Pioneers practice in enemy territory, Skyline's Maggie Halloran on All-America watch list and more high school notes

A lightning strike at Pioneer High School put some of its sports teams in a precarious situation two weeks ago. The indoor facilities were left without power, leaving indoor sports without anywhere to hold tryouts and/or practices.

That is until Pioneer’s rivals lent a helping hand. The girls swim team practiced at Huron and the volleyball team moved tryouts over to Skyline.

Pioneer volleyball coach Amy Hoag said she had calls from coaches at both Huron and Skyline within minutes of hearing of the power outage.

“Everyone was really understanding. We all kind of laugh, it's been a funny start to the season,” Hoag said. “We made lemonade out of lemons and it wasn’t a big deal.”

According to a representative from the Pioneer athletic department, power has been restored and all teams are practicing on campus again.

From left, Birmingham Brother Rice's Austin Echols, Skyline's Andrew Copp, Detroit Martin Luther King's Dennis Norfleet and Detroit Cass Tech's Terry Richardson visited a Detroit Lions practice.

Photo courtesy of Detroit Sports

The Lion's den

Skyline senior quarterback Andrew Copp visited a Detroit Lions practice in Allen Park this week as a promotion for the upcoming Big Day Prep Showdown at Eastern Michigan's Rynearson Stadium.

Copp, who threw for more than 2,400 yards and 23 touchdowns as a junior, was in good company. Also attending the practice were Detroit Cass Tech defensive back/wide receiver and Michigan commit Terry Richardson, Detroit Martin Luther King running back/defensive back and Cincinnati commit Dennis Norfleet and Birmingham Brother Rice running back Austin Echols.

Skyline opens play on day two of the Big Day Prep Showdown against Hartland. Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. next Friday.

All-America watch list

Skyline senior Maggie Halloran has been named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s Under Armour Girls’ High School All-America volleyball athlete to watch list.

Halloran, who has verbally committed to play at Michigan State next year, is one of 29 players from Michigan on the list, which includes 646 players from 38 states.

-- Matt Durr contributed to this report.

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