Scott Brown's SportsBytes on WKDZ

Condolences to the Hodge family

My sympathy and condolences go to the Hodge family of Marion.

12-year-old Jake Hodge was found dead at his home Saturday.  He was not known to have any prior medical issues and reports say a preliminary autopsy did not determine an official cause of death.

Jake was the son of Dennis and Shannon Hodge, both coaches at Crittenden County High School.

Shannon is the long-time girls basketball coach at Crittenden County.  If memory serves, I remember her being pregnant with Jake and continuing to coach basketball a dozen seasons ago.  She has always been a very accessible coach in terms of interviews, both before and after the game.  Unfortunately, not all coaches are this way.

Jake's sister Jessie Hodge was an All-District basketball player this past season.

Services will be Tuesday in Marion.  According to the Paducah Sun, Jake was an all-around athlete, playing for the Crittenden County U12 baseball team, Crittenden County Little League Football and Basketball teams, and the Kentucky Junior Rodeo Association.

God bless the Hodge family.

Samantha Butts to sign with Austin Peay to play softball

Samantha Butts, a senior shortstop for Calloway County High, will officially sign to play college softball at Austin Peay State University during a ceremony Wednesday at the high school.  The signing will take place at 11am in the Calloway County Media Room.

Butts began playing basketball and softball at Trigg County as a middle schooler before transferring to Calloway County prior to her freshman year.

Samantha is the daughter of Stevie and Sharon Butts of Cadiz.  Stevie said it was a conversation that Samantha had with Wildcat superfan Jerry Faris that caused her to switch from playing baseball to softball.

She was an All-First Region performer last year and All-State honorable mention.  She has also been academic All-State the past two years.

Butts was also the starting point guard for Calloway County, coached by former Trigg County standout Scott Sivills.

Austin Peay is coached by Jim Perrin, who is in his third season at the helm of the Lady Govs.  Perrin won 632 games in 20 seasons as Christian County head coach, winning 11 regional championships and four state crowns.

Stevie said that Perrin was recruiting another player on Sam's summer traveling team when he spotted Butts.  She also considered Union University, Campbellsville, Belmont, and Trevecca in Nashville.  Stevie also said some smaller schools had shown interest in Samantha for basketball.

Of course, Sam comes from an athletic family.  Father Stevie was a three-sport player at Trigg County and attended Murray State.  Her uncle David Butts played baseball at Murray State and was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 20th round of the 1986 amateur draft.  In four minor league seasons, David hit .262 with 18 home runs and 135 runs driven in.

Sam's uncle, current Trigg County baseball head coach Jackie Sholar, also played baseball at Austin Peay.

Sam's picture comes from a very nice photo blog from Michael Dann of the Murray Ledger and Times, which you can check out by clicking here.

Hopson, Edmonson compete at All-Star games

A couple of University Heights Academy teammates were busy playing basketball over the weekend.

Tyshawn Edmonson scored 15 points for the Kentucky All-Stars in a 113-89 loss to their counterparts from Ohio over the weekend.

Edmonson had five field goals and was 3-for-3 at the line.  He was the second-leading scorer on the team behind Jeffersontown's Nick Gagel, who scored 16 points.

Ohio was led by University of North Carolina-Greensboro signee Damian Eargle, who scored 17 points.

Meanwhile, Scotty Hopson scored 15 points to help the U.S. Junior National Select team beat the International Select team 98-78 over the weekend in the Nike Hoop Summit on Portland, Oregon.

Hopson played 19 minutes and was 6-of-14 from the field.  He missed all four of his shots from 3-point range. Hopson also had five rebounds, two steals, two assists, one blocked shot. 

USC signee DeMar DeRozan had 17 points to lead the U.S. Junior team.

Hopson is expected to sign with Tennessee Wednesday.

Both Edmonson and Hopson have been invited to try out for the Kentucky All-Star basketball team that plays an annual series with Indiana.  Also invited to try out this weekend at Georgetown University are Madisonville's Darnell Moore, Owensboro's Brock Moorman, Muhlenberg North's Aaron Morris, Marshall County's Travis Spiceland, and Henderson County's Josh Terry.

The All-Star team will be announced April 23.

The series will be played in one weekend this year.  The first game will be June 13 in Indianapolis and the return game two days later in Louisville.

Christian County 19th in baseball poll

Here is the latest statewide baseball poll from the Kentucky High School Baseball Coaches Association:

1.    Pleasure Ridge Park 2.    Paul Dunbar 3.    Lexington Catholic 4.    Apollo 5.    Tates Creek 6.    Eastern 7.    Henderson County 8.    Henry Clay 9.    Lexington Christian 10.  Heath         Male 12.  Trinity 13.  Bowling Green 14.  St. Xavier 15.  Ballard 16.  Owensboro Catholic 17.  Elizabethtown 18.  Barren County 19.  Christian County 20.  Lawrence County 21.  Shelby County 22.  Holy Cross-Louisville        Somerset 24.  Covington Catholic        Harrison County        Larue County        Ryle	Points 236 174 147 138 97 80 71 64 58 55 55 38 37 33 32 29 23 22 15 14 12 8 8 7 7 7 7	(19) (2) (1) (2) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1)
Others Receiving Votes — Daviess County 6, Dixie Heights 6, DuPont Manual 6, Grayson County 6, Hopkins County Central 5, Marion County 5, West Jessamine 5, Fern Creek 4, Greenup County 4, Warren East 4, Beechwood 3, Bullitt East 3, Mercer County 3, Murray 3, Calloway County 2, Central Hardin 2, Danville 2, Rockcastle County 2, Boone County 1, Campbell County 1, Estill County 1, Gallatin County 1, Marshall County 1, Nelson County 1, South Laurel 1

Hopson scores 10 points in McDonalds All-American Game

University Heights senior Scotty Hopson scored 10 points, grabbed two rebounds, and had a thunderous dunk off an alley-oop pass in the McDonalds High School All-American Game Wednesday at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

Hopson's West team lost to the East 107-102.

Hopson committed to Mississippi State last year but reopened his recruitment in February.  He says he has narrowed his choices to Tennessee, Mississippi State, Kentucky, Louisville and Texas.

(USA Today photo)

Storm damages Central Hardin High School

Tuesday night's storms that blew through western Kentucky also hit central Kentucky hard, including the Elizabethtown area.

The high winds and possible tornado blew part of the roof off of Central Hardin High School and caused major damage to the football field.  The pressbox there was ripped from the bleachers and displaced to the field by the high winds.

CLICK HERE for a photo gallery of the damage, including that to the athletic facilities at Central Hardin

Some Trigg County people are familar with Central Hardin because they host the State Powerlifting Tournament.  In fact, this year's meet is scheduled for March 15.  However, judging from the damage in the photo gallery, it remains to be seen if Central Hardin can get everything squared away in time.

Here is some video from the Louisville Courier-Journal that shows the damage to the gym and football stadium. Look where the football scoreboard was ripped in half.

Jan Woodall honored for her work with TCHS athletics

Trigg County High School athletic director Doug Gloyd (right) recently presented Jan Woodall with a plaque and gift of appreciation for her work with TCHS athletics.  Woodall, who has taken a job in Indiana, coached girls' basketball, swimming, track, and drove the team bus to numerous events.

Private vs. Public debate brewing again

The above cartoon appeared in the Somerset Commonwealth Journal earlier this week and has set off another firestorm between public schools and private schools.

The cartoon, drawn by Steve Cornelius of the Somerset newspaper, takes a shot at Lexington Christian, who was fined this month for providing financial assistance to some of the athletes who attended school there, which is supposed to be a big no-no with the KHSAA.  Instead of making the school forfeit wins, return awards, or ban them from the postseason, the KHSAA fined them and placed them on probation.

Fining a private school for a violation is like telling a millionaire to fire his chaueffer and telling him/her to drive to work.  Big deal.

The public schools have long accused the private schools of recruiting for years.  It's happened in Hopkinsville with University Heights, causing the public schools there to not schedule UHA.

Private schools in Owensboro, Louisville, Lexington, Ashland, and northern Kentucky have all dealt with the same accusations at one time or another.

It caused the public schools to request a separate championship division for private schools, a move shot down at the state level.

CLICK HERE to read the editorial of Cornelius that appeared in the Somerset Commonwealth Journal.

Guy Morriss turns down Boyle County job

Former Kentucky and Baylor head football coach Guy Morriss has turned down the Boyle County head coaching job, the Danville Advocate Messenger reported.

"Timing is everything and the timing is just not right," Boyle superintendent Steve Burkich told the Danville paper.  "We had serious discussions that may not have happened anywhere else except a place with the strong tradition and athletics excellence of this area.

Another possibility for Morriss could be the opening at Eastern Kentucky, left vacant when Danny Hope left for Purdue.

Boyle County, a multiple state champion in the past decade, is looking to replace Chris Pardue, who was 22-15 in three years at Boyle County.  Pardue left the Danville school to become the offensive coordinator at Campbellsville University.

Rumors of Morriss' interest in the high school coaching job became rampant last week.  Morriss owns property near Boyle County and expressed interest in the job, which was reported to pay nearly six figures.

HERE is the story from the Danville Advocate Messenger.

Guy Morriss - the next coach at Boyle County?

Former Kentucky football coach Guy Morriss, who was fired at Baylor after four losing seasons, could become the next football coach at Boyle County as early as Friday, according to the Danville Advocate Messenger newspaper.

Chris Pardue resigned from Boyle County to become the offensive coordinator for new Campbellsville University head coach Perry Thomas.

Read more about the likelihood of Morriss coaching Boyle County in this story.