Darnay Holmes (Photo: Mike Schaefer, 247Sports)
Army All-American Darnay Holmes is ranked as the No. 2 cornerback recruit in the nation, but he can get after it on offense, too.
Holmes from Calabasas High in California shows his offensive skills in this mixtape from #D1Bound.
Yes, the score was lopsided, but Quincy Culpepper from Fremont-Oakland had a unique stat line.
In an 80-0 victory against Madison Park Academy, Culpepper ran for 259 yards and six touchdowns on 10 carries. He also returned three punts for touchdowns.
Each week USA TODAY High School Sports and the American Volleyball Coaches Association will release Super 25 Regional Girls Volleyball Rankings. Rankings are based on results from the 2016-17 season, quality of players and strength of schedule. Regions are determined by the AVCA.
Records through Sept. 27
REGION 1 (CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, RI)
| Rank | School | Record | City/Town | State |
| 1 | Penfield High School | 22-0 | Penfield | NY |
| 2 | Barnstable High School | 8-1 | Hyannis | MA |
| 3 | Walter Panas High School | 26-1-2 | Cortlandt | NY |
| 4 | St. Mary’s High School | 20-4 | Lancaster | NY |
| 5 | Notre Dame Academy | 9-0 | Hingham | MA |
| 6 | Burnt Hills High School | 20-3-1 | Burnt Hills | NY |
| 7 | Farmington High School | 8-0 | Farmington | CT |
| 8 | Connetquod High School | 11-1 | Bohemia | NY |
| 9 | RHAM | 7-1 | Hebron | CT |
| 10 | Concord High School | 11-0 | Concord | NH |
REGION 2 (DE, MD, NJ, PA, VA)
| Rank | School | Record | City/Town | State |
| 1 | Princess Anne | 13-2 | Virginia Beach | VA |
| 2 | Northwest High School | 6-0 | Germantown | MD |
| 3 | Kellam High School | 13-1 | Virginia Beach | VA |
| 4 | Liberty High School | 11-0 | Bethlehem | PA |
| 5 | Old Tappan High School | 9-0 | Demarest | NJ |
| 6 | Bishop Shanahan | 11-0 | Downingtown | PA |
| 7 | Briar Woods | 17-0 | Ashburn | VA |
| 8 | Rising Sun | 14-0 | North East | MD |
| 9 | Parkland | 11-0 | Allentown | PA |
| 10 | Northern HS | 12-0 | Owings | MD |
REGION 3 (AL, FL, GA, NC, SC, TN)
| Rank | School | Record | City/Town | State |
| 1 | Dorman | 28-2 | Roebuck | SC |
| 2 | Bishop Moore | 14-1 | Orlando | FL |
| 3 | Walton | 32-6 | Marietta | GA |
| 4 | St Thomas Aquinas | 18-2 | Ft Lauderdale | FL |
| 5 | Cox Mill | 15-0 | Concord | NC |
| 6 | West Henderson | 17-0 | Henderson | NC |
| 7 | Brentwood | 40-4 | Brentwood | TN |
| 8 | Briarcrest | 41-2 | Eads | TN |
| 9 | Baylor | 39-2 | Chattanooga | TN |
| 10 | Bayside | 34-3 | Daphne | AL |
REGION 4 (AR, LA, MS, OK, TX)
| Rank | School | Record | City/Town | State |
| 1 | Waco Midway High School | 34-2 | Waco | TX |
| 2 | Conroe Oak Ridge | 36-0 | Conroe | TX |
| 3 | Southlake Carroll | 32-5 | Southlake | TX |
| 4 | Hebron High School | 32-5 | Lewisville | TX |
| 5 | Boyd High School | 30-6 | McKinney | TX |
| 6 | Allen High School | 26-4 | Allen | TX |
| 7 | Clear Creek High School | 33-4 | League City | TX |
| 8 | Reagan High School | 30-4 | San Antonio | TX |
| 9 | Westwood High School | 34-6 | Round Rock | TX |
| 10 | Fayetteville High School | 21-6 | Fayetteville | AR |
REGION 5 (IN, KY, MI, OH, WV)
| Rank | School | Record | City/Town | State |
| 1 | Sacred Heart | 21-3 | Louisville | KY |
| 2 | Assumption | 21-3 | Louisville | KY |
| 3 | Cathedral | 19-4 | Indianapolis | IN |
| 4 | Yorktown | 23-1 | Yorktown | IN |
| 5 | Mercy | 17-6 | Lexington | KY |
| 6 | Lake Catholic | 19-0 | Mentor | OH |
| 7 | DeWitt | 15-0 | DeWitt | MI |
| 8 | Ursuline (Cincinnati) | 15-3 | Cincinnati | OH |
| 9 | Novi | 9-0 | Novi | MI |
| 10 | Hamilton Southeastern | 24-3 | Fishers | IN |
| 11 | St. Ursula (Toledo) | 14-1 | Toledo | OH |
| 12 | Henry Clay | 22-3 | Lexington | KY |
REGION 6 (IA, IL, MO, WI)
| Rank | School | Record | City/Town | State |
| 1 | St. Joseph’s Academy | 19-2 | St. Louis | MO |
| 2 | Mother McAuley | 24-1 | Chicago | IL |
| 3 | Geneva High School | 18-0 | Geneva | IL |
| 4 | Neenah High School | 38-3 | Neenah | WI |
| 5 | Marian Central Catholic High School | 21-1 | Woodstock | IL |
| 6 | Appleton North High School | 26-4 | Appleton | WI |
| 7 | Francis Howell High School | 27-1-1 | St. Charles | MO |
| 8 | Ankeny Centennial High School | 18-2 | Ankeny | IA |
| 9 | St. Pius X (Festus) | 24-2 | Festus | MO |
| 10 | Catholic Memmorial | 28-6 | Waukesha | WI |
REGION 7 (MN, ND, NE, SD)
| Rank | School | Record | City/Town | State |
| 1 | Eagan High School | 18-0 | Eagan | MN |
| 2 | Omaha Skutt Catholic | 22-0 | Omaha | NE |
| 3 | Omaha Marian High School | 22-1 | Omaha | NE |
| 4 | Papillion La-Vista High School | 19-2 | Papillon | NE |
| 5 | Harrisburg High School | 13-1 | Harrisburg | SD |
| 6 | Gretna High School | 20-1 | Gretna | NE |
| 7 | Champlin Park | 14-1 | Champlin | MN |
| 8 | Century High School | 15-1 | Bismarck | ND |
| 9 | Lakeville South | 16-2 | Lakeville | MN |
| 10 | Rapid City Stevens | 16-2 | Rapid City | SD |
REGION 8 (CO, KS, NM, UT, WY)
| Rank | School | Record | City/Town | State |
| 1 | Blue Valley West High School | 21-0 | Stilwell | KS |
| 2 | Lewis-Palmer High School | 13-0 | Monument | CO |
| 3 | Pleasant Grove High School | 13-2 | Pleasant Grove | UT |
| 4 | Rock Canyon High School | 12-1 | Highlands Ranch | CO |
| 5 | Eaton High School | 12-1 | Eaton | CO |
| 6 | Olathe Northwest High School | 13-3 | Olathe | KS |
| 7 | Centennial High School | 11-1 | Las Cruces | NM |
| 8 | Shawnee Heights High School | 22-1 | Tecumseh | KS |
| 9 | Aquinas High School | 20-6 | Overland Park | KS |
| 10 | Cheyenne East High School | 19-2 | Cheyenne | WY |
REGION 9 (AK, NV, CA, AZ)
| Rank | School | Record | City/Town | State |
| 1 | Santa Margarita High School | 15-4 | Rancho Santa Margarita | CA |
| 2 | Mater Dei High School | 19-3 | Santa Ana | CA |
| 3 | Archbishop Mitty | 19-2 | San Jose | CA |
| 4 | Hamilton High School | 23-4 | Chandler | AZ |
| 5 | Xavier College Prep | 17-3 | Phoenix | AZ |
| 6 | Torrey Pines High School | 11-2 | San Diego | CA |
| 7 | Mira Costa High School | 16-5 | Manhattan Beach | CA |
| 8 | San Juan Hills | 14-1 | San Juan Capistrano | CA |
| 9 | Edison | 22-7 | Huntington Beach | CA |
| 10 | Notre Dame | 17-7 | Belmont | CA |
REGION 10 (HI, ID, MT, OR, WA)
| Rank | School | Record | City/Town | State |
| 1 | Jesuit High School | 16-0 | Portland | OR |
| 2 | Mead High School | 9-0 | Spokane | WA |
| 3 | Missoula Sentinel | 13-0 | Missoula | MT |
| 4 | Barlow | 15-2 | Gresham | OR |
| 5 | West Salem | 14-1 | Salem | OR |
| 6 | Archbishop Murphy | 8-0 | Tacoma | WA |
| 7 | Tumwater | 7-0 | Tumwater | WA |
| 8 | Gonzaga Prep | 11-1-1 | Auburn | WA |
| 9 | West Linn | 11-1 | Linn | OR |
| 10 | Billings Senior High School | 17-2 | Billings | MT |
Kobi Smith is a 2018 wide receiver from Junipero Serra (Gardena, Calif.) and he doesn’t lack confidence with a Twitter handle of @kobisdope80
Courtesy of our partners at #D1Nation, here are highlights from Smith in action.
Trevon Duval (Photo: Under Armour)
IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) point guard Trevon Duval never put a lot of stock into rumors he’d casually hear regarding his recruitment until Tuesday.
After an open gym session, Duval spoke with an assistant coach who was there recruiting one of his teammates and learned how strong the rumor had grown.
“The coach said, ‘I’m not gonna recruit you, I already know where you’re going,” said Duval, the top-ranked floor general in the ESPN 100. “I was like ‘Huh?’ I couldn’t believe how many people were believing this lie. I had to do something about it.”
Duval said he immediately took to Twitter to not only set the record straight but also open things up to all schools.
Duval cut his list to 10 back in August.
“I’m open to everyone,” Duval said. “It doesn’t matter if you’ve been recruiting me or if you were and fell of a little bit or if you never were and want to I’m open. I’ll treat every school like they’ve been there from day one. I just want it to be known that I have no idea where I’m going. That’s crazy.”
MORE ON DUVAL: What fuels his grind
Since his tweet, Duval said he’s already heard from Duke and Baylor.
“I feel good about it now that I’m clearing things up,” Duval said. “I want to be able to make the best decision for where I’ll play in college and I can’t do that if people are believing lies about me basically already knowing something. I’ll be setting up some officials soon and every school recruiting me has a chance. It’s about what’s best for me.”
Calabasas (Calif.) quarterback Tristan Gebbia, the No. 8 pro-style quarterback in the 247Composite rankings, and four-star wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson are both committed to Nebraska.
Before they get to Lincoln, they are still doing work in Southern California.
Here is the latest from our partners at #D1Bound.
Michigan commit Corey Malone-Hatcher is taking a run at getting Detroit Cass Tech wide receiver Donovan Peoples Jones to join him in Ann Arbor.
Malone-Hatcher, a four-star defensive end from St. Joseph, Mich., previously posted a hype video for four-star wide receiver Tarik Black from Cheshire Academy (Conn.).
Peoples Jones is ranked as the No. 1 wide receiver in the nation, No. 12 player overall and the No. 1 player in Michigan by the 247Sports Composite.
Yoooo this cold ! https://t.co/tLmgqJVGje
— Donovan P. Jones (@dpeoplesjones) October 5, 2016
Malone-Hatcher also is trying to get #DPJtoAA to trend, as he attempted with Black.
Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Greg Jennings, shown in 2014, was a three-sport star in high school (Photo: Bruce Kluckhohn, USA TODAY Sports)
Former NFL wide receiver Greg Jennings was all-conference in three sports at Kalamazoo Central in Michigan.
He was obviously a football star, ranked among the top players in Michigan; he won the state title in the long jump; and he was seventh in the voting for Mr. Basketball in the state as a senior.
While football became his career in 10 seasons with the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings and Miami Dolphins, Jennings has advice for players and parents on the current climate of sports specialization, the lessons he learned and how athletes can maintain their focus on the field.
Former Florida Gators quarterback and wide receivers coach Chris Leak has resigned as the head coach at Orlando’s Edgewater High. (Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports)
Former Florida star Chris Leak, who resigned as Edgewater (Orlando) High coach, is under investigation for an alleged sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl, Orlando police told The Orlando Sentinel.
Police said the investigation is ongoing and Leak has not been charged. The Sentinel was unable to reach him for comment.
The incident is alleged to have happened Sept. 5 but was reported to police Monday. Leak resigned Monday after just five games with an 0-5 record.
According to the police report, the girl said Leak asked her o give him a massage and he came out of the shower wearing only a towel. After he massaged the back of his legs, the girls said he asked her to massage the front of his legs and then pulled her hands up and her hands grazed genitals, according to the report.
The girl then left. Leak later brought her some food and took her home.
Police described the girl as “very upset” when she described the events.
The school’s athletic director did not have a comment when contacted by The Sentinel.
Ariel Ngata receives his U.S. Army All-American Bowl jersey (Photo: Army All-American Bowl)
Ariel Ngata can play outside linebacker, he can play defensive end and he covers a ton of ground.
Those traits have made him a U.S. Army All-American.
Ngata from Folsom, Calif., received his honorary jersey Wednesday when the Selection Tour presented by American Family Insurance came to his school.
A Washington commit, Ngata might be among the more underrated players selected for the Jan. 7 game in San Antonio.
He is listed as the No. 35 outside linebacker in the Class of 2017 but has been a big part of continuing the tradition of success at Folsom, a longtime Northern California power. The Bulldogs are 5-1 this season.
Ariel Ngata presents his Dream Champion award to grandparents Maroy and Joseph Agona (Photo: U.S. Army All-American Bowl)
“We just focus on getting better,” Ngata told The Sacramento Bee earlier this season. “We’ve always been the target, a top-tier team and that’s nothing knew for us.”
Off the field, Ngata is hoping to study medicine.
“It’s something my family has been doing,” he said. “My mom works with mentally challenged people and has always been into behavioral studies. I want to work with kids. I like kids. I think it would be cool to do something to help them out and use my life to benefit them.”
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick (Photo: Jim O’Connor, USA TODAY Sports)
When Wesleyan College was trying to close on a high school recruit, Mike Whalen — the school’s coach from 2010 to 2014 — turned to his friend Bill Belichick, as noted by our friends at For The Win.
But the player wasn’t buying.
The anecdote is contained in a fabulous oral history of the New England Patriots coach on ESPN.
“My first year as coach at Wesleyan I’m trying to turn things around and I’m recruiting a kid out of West Hartford who was leaning toward Princeton. So I emailed Bill and asked him to call the kid. Bill calls him that same night and the kid hangs up on him. ‘Hello, this is Bill Belichick from the New England Patriots,’ and the kid goes, ‘Yeah, right.’ Bill keeps going: ‘I’d like to talk to you about Wesleyan and the kind of opportunity you’ll have there,’ and the kid goes, ‘Yeah, yeah, sure, Bill’ — click. Bill emails me and says, ‘I reached out to him but, um, I don’t think I really connected.’”
No word if the recruit ended up going to Wesleyan.
Whoever he was, Wesleyan did pretty well under Whalen, who returned to his alma mater to turn the program around. After 4-4 and 3-5 seasons in his first two years, his teams finished 5-3, 7-1 and 7-1.
Mitchell Jonke (Photo: Allen Touchdown Club).
Mitchell Jonke, quarterback for No. 4 Allen (Texas), announced Wednesday night that he would attend Brown, one of several Ivy League schools to offer him.
https://twitter.com/Mitchj7J/status/783824795238486016/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Jonke has performed well amid the spotlight that comes with playing for a national-level program. Last season, he was the successor to Kyler Murray, who never lost a game as the Eagles’ starting quarterback, and then ended up splitting time with four-star recruit Seth Green, who moved into the area and seemed destined to be the starter.
Allen had a perfect regular season last fall but came up short in the postseason, snapping a 57-game winning streak. As a junior, Jonke had 32 total touchdowns and threw for nearly 2,000 yards.
This season, as the clear starter, Jonke has Allen at 5-0 and has thrown for 784 yards with six passing TDS and has added three rushing touchdowns.
Nasyr Petties-Jackson of Somerville (N.J.) added to his highlight reel of impressive plays with this 40-yard touchdown run against Warren Hills in which he broke eight tackles on the way to the end zone.
Alex Huston (Photo: Guillermo Hernandez Martinez, Springfield News-Leader)
A year ago, Alex Huston of Glendale (Mo.) made headlines when he surpassed the 1,000 passing yard mark in just the second game of the season. (In fact, he passed the 1,100-yard mark by notching 567 yards through the air one week after starting with 565.)
Six games into his junior season, Huston was believed to be lone 11-man quarterback in the nation with more than 3,000 yards and he is on pace to lead the nation in passing yards for a second consecutive year.
He then went out and threw for 502 yards last week to give him a total of 3,580 yards for Glendale (7-0). That’s an average of 511 yards per game.
Huston passed for 631 yards earlier this season in a 48-28 win at Lebanon, which is believed to be a single-game state record for 11-man football.
Glendale is coached by Mike Mauk, whose son Maty holds the national record for career passing yards with 18,932. Maty played for his dad at Kenton (Ohio) before going to Missouri.
Glendale went 2-8 in 2014, the first season with Mauk’s pass-heavy offense, and put up 4,129 passing yards.
Huston arrived in 2015 and completed 65.7 percent of the 664 passes he threw for 5,608 yards and 69 touchdowns as Glendale’s win total jumped to five — a total the program has already exceeded this season.
Receiver Luke Montgomery leads the nation with 1,238 receiving yards a year after setting single-season state records for receptions (123) and receiving touchdowns (27).
Glendale also hit a milestone in last week’s 56-21 victory against Rolla with the program’s 300th victory.
How high can Huston go? We’ll find out.
St. John Bosco from the Trinity League has among the toughest remaining regular season schedules (Photo: Kelvin Kuo, USA TODAY Sports)
As the season reaches the the halfway point or close to it around the nation, USA TODAY High School Sports is assembling our midseason report with installments throughout the week.
Here we are looking at the teams with the toughest remaining regular season schedules, according to Ken Massey’s computer rankings.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR CANDIDATES: Offense | Defense
THE UNDEFEATEDS: Where are the nation’s unbeaten teams?
And it’s obvious the strength of the Trinity League in Southern California. The six teams at the top of the list are all from the Trinity League, and they are at the top because they now play each other.
Cincinnati’s Greater Catholic League South also has two teams in the top 10.
For many 10-year-olds, baseball is just one of many distractions from everyday life. For Thomas Hastings, his love of the Boston Red Sox is a way to keep his mind from wandering into the darkest of places.
Thomas is battling Duchenne muscular dystrophy, an illness that has already confined him to a wheelchair and is expected to do much worse. When the Make-A-Wish folks asked Thomas what he wanted, he asked for Fenway Park—in his Connecticut backyard.
And the Red Sox—with the help of many volunteers—are making it happen.
According to the Boston Herald, Thomas’ ‘Fantasy Fenway’ will be as close to the real Fenway as possible, given that space is somewhat limited.
From the Herald:
Fantasy Fenway will have the same outfield sod as Reality Fenway — and much, much more. Its Fisk Pole is 68 feet from home plate down the third-base line. Following Fenway’s contours, it will be 85 feet to left-center field, 92 feet to the Triangle, 82 feet to the bullpen (yes, there will be a bullpen in right) and 68 feet to the Pesky pole.
The infield will be synthetic turf with expandable baselines. The Green Monster will be 16-feet high, 52-feet long and will have a six-foot deep deck for seating and Thomas’ wheelchair. Fantasy Fenway also features two dugouts and a sort-of press box
While the park is for Thomas, his father told the paper that the show of goodwill by the volunteers has spread throughout the community.
“We had a woman who stopped by during construction and said, ‘This completely restores my faith in humanity right here,’ ” Brad Hastings told the Herald. “There were six different contractors there working for free. ‘This is such a good thing,’ she said.”
St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) has been dominant in four wins this season, with the only blemish coming in a 35-20 loss against No. 1 Bishop Gorman.
Servite (Anaheim) is kicking off the second half of its season, which will see the Friars play the nation’s toughest schedule, according to Ken Massey’s computer rankings. So how will they fare against the Braves?
Score Predictor uses data from the Super 25 computer to compare two teams and plays multiple simulations to determine the most likely result.
In this case, the computer likes Bosco.
QB Spencer Blackburn from Trinity (Louisville) was named the Super 25 Top Star (Photo: Mike Weaver, Courier Journal)
Spencer Blackburn from No. 18 Trinity (Louisville) has been voted the Super 25 Top Star for games during the weekend of Sept. 30-Oct. 1 by readers of USA TODAY High School Sports.
Blackburn ran for 115 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries and completed 15 of 21 passes for 101 yards and two scores in a 35-13 victory against rival St. Xavier in front of an estimated 18,000 fans at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium.
“He’s the best athlete we’ve had at that position,” Trinity coach Bob Beatty said. “He still has a lot of room to improve as a quarterback, but he’s a tremendous athlete. It’s our job as coaches to use that athletic ability.”
Trinity is 7-0 for the first time since 2012 and faces Eastern (Louisville) on Friday.
Blackburn is the fifth Super 25 Top Star of the season. Weekly voting did not begin until all states were in action. The weekly winners will be part of voting for Super 25 Top Star of the Season after state championships are decided nationwide.
WEEKLY WINNERS
Sept. 2-3: Stokes Nihipali-Botelho, Kahuku (Hawaii)
Sept. 9-10: Noah Ellison, Trinity (Louisville)
Sept. 15-17: Kenyon Oblad, Henderson (Liberty, Nev.)
Sept. 23-24: Marlon Williams, McGill-Toolen (Mobile, Ala.)
Sept. 30-Oct. 1: Spencer Blackburn, Trinity (Louisville)
Contributing: Courier Journal
One of few teams ranked in the Super 25 with a loss, Warren Central (Indianapolis) has won five in a row. The Warriors’ only loss came against No. 14 Colerain (Cincinnati). They did have a close call, however, a few weeks back, beating Ben Davis (Indianapolis), 35-34.
Carmel, who sits at a much more modest 4-3, is coming off a 40-36 win against Ben Davis.
Score Predictor uses data from the Super 25 computer to compare two teams and plays multiple simulations to determine the most likely result.
The computer is taking the home team.
No. 3 Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) has had a strong start to the season, to say the least. The Monarchs are 5-0, winning each game by at least 42 points.
Santa Margarita (Calif.) lost its opener at Mission Viejo but has won five in a row since. What happens when the Eagles face mighty Mater Dei?
Score Predictor uses data from the Super 25 computer to compare two teams and plays multiple simulations to determine the most likely result.
The computer gives the Monarchs the edge.
