A heated boys lacrosse playoff game in Florida took a disturbing turn on Tuesday when a standout defenseman for one of the teams was ejected for throwing a punch at his opponent, then sucker punched another player while he was being escorted from the field, leaving the second punched player lying prone, stunned on the turf.

The player who threw the punch has since been suspended from school for the remainder of the week and was banned from any athletic participation for six weeks, though that suspension will have no weight as his team has already been eliminated from the state playoffs.

The incident occurred in Ft. Lauderdale, where regional power Boca Raton (Fla.) St. Andrews School was visiting traditional rival Ft. Lauderdale (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas School in a Florida High School Athletic Association Regional Final. As reported in detail by Wells Dusenbury of West Palm Beach's ESPN Radio affiliate, ESPN760, the ugly incident began when St. Thomas Aquinas defenseman Jake Champion threw a punch at a St. Andrew's player in the third quarter.

While the full reasons for Champion's punch remain unclear, the teenager had plenty to be upset about. St. Andrews had opened up a virtually unassailable 15-5 lead, and it was becoming more and more clear that the Raiders' once promising season would come to an end at the hand of the very regional rival they so longed to overtake yet again.

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Whatever the reason, Champion clearly lost control of his emotions and was caught by referees in the process, earning himself an ejection from the game. Yet, it was while Champion was being escorted off the field that he delivered the strike that will almost certainly live on in Florida lacrosse infamy for some time. Just before leaving the extended field of play, Champion threw a full punch at an unsuspecting St. Andrews attackman, Jordan Todd, who didn't see the STA defenseman coming and appeared to be completely blindsided by the strike.

In fact, Todd was so shocked by the punch that he lay prostrate on the ground for a good 20-30 seconds before pulling his wits back together and lifting himself off the turf, at which point he was finally able to get himself back together and, eventually, go on to finish off the Scots' 20-6 victory.

"I was standing there and I just get hit in the face and I'm on the ground," Todd told ESPN760. "There's no place in the game for that."

One of the top football players from Virginia's football-rich Tidewater region was arrested and charged with brandishing a firearm for allegedly pulling out a BB gun during a fight with other teenagers and holding it to another Virginia teen's head.

Lafayette running back Will Capers — YouTube

As reported by the Williamsburg Yorktown Daily, William Capers III, a dominant running back in 2010 and 2011 for Williamsburg (Va.) Lafayette High, was arrested after a fight with six or seven other men between the ages of 18 and 20. During the fight, Capers allegedly pulled out a gun and held it to the head of another teen in the fight.

An hour after the fight was broken up, police located Capers and the teen admitted that he had pulled out a weapon, but said that it was a BB gun and not a traditional firearm. He was still charged with brandishing a firearm because Virginia law holds that someone can be charged with that count if a non-firearm (i.e., a BB gun or toy gun) bears a close resemblance to an actual weapon.

The arrest marks a dispiriting turn for Capers, who was a key contributor to Lafayette's football program in both 2010 and 2011. As a junior in 2010, Capers ran for 1,441 yards and 15 touchdowns. He nearly duplicated those statistics as a senior, rushing for 1,381 yards and 14 touchdowns while leading Lafayette back to the playoffs. He was recruited by William & Mary and Hampton throughout his junior and senior seasons. You can see highlights of Capers on the field here.

A legendary Pennsylvania basketball coach has been fired despite significant public protest to try and save his job in connection with his alleged use of foul language in the school's locker room before games.

As reported by the Chambersburg Public Opinion, the Chambersburg Area school board voted for Chambersburg (Pa.) Area Senior High boys basketball coach Shawn Shreffler not to return for the 2012-13 season, bringing an abrupt end to the coach's 15-year run at the school. Across that decade and a half, Shreffler built up an overall record of 241-150. Even more impressively, he helped Chambersburg reach the playoffs in 13 of those 15 seasons and won two district titles, including one in the recently completed season.

While the full reason for Shreffler's dismissal as coach has not been publicly announced, the Public Opinion reported that the board's review of his position was a late addition to the school board's agenda after allegations of the use of profanity in the locker room during the 2011-12 season were raised.

Evidently those allegations were all it took to oust one of the more accomplished coaches in the region, despite the firm protests of the coach's existing players and some of their parents.

"He has never attacked a player with vulgar language," Chambersburg senior basketball and baseball player A.J. Maun said at the meeting, which he reached after completing a baseball game. "He respects everyone and he's a great human being. He's being bamboozled."

Added fellow senior basketball player Skyler Roman: "I have to admit I've heard curse words in the locker room, I've heard curse words in the hall and in class," Roman said. "Heck, even I let a few fly on occasion."

The loudest voice in opposition of the coach came from the mother of a former player, who essentially accused the now-former coach of playing mind games with his players.

"It's more than profanity," Kim Fore, the mother of former Chambersburg basketball player Tyler Fore, told the meeting. "I know kids use it, adults use it and I use it as well. What he's saying to players is abuse. He's humiliating them and calling them out in front of the other players."

Those players, along with nearly 3,000 others, have joined a Facebook group supporting the coach with the aim of having him reinstated at the school.

The decision to end Shreffler's rein at the school led to almost immediate backlash from those near the program and some in the media. Patriot-News columnist Geoff Morrow rapidly came to the coach's defense, accusing the parents who were quietly behind Shreffler's ouster as being motivated by lack of playing time for their sons.

A Bay Area football star was stabbed to death at a party on Saturday night, and another teenager was arrested early Monday morning on charges of murder in connection with his death.

As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle and a handful of other outlets, Newark (Calif.) High running back Osana Futi, an 18-year-old senior, was stabbed to death after a fight at a house party in Newark on Saturday night. According to the Chronicle, an 18-year-old named Abraham Ibrahim Hade was arrested and held on charges of murder on Monday, and was scheduled to appear in Fremont court on Tuesday.

To say that Futi's death came a shock is a sincere understatement. The senior was a standout running back and linebacker for Newark High throughout his high school career, and planned to attend community college to compete in football beginning in fall 2012. In April, he competed in the Poly Bowl, a high school all-star game for athletes of Polynesian decent.

Newark running back and linebacker Osana Futi — YouTube

Newark High School held a charitable bake sale and fundraising effort to try and help defray the cost of Futi's funeral on Monday afternoon.

"He and the quarterback were just in my office on Thursday, talking about their plans about their future lives," Newark Unified School District superintendent David Marken told the Chronicle.

Even more tragically, Futi's death follows a similar stabbing death of one of his best friends, 17-year-old Justice Afoa, who was killed in late 2010.

It's official: The daughter of Randy Moss is definitely the best girls basketball player in the state of Kentucky.

As noted by Larry Brown Sports, among other outlets, Boone County (Ky.) High senior Sydney Moss recently swept all the Kentucky player of the year awards, earning the prestigious Gatorade Kentucky Girls Basketball Player of the Year award, the Associated Press Kentucky Girls Basketball Player of the Year award and, most recently, Kentucky's traditional state "Miss Basketball" honor.

Boone County star Sydney Moss — Associated Press

Those platitudes followed an impressive senior campaign in which Moss averaged a whopping 22.8 points, 10.1 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 4.2 steals per game. Ladies and gentlemen, those are some serious girls hoops statistics.

The younger Moss is headed to Florida, where her father may or may not be able to follow her collegiate career as closely as he was her senior season.

While spending the season away from the NFL, Randy Moss attended multiple Boone County games, including the team's state Sweet 16 elimination, a game in which his daughter did everything in her power to keep her team alive, scoring an incredible 41 points.

Long Lake (Minn.) Orono Senior High's baseball team has a number of experienced stars, but one of the team's youngest contributors achieved something that none of them -- and few others in state history -- have ever been able to achieve: He recorded a state-record six hits in a single game.

Orono hockey and baseball star Jacob Flemmer — Facebook

As reported by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Orono sophomore Jake Flemmer rapped six hits in his team's eight-inning, 14-8 win against Dassel-Cokato (Minn.) High, delivering six different singles and driving in three runs and scoring two in the process. The budding catcher became only the third player in state history to provide six hits in a single game, joining 1951 New Elm (Minn.) High star Walt Keckeisen and 2001 Blooming Prairie (Minn.) standout Bryan Kramer as the only Minnesotans to come up six hits in a single contest.

Yes, that means Minnesota prep legend turned MLB superstar Joe Mauer never pulled off that feat.

While it's difficult to deliver six hits in any circumstances, the ones that led to Flemmer's breakout game may have been particularly bizarre. Orono appeared doomed to a loss until the Spartans scored three rallying runs in the seventh inning, and then sent 11 different batters to the plate in the eighth inning. Flemmer batted twice in those innings, landing hits both times to finish 6-for-6 in the game.

"[The victory against Dassel-Cokato] was unbelievable," Orono coach Dick Crandall told the Star-Tribune's Minnesota Baseball Hub. "He's a good player. He's not just a one game deal."

A longtime Florida high school baseball coach abruptly resigned rather than face charges of a depressingly pitiful and troubling alleged crime: Stealing funds from his cash-strapped school's concession stands at baseball games and funneling them into a personal bank account.

As first reported by the Lakeland Ledger's Polk Preps high school sports site, and followed upon by Tampa CBS affiliate WSTP and a handful of other area outlets, Winter Haven (Fla.) High baseball coach David Saliba resigned earlier in April when he was made aware of the findings of an internal investigation which showed that Saliba had been taking the bulk of proceeds from his school's baseball concession stands and investing them in a personal bank account.

Across a three-year span, it's estimated that Saliba illegally kept as much as $20,000 from stolen concession proceeds and sponsor funds which were diverted from funding for the baseball program into Saliba's personal account.

Here's how the Ledger, which first obtained details of the investigation into Saliba's actions, described the investigation into the coach's alleged illegal practices.

Saliba "operated the concession sales at Winter Haven High School as a personal venture," according to a memo prepared by Carol Matthews, senior internal auditor for the School District. An investigative report released Monday was obtained by The Ledger via a public records request.

The laundry list of violations Saliba allegedly committed as part of his "serious misconduct" included all the following and more, according to Polk Preps.

• Knowingly failing to follow established procedures for handling and depositing funds from activities at the high school

• Giving false information during the investigation into his actions

• Intentionally entering into a contract to invest significant school funds without authorization and without defined procedure

The sudden release of investigation findings brought an abrupt end to one of the longest prep baseball careers in all of Florida. Saliba had served as Winter Haven's head baseball coach for 29 of his 30 years at the school. The coach was a significant figure in the Tampa baseball community up until he resigned on April 12, smack dab in the middle of the Winter Haven baseball season. The team is currently preparing for the forthcoming baseball playoffs without its longtime coach, who continues to argue that some of the claims against him are wholly inaccurate.

Weeks after two Lousiana pitchers gained national headlines for dueling well into extra innings and racking up extraordinary pitch counts, a Massachusetts hurler followed suit, tossing a remarkable 155 pitches in a 3-1, nine inning victory.

Barnstable pitcher Willie Nastasi Beachspikes.com photography

The pitcher in question is the aptly named Willie Nastasi, whose stuff on the mound (particularly his four-seamer) is, well, nasty. According to ESPN Boston, the Barnstable (Mass.) High senior is 3-0 and has struck out 28 batters in 21 innings. Most impressively, he threw all 155 pitches of Barnstable's extra inning victory against Taunton, striking out 16 after having spent 15 days out of action between games. You can see photos from that game and other Barnstable action right here.

"This was one of Willie's more gutsy performances," Barnstable coach Joe DeMartino told ESPN Boston. "He got behind in a lot of counts, but he battled back, and when he need a strike on a 3-2 count, he got it. We didn't have a hit after the fourth inning, so this was all Willie today. He obviously threw a lot of pitches, and had the game gone into extras we would have taken him out, but he put the team on his back and carried us."

A UConn signee, Nastasi is the third pitcher in April to turn heads with a stunning pitch count, following in the wake of New Orleans (La.) Jesuit School ace Emerson Gibbs' 193-pitch performance in an 18-inning, 2-1 Jesuit win against Metaire (La.) Archbishop Rummel School. In total, Gibbs pitched 15 innings while his opponent, Mitch Seward, threw 154 pitches, leading many to criticize their coaches for allowing the Tulane and LSU signees, respectively, to work that deep into a game.

Finally, after significant public pressure, Jesuit coach Joey Latino admitted that allowing his pitcher to work that deep in the game as a mistake.

"The number is indefensible," Latino told New Orleans network WWLTV of Gibbs' pitch count. "It's indefensible. I can't defend the number, and I think that's one thing I'm going to have to live with for awhile and I think it's something I'm going to regret."