10 more high school sports stories worthy of Hollywood

With the recent popularity of high school sports-focused movies — Hollywood's "When The Game Stands Tall" and two documentaries have announced release dates in the last three weeks — here are 10 stories we've covered over the last two years that silver screen producers should pay attention to.

We've done the studios a solid with a few casting suggestions as well. 

MaxPreps story: Beyond the X

Essentials
This is the truly inspirational story of Zach Pickett, the Ponderosa (Shingle Springs, Calif.) aquatics standout who, despite crushing his seventh vertebra in a diving accident the summer before his junior season, continues to thrive in every facet of high school life. The senior is believed to be the only paraplegic water polo player in the country.



Casting call
Considering Pickett has barely slowed down in every other phase, he could probably play himself. But understated Logan Lerman, who has starred in the fantasy-adventure Percy Jackson films, would do a nice job. Ed Harris would do a forceful, convicted rendition of Pickett's impassioned but rock-solid dad Tod and for his mother Judy, Sandra Bullock could play the fit, inspirational, marathon-running mom, who has fought through a pair of cancer scares. For high-energy Ponderosa coach Matt Jaehn it should be Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul, and former Disney actor Gregg Sulkin could play Pickett's grounded and loyal best friend Hayden Cooksy.


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MaxPreps story: Beyond the X

Essentials
Braddock (Miami) senior Davonte Pollard was quite a youth athlete, excelling on both the football field and basketball court. They used to call him "Mini Deion" for his Deion Sanders-like prowess as a cornerback and returner on youth football squads, and also as a 6-year-old he played on 9-year-old basketball teams. But by the time he was 9 he was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a rare and degenerative eye disease that eventually took away his sight. Rather than wither away — "I'm no crybaby," Pollard said — he pursued music and singing and aimed to be the next Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles. Then heading into his junior year, he had a clear inner vision, to play football again — running back, in fact. Braddock's big and strong but compassionate coach Frank Rojas didn't know how, but he said OK — "I called his bluff," Rojas said — and Pollard followed through. So did Rojas. Pollard carried once as a junior and as a senior he scored on a 2-point conversion.

Casting call
Will Smith's son Jaden Smith might be too obvious and too young (15), but at 5-7 and 150 pounds he's roughly the same size. By the time the movie is made, he'll be right at Pollard's football age. And he has the wild hair to pull off Pollard's look. Strong, silent type Benicio Del Toro could pull off Rojas without a hitch.


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MaxPreps full story: Beyond the X

Essentials
In the middle of what looked to be their greatest season, the players and families of the Point Pleasant Beach (N.J.) football team were rocked to the ground by Hurricane Sandy, which claimed 286 lives, spanned 1,100 miles and caused $68 billion in damages. Undaunted, the Garnet Gulls won their first 10 games only to be upset in the state Central Group 1 semifinals. If Point Pleasant could largely overcome the region's biggest storm, it could certainly respond to a measly but painful defeat. It did, by winning a 2013 state title.



Casting call
Beau Bridges could play Point Pleasant Beach's likeable and centered head coach John Wagner. The rest of the cast could be filled in by the Friday Night Lights crew.


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MaxPreps story: Pujols' fast rise to 500 homers mirrors prep career

Essentials
Any Hall of Fame baseball player, present or future, is going to have his life pretty well documented. But the prep days of Albert Pujols were fascinating and compelling, as we just found out last week. Imagine an impoverished 16-year-old Dominican speaking barely a lick of English, landing unannounced in Middle America. Independence, Mo., to be precise. His 6-foot-3, 200-pound frame, linguistics, older appearance, ethnicity and ability to hit a baseball more than 400 feet with regularity caused quite a stir at Fort Osage (Independence). His rags to riches story screams Hollywood.

Casting call
Finding actors who can swing a bat like a Major Leaguer, let alone Pujols, is needle in the haystack material. Better hit the Southern California college baseball scene and find a player with some acting ability. Versatile Tom Selleck could easily pull off the role of Fort Osage high school coach Dave Fry, a mustachioed, no-nonsense coach who often wore aviator dark glasses. And Will Forte – just coming off a great and understated performance in "Nebraska" — would be a natural as The Examiner prep reporter Bill Althaus.
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MaxPreps story: McClymonds girls basketball breaks through

Essentials
Dennis Flannery wasn't doing much. A retired school district employee in Oakland and former basketball coach, he always said that the girls basketball program at McClymonds (Oakland, Calif.) was a juggernaut in hiding. Instead, McClymonds, opposite of the school's state power boys program, was all broken. Losing records, little participation and poor grades ran rampant. So Flannery, an 60-something caucasian gentleman, accepted the challenges of a very diverse inner-city program. With a quiet, humane but firm approach, some schmaltzy techniques — he plays "One Shining Moment" before big games — and some Pat Riley "thunderbolt" methods, he helped lead the Warriors to not only historic back-to-back league titles, but also academic honors as well. He also whisked a trio of his players from a nearby grocery store where a gunman had started shooting. Flannery wears many hats.

Casting call
It's hard to find a personality as unique as Flannery, but Malcolm McDowell would be a good fit. Like the Pujols baseball movie, finding young female actors who can really play basketball might be challenging. We would hit up teams at USC, UCLA, Long Beach State and Loyola Marymount and perhaps find ringers for the director.
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MaxPreps story: Beyond the X



Essentials
Metropolitan regions such as New York, Detroit and Chicago often lay claim to it. Some believe the more sprawling areas of Los Angeles or Dallas or Atlanta own it, or the rural roads of Indiana. But the Mecca of high school basketball may lie in the unlikely, impoverished counties of Apache and Navajo, in the heart of Navajo Nation in northeastern Arizona and parts of New Mexico and Utah. It is there where makeshift hoops made from bicycle rims and milk crates, nailed to trees and sides of homes and other dwellings, are seen everywhere on the vast and open landscape. It is also where fans from hundreds of miles away fill large, state-of-the-art gymnasiums, built with federal money, to watch their reservation sons and daughters in a game they love at the core. In a town of 5,200 residents, The Wildcat Den, home of Chinle (Ariz.), holds 7,000 and annually draws up to 15,000 for a three-day sectional playoff event. Arizona Republic staff writer Richard Obert has covered prep basketball on the reservation for almost 15 years. Its popularity and passion, combined with the culture, inspired him to write a yet-to-be-published book, entitled "Rez Ball."

"People just go nuts for it," he said. "They can't get enough of it. The kids are treated like rock stars. You'll see little kids line up before games and after games trying to get these guys' autographs. They feel like the Kobe Bryants and LeBron James' of the world when they're on the reservation."

Casting call
Paul Giamatti would make a perfect Steve Troglia, the outgoing former Chinle coach and athletic director. Willem Dafoe shows great conviction in every role and as the chiseled, articulate and soft-spoken journalist Obert, he would excel. Adam Beach could play the forceful and get-things-done administrator Quincy Natay.


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MaxPreps story: Nathan McCarty story

Essentials
Kamiak (Mukilteo, Wash.) junior baseball player Nathan McCarty was diagnosed with lymphoblastic leukemia in October of 2011. The wonderful folks at Make-A-Wish Foundation asked McCarty what he wanted and instead of a trip to Disneyland or spending a day with his favorite team, the Seattle Seahawks, he went the altruistic route. He wanted to renovate his team’s baseball field. Some 250 volunteers worked at the Kamiak baseball facility, all at McCarty's request. It's been tabbed his "Field of Dreams."

"I just wanted to give back to all those who have given to me," he said. "I wanted it to be something we could all be proud of not only this season but 10, 20 or 30 years down the road." McCarty is still playing and contributing to the Knights his senior season. He’s hitting close to .300 as an infielder. 



Casting call
Young McCarty has Hollywood looks himself, so we’ll go with the classic older 20-something Zac Efron to get back to his even younger teen idol look in “High School Musical.” He won’t have to sing here, but just offer his athletic nature. Many professional athletes who have befriended McCarty could play themselves.
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MaxPreps story: Jim Tracy leaves lasting legacy

Essentials
University (San Francisco) cross-country runner Holland Reynolds fell 10 meters from the finish line at the state finals. She’d hit the wall. Her body had shut down due to hyperthermia and dehydration. She crawled the final distance, clinching the team’s eighth state title. Her ending, her inspiration, was actually the start of this blockbuster — the life story of University cross country coach Jim Tracy, who died last month from Lou Gehrig’s disease after a four-year battle. Tracy’s life, his coaching, his battle with the deadly disease and Reynolds’ crawl have already been told in the award-winning documentary form in "Running for Jim." It’s also been brilliantly told in this ESPN E:60 feature. It’s bound to hit Hollywood. Reynolds said of Tracy's passing: "He did what he loved to do right to the end and that makes me feel good. … I just wish I could have told him one last time how important he was to me, but I think he knew.. ... His legacy will live on forever." Tracy's signature line: "There's no need to fail when success is offered every day."

Casting call
Modern Family’s Ed O’Neill is a ringer for Tracy in many of the photos, plus he knows how to play it rough around the edges and tell it “like it is.” Morgan Saylor, the terrific young natural and believable actress in “Homeland,” would do superbly as Reynolds. A young Julia Stiles would be perfectly cast as well.


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MaxPreps story: The Josh Ruchotzke story

Essentials
Josh Ruchotzke had a dream to earn a Division I baseball scholarship at a prestigious school and then, with some extra hard work, a break or two, perhaps get a shot at Major League Baseball. By 13, he was on the fast track, a kid with tools, ability, soft hands, a keen eye and a big bat. But then the cruel, deadly, indiscriminate streptocci bacteria invaded his body and ravaged his organs, tissues and blood flow. His baseball life wasn't only at stake. His life was in peril. And his family had no time to lose: "A doctor told me this wasn't a day-by-day or even hour-by-hour proposition," his mother Angi said. "It was minute-by-minute."

He miraculously survived but at a severe price. Both his legs below the knees were amputated and most of his hands were mangled. He was left with a pad on his left hand and a few digits on his right. Piece-by-piece, limb-by-limb he was put back together physically. He had to start all over again. Thanks to state-of-the-art prosthetics, a magic glove, remarkable patience, preposterous determination and unyielding support and love from his family and friends, Ruchotzke had a successful high school baseball career. He played three varsity seasons and was Farmington’s starting second baseman. He hit almost .300 his senior year. His dreams, never broken, were realized with a full ride to Vanderbilt to be the team’s manager and he hopes to make it to the Major Leagues as a general manager. No one is betting against him.



Casting call
Out of the 10, this might be hardest to make and cast. Adam DeVine has played a lot of comedic roles but he seems to have the range to play the upbeat, undeterred and high-energy Ruchotzke. 
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MaxPreps story: Sami Stone runs to the light with seeing-eye dog Chloe

Essentials
Sami Stoner was a typical outdoorsy, creative 13-year-old from Lexington (Ohio) when she began losing her eyesight. As an eighth-grader she was diagnosed with Stargardt’s disease, a hereditary form of macular degeneration that causes irreversible blindness. She considered what her sightless life would lead to her to go without – driving a car, career choices, images of her family’s faces – but she chose to focus and build on the gifts she still had: Strong legs. Healthy lungs. A kind and courageous heart. And most important, a voice.

She used the latter to voice her one true passion in life, the ability to run. With the help of a seeing-eye friend, who later went to college, and then a seeing-eye dog, she ran in cross country meets throughout her high school years. Her dog Chloe then became her closest companion. She finished off her courageous high school athletic career by also being crowned Homecoming princess, along with Chloe who also received a crown. The immensely popular and humble senior received a standing ovation. Asked if she ever asked "Why me?" Stoner said: "Why not me? I would rather this happen to me than my sisters. Yes, it wasn't exactly my plan. It sounds sad, but I would never want to go back and erase the experience of it. I would never wish this didn't happen to me. Because, honestly, I think it's made me a better person."

Casting call
Twenty years ago, Jenna Fischer, of “The Office," would have been perfect playing Stoner. Current "Divergent" starlet Shailene Woodley would do a superb job. Not sure what pooch would be smart enough to play Chloe, but Hollywood always finds a way to find lovable dogs.