Matt Schaub

It was two years ago, late on a Friday night in October, and West Chester East coach Joe Carroll was asked about what positives he saw, which was a difficult task after his club had been almost casually dumped by Downingtown, 42-14. "Well, I'm real proud of Matt," Carroll said of Matt Schaub, his green and gangly sophomore quarterback. "He's a young kid, but he's showing what kind of athlete he can be out there. " Schaub and his teammates had just been swept away by a team that would make high school gridiron history in Chester County by capturing the Ches-Mont League title, the District 1 crown, and the PIAA Class AAAA state championship.

During the fall, West Chester East senior Matt Schaub got to the gym at 6 a.m. every day to practice his jump shot. Schaub had to get in his court time early, because afternoons and weekends belonged to football - the sport that earned him a full ride to the University of Virginia before his senior season even began. Schaub was devoted to living up to his billing as the area's top quarterback, but even as he was leading the Vikings to their first-ever outright football title in the Ches-Mont League, he knew he needed some work before the basketball season began.

On March 22, the Houston Texans announced that the "Matt Schaub era" had begun for the eight-year-old NFL franchise. That day, the Texans gave their second-round choices in both this year's and next year's draft to the Atlanta Falcons for the former West Chester East quarterback. After signing a multiyear, multimillion-dollar contract with the Texans, they designated him No. 1 on the depth chart before he even took a snap. The team said it would trade five-year quarterback David Carr.

West Chester East coach Eric Anderson likes to refer to 6-foot-6 senior Matt Schaub as a guard - a luxury of a guard. In basketball terms, that makes Anderson a rich man. Last night, with Schaub pouring in 22 points from his off-guard position and David Hardy leading the way with a career-high 37, the Vikings demolished Coatesville, 80-61, handing the Red Raiders' their most lopsided defeat of the season before a sellout crowd at East....

West Chester East quarterback Matt Schaub takes five honors courses and maintains a 3.9 grade point average. Even with the time commitments that football practice, weightlifting and the academic load entail, Schaub manages to get to sleep by 10:30 p.m. After all, the junior is a growing boy at 6-foot-5 and 185 pounds. Despite the time-consuming schedule, Schaub has learned to manage his time well. At least one night a week, usually Thursday, he puts everything aside for 30 or 40 minutes to do something he really enjoys: watching videotape of that week's opponent.

John Mershon thought he would be safe at his SAT preparation course. There seemed to be nothing haunting inside the College Bound center in West Chester. All Mershon wanted to do was learn some big words and a few algebraic tricks, and be another slightly puzzled face in the crowd of teenagers getting ready for the biggest test they will ever take with a No. 2 pencil. But as soon as he walked through the door, Mershon saw an all-to-familiar ghost. On the wall was an oversized picture of Matt Schaub, a West Chester East and College Bound alumnus, along with newspaper clippings about Schaub's success in the course and his subsequent signing to play football at the University of Virginia.

One after another, West Chester East quarterback Matt Schaub's passes fell incomplete Friday night. Many escaped the grasp of his receivers while others were overthrown or underthrown. In all, Schaub, a senior bound for the University of Virginia, missed on his first 7 and 11 of his first 12 throws. But with his team down by two points to visiting Conestoga with 6 minutes, 32 seconds left in the game and facing a first-and-29 situation, Schaub fired a perfect strike to Richie Boyd for a 65-yard touchdown that gave the Vikings the 25-19 nonleague win. In many ways, Schaub was outperformed by his Conestoga counterpart, Gavin McCrory, who rallied the Pioneers from a 17-0 deficit to a 19-17 advantage.

West Chester East forward Matt Schaub is in his first varsity basketball season, but he already can withstand the heat from opponents and his own coach. The opponent generating the heat last night was West Chester Henderson. Schaub scored a game-high 20 points to lead East to a 52-50 Ches-Mont League victory over the host Warriors. Schaub's coach, Eric Anderson, generated the heat Monday at practice. Schaub, who played junior-varsity ball last season, responded with the cool of a veteran.

Passing yards: Matt, Schaub, Texans, 497 Pass attempts: Matt Schaub, Texans, 52 Pass completions: Matt Schaub, Texans, 38 Interceptions: David Garrard, Jaguars, 4 Receptions: Andre Johnson, Texans, 12 Receiving yards: Andre Johnson, Texans, 158 Rushing yards: Adrian Peterson, Vikings; Darren McFadden, Raiders, 145 Rushing TDs: LeSean McCoy, Eagles, 3 Carries: Adrian Peterson, Vikings, 28...

The University of Virginia continued to mine the football talent in Chester County yesterday as West Chester East quarterback Matt Schaub orally accepted a full scholarship to the Atlantic Coast Conference school. Former Downingtown star Dan Ellis is a sophomore quarterback in Charlottesville, Va., and Arlen Harris, Ellis' teammate on the 1996 Class AAAA state championship team, is a freshman running back for the Cavaliers. After throwing for 966 yards as a sophomore, Schaub connected on 99 of 183 passes last season, good for 1,324 yards and eight touchdowns.

BALTIMORE - Ray Lewis isn't the player he used to be, but he's still awfully damn good. He may have lost a step, and the injuries may not heal quite as quickly as they did a decade ago. But 16 seasons into his career and 36 years into his existence, he doesn't sound like a man who's contemplating retirement anytime soon. "Football is football for me, man," the Ravens linebacker said yesterday after notching a team-high eight tackles in his team's 20-13 win over the Houston Texans.

SAINTS (-10) over Lions: Can anyone stop Drew Brees and New Orleans? Can anyone even hope to contain him? Short answer: No! Brees and the Saints never, ever let up. Last Sunday, they could have rested some people, but no, it was another brilliant offensive show. This season, Brees and his worker bees have blown away a plethora of records, including Dan Marino's all-time single-season passing yards (5,084). He finished with 5,476, his offense compiled a ridonkulous 7,474 yards, beating the 2002 Rams by 299 yards.

CINCINNATI - A rookie quarterback led the biggest drive in Houston Texans history, one that took them to the end zone and their first playoff berth. T.J. Yates threw a 6-yard touchdown pass with two seconds left on Sunday for a 20-19 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals that put the 10-year Texans in the playoffs for the first time. With their seventh straight win, the Texans (10-3) moved to the threshold of the playoffs. They hugged on the field then headed to the locker room, waiting for the final seconds of Tennessee's game to play out. When time ran out on the Titans, preserving New Orleans' 22-17 victory, the Texans - who entered the league in 2002 - celebrated the AFC South title.

Broncos (+1) over VIKINGS: Still not totally sold on Tim Tebow, but he is becoming a cottage industry. Numerous websites are devoted to him, which give him nicknames like "The Mile High Messiah," and talk about his superhuman feats. One site asks the question, "What color is Tebow's blood?" Then you scroll down and find out it's a trick question, because Tebow does not bleed! Or another site that changes around the writing of the famous Chinese general Sun Tzu's "The Art of War. " Sun Tzu wrote, "If your enemy is weaker, conquer him. If he is stronger, join him. If he is Tim Tebow, you're freaking dead.

MATT LEINART'S return to the NFL lasted less than a half, and coach Gary Kubiak says the Texans will sign another quarterback this week. Perhaps even Brett Favre will be in the mix. Leinart will be placed on injured reserve after fracturing his left collarbone in the second quarter of Houston's 20-13 win in Jacksonville on Sunday. The lefthanded Leinart was making his first start since 2009 in place of Matt Schaub, who broke a bone in his right foot Nov. 13. Kubiak says Leinart will have surgery within the next week, and Schaub is due to have surgery tomorrow to repair a Lisfranc injury.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Matt Leinart and Matt Schaub stood next to each other for the final few snaps, Leinart in a sling and Schaub in a walking boot. The scene spoke volumes about Houston's quarterback situation and playoff chances. If the Texans are going to make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, they probably will have to do it with a third-string quarterback. Leinart injured his throwing shoulder Sunday at Jacksonville, overshadowing Houston's 20-13 victory against the inept Jaguars.

BELIEVE IT or not, Ed Snider does worry about more than shortside goals and the number of cheap shots Claude Giroux endures. The Flyers owner, a Washington, D.C., native, hates what some of the children in Philadelphia's toughest areas go through daily. "I grew up in a rough neighborhood and we had to use our fists," Snider said. "Kids today are facing guns. I can't imagine how frightened I would have been each day to go to school. It's horrible. I just wanted to do what I could and doing it through hockey is the most appealing thing to me. We talk about the hockey aspect of it, but these kids have to get good grades.

H OUSTON TEXANS quarterback Matt Schaub will miss the rest of the season with a fractured right foot, according to a report. ESPN, citing a league source, reported that Texans coach Gary Kubiak said that Schaub was hurt on a quarterback sneak in the second quarter of Houston's win over Tampa Bay Sunday. The team is reporting that Schaub will be out indefinitely with a "significant" right foot injury. The Texans acquired Schaub, who starred at West Chester East High, in a trade with Atlanta in March 2007.

The Chicago Bears (6-3) have won four straight and have five straight very winnable games coming up before facing Green Bay. They're rolling back to the playoffs while their opponents of a week ago, your Eagles, are done. The Bears have done it with defense and linebacker Brian Urlacher has an interesting lesson for the Eagles. "One of the reasons we've turned it around is our coaches wouldn't put up with mistakes," Urlacher told SI.com. "They held us accountable and we cleaned them up. "   Fascinating stats Since Oct. 23 the much-maligned Tim Tebow has produced three victories for the Denver Broncos.

AROUND THE LEAGUE *  BRONCOS 18, DOLPHINS 15, OT: At Miami, for 54 minutes, Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos couldn't score. Then they couldn't be stopped. Tebow rallied the Broncos (2-4) with two TD passes in the final 2:44 of the fourth quarter to force overtime, and Matt Prater's 52-yard field goal gave them an improbable victory over the stunned and winless Miami Dolphins (0-6). Denver won for the first time in the eight games they've played on the Dolphins' field.