A few years back, there was much hoopla over a girls basketball game in which The Covenant School of North Dallas beat Dallas Academy of the White Rock area 100-0.

The publicity even resulted a funny stunt by a The Ticket radio team to play a basketball game against the Lake Highlands High School girls team.

A few weeks ago, The Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools instituted a “mercy rule” for football and basketball that will come into play in the 2012-2013 season.

According to an ESPN.com piece, the Covenant-Dallas Academy game was cited as the main reason for the change.

The new rule requires that any game which reaches a 40-point difference after halftime will be subject to a running clock for the remainder of the game. This includes plays that end out of bounds and play stoppages for fouls in both sports.

As much as I dislike bullying, especially in the form of a coach and parents urging players to humiliate a weaker team, I’m not sure that rules are the answer in cases like this. If someone is employed as a football or basketball coach, especially at a pricey private school, shouldn’t part of the job requirement be good judgment, good leadership skills and sportsmanship? Sure, not all of them will demonstrate these things at all times, but when they don’t, they can be reprimanded as anyone else who fails at a job.

Is putting mercy rules in place tampering with the integrity of the game? Might it backfire and embarrass the losing team more than a blowout? Rob both teams of valuable learning opportunities?

Dallas Lutheran coach John Bronkhorst told ESPN that he has declined so-called mercy or clock rolling in the past.

“It’s not to be cruel to my team because it’s a teaching opportunity. It’s an opportunity for us to learn in life you’re not going to get bailed out. We need to learn how to overcome adversity, and I can tell you right now, we grew from that game.”

I watched one of my kids’ public school basketball teams get beat by more than 40 points a couple weeks ago. The other team never let up on defense (they did let up on scoring, it seemed) and the winning teams’ parents, cheerleaders and coaches continued to root their team on to massive victory — no mercy on their end.

Our losing team walked away feeling OK that they had fought to the end. I heard them commenting about how impressed they were by the talent on the other team. They did not seem devastated or broken by the experience. (If I remember correctly, neither did the Dallas Academy girls).

On the other hand, last night’s game was lost by a single point. Now that was more heartbreaking than any blowout.

The UIL announced their district realignment this morning amid much fanfare, but the Wildcats will have the same opponents in District 9 5-A that we’ve faced the past two years save one – J.J. Pearce added enough students to bump to 5-A. (They’ll replace Samuell, which moves to 4A). We haven’t had Pearce with us in 5A since 2006.

The biggest change for us will be playoff pairings. For the past two years, our first round opponent came from the Garland schools. This time, we’ll face the tougher Plano and Allen  teams. With their much larger enrollment, they have a bigger pool of talent to choose from, and it shows in their playoff success rate. (The cutoff for 5A was about 2,090. LHHS currently has 1,663 students and LHFC has 718, for a total of 2,381. Plano East has over 6,000.)

Of course, going head-to-head against the Plano schools is nothing new for LH. We faced them in district play for years and matched up well. Here’s a look at our district opponents since the year 2000. Go Cats!

 2012-14:

• Lake Highlands
• Berkner
• Richardson
• JJ Pearce
• Skyline
• WT White
• Sunset
• Jesuit

 2010-12:

• Lake Highlands
• Berkner
• Richardson
• Skyline
• WT White
• Sunset
• Samuel
• Jesuit

 2008-10:

• Lake Highlands
• Berkner
• Richardson
• Skyline
• WT White
• Sunset
• Carrollton Creekview
• Molina

 2006-08:

• Lake Highlands
• Berkner
• Richardson
• Plano
• Plano East
• Plano West
• Allen
• Wylie

 2004-06:

• Lake Highlands
• Berkner
• Richardson
• JJ Pearce
• Carrollton Creekview
• Newman Smith
• Turner
• Jesuit

 2002-04:

• Lake Highlands
• Berkner
• Plano
• Plano East
• Plano West
• Allen
• Rockwall
• McKinney

 2000-02:

• Lake Highlands
• Berkner
• Richardson
• Plano
• Plano East
• Plano West
• Allen
• Rockwall

LHHS' Murphy Short, Mason Miller and Reagan Dunk

This morning, ten athletes from Lake Highlands High School signed letters of intent to play college sports next year, and ten sets of parents breathed big sighs of relief.

“This is the day I’ve been waiting for,” said Noel Walling, as she alternated between hugging her husband, Craig, and taking photos of her son, Chase. The Wildcat offensive line standout will play for the SMU Mustangs in the fall. He admits his decision was a tough one; he also liked UNT.

The normally perky Brinkley Field was a little droopy for her big day. “I was up late last night after the [Wildcat soccer] game doing homework,” she told me. “Brinks” as she’s known to the LH senior class, will play soccer for the University of Texas.

Mark Powell, Matalee Reed, Chase Walling, Maggie Olvera, Brinkley Field and Madison Vessel

“I’m really relieved and excited to start this new chapter of my life,” said Mason Miller, who’ll play soccer at the University of Central Florida. “It’s far from home, so that might be hard at first, but I’ll get to experience some new things and meet some new people.” Miller, the youngest of four, says he looked at four schools before deciding on UCF. “I loved it because they have a good football program and I’ll get to experience regular college life in addition to being a college athlete.”

Congratulations to these LHHS students, who’ve made us proud and will play college sports in 2012-13:

• Matalee Reed, Pepperdine, volleyball
• Chase Walling, SMU, football
• Mark Powell, University of Mary Hardin Baylor, football
• Brinkley Field, UT, soccer
• Maggie Olvera, Trinity University, soccer
• Madison Vessel, University of Montana, soccer
• Murphy Short, SMU, soccer
• Reagan Dunk, University of Denver, soccer
• Mason Miller, University of Central Florida, soccer
• Glory Williams, Notre Dame, soccer.

Congratulations are in order for several members of the Wildcat football team who earned individual honors for their achievements on the field and in the classroom.

Will Moomaw has been named to the Elite All-State Academic Team, the only player in our district or in the entire City of Dallas to achieve the top status. Zach Fleig and Alex Wittel earned spots on the 2nd Team, and Jordan Dann, Jonathan Iheke and Garrett Reeves received Honorable Mention.

These players were named 9-5A 1st Team All-District:

* Jacobi Johnson, Running Back

* Kent Perkins, Offensive Line

* Dedrick Grayson, Offensive Line

* Zach Fleig, Wide Receiver

* Darian Morris, Linebacker

* Two Two Taylor, Defensive Back

* Jacquille Myles, Defensive Back

* Mitchell Henton, Punter

(Henton and Taylor were unanimous selections by district coaches.)

These players were named 2nd Team All-District:

* DeVonte Sunwenghan, Running Back

* Will Moomaw, Offensive Line

* Alex Wittel, Offensive Line

* Chase Walling, Offensive Line

* Randall Howard, Defensive Line

* Mark Powell, Defensive Line

* Garrett Reeves, Defensive Line

These players earned All-District Honorable Mention:

* Michael Wright, Wide Receiver

* Jerrod Traylor, Wide Receiver

* Jon Garza, Linebacker

* Jamion Hartford

* Jonathan Iheke, Defensive Back

Congratulations all!

Photo credit: Ian Halperin, CBAA

When you’re watching the Cotton Bowl tonight on Fox TV (or if you’re lucky enough to have tickets to the game, now held at Cowboys Stadium), keep an eye out for Lake Highlands’ own Bethany Ford. Bethany is in her second year as a Kilgore Rangerette, the high-kicking dance group that’s performed at Cotton Bowl pregame and halftime festivities for more than 60 years.

In this photo, AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic VP of Communications Charlie Fiss presents Bethany, who danced as an LHHS Highlandette lieutenant before heading off to Kilgore College, with a commemorative watch after the Rangerettes’ rehearsal on Thursday, Jan. 5. Each year in a special ceremony, sophomore Rangerettes are given watches by the Cotton Bowl in appreciation for their service to the bowl.

The big game pits the Arkansas Razorbacks against Kansas State and kicks off at 7pm tonight.

The Wildcat Cheerleaders presented a $1,000 check to Kyle Crain at the LHHS Black Out football game Friday night as a donation to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Kyle is the younger brother and cousin of LHHS’s Crain and Tobey girls, fighting the disease and determined to find a cure.

On hand for the check presentation were Alan Walne, owner of Herb’s Paint & Body, and his Executive VP, Alan Kirkpatrick. Herb’s underwrote the cost of printing the Black Out t-shirts and has supported the efforts of the cheerleaders for many years running. In fact, there aren’t many LH causes the Walnes don’t support.

Last month, the Crains were joined by several LH families in their JDRF Walk for the Cure. Click here to see their Youtube video from the day.

After a hailstorm for the ages, it was a glorious day for Powder Puff football Sunday in the Boneyard as the Lake Highlands senior class raised funds for prom and other traditional senior activities. You can see my photo slideshow here.

The seniors (in pink) made quick work of the sophomores (in gold), with quarterback Brinkley Field showing she’s not too shabby throwing the ball, lest anyone think the UT-bound soccer player can only use her feet.

Next up, the freshmen (in blue) took on the juniors (in green), with quarterback Katie Bott leading the junior team to victory. In the final championship game, with the boys coaching and cheering from the sidelines, the senior girls won the day.

Advocate photographer Ben Hager stopped in on the Lake Highlands and Berkner High game Friday night. Click on each photo to enlarge it. Do you recognize somebody in a photo? Tell us in the comments section.

From Ben: ”LHHS dropped a heartbreaker to Berkner on Friday night during their yearly grudge match deemed the ‘Battle at the Boneyard.’ The Rams stuffed the Wildcats on fourth down at the one-yard line to clinch a dramatic, last minute victory, 16-13. Lake Highlands (4-3) play Dallas Jesuit this week at home.”

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Ladies of the Lake Highlands High School Homecoming Court were crowned at the football pregame ceremony last Friday.

Principal Peggy Dillon and last year’s Queen Briana Henderson presented flowers and a crown to the new queen.

Pictured left to right is Rachel Lander, Sophomore Duchess, Senior Queen, Sarah Penny and Junior Princess Brittany Myers.

Photo by David Werther. Click on photo to see larger image. Thanks to the actual queen of LHHS, Karen Clardy, for sending the info and pic!