A former Texas high school football coach is facing felony theft charges after he reportedly stole thousands of dollars from funding for his high school's athletic department.

According to the Austin American-Statesman and ABC affiliate KVUE, former Austin (Texas) Anderson High coach Mark Reiland is facing felony charges related to the theft of somewhere between $2,400 and $42,000 from the Anderson athletic department.

The total number Reiland will be held accountable for is unknown, as he has confessed to taking $2,400 from an Anderson football fundraiser, yet an AISD police investigation found that he cashed some $42,000 worth of checks that were made out to Anderson High departments.

On top of that, Reiland's arrest affidavit also states that he was pawning computers, overhead projectors and a variety of other school property. It is also believed that Reiland was selling game jerseys and football helmets to the players in his own program.

No official reason for Reiland's theft have been provided, but it is assumed by police that debts incurred from a serious gambling addiction contributed to his behavior.

"We were stunned [in the spring] when we learned there might have been some improprieties [concerning Reiland]. It's something we never expected," Anderson Principal Donna Houser told the American-Statesman. "I like Mark personally, ... and I hate it for [the Reiland family], but we can't tolerate any kind of financial problems."

A coach whose team was recently embroiled in a nasty brawl that brought severe sanctions on both schools stepped down from his position less than a week later. Yet, the reason he left his job has nothing do with the fight at all.

Kennedy football coach Henry Lusk

Instead, Sacramento (Calif.) Kennedy High football coach Henry Lusk resigned after a "racy" photo was circulated on Twitter. The photo, which was captured by Sacramento ABC affiliate News10, shows Lusk wearing nothing but a thong and capturing a picture of himself in the mirror. You can see the photo here, or in the video below.

"We are all trying to move forward," Kennedy Principal Chad Sweitzer told the Sacramento Bee when asked about Lusk's departure.

Why a high school football coach was wearing nothing but a thong and posing in front of a mirror is a legitimate question, but he's certainly not alone. There are plenty of people on Facebook who have photos some would consider "racy" which they never intend for others to see. And while choosing to keep that picture may not have been the best judgment call Lusk has ever made, it certainly wouldn't seem to affect his ability to coach a high school football team.

The other issue with Lusk's voluntary departure is that Lusk apparently never intended or wanted to have anyone else see the photo. According to the Bee, the photo of Lusk was first uploaded to Twitter by a since-deleted account that threatened Lusk with its possession before finally releasing the photo. It was then re-tweeted by dozens of individual Twitter accounts, all attributing the subject as Lusk.

Though the photo was deleted within 24 hours of its initial release, the damage to Lusk's reputation was already done. After initially telling the Bee that he would not step down, Lusk resigned, casting an even darker cloud over a program which had been beset with issues related to one of the more fierce brawls seen on high school sidelines this year.

That fight -- which occurred between players from Kennedy and Sacramento (Calif.) McClatchy High -- led to the dismissal of eight players from Lusk's varsity squad.

Through the first 19 games of the Texas high school volleyball season, few players, if any, could compare to Bowie (Texas) High star Andrea Estrada. The 16-year-old Columbian import has been a one-girl dynamo, leading Wichita Falls to a 20-4 record and dreams of a district title.

Bowie volleyball player Andrea Estrada

In fact, Bowie was even better than that when Estrada was on the court: The Rabbits were 19-0 with Estrada on board. Now, the team officially stands at 1-4 after Estrada was deemed ineligible by Texas' University Interscholastic League following an investigation into Estrada's past with the Columbian national team.

According to the Wichita Falls Times Record, a future opposing team provided video it had dug up of Estrada competing for the Columbian national team against Brazil in a South American tournament. Despite Bowie coach Jeanie Stark's protestations that the then 14-year-old only competed sparingly in one game at the tournament, UIL decided that Estrada should not have been made eligible, forcing the Rabbits to voluntarily void their victories in which she competed earlier this season.

"I know it's easier for the UIL to say no to her than to take on a whole bunch of battles down the line," Stark told the Times Record. "It protects them, and it protects us coaches, too.

"The only thing worse than not ever knowing this young lady is to by chance have gotten to know her and love her and have her purposely taken away."

The loss of Estrada almost surely ends Bowie's district and state title hopes, and gives the Rabbits no time to adjust for her absence. Worse, it takes away an integral part of a growing and improving program while she can still help a team and forge long lasting friendships, the very point of foreign exchange programs.

When a team punts the football, the goal is always to down the ball as close to the goal line as humanly possible. That's no surprise. What might be a surprise is that the best example Prep Rally has ever seen of stopping the ball on the doorstep of the end zone came in a small Texas high school football game, and was turned in by an obscure junior with remarkable body control.

As you can see above, the Tomball (Texas) Concordia Lutheran High special teams unit knows how to get things done. After punter Mark Shroeder boomed a kick on fourth down during Concordia's game against Hitchcock (Texas) High, his coverage team raced down the field, only to see the ball still bouncing ahead of it.

That's when Dylan Cress exploded. After judging a bounce, Cress sent his body into warp mode, sprinted forward in full thrust, grabbed the ball just as it seemed destined to break the plane of the end zone and then miraculously stopped his momentum on a dime.

You can see another view of Cress' stop here, as seen from the end zone he was running toward.

The final part of that scenario might be the most impressive, too. It's almost impossible to overemphasize that Cress somehow went from a full-out, dead sprint to a complete stop with literally no room for error; if his toe had crept forward an inch, the punt would have been a touchback.

The latest high school football brawl has brought more attention -- and suspensions -- on a new region: the Pacific Northwest.

According to the Seattle Times, a total of eight high school football players from two Seattle-area schools have been suspended following a benches clearing brawl during a Saturday night game. Three players from Seattle (Wash.) Ballard High and five from Seattle (Wash.) Garfield High were ejected after a failed two-point conversion following a touchdown led to a Garfield player throwing a punch at his opponent.

Ballard football

That aggression precipitated a full-on brawl between the two teams with some five minutes remaining in the contest. Unlike a handful of other brawls which have occurred this fall, officials and coaches were able to regain control of the situation and continue playing the game, which concluded in a 26-7 victory for Ballard on the school's homecoming night. The Ballard team is pictured above celebrating after the victory.

All eight players who were ejected will serve a minimum of a one-game suspension, as stipulated by Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association regulations for player ejections.

"It's a sad day in Beaver nation," Ballard football coach Joey Thomas told the Times. "We'd like to show more class and more integrity than that. But we'll use it as a teaching moment.

"Nobody should have left the sideline, but at the same time as a former player I understand it's hard when you see one of your teammates being swung on. This is a contact sport. I am my brother's keeper and everybody's playing for each other."

While Ballard has already taken steps to move on from the incident, the surrounding situation at Garfield makes matters all the more confusing for the school. The team's interim head coach, David Myers, said the program would have no comment on the incident.

It's spreading. A year after Eastern Washington University installed the nation's first red artificial turf field, a Texas high school followed suit, with New Braunfels (Texas) Canyon High kicking off its 2011 campaign on a blood red field.

New Braunfels Canyon football plays on its red field

Now, despite a significant amount of criticism of the Canyon field and the perceived "camouflage" advantage it provides the Cougars' athletic teams, a Michigan high school might join the trend. According to the Detroit News, Orchard Lake (Mich.) St. Mary's School is openly considering replacing its natural grass playing surface with bright red artificial turf to match its red, black and white color scheme.

While no final decision on the field's color has been made -- St. Mary's athletic director George Porritt addressed reports that the red turf had already been green stamped by saying "somebody jumped the gun" -- it's clear that school administrators and the athletic department in general at the all-boys school have expressed significant interest in competing on colored turf.

"We first have to get the approval of our board [of directors]," Porritt told the News, though that approval was left as the most significant likely hurdle to installing a red field.

Of course, that means that the school is willing to bankroll the $450,000 to $1.2 million cost such an installation would require. While that pricetag can inspire a certain level of sticker shock, that might actually serve to be a relatively affordable way for a smaller school in the Detroit area to gain attention and a brandable edge to its athletic program.

Whether or not Alana Barry is the best high school field hockey goalie of all-time depends upon one's point of view. For her part, the Vorhees (N.J.) Eastern Camden County High keeper isn't sure herself.

Eastern field hockey goalie Alana Barry

When you look at the statistics, however, Barry has a pretty strong case. On Tuesday, she became the first field hockey goalie in American history to record 68 career shutouts, an achievement she locked up during a 10-0 Eastern victory against Cherokee (N.J.) High.

"I'm surprised by this," Barry told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "I never thought it would happen.

"My defenders today were Madison Jung, Erin Hoag, Gianna Perrone and Stephanie Byrn, and they have been a huge part of this record-breaking thing and I couldn't have done it without them, or the players before."

Indeed, Jung, Hoag, Perrone and Byrn had a lot to do with Barry's success on Tuesday, as the senior keeper went the entire game without facing an official shot. Still, that hardly dims the accomplishments the senior keeper has reached across a four-year career in which she finally eclipsed the 67 shutouts turned in by then San Diego (Calif.) Scripps Ranch High keeper Haley Exner in 2003.

Fittingly, Exner worked with Barry at a Futures Olympic program during the spring of 2011 and, according to the Inquirer, saw some striking similarities with herself.

"We have the same stature a little, and her style is explosive with great footwork," Exner told the Inquirer. "She is a very athletic goalkeeper, has size, and communicates well. She has presence on the field."

Barry also has a knack for making the most of a good situation. Eastern is the 300-pound gorilla of New Jersey field hockey, capturing each state title since 1999, when Danyle Hellig took over as the school's head coach.

High school sports are known for attracting devoted fans, yet none may compare to one Chicago-area doctor. While other fans may try their hardest not to miss any of their team's games, it's still likely that they miss the occasional faceoff. Not Chicago (Ill.) St. Rita School alum Gerardo Grieco, who has attended every St. Rita's football game since his freshman year at the school … in 1969.

St. Rita's team doctor Gerardo Grieco

According to the Southtown Star, a subsidiary of the Chicago Sun-Times, 43 years after his first appearance at a St. Rita game, Grieco is now serving as the volunteer St. Rita team doctor. The 57-year-old makes the trek every week even though he lives more than two hours away in Bloomington, Ill. Grieco, who serves as a surgeon in Normal, Ill., during the day, has been at 503 consecutive St. Rita varsity football games, a streak that would impress any athlete at any level.

As Grieco told the Southtown Star's Pat DiSabato, that includes days on which the surgeon had other important commitments, like his brother's wedding, for instance. That was the case in 1990, when Grieco showed up at a St. Rita's game in a tux.

"I was the best man at my brother's wedding," Grieco told the Star. "The wedding was three hours later. My mother asked me where I was going. I told her I was going to the St. Rita game. Besides, I said, they have to wait for me. I've got the ring."

Among other important dates Grieco has sacrificed for St. Rita's football team are countless scheduled shifts when he was a resident at Chicago's Cook County hospital and the first morning of one of his son's life. On that occasion, Grieco reportedly waited until after his wife had given birth safely at around 4 a.m. and both mother and son were doing fine. Then, a few hours later, he left a note for his wife saying he was headed to the St. Rita's game.

"St. Rita was playing that day and I just let her know where I was at," said Grieco, who has four grandchildren. "Everything was fine (with the birth and recovery) or else I wouldn't have gone. It was my son's birthday present."

That would be the first of many St. Rita's-based presents his son would receive. The school's athletic director, Mike Zunica, told the Southtown Star that Grieco is easily the biggest customer at the school's bookstore. If there is any new line of memorabilia, the surgeon will purchase it and give it to someone.