ScotSports.com Blog

Now that the Cowboys are done with their first two preseason games, here's a note regarding another NFL topic that's close to home.

HP has two alumni who are playing in the NFL right now, and they'll face each other tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m. CST. Matthew Stafford begins his second season with the Detroit Lions playing at the Pittsburgh Steelers, where Daniel Sepulveda has the punting job anchored down for another season.

Stafford may not play much, but we would expect Sepulveda to perform on each punt since the Steelers don't have any other punters on the roster.

The NFL Network will carry a tape-delayed broadcast of the game at 9 a.m. Sunday; 6 a.m. Monday, and 3 p.m. Tuesday. If anyone has Sirius satellite radio, Sirius Channel 121 will air the game live. 

Former HP quarterback Luke Woodley is transferring to Texas A&M. The Aggies were among the schools recruiting Woodley while he was leading the Scots to 11-2 seasons the past two years.  

Woodley signed with Louisville last fall and graduated ahead of his class in December in order to enroll at the school in time for the spring semester and prepare for the Cardinals' spring practices. He left Louisville in March, however, citing personal reasons.  

Woodley threw for 7,941 yards and 81 touchdowns in his three seasons on HP's varsity, completing 65 percent of his passes. He ranks just behind now-NFL starter Matthew Stafford in most of HP's career passing statistics, but is ahead on career completions.   Woodley joins former HP players Winston Gamso and Seth Gardner on the Aggies' roster heading into preseason workouts.   

(Taken from MLB.com)
LOS ANGELES -- Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw dropped the appeal of his five-game suspension Monday and will begin serving it Tuesday, when the Dodgers open a three-game series in San Diego.

Kershaw will be eligible to make his next start Sunday in San Francisco. In his last start, on Sunday, Kershaw made 112 pitches over eight shutout innings, so the two extra days of rest figure to help freshen his 22-year-old arm. He had been scheduled to start Saturday due to the Dodgers' day off on Monday.

Kershaw was handed the suspension and undisclosed fine for, according to MLB vice president Bob Watson, "intentionally throwing at" San Francisco's Aaron Rowand with a pitch in the seventh inning Tuesday night. Kershaw received an automatic ejection from home-plate umpire Adrian Johnson, who had warned both benches after Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp was hit by a pitch from Tim Lincecum. No action was taken against Lincecum. 

Ex-HP pitcher Clayton Kershaw pitched one of his finest outings of the season in his longest stay on the mound this season. Kershaw got his 10th win of the season against only five losses by holding off the New York Mets in a 1-0 win Sunday night. He also maintained his earned-run average under three at 2.96.

Kershaw was able to start for the Dodgers while appealing his five-game suspension from the MLB office stemming from two hit batsmen in Tuesday's loss to the Giants.  He should know the results of his appeal later this week.

Kershaw, 21, gave up seven hits and had struck out only three, but had a two-hitter going through seven innings. The Dodgers' defense helped by not allowing a runner to reach third base in his eight innings on the mound. Kenley Jansen came on in relief and retired the Mets in order in the ninth. 

Should Kershaw's suspension be lifted, his next scheduled start would likely be Saturday in San Francisco in an interesting rematch of last Tuesday's game that started it all.

Clayton Kershaw has been suspended for five games and fined an undisclosed amount in addition to being ejected from Tuesday night's game at Dodger Stadium. MLB vice president Bob  Watson issued the suspension to the ex-HP hurler for "intentionally throwing at" Aaron Rowland of the San Francisco Giants in the seventh inning of LA's 7-5 loss. Kershaw will appeal the suspension, which will keep him scheduled for his next start in the Dodgers' rotation Sunday against the New York Mets.

"I can't comment," Kershaw said in an MLB.com story. Kershaw received a standing ovation from the crowd as he left field following the ejection. "Yeah, I heard it. It was great."

Below is the link to the complete story, along with a video package of what led to  ejections, from MLB.com.

Link to story/video on MLB.com

If it wasn't his best outing of the season, perhaps Tuesday's game was the most dramatic of Clayton Kershaw's short career in the majors. Kershaw earned an ejection at the start of the seventh inning for hitting Aaron Rowland in the hip with the first pitch of the seventh inning. It was Kershaw's second bean of the game, as he hit Andres Torres in the first at-bat of the game.

It was the first ejection in Kershaw's career, and he left the field to a standing ovation. LA manager Joe Torre was also tossed. Here's more from the MLB.com story by Evan Drillich.

Park Cities residents Fin and Charlie Ewing won their flight in the Texas Golf Association's Father-Son Championship last weekend at Miramont Country Club in Bryan. The Ewing duo shot net scores of 62-66-66 to win. 

Charlie Ewing, a stalwart as part of three HP state-champion golf teams, is a rising sophomore on the men's golf team at Vanderbilt.

 

I went by Highlander Stadium today to take a first-hand look at the work being done there, and couldn't help but notice the high-arching punts that were flying around the field. His 6-3 frame certainly didn't look like any high school player out there, and we haven't seen consistent 50-yard punts with four-second hang time in that stadium in a while.

Sure enough, former HP player and current Pittsburgh Steelers punter Daniel Sepulveda was working out solo on the Highlander turf during the noontime heat. I had a great visit, albeit brief, with the former HP reserve player who discovered punting while trying to be a walk-on linebacker at Baylor.

It doesn't seem like eight years have passed since the 2002 graduate was with the Scots. He didn't want me to shoot any video of him punting during the workout, and declined to have his picture taken. OK, so I offer the official picture from the Steelers' website above.

Sepulveda reports to the Steelers' training camp in two weeks in Latrobe, Pa. He says there's been no complications from the knee surgery that kept him out of the 2008 season, and as of now the Steelers have not invited any other punters to camp.

The Steelers and Sepulveda open the preseason against another HP grad, Matthew Stafford, hosting Detroit at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 14. The NFL Network will replay the game during  the week. Pittsburgh plays on national television four times, including on Halloween night, hosting Super Bowl champion New Orleans.