I thought I had a pic of 2009 David Rodriguez in my archives, but do not. The Senior G was telling me after the game that he has nominations to both West Point & the Air Force Academy, awaiting his appointments to both. Congratulations to David & his family.
Tonight I was in Austin watching a private school matchup between Austin St. Michael's and Austin St. Andrew's. Based on the success that St. Michael's had in their non district schedule where they played a lot of the public school 4a & 5A programs very tough I did not expect this to be a very tough game for them. However, any time you play a rival, you have to be careful.
Long story short, it was a one sided game. But to both team's credit they scrapped and battled to the very end. St. Michael's guard play was clearly superior but I really liked St. Andrew's big men. Hank Brigham is a hard working high school post who plugged away and led his team with 15 points mostly on weakside offensive putbacks. His other front court mate, Jake Boxberger also chipped in with a double double with 10 points. He had a hard time finishing but showed real nice, nimble feet and an assortment of post moves, up and under etc.
For St. Michael's Senior G David Rodriguez had 18 points, most of them coming by pushing the ball full speed in transition while the defenders were lagging or unable to keep up with his pace. Sophomore Jake Kocher, who leads his team in scoring was right about his average on the year with 17 points. His shot wasn't particularly on tonight but he finds different ways to score and gets the job done, including getting to the free throw line.
In the post game I had a chance to visit with Senior Chase Kocher. He's a very solid point guard, battling through an injury plagued senior campaign. I asked him how he enjoyed playing with his brother. His eyes lit up and said, "It's so cool, not only because he's my brother but he's my best friend too." I've noticed the several times I've watched St. Michael's play that QB Chase will often pass up shots for his team mates but especially his brother because he has so much confidence in him. I thought that was a nice story within the game itself.
I want to thank my partner at www.texasrecruit.com T.J. Garza for sitting courtside with me tonight as we did our first trial run and broadcast the game. It was not "live" so the public won't hear it. We were trying to get some kinks out before our first official streaming tomorrow between Austin Lake Travis & Killeen .
