High School Sports Live Special Coverage

Local Football Players Honored for Sportsmanship

Seventeen football coaches and their respective team captains recently shared the podium for the Sterling Bank High School Sportsmanship of the Year awards.

The award is based on "the actions of the teams and coaches at games, actions of the support groups at games and respect by the players for the American flag."

"I think this award is tremendous for the city of Houston," Seven Lakes head coach Kevin O'Keefe said. "It gives a lot of credibility to the lessons we try to teach our kids every day, and it's reflective of the entire community."

This time around, the committee included more of the community with an award presented in the Class 3A/Private Schools category. The Second Baptist Eagles took home the award.

"I think it means we're teaching the kids the right things about playing sports and how you act," Second Baptist coach Mike Sneed said. "It's about how you treat your opponents and how you treat the officials' calls and basically how you conduct yourself on a Friday night."

"Sportsmanship is very important to us at Second Baptist," team captain Drew Sekaly said. "We try to be the best leaders we can for our team and lead by example and the best way to do that is be respectful to all the officials and everyone we play with."

Fourteen finalists were in the mix for the Class 4A and 5A Sportsmanship of the Year award, which O'Keefe proudly accepted on behalf of Seven Lakes.

"It's really exciting," O'Keefe said. "We didn't come here expecting to win. We're just glad to be a part of it and recognized as a finalist and to come away as a winner is very special. It becomes a great symbol of what we're all about."

The voting is done by the Houston Chapter of the Texas Association of Sports Officials. The event was also highlighted by remarks from guest speaker and NFL Hall of Famer, Bruce Matthews.