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HP will keep its string of top-3 placings in the Lone Star Cup alive, but the UIL's all-around academic and athletic trophy will go south to the Houston area this year.

Friendswood and Austin Lake Travis lost in the state baseball playoffs this weekend, which puts the upper portion of the Lone Star Cup standings to rest. It's an inexact science computing point totals for UIL finishes in academic and athletic contests, but based on the published scoring system and through intensive research by our one-man staff, HP fans can expect to finish third behind Friendswood and Waco Midway.

Here is what I expect to be the top five teams in the Lone Star Cup standings:
1. Friendswood - 92 points
2. Waco Midway - 90
3. HP - 86
4. Boerne Champion - 80
5. Austin Lake Travis - 78

HP may well keep its string of top-three finishes in the UIL's Lone Star Cup alive, but its six-year run of winning the UIL's all-everything award honoring academics and athletics is over.

Adding in recent results from the state academic meet and the ongoing baseball playoffs, HP is in third place as of May 29. The Scots have 86 points to date, but have no way to catch Friendswood (92) and Waco Midway (90). Friendswood is still alive in the baseball playoffs, which garners two additional points for each advancement round, as is Austin Lake Travis, which is just behind HP with 78 points. Boerne Champion is currently fourth with 80 points but like HP can't earn additional points.

HP has won the Lone Star Cup every year since the 2002-03 school year, and has won 9 of the 11 awards since its founding in 1997. The Scots won the first three Cups before Southlake Carroll interrupted their string in 2000-01 and 2001-02 during its short stay in Class 4A.

The Scots have never finished lower than third. 

I wrote on this last week, so I thought we would update it going into this weekend's series.
There are 16 teams left in the state baseball playoffs, and only four of them were ranked in the coaches' state poll at the end of the regular season. Three of them are from Region IV, which features a No. 2 Corpus Christi Calallen vs. No. 4 Austin Lake Travis clash this weekend. No. 1 Corpus Christi Moody is also from Region IV. Only No. 9 Texarkana Texas remains as a ranked team from Region II after drilling No. 6 Mesquite Poteet 10-0 and 3-2 last week. Here's the update on what was the top 10 teams:

THSBCA Coaches' Poll:
1. Corpus Christi Moody (30-1) -- District 30 champs cruising along; faces San Antonio Alamo Heights next
2. Corpus Christi Calallen (31-2) -- Has given up three runs in four playoff games; faces No.4 Lake Travis
3. Buda Hays (26-2) -- lost in second round
4. Austin Lake Travis (30-3) -- District 25 champs slipped by Hutto, 1-0; No. 2 CC Calallen next
5. Castroville Medina Valley (23-4) -- lost in second round
6. Mesquite Poteet (24-5) -- lost in third round to No. 9 Texas
7. Waco Midway (25-6) -- lost in second round
8. Fort Worth Southwest (21-2) -- lost in first round
9. Texarkana Texas (24-5) -- on a roll after whipping Poteet; Rockwall-Heath is next in best-of-three
10. Rosenburg Lamar Consolidated (20-5) -- lost in third round

HP varsity baseball head coach Sam Roberson has been dismissed from his duties. Multiple sources said Roberson, who has worked in the district for 12 years, will be reassigned within the HPISD.
The dismissal came three days after the Scots lost to Rockwall-Heath in a best-of-three regional quarterfinal playoff series. Rockwall-Heath beat HP 17-10 and 5-1 in the best-of-three series, and also swept the teams' two District 10-4A games. But the move is odd in that Roberson received a two-year contract extension earlier this season.
Roberson has been the Scots' head coach for three seasons and was 91-32 overall, leading HP to one district championship and at least three rounds deep in the playoffs all three seasons. The Scots were one game away from the state tournament in his first season of 2007.

There a precept in high school baseball that one-game playoffs are a great equalizer. The area round playoffs proved that true, at least this week, as three of the top 10 teams in the state rankings lost in the UIL-mandated one-game playoffs Tuesday. Two of those losses were by one run, and two other top-10 teams escaped by a single run.
That makes four of the 10 teams ranked in the coaches' poll at the end of the regular season that are done for the season after only two rounds, each loss coming against a lower-seeded team. Here is the most recent top 10 and their fortunes thus far:
THSBCA Coaches' Poll:
1. Corpus Christi Moody (29-1) -- District 30 champs cruising along; takes on Uvalde this weekend
2. Corpus Christi Calallen (30-2) -- hasn't been scored on in the playoffs yet; now faces Alice
3. Buda Hays (26-2) -- out of playoffs after 5-4 loss to Little Cypress-Mauriceville.
4. Austin Lake Travis (29-3) -- District 25 champs still alive; faces Hutto this weekend.
5. Castroville Medina Valley (23-4) -- out of playoffs after 3-2 loss to Alice, which now plays Calallen.
6. Mesquite Poteet (24-3) -- salvaged a one-run win (6-5) over Whitehouse; No. 10 Texas High next
7. Waco Midway (25-6) -- out of playoffs after 2-1 loss to Hallsville
8. Fort Worth Southwest (21-2) -- lost to Crowley in playoffs' opening round
9. Texarkana Texas (22-5) -- beat Colton Cain and Waxahachie 3-0 on Tuesday; No. 6 Poteet next
10. Rosenburg Lamar Consolidated (20-30) -- last 2 wins have been by 10-0 and 14-0 scores; Houston Waltrip next

The Region II-4A playoff bracket is now wide open for HP to take advantage following losses by Waco Midway and Waxahachie. Midway, ranked No. 7 in the state in the latest coaches' poll, fell to Hallsville, 2-1, in nine innings Tuesday night. And Texas High, ranked No. 9, took out Waxahachie and power pitcher Colton Cain, 3-0.

That leaves the pairings listed below for this weekend's regional quarterfinals. The only state-ranked teams left in the Region II bracket are Poteet (No. 6) and Texarkana (No. 9), which play each other this weekend with the winner to face the HP-Heath winner.

Bryan Adams (22-5) vs. McKinney North (19-9)
Hallsville (24-3) vs. Henderson (21-7-1)

Rockwall-Heath (25-8) vs. HP (23-12)
Mesquite Poteet (24-5) vs. Texarkana Texas

It's an interesting note that two of the remaining eight teams, HP and McKinney North, were fourth-place entries into the state playoffs. Only four of the quarterfinalists – Bryan Adams, Henderson, Poteet and Texas – were district champions.

I just took a look at the UIL Track and Field Championships schedule for HP's entries.

Get there early or you'll miss the Scots in action.
Sara Sutherland starts things off at 8:40 a.m. with the girls' 3200-meter run.

Katherine Culwell starts the girls' Class 4A long jump at 10:30 a.m.

The running finals don't begin until 6 p.m., well after any HP fans (or media members) in attendance have returned home.

Which the more strange to you? Hearing that there's valet parking available at a high school sports event, or a retraction of said announcement while trying to thank those responsible?

Heard over the ESD stadium P.A. system during the third quarter:

"We'd like to thank our close and dear friends at St. Mark's for sponsoring the valet parking at tonight's game. . . .  (muffled talk in the background) oh . . . really? They didn't? . . . (back on the microphone) Oh. OK, never mind."

I can appreciate being edited after 18 years working in journalism. But I had to chuckle during that announcement. Most of us will never be edited while we're on the air.

But seriously - valet parking at a high school game?

The last half of the Region II-4A Track and Field Championships came and went without any other HP headlines. Sara Sutherland placed third in the 16o0 with Jenna Read in fifth.

Sutherland joins Katherine Culwell as the Lady Scots' representatives to the state meet June 5 in Austin. Sutherland will run the 3200 at state, and Culwell will compete in the long jump.

Matt Galvin finished eighth in the boys' 1600 to close HP's stay at Fouts Field in Denton.

It's over at ESD, and the Scots registered a 6-3 win over St. Mark's to win the THSLL North District Championship. Dillon Zweifel scored two second-quarter goals, and Josh Francis scored with 1:35 left to give HP a 4-1 halftime lead.

That lead was secure enough, but Chris Hipps scored an insurance goal eight seconds into the second half, gathering Briggs Montgomery's faceoff to start the half and charging toward the St. Mark's goal. Kevin Fritts and Will Ziegler also scored for HP (17-1), which beat St. Mark's for the second time this season.

Scots goalkeeper Jordan Lee earned the game's Most Valuable Player honors. Zweifel was the Offensive MVP, and junior defender Hipps was the Defensive MVP.

HP, the defending state Division I champion, advances to the THSLL State Championships as the top-seeded team, and will face the fourth seed, most likely from the Central District, at 5 p.m. Saturday. The state title match is at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

Austin Bowie (14-5) and Cedar Park (9-9) played for the Central District championship tonight. Houston Strake Jesuit (13-8) has already qualified for state from the South District. HP beat Strake Jesuit 13-5 earlier this season. St. Mark's (16-4) is the likely wild card entry to the four-team state tournament.