Imagine a major high school without any athletic program. Pretty soon you won’t have to imagine, it will be the actual case at one school outside St. Louis.

The Cahokia track team, rear, may be no longer in 2014 — AP

As reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, the Cahokia (Ill.) High finds itself mired in the budget crunch to end all budget crunches. With the district already operating at a shortfall, a series of steep cuts in state funding that are projected for the coming two years are forcing the school to cancel all extracurricular activities, varsity sports included.

According to the Sun Times, the political move that forcing the cuts is tied to the Illinois state legislature’s unwillingness to adjust funding for the long-running pension program. Without cuts or other funding reform to the pension program, Cahokie and handful of other districts might find their state funding cut back so severely that they will struggle to pay their core operational expenses, let alone the funds needed to back sports, music and arts programs.

The threat of complete elimination is already earning sympathy from other teen athletes, who are quick to note that it would be a travesty for one of the state’s longstanding high school sports programs to be pushed to the wayside for purely political reasons.

Sometimes when a team needs a lift, it turns to its bench. In the case of the Mira Costa (Cal.) High baseball team, it just had to look farther down the bench than most … like to the guy filling the water cups.

The Mira Costa managers, who now have a collective two home runs — Mira Costa baseball

As reported by the Los Angeles Times, an honorable gesture usually intended to be just that – a gesture – became much more when Mira Costa suited up senior manager Spencer Knoche for his first varsity baseball game. With Mira Costa expecting a victory against Lawndale (Cal.) Leuzinger High, Mira Costa coach Cassidy Olson figured it would be a good time to get Knoche his first game action.

What neither Knoche or Olson expected was for the manager to emerge as the game’s star at the plate, with Knoche knocking out two home runs in a 20-1 victory. According to the Times, both of Knoche’s two homers were deep shots easily clearing the left field fence, something he had never even done in practice before suiting up in a game.

If there was any question whether Knoche was as surprised as the rest of the Mira Costa squad about his sudden power surge, that was answered when he approached second base and almost stopped; he didn’t realize his ball had cleared the fence, and intuitively assumed he couldn’t have hit a home run.

He did, and it put a nice cap on a dedicated four year career in which Knoche has been responsible for the freshman-sophomore team, junior varsity and varsity squads.

The Union City baseball field, four stories above Union City, N.J. — Newark Star-Ledger

Usually, when an outfielder runs through or over the fence in pursuit of a potential home run, they are greeted with gusto when they return to the dugout. If an outfielder attempted to do that on the diamond at Union City (N.J.) High, they would end up in a hospital, or possibly worse … a funeral home. There’s a good reason for that: Union City plays its games on what is almost certainly the only baseball field in the country that is four stories above ground level.

As noted in a terrific profile piece in MaxPreps, Union City’s baseball field sits on top of Union City High in the midst of the most densely populated town in the nation. The baseball field is part of the school’s multi-purpose athletic field, part of a $173 million capital development project.

Despite the sticker shock that comes from any $173 million high school facility, the Union City field is a sight to behold. The capital project spans 366,000 square feet in total and features both a three-acre football field that includes bleachers for 4,500 and a state of the art gym that can seat 1,800.

The Union City baseball field is built into the football field on the roof, leaving plenty of room for home runs and foul balls to do significant damage to cars parked four stories below.

Fittingly, Union City High also probably features a more robust insurance policy guarding against damage from baseballs, too. According to MaxPreps, the school’s policy includes coverage for any foul balls that do any damage to school or private property. The policy would also likely cover physical injury should any bystander be struck with a foul ball below the field, but Union City has been lucky enough to avoid such a scenario so far.

That’s a remarkable feat in itself, given the fact that Union City is home to more than 66,000 New Jersey residents in the space of just 1.283 square miles, making it the most dense location in the nation.

Courney Jarrell, a teacher and coach, was charged with object rape — Jordan Sherriff's DepartmentCourtney Jarrell was placed in two positions of strong authority at Jordan (Utah) Riverton High: teaching math and leading the sophomore team in the girls basketball program. In a disturbing turn, it now appears clear that Jarrell used that authority to violate one of the very students she was charged with protecting.

As reported by the Associated Press and a variety of other outlets, the Salt Lake Tribune among them, Jarrell was arrested on charges of object rape and felonious sexual abuse in connection with a disturbing sexual relationship she had with one of her 17-year-old female students. The Tribune reported that the object rape charge against Jarrell counts as a first-degree felony while the sexual abuse charge is weighted as a second-degree felony.

Jarrell is 22 years old while her alleged victim is 17.

According to Jordan School District officials, Jarrell was suspended from her positions with the school when allegations of the student affair first arose in March, with the school board turning the case over to police. When more specific details of the relationship between the two arose, including the degree to which the two participated in sexual acts at the coach's house, Jarrell resigned permanently.

"We immediately looked into it, and within hours of the complaint, she was suspended, and everything was turned over to Draper police," Jordan School District spokesperson Sandra Riesgraf told the Tribune. "We felt that it was something that rose to that level [of police involvement]."

The police clearly agreed, though Jarrell's attorney insisted that the departure was mutual, and that his client had left the school specifically to prepare to defend her name.

Here's a playlist from Patriot (Nokesville, Va.) High baseball announcer Eddie Kesler — John McDonnell/Washington PostWhy did walk-up music become a thing in high school baseball? Because it's great.

Most songs selected by Nokesville (Va.) Patriot High ballplayers when they step into the batter's box are what you might expect, as detailed in a Washington Post feature on a new prep tradition that has long existed in Major League Baseball.

Kenny Chesney, Dropkick Murphys, Toby Keith, Kanye West, Drake, Lil Wayne, Rage Against the Machine, Eminem, The White Stripes and Wiz Khalifa. The Police's "De Do Do Do" is a little strange, but to each his own.

But not everyone's playlist is as traditional as Patriot baseball announcer Eddie Kesler's cuts.

Take another great tradition at Briar Woods (Ashburn, Va.) High, for example. BWHS senior captains handpick the song selections for their freshmen teammates, according to The Post; hence frosh Caleb Barnes' intro song: Taylor Swift’s “I Knew You Were Trouble.” In case you're unfamiliar, that track includes these lyrics:

He'll never see you cry
Pretend he doesn't know
That he's the reason why

Similarly, former Centreville (Clifton, Va.) High star and current assistant coach J.P. Nicholas strode to the plate to Shania Twain's "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" when he forgot to hand in his own song choice on time, the Post said.

Prep sports encapsulated, if you ask me. But not everyone is pleased with a walk-up music movement that has popped up at a number of D.C. area schools like Blake (Silver Spring, Md.) High and Westfield (Fairfax County, Va.) High over the past couple years.

Connell softball pitcher Ashley Thompson has thrown 6 straight no-hitters — Softball Showcase

Few athletes in history have been on the kind of roll that Ashley Thompson finds herself in the midst of.

A senior at Connell (Wash.) High, Thompson has thrown six consecutive no-hitters – and seven in the season – in one of the most impressive runs of consecutive pitching starts at any level in baseball or softball history. According to MaxPreps, Thompson is just the third person to toss as many no-hitters back-to-back.

Connell is 13-0, with 10 of those 13 wins coming behind Thompson’s rather prodigious arm. She has thrown 70 innings, allowed a grand total of 8 hits and struck out 172 batters over that period. Thompson’s totals were boosted on Saturday when she threw no-hitters in two consecutive games, both victories against Kiona (Wash.) Benton High. Four of her no-hitters have also been perfect games.

If the BYU signee’s achievements in the circle weren’t impressive enough (and they certainly are), her feats at the plate are equally stunning. The senior is batting .710 with 7 home runs and 32 RBI through Connell’s first 13 games. She’s also homered in four consecutive games, all of which have been her own no-hitters. Her career marks are arguably more stunning, with the senior already holding the state records for home runs in a single season (23) and career (46) and RBI in a career.

And to think: those batting records came with a good half of her senior season still to come.

In a move that absolutely defies belief, the Steubenville (Ohio) School Board decided to buck public pressure and agree to a new two-year contract with longtime football coach Reno Saccoccia with regard to his teaching position. That might not seem too out of the ordinary, except for the conditions surrounding Saccoccia. He was the town's football coach during a time when two of his players were convicted of rape in a trial that received widespread attention.

Steubenville football coach Reno Saccocia, who was given a 2-year extension but could face charges — Change.org

The disturbing case that embroiled the Steubenville football program captivated the nation's attention at multiple points in recent months, never more prevalently than on March 17, when teenagers Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond were convicted of raping an intoxicated 16-year-old classmate.

Saccoccia was not implicated in the case and it remains unclear if he'll be mentioned by an upcoming grand jury that is investigating the possibility of wrongdoing by others in the town.

But many have blamed Saccoccia for ruling over a football-mad culture that held its players to a different standard. Consider this text from Mays when asked about his coach's reaction to the rape charges.

"[Saccocia did] Nothing really. Going to stay in for awhile. LOL. And next time (someone is) into something, suspended for three games.

"But I feel he took care of it for us. Like, he was joking about it, so I'm not worried."

And yet another text bombshell from Mays: "I got Reno. He took care of it and (expletive) ain't going to happen, even if they did take it to court."

To say that the Steubenville school board's decision is profoundly tone deaf is a remarkable understatement. More than 134,000 activists from across the nation and world have signed an online petition at change.org calling for Saccoccia to be fired. Considering the fact that the entire population of Steubenville is just more than 18,000, that's a startling amount of public outrage aimed at a public employee from a small town.

Seventh Woods is 14 years old. His name is awesome, and so are his basketball skills.

If there's a better prep freshman in the nation, Prep Rally would like to see him. At 6-foot-1, 170 pounds, Woods has to be the best pound-for-pound boys basketball player in the Class of 2016. Need convincing? You won't after watching his uber-athletic mixtape (h/t Deadspin).

Woods averaged 19.3 points, 4.3 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game this past season, leading Columbia (S.C.) Hammond School to a 22-5 record and the South Carolina Independent Schools Association Class AAA state championship game.

He scored a season-high 47 points on 17-of-21 shooting in an 87-66 victory against Cross (S.C.) High two days after Christmas, and it's pretty easy to see why he shot better than 50 percent from the field for the season. The kid can jump over just about anybody.

Based on the internet views it has already received -- more than 3 million views in just four days -- it's clear that others are taking notice of Woods' ability as well. Some have even called him "the next LeBron", though such a pronouncement is clearly hyperbolic and flat out preposterous for a 14-year-old.

[NBA postgame fashion showdown: Westbrook vs. LeBron]

Based on his highlight video, the kid can do just about anything. Here are five things he can do that fly off the screen right away.

5) Reverse tomahawk dunk like Dominique Wilkins (0:02). Hello, Seventh Woods.

4) Throw down missed free throw put-back dunks like Michael Jordan (0:35). The kid got to the rim before his teammates and opponents even flinched. Even they watched in awe.

3) Drain over-the-backboard shots like Larry Bird (0:57). We highly recommend not attempting to play Seventh Woods in a game of horse. Unless you bet against yourself.