Schultz of Ponderosa (Shingle Springs, Calif.).  Blair’s Andrew Merola reached the final at 160 points and lost 7-4 to Georgio Poullas from Canfield (Ohio). David Carr at 152 and Michael Colaiocco at 113 reached the semifinals.

St. Edward was led by Bryce Andonian at 120 pounds. He lost in the semifinals and finished fourth.

Lake Highlands’ top finisher was Joey Silva at 126. He reached the final before running into the buzzsaw that was Iowa signee Spencer Lee. The tournament’s most outstanding wrestler, Lee, earned a 7-3 decision.

Brothers Julian and Gabriel Tagg each won individual titles for Brecksville (Ohio). Julian, a freshman, won at 106. Gabriel, a sophomore, won at 113.

The first Super 25 wrestling rankings of the regular season will be released this week.

For the first time since the running clock was instituted in Pennsylvania in 1998, a team won every game of the season by mercy rule. That included the state title game.

Steel Valley (Munhall) finished off a 15-0 season with the PIAA Class 2A championship in a 49-7 victory against Southern Columbia (Catawissa).

Under the Pennsylvania mercy rule, the running clock starts when a team leads by at least 35 points in the second half.

“I’ve never heard of a boxer go 15-0 with 15 knockouts,” coach Rod Steele told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “That’s pretty special.”

Steel Valley recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff and scored one play later for a 7-0 lead. Southern Columbia answered to tie the game at 7 and then Steel Valley posted 35 unanswered points for its first state title.

“It looked like for a while that we could match them to some extent, and then it got out of hand,”  Southern Columbia coach Jim Roth told the Post-Gazette.

On the season, Steel Valley had five shutouts and only one team scored more than 14 points — a 68-29 win against Valley (New Kensington, Pa.) in September.

Pete Werner (Photo: IndyStar)

The No. 2 player in Indiana is heading to Ohio State.

Cathedral (Indianapolis) linebacker Pete Werner, who decommitted from Notre Dame in late November, committed to the Buckeyes during an official visit this weekend, according to 247Sports and other reports.

Werner is ranked as the No. 17 outside linebacker in the Class of 2017 and No. 2 player overall in the state, according to the 247Sports Composite.

His decommitment from Notre Dame came three days after he took an unofficial visit to Ohio State for its win against Michigan. He had visited South Bend on three occasions during the season.

According to 247, he had 65 tackles, including 17 for loss, with eight sacks and three forced fumbles as a senior.

He finished third in voting for Mr. Football in Indiana and was named as the state’s top linebacker.

Dylan Moses (Photo: Casey Brooke Lawson, IMG Academy)

Dylan Moses, the nation’s No. 1 outside linebacker, has signed his financial aid papers with Alabama and intends to report on Jan. 8, he announced on Twitter on Sunday.

While the financial aid papers do not bind Moses to Alabama — they only bind Alabama to him — he wrote that he was “happy to say that my recruiting process is officially over,” a process that began years ago as Moses has been on the national recruiting radar since the eighth grade.

Moses, who played his senior year at IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.), was named the winner of the high school Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker last week and is a finalists for American Family Insurance ALL-USA Defensive Player of the Year.

His final high school game is the Under Armour All-America Game in Orlando on Jan. 1.

Moses is ranked as the No. 8 player overall in the Class of 2017 by the 247Sports Composite.

He decommitted from LSU — in his hometown of Baton Rouge — in August 2015 after having been committed to the school for two years. He then committed to Alabama on Oct. 2 after an official visit to campus, although he has been on the LSU campus several times since, including an official visit this weekend.

A longtime LSU fan, Moses seemed interested in giving new coach Ed Orgeron an opportunity to sway him.  He received an in-home visit last week from Alabama coach Nick Saban and defensive backs coach Derrick Ansley.

Lowell Narcisse (Photo: Intersport)

LSU has gone from two quarterback commitments in the Class of 2017 to hoping to hang on to one.

Lowell Narcisse announced Monday morning on Twitter that he was decommitting from the Tigers despite being on campus for a weekend visit.

His decision follows Myles Brennan’s move to reopen his recruitment. Brennan, a four-star passer from St. Stanislaus (Bay St. Louis, Miss.), said he has not decommitted, but is now fielding calls and interest from other schools, something Brennan hadn’t done prior to Nov. 30.

Narcisse, an Under Armour All-American from St. James (La.), is ranked as the No. 8 dual-threat quarterback in the class, according to the 247Sports Composite.

He missed his senior year with a torn left ACL suffered in a preseason jamboree. He tore his right ACL during his school’s spring game in 2015 but returned to play late in the season.

Narcisse got an in-home visit from Auburn coach Guz Malzahn and offensive coordinator Rhett Lashleeon Sunday, the last day before the dead period. Given the transfer to Auburn of Jarrett Stidham, it is unclear what Auburn’s immediate need is at the position for another recruit.

Brennan said he continues to love LSU, but with the coaches that recruited him no longer with the program, he wants to see who will be the next offensive coordinator.

“It’s really important,” Brennan said last week at the Alabama-Mississippi all-star game. “I feel like that is going to be kind of the thing that makes my decision one way or another.”

Darrian McNeal, a three-star athlete from Armwood (Seffner, Fla.), flipped his commitment Sunday from Arizona to Oregon.

The first commit of the Wille Taggart era in Eugene, McNeal held upwards of 20 offers, but he apparently had long wanted to play for Oregon, but he had trouble getting the attention of the former coaching staff.

That changed when Taggart came to town.

“I always loved Oregon,” he told OregonLive.com. “Since I was a kid, watching De’Anthony Thomas run up and down the field. It was hard knowing that Oregon wouldn’t hit me back. Knowing that they liked smaller guys like myself. It was hard. I didn’t think this day was gonna come.”

Alabama Crimson Tide sit atop the USA TODAY Sports Composite Team Rankings. (Photo: Marvin Gentry, USA TODAY Sports)

As the NCAA recruiting dead period begins Monday, a number of key players — especially early enrollees — will be making their college choices in the coming days.

Here are the latest USA TODAY High School Sports’ Composite Team Football Recruiting Rankings for the Class of 2017.

The composite represents an average of the rankings by the four major recruiting services: 247Sports, ESPN, Rivals and Scout. If a school is not ranked in the top 40 in a particular ranking, it is listed with a 41.

Alabama is a unanimous No. 1 with Ohio State a unanimous No. 2.

Updated: 12/12/16

John Paul II (Plano, Texas) has a new head football coach, and he’s something of a familiar name in those parts.

George Teague, a former star at Alabama and in the NFL with the Packers, Dolphins, and Cowboys, has agreed to become the new head coach at John Paul II after six years as head coach and athletic director at the June Shelton School outside Dallas.

Prior to that, he was a coach and athletic director at Carrolton (Texas) Christian, and he had a few stints as an assistant in the NFL.

“George Teague is a man of integrity, humility, and knowledge,” John Paul II AD Kent Turner said in a release. “He is a leader, a teacher, and a role model. He brings a wealth of experience to the Cardinal Football program. The student athletes at John Paul II High School will have an incredible opportunity to work with and learn from Coach Teague who has been successful at the highest level.”

John Paul II was winless in 2016.

Here are the 10 candidates for this week’s Super 25 Top Star. Vote now in the poll below.

RELATED: Super 25 Expert Rankings | Super 25 Computer Rankings

NOTE: Players can only win once per season

Bishop Gorman quarterback Tate Martell has been named the Gatorade state football player of the year for Nevada (Photo: Kelvin Kuo, USA TODAY Sports)

The annual Gatorade state football players of the year were released Monday with five winners coming from teams in the Super 25.

The Gatorade Player of the Year award recognizes outstanding athletic excellence as well as high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field. The national winner will be chosen from among the state winners.

Here are the five state winners from Super 25 teams in alphabetical order by state (videos for all winners can be found here)

CALIFORNIA 

JT Daniels, QB, No. 9 Mater Dei (Santa Ana)

GEORGIA

Trevor Lawrence, QB, No. 23 Cartersville

MICHIGAN

Donovan Peoples-Jones, WR, No. 15 Cass Tech (Detroit)

MISSISSIPPI

Cam Akers, QB, No. 21 Clinton

NEVADA

Tate Martell, QB, No. 1 Bishop Gorman

FULL LIST OF WINNERS

Alabama – Jaylond Adams, Minor (Adamsville)

Alaska – Brenner Furlong, Soldotna

Arizona – Draycen Hill, Higley (Gilbert)

Arkansas – Taylor Powell, Fayetteville

California – JT Daniels, Mater Dei (Santa Ana)

Colorado – Dylan McCaffrey, Valor Christian (Highlands Ranch)

Connecticut – Ben Mason, Newtown

Delaware – Nolan Henderson, Smyrna

District of Columbia – Kasim Hill, St. John’s College

Florida – Shaun Wade, Trinity Christian (Jacksonville)

Georgia – Trevor Lawrence, Cartersville

Hawaii – Tua Tagovailoa, St. Louis (Honolulu)

Idaho – Colson Yankoff, Couer d’Alene

Iowa – Oliver Martin, Iowa City West

Indiana – Russ Yeast, Center Grove (Greenwood)

Kansas – Carter Putz, Shawnee Mission

Kentucky – Jamale Carothers, Bowling Green

Louisiana – Keytaon Thompson, Landry-Walker (New Orleans)

Maine – Michael Laverriere, Thornton (Saco)

Maryland – Travis Levy, Sherwood

Massachusetts – Bobby Maimaron, Duxbury

Michigan – Donovan Peoples-Jones, Cass Tech

Minnesota – Wade Sullivan, Lakeville North

Mississippi – Cam Akers, Clinton

Missouri – Alex Huston, Glendale

Montana – Nate Dick, Billings

Nebraska – Trevor Nichelson, Ashland-Grenwood (Ashland)

Nevada — Tate Martell, Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas)

New Hampshire – Garrett Macomber, Plymouth

New Jersey – Devin Leary, Timber Creek (Sicklerville)

New Mexico – Josh Foley, Rio Rancho

New York – Jack Coan, Sayville

North Carolina – Zamir White, Scotland County (Laurinburg)

North Dakota – Brandon Metz, West Fargo

Ohio – Michael Warren II, Central Catholic (Toledo)

Oklahoma – Brandon George, Jones

Oregon – Tim Tawa, West Linn