A marching band is as integral a part of high school football as Friday nights. Fall tradition not withstanding, in Nebraska, band participation now all but officially ends at the conclusion of the regular season, thanks to the playoff ticketing regulations implemented by the Nebraska School Activities Association.

According to the Omaha World-Herald, the NSAA forces all band members to pay gate admission to perform at postseason games. In essence, marching bands are asked to pay like any customer, then entertain the other customers while they're at it.

As a result, most bands stop traveling en masse at the end of the regular season to save the expense. The World-Herald reported that only a pep band from Millard South and Millard North showed up for those schools' crosstown playoff showdown last Friday. Last year's Class A final was reportedly even worse, with neither team fielding a band of any sort.

The NSAA has always operated under the belief that forcing bands to pay their own

If concussion safety and maintenance -- and how different states are handling head safety in their own way -- has provided the dominant storyline from high school football across the country, one of the most intriguing secondary concerns suddenly facing school athletic departments is copyright infringement. With Florida State's lawsuit against Southeast (Fla.) High serving as a national springboard for debate, a handful of schools have suddenly been faced with a need to adjust or completely remodel their schools logos.

The Washington Post's James Wagner recently wrote a similar expose focusing on the struggles schools in the D.C. area have had with copyright infringement, with one notable twist: In D.C., the copyright issues were first sparked in 2008 during the presidential campaigns, and the school found guilty of stealing a collegiate mascot could place the blame squarely on one man's shoulders: Lou Dobbs.

According to the Post, Dobbs hosted an evening broadcast of his then-CNN

It's not uncommon for football booster parents to provide a postgame meal for their teams each Friday night. In a way, Kim Banz and Kerrie Frazier are fulfilling that role for Putnam City West (Okla.) High, with two notable exceptions: They aren't booster parents, and they didn't know anyone on the team before they started feeding them.

Instead, according to a story from The Oklahoman, the two women stepped forward to feed the team after each game following a news report that portrayed the rapid rising poverty among the families within the Putnam City West community. According to data from the 2009-10 school year, more than 70 percent of Putnam City West students were eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches, and some school officials estimate that percentage may be as high as 90 percent in the 2010-11 year.

That kind of poverty meant that some PC West players might not get enough meals until they return for school on Monday. Banz and Frazier -- both of whom live within two

Remember the scene in "The Natural" where Roy Hobbs hits a home run and the stadium lights explode? Well, Georgia got to witness the high school football version of that episode on Friday night during a game between Marietta (Ga.) High and Walton (Ga.) High.

Someone should have cued the soundtrack for the movie version of "Friday Night Lights," performed by (you guessed it) Explosions in the Sky.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Michael Carvell and the Marietta Daily Journal, the lights on the right side of one of Marietta Northcutt Stadium's end zone exploded while the Marietta Blue Devils celebrated a first-quarter touchdown with just six seconds remaining in the period. Sparks flew everywhere, providing the impression that fireworks were exploding to celebrate the Marietta score.

Given the fact that it was senior night in Marietta, that idea wasn't completely far fetched, either.

"There were sparks everywhere, it looked like a celebratory fireworks display -- in

Usually, when a student admits to taking an illegal substance, the confession alone guarantees the end of his or her season. In the case of Bingham (Utah) High star running back Harvey Langi, the very drug test meant to confirm his guilt may have saved his senior campaign.

According to the Deseret News, Langi first admitted to smoking marijuana after he and three friends were caught trespassing at a construction site on Oct. 17. Langi admitted to using the drug when pressured by police. Then, when school officials learned of the arrest some 10 days later, they suspended Langi and a teammate who was also arrested for the rest of the season, per the pair's violation of team rules.

That's when the senior star insisted he hadn't smoked at all, and claimed he only admitted using the drug when nervous while being questioned by officers. Langi and his teammate were both administered drug tests, and both came back clean, to the surprise of the police who arrested the pair in the first place.

Torrington (Conn.) High running back Brenden Lytton didn't just have a big game in Friday night's 61-28 rout of Wilby (Conn.) High, he had an all-time record game.

According to the Litchfield County Register Citizen, Lytton scored a state-record nine touchdowns during a 332-yard rushing performance in the Raiders' latest victory. He also added five extra points for good measure, pushing his personal single-game scoring total to an astounding 59 points.

"This team is a family," Torrington coach Dan Dunaj told the Register Citizen. "Brenden deserves everything he gets and his teammates are always behind him."

On Friday, Lytton was able to push for the state record in part because Wilby found just enough offense to keep the game going and avoid the state's new "mercy rule." According to Connecticut regulations, if a team wins a game by 50 or more points, that team's coach is suspended for the following week's contest, providing ample incentive to avoid blowouts at all costs. Torrington

A strange suspension stemming from an incident during a school's spirit week proves that you can have too much school spirit, at least in the state of Massachusetts.

According to the Boston Globe, Hamilton-Wenham (Mass.) High student Dan DePaolis was suspended for two days last week for riding his family's horse around the perimeter of the school, imitating a knight. DePaolis was led by a friend wearing a squire costume, and the horse walker was also suspended for a day -- and forced to perform two hours of community service -- for his involvement in the stunt.

Hamilton-Wenham's teams are known as the Generals, so the stunt wasn't based on the school's mascot itself.

"They told my son it's the equivalent of bringing in a loaded firearm to school" Ron DePaolis, the teenager's father, told the Globe. "[He] brought the spirit up of the student body. The kids need that, a little boost in the morale."

According to Ron

In a preseason preview of Cascade Christian (Wash.) High School's football team, a photo of senior stars was highlighted by running back Tyler Walrath, No. 37 in the photo below, leaping through the air. Given the angle of the camera, Walrath almost appeared to be flying through the air like Superman. While Walrath can't fly, one could be excused for feeling he might still be a man of steel after the senior star ran for 168 yards and two touchdowns with a broken leg on Friday.

That's right, Walrath broke the century mark and accounted for two touchdowns on a broken tibia, helping the undefeated Cougars crush rival Orting (Wash.) 55-6, officially claiming the Nisqually League title in the process. Perhaps more amazingly, Walrath said his leg felt fine after the game, according to the Tacoma News Tribune.

"It's 100 percent -- not even a bruise," he told the News Tribune. "I feel amazing."

It's not like Walrath broke his leg during the game and kept playing on it, either. The senior knew