After surviving with a 2-1 shootout win over Coppell on Friday night at Hebron, the undefeated Jesuit Rangers soccer team will look to move one step closer to the state tournament when it faces Flower Mound Marcus at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Lewisville’s Goldsmith Stadium.

The Rangers (20-0-0) fell behind against the Cowboys, but David Reilly evened the score with the only Jesuit goal of regulation. The Rangers, ranked No. 1 in ESPN Rise’s national high school poll, then won the shootout, 3-0.

Marcus (17-3-4) beat Jesuit, 1-0, in the regional finals in 2008.

The Jesuit-Marcus winner will face the El Paso Coronado-Arlington Martin winner in the regional semifinals on Friday in Midland. The regional final is on Saturday.

It’s nothing short of an infestation: thousands of scorpions, centipedes, and spiders gathered in the library at Jesuit.

Jesuit students, hardened by a required freshman entymology project, aren’t afraid. It doesn’t hurt, of course, that the bugs are pinned in rows in glass cases, meticulously preserved from decay. The collection, more than 2,300 bugs in all, is on display through tomorrow. The display’s curator, Oliver Greer, points to a two-foot wide Peruvian whip spider.

“The irony is, I’m horribly arachnophobic,” Greer explains. “It is my biggest fear. But my fear compels me to collect them. I could not have a complete collection with out them.”

It makes since that the first insect in his collection is the arachnid’s arch-enemy, a quarter-sized wasp that paralyzes spiders with its sting, then lays its eggs under the spider’s skin. He found the insect near his California home 33 years ago as a 10 year old, and it still has a place in his collection, amidst hundreds more wasps he has collected over the years.

So what’s the appeal?

“Part of it’s the size factor. Part of it’s the biodiversity factory,” Greer said. “And part of it’s the creepiness factor.”

Jesuit will look to improve to 20-0-0 when it takes on Coppell in a Class 5A area match at 8 p.m. Friday at Hebron’s Hawk Stadium.

The Rangers, ranked No. 1 in the nation by ESPN Rise, whipped Duncanville, 5-0, in the first round of the playoffs, while Coppell (10-4-4) beat Keller Central, 4-0.

Jesuit has only surrendered three goals this season.

The winner will play the Allen-Flower Mound Marcus winner in the regional quarterfinals next week.

John Pickens, a sixth grade math teacher at Franklin Middle School and coach to the school’s formidable mathletes (preparing for the middle school math team state championship April 17 in San Antonio), was injured in a motorcycle accident last Wednesday in Tyler, per an e-mail to Franklin parents. The injuries weren’t life-threatening–a fractured leg and ankle that required surgery–but he will be laid up in his Frisco home for the next 12 weeks. Those interested in sending Pickens a note of support should contact Franklin’s PTA, franklincomm@gmail.com.

Jesuit picked up in the playoffs right where it left off in the regular season, registering a 5-0 bi-district win over Duncanville on Tuesday night at Pennington Field in Bedford.

The Rangers (19-0-0) got goals from Kingsley Bryce, David Reilly, David Matthews, Hansel Reyes, and Kristian Garciamendez-Rowald in the win.

Jesuit, ranked No. 1 in the nation by ESPN Rise, will take on Coppell (10-4-4) in the area round on Friday. The site and time are to be determined. The Cowboys were 4-0 winners over Keller Central in their bi-district contest.

The winner of Friday’s match moves on to face the Allen-Flower Mound Marcus winner in the regional quarterfinals early next week.

When I spoke with him at the end of January, just after he filed to run for the Texas House of Representatives, Democrat John Wellik said he hadn’t had time to formulate his top issues and legislative priorities. Seems he’s done some brainstorming in the past two months if his sleek new website is any indication. He wants to bolster education in public schools and universities, shore up North Texas’ transportation infrastructure, lower homeowner’s insurance rates, and clean up Texas air. In addition to the website, he has quite a presence on social media even though the YouTube link on his website takes you back to… his website.

Hartnett’s web presence is somewhat less extensive, but for the next legislative session, in order, he wants to fight new taxes and tax increases, fight unfunded federal healthcare mandates, require voter identification at polling places, use tax money more efficiently to improve public education, and increase law enforcement at the Mexican border.

Hartnett, a 10-term incumbent, has history on his side. In 2006, the last time he was challenged in the general election, he defeated Democrat Phillip Shinoda by 10 points.

In the wake of Preston Hollow People March 5 cover story about Royal Palms Travel, aka All Inclusive Excursions, a travel club customers claim scammed them out of thousands of dollars, Texas assistant attorney general Patricia Stein has filed suit against the company and director Adrian Miller last week.

Okay, so the AG’s lawsuit has been in the works for some time and our story had absolutely nothing to do with it. But still.

The suit itself introduces some interesting wrinkles to the story. According to the lawsuit, Miller is only a “front person” for William Bailey and Christy Spensberger, who are listed as sharing an Illinois address. The two are co-owners with Miller of a Royal Palms bank account. Spensberger is listed as director of Funseekers Vacations, which received more than $123,000 in membership dues from Royal Palms.

There is also evidence connecting them to Sealand Travel, the company that provides travel arrangements for Royal Palms, according to the lawsuit.

 All Inclusive Excursions member services director Arnulfo Vasquez said the company, which has been the focus of customer complaints for Byzantine rules and restrictions it places on travel, is an independent entity. But the company’s listed address, a Kansas City post office box, is registered to Spensberger, and mail from that box is forwarded weekly to the address she shares with Bailey, according to the AG’s investigation.

A temporary restraining order was granted by Judge Lorraine Raggio March 17 to prevent the defendants from engaging in deceptive business practices. The state is seeking the return of money obtained through illegal practices, plus civil penalties of up to $250,000 per violation of state law.

Raggio will decide whether to grant a temporary injunction, which would extend the restraining order through the end of a trial, on March 30.

Another Broken Egg Café: the premier breakfast, brunch, and lunch destination in Dallas. A one-of-a-kind experience where you can enjoy our Maine lobster omelettes, crab cakes flown in from the gulf, or enjoy the sweet side of our homemade bananas foster pancakes. Our very large menu offers over 90 entrees to suit a wide range of tastes from across the world, including a new sashimi grade tuna sandwich and salad. We have a full bar, where you can enjoy a premier mimosa or house special Bloody Mary. Lunch is a quick trip, where you can treat yourself to prime beef burgers cooked any way you like, the best club sandwich you have ever tasted, and giant salads.

Try the Hey Ricky omelette, a mix of sautéed onions, green chilies, avocado, and homemade chorizo, voted Best Omelette in Dallas by The Observer in our first year of operation. Kids can choose from our kid-friendly menu and play with Wikki Stiks. For the healthy person in all of us, you can choose from homemade oatmeal to our fresh fruit platters from the Dallas Farmers Market. Every Tuesday is Seniors Tuesday, where seniors can enjoy 50% off their order.

We offer catering services and sandwich platters for your special events. You can also rent our private banquet room on weekdays, which are great for private parties. For your special night event, such as wedding receptions or organizational banquets, you can rent the entire restaurant at a fixed per person price with no room charge, complete with a full bar and dedicated servers.

Locally owned by Chris Harwood and Michael O’Brien, come and try what East Dallas residents have been raving about for the past year. Located at the intersection of Garland and Buckner, in the Casa Linda shopping center, just down the street from the Dallas Arboretum.

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Here’s what definitely happened last night: federal agents of some stripe seized some property from 3908 Walnut Hill Lane on the northern edge of Midway Hollow, a SWAT team van drove through the backyard fence, and shot a smoke canister of sorts through one of the windows, probably not in that order. Details are still sketchy as to why. Dallas Police officer Greg Fanucci, who heads up the neighborhood’s Extended Neighborhood Patrol, wrote an e-mail to the Midway Hollow Crime Watch Yahoo! group in the wee hours of the morning.

“I know yall’s ears and eyes are burning with the Warrant that was run up on Walnut and Elmada.  It was for a man making Government Documents (dl,s- ss#, etc).  It is a big deal, but the renter/suspect was not at the house at the time.  They confiscated items/evidence and are still trying to locate the suspect.  I cant go into it any more than that guys”

Fanucci hasn’t responded to a follow-up e-mail.

The man who answered the door at the house in question acknowledged the details about the fence, the SWAT team, the broken window, and the seized items. He said he is house sitting and didn’t know what items they took. He wouldn’t give the name of the person he is house sitting for. The owner of the property, who lives in McKinney, said she was surprised by the news but, again, would not give the name of the leasee.

More details as they become available.

John Landrum, son of train-guru Ed Landrum (pictured), grew up with a scaled-down locomotive called Cinderbell in their Preston Hollow backyard. I bet he had a lot of friends in elementary school. But what the senior Landrum is best known for isn’t the choo-choo train in their back yard; he’s the guy that helped bring back the McKinney Avenue Trolley. Find out more about Ed Landrum’s lifelong train obsession by reading Eric Nicholson’s story in this week’s Preston Hollow People.