Changes are coming for MSHSAA and OVC events

Watching the Ohio Valley Conference baseball tournament will require a longer road trip, and seeing the state high school basketball tournaments for teams in Class 1, 2 or 3 might require a little extra shuffling, too.

First, for the decision that is set in stone: The OVC recently voted to relocate its postseason tournament from Paducah, Ky., to Pringles Park, home of the Double-A West Tenn Diamond Jaxx in Jackson, Tenn. Pringles Park will host the tournament for at least three years starting in 2010; next year's tournament will be May 26-30.

And a decision being debated but not voted on (yet): The MSHSAA Board of Directors has asked for further study of an idea that would use two facilities for first-day games in the Class 1, 2 and 3 state high school basketball championships, saying the move would be "more advantageous" for the athletes involved.

The plan would help balance the schedule through the first day of the event, altering the existing schedule that calls for more than 12 hours of nonstop basketball at Mizzou Arena. The proposal being considered would use both Mizzou Arena and Hearnes Center for the first day of games.

With that idea still up in the air until a later vote, the association did approve a plan that would keep the championship events for wrestling and basketball on the Mizzou campus for at least the next four years, while track and field state championships will stay in Jefferson City for at least the next two years.

The area's best sports program? The numbers say Notre Dame

For the second year in a row, the numbers point to Notre Dame as the best athletic program out of more than 80 in Southeast Missouri.

Notre Dame finished with 36 points in the annual SemoSportsWeb.com all-sports standings, 14.5 points ahead of runnerup Herculaneum. St. Vincent finished third, Festus fourth and Farmington, Sikeston and Valle in a tie for fifth.

Notre Dame clinched the No. 1 spot on the list when the school won the Class 3 state baseball championship.

Fifty-two of the region's 83 high schools earned points in the list, which awards points based on postseason success in each of the state's athletic competitions (10 points for a state title, 8 for second place, and so on). Click here to see the full list of all 52 schools and their ranking.

The list (at least the top two) is identical to last year, when Notre Dame won with 39 points and Herculaneum finished second with 22 (a 17-point edge). This year, Notre Dame finished with 36 points, and Herculaneum had 22.5.

A good week for local baseball (and basketball, too)

Southeast Missouri will have at least three teams in the state baseball tournament, and there's a chance two more can join the list today when Notre Dame and Salem each host Class 3 quarterfinals.

Already, Cooter (Class 1), DeSoto (Class 4) and Valle (Class 2) will represent the region in next week's semifinals at Meador Field in Springfield. Both Cooter and Valle rank among the top 10 in Southeast Missouri, but DeSoto's postseason march might be the most surprising — the Dragons were just below .500 as the fifth seed heading into the district tournament, but put together a string of upsets that included wins over the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the state coaches poll.

• 20 Southeast Missouri high school seniors will get one final taste of high school competition this weekend in Columbia as part of a state all-star game.

The Missouri Basketball Coaches Association picked 10-player rosters for eight regional teams that will play a tournament format starting today. Each roster included five alternates, all of them seniors. Finals are Saturday, and all games are at Columbia College.

The game replaces the the former MOBCA all-star game that was played each year in Springfield.

Southeast Missouri's boys team, coached by Sikeston Greg Holifield, features Austin Brewer of Eminence, Zach Curry of Bernie, Donald Dixon of Charleston, Lance Miller of Farmington, Austin Greer of Notre Dame, Josh Minner of NMCC, Michael Porter of Sikeston, Riley Raulston of Poplar Bluff, Drew Thomas of Scott County Central, and Byron Wright of Portageville.

The girls team, coached by Sheila Midgett of Jackson, consists of Molly Barnes of Farmington, Jeleea Drake of Portageville, Alex Fowler of Notre Dame, Debra Hall of Kelly, Katelyn Heil of Dexter, Cheslea Knight of Meadow Heights, Taylor Jansen of Farmington, Jodi Menz of Delta, Jill Temples of Dexter, and Brittany Walker of Portageville.

How do you rile up a conference? Bring back David Heeb

He's proven he's a great coach and has the state championships to back it up. But David Heeb's return to Southeast Missouri is sure to stir up dust that took a long time to settle.

Heeb will return to Southeast Missouri in the fall as the boys basketball coach at Caruthersville, a program that's struggled with coaching changes and plenty of setbacks. The news of Heeb's hiring first appeared on SemoSportsWeb.com late Sunday, and it didn't take long to circulate on message boards and stir talk of Heeb's days at Bell City and Scott County Central.

He arrived at both schools during a time when their programs were stuck in mediocrity, and both turned around not long after he walked in the door. At Bell City, the Cubs hadn't won 20 games in a season since 1981, but Heeb turned out 29 wins in his second season. At Scott Central, the Braves never really found their rhythm since Ronnie Cookson's first retirement in 1995, but credit Heeb for getting the program back on solid footing.

But at both stops, Heeb was accused of recruiting athletes. He was suspended by the MSHSAA for half a season as a result.

Now Heeb heads into a familiar situation at Caruthersville, where five coaches have led the team in the past five seasons, all with disappointing results. The Tigers haven't had a winning season since Brian Brandtner left for Bell City (to replace Heeb) in early 2005.

Already this week, coaches in the Bootheel Conference have made recruiting jokes — they're only jokes, but rival coaches are surely wondering what to expect now that Heeb has joined their club.

If the Tigers start winning again — not unlikely, considering the team's freshman class is among the region's best — how long before the recruiting charges start? How long before the fingers point and the tongues wag?

And how long before a state championship?

Football notes: Brandon Bourbon, Mitch Craft and William Moore

Potosi junior Brandon Bourbon could wind up at Mizzou in 2010 after all — word came today that couch Gary Pinkel made the offer this week for Brandon to join the Tigers as a running back. The Tigers join Kansas, Stanford, BYU and Harvard on the list of offers so far.

Among area seniors, Farmington teammates Andrew Huhman and Zach Oyler signed to play football in the fall at Missouri Valley College. They're among dozens of SEMO athletes who have signed with schools for the 2009-'10 season; the full list is here.

• Mitch Craft, an all-state quarterback at Cape Girardeau Central who later played at Southern Mississippi, made his first start last week with the Acadiana Mudbugs of the new Southern Indoor Football League. Craft, playing as a linebacker with the new Louisiana-based team, had five solo tackles and three assists. The Mudbugs defeated Austin, Texas, 37-29.

• Hayti grad and Mizzou standout William Moore, who was picked by Atlanta in the second round of the NFL Draft on Saturday, became the second football player from Hayti to reach the pro level.

From Hayti historian Al Jackson: In 1961, G.W. Dean entered the pros when he signed with Toledo of the USFL; his career ended quickly after a knee injury during the exhibition season. At Hayti, Dean held rushing and scoring records after playing in just 17 varsity games; those records were later broken, but it took nearly twice as many games for it to happen.

Falcons pick Hayti's William Moore in NFL Draft

William Moore wanted Atlanta, and it looks like Atlanta wanted him.

Moore, an all-state safety from Hayti who played his final season at Mizzou back in the fall, was the 55th pick in the NFL Draft on Saturday. And before the Falcons ever said his name, Moore said he already felt Atlanta-bound.

"Everybody asked me where I’d love to go. I said Atlanta," he told the Alanta Journal-Constitution in a story published today. It’s like when I went to Missouri, I had the feeling, the players, the direction they’re headed. I know I can go in and make an instant impact.”

Read more of the AJC's story on Moore and his Mizzou days here.

And by the way, Moore is already angling to get to wear No. 25 at Atlanta — the same number he wore at Mizzou.

• With one Southeast Missouri athlete picked in one pro draft this year, another is likely to be picked in less than two months: Tyler Hansbrough of Poplar Bluff and the University of North Carolina is widely expected by NBA insiders to be a first-round or second-round selection. ESPN will broadcast the draft live from New York.

SEMO sets its 2009 football schedule

Southeast's football schedule is nearly firm for 2009, and the Redhawks are expected to make it official with an announcement soon.

Among the questions likely to come up before the season kicks off Sept. 5: Can Southeast find its defense, which went MIA for most of last season? Can the Redhawks keep focus on the game and out of the courts (case in point: Houston Lillard's public indecency charge)?

And maybe biggest question of all: Just how hot is that seat getting for coach Tony Samuel, whose teams have posted a combined three-year record of 11-23 — including last year's 4-8 season that included two wins in overtime. Will another 3- or 4-win season be enough to earn Samuel a fifth year leading the program?

This year's schedule highlights: an opener against Quincy University on Sept. 5, a payday game (likely worth $200,000 or more for Southeast) at Cincinnati on Sept. 12, and two final games at home against the Redhawks' biggest rivals — Nov. 14 against Murray State, and Nov. 21 against SIU-Carbondale.

None of this year's opponents are new to the schedule, but a couple haven't been around in a while. Southeast last played Quincy in 2001 (a 38-6 win), Southern Illinois in 2005 (a 58-23 loss), and Cincinnati in 2007 (a 59-3 loss).

The full schedule:

Sept. 5 — vs. Quincy
Sept. 12 — at Cincinnati
Sept. 19 — vs. Eastern Illinois
Sept. 26 — at UT-Martin
Oct. 3 — at Tennessee State
Oct. 10 — vs. Austin Peay
Oct. 17 — idle
Oct. 24 — at Tennessee Tech
Oct. 31 — at Eastern Kentucky
Nov. 7 — Jacksonville State
Nov. 14 — Murray State
Nov. 21 — SIU-Carbondale