National High 5: Barkley Commits; Mayo Shines

1. Fight On Barkley: One of the countless strengths in quarterback Matt Barkley is his ability to read defenses and make split-second decisions. The Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) junior, the nation’s top 2009 recruit and 2007 Gatorade National Player of the Year, showed his decisiveness off the field, telling the Los Angeles Times he has verbally committed to USC on Wednesday. Nothing, of course, is for certain until he signs a letter of intent in 13 months, but judging from how he handles his business on the field you can bet the prototype dropback 6-foot-4, 225-pounder will follow in the footsteps of Heisman Trophy winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart, the latter another Mater Dei graduate. Barkley threw for 3,560 yards and 35 touchdowns last season, his third year as a starter.

2. No Holding down the Mayos: Though two-time MaxPreps All-American O.J. Mayo appears in hot water for accepting Lakers tickets, his younger brother Todd Mayo is sailing cool in his first full varsity season at undefeated South Point (Ohio). The 6-foot-2 sophomore is averaging 23.5 points per game this season after South Point coach Gary Norris dismissed him from the squad last year for not “taking team responsibilities seriously.” According to this story in the Huntington Herald-Dispatch, Mayo has come in this season with vigor, more maturity and played and practiced through injuries, flourishing in South Point’s biggest games. By the way, his older sister T’Ann Mayo, is a starting 5-3 senior and fifth-leading scorer for South Point’s girls team.

3. Playing for Rogers: Sacred Heart Cathedral, the nation’s top-ranked girls basketball team, reeling from the shooting death 10 days earlier of Terrell Rogers, father of star junior forward Tierra Rogers, played their first game since his murder on Wednesday. The Irish (16-0), showed little rust or residue, scoring the game’s first 12 points en route to an easy 67-29 West Catholic Athletic League victory at Notre Dame-Belmont. With Tierra on the bench in street clothes with a photo of her father draped around her neck, every Sacred Heart Cathedral player scored led by Lauren Bell’s 11 points. There’s no word on Tierra’s return to the court, but expect it to be by the weekend. See the terrific story from Will McCulloch of the San Francisco Chronicle. See previous column on the incident and healing process.

4. Effortless Strain: Following a record-breaking year as a freshman, Woodland 5-foot-8 forward Courtney Strain has hardly been mired by a sophomore jinx. Strain is averaging a Pete Maravich-esque 40.6 points per game, which not only leads the nation among those who keep statistics on MaxPreps, but it betters her average of 38.4, which broke the Alabama state record in 2006-07. The next highest scorer in the country this year is almost six points behind — Brittany Young (Graves County, Ky.) at 34.3 per game. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) record book, only two girls have ever averaged more than 40 points per game for a career: Geri Grigsby (McDowell, Ky.) 46.1 from 1975-77 and Adrian McGowen (Goodrich, Texas) 44.5 from 2003-06. Strain appears well on her way. Coached by her father Larry Strain, Courtney comes from quite a bloodline.

5. Not above the law: According to an Associated Press report, a longtime sheriff’s lietenant was fired for allegedly using his position to try to derail the playoff chances of his son’s rival high school football team in Wisconsin. Lt. Shawn Haney reportedly released reports describing a party attended by players from Waunakee High, which played DeForest in a state quarterfinal game on Nov. 3. Haney evidently called the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletics Association with the report in an effort to rat out the kids in the order to get them suspended for the playoff game. Not only were the players not reprimanded, but DeForest won the game straight up and then last week Haney was fired from his job. He’s appealing the firing.