Rams Honor High School Football Coaches and Players of the Week
The Rams recognize the fact that they are a civic entity tied into the St. Louis community, and as an integral part of the community, the organization has a commitment to local youth football. As part of that commitment to promoting youth football, the Rams partnered with the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame, Inc. St. Louis/Tom Lombardo Chapter to select a weekly High School Coach of the Week and Player of the Week, and one of the ten coaches was selected as Coach of the Year.
Over the course of 10 weeks, the Rams and the St. Louis/Tom Lombardo Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame selected a local high school coach and player each week who helped lead their respective teams to victory. The Rams honored the 20 winners at an awards banquet on Monday, Dec. 6 at the Russell Training Center, with each winner receiving recognition for being named the coach and player of the week.
Newschannel 5 Sports Director Rene Knott emceed the awards banquet, welcoming everyone to the Russell Training Center and congratulating them for being selected as the coaches and players of the week this season. Head Coach Steve Spagnuolo addressed the group and took a photo with the 20 award winners, everyone watched an area high school football highlight video from the 2010 season created by HighSchoolSports.net and linebacker 
Once Coach Spagnuolo and Laurinaitis finished congratulating the group, the awards ceremony began, and each winner was announced by the week they were selected as the coach and player of the week. All 20 winners received a certificate for their efforts this season, and the coaches of the week were presented a $1,000 check for their high school programs from the NFL Youth Football Fund and the Rams.
After each coach and player was recognized, Hazelwood Central Head Coach Rich Nixon was named the High School Coach of the Year. Nixon’s team outscored their opponents 402-177 this season, they won the Suburban North Conference and went to the Class 6 State Championship Game. As the Coach of the Year, Nixon received an additional $2,375 for the Hazelwood Central football program.
“It’s really an honor, I very much appreciate the Rams, the organization and everybody involved for reaching out to us,” Nixon said. “The recognition is nice, individually, but it’s football and it’s such a team sport, a team game, and all of our assistants and our kids are really the ones that are deserving of it.”
The 10 coaches of the week for the 2010 season were Robert Battle, University City; Bryan Koch, Francis Howell; Todd Small, John Burroughs; Jim Cook, St. Dominic; Ryan Thornhill, Marquette; Tom Beauchamp, Lindbergh; Sorrell Harvey, Miller Career Academy; Cliff Ice, Webster Groves; Scott Eacret, Ft. Zumwalt East; and Rich Nixon, Hazelwood Central.
The players of the week, a mix of quarterbacks and running backs, represented teams from Missouri and Illinois and included Kortland Webb, Ladue; Sedrick Spillers, Belleville West; James Hawkins, Parkway North; Myles Robinson, Summit; Michael Buehne, Highland; Rob Standard, Chaminade; Clint Toedtman, Francis Howell North; Kameron Harris, Althoff; Tyler Detmer, Breese Mater Dei; and Sean Strehl, Eureka.
