DOYLESTOWN — The Hillsdale football team has not been known this season as a team that will win with a big-play offense.

The Falcons instead grind teams down with run after run after run, moving the chains, killing the clock.

And while that may have been the Falcons’ original game plan Fri-day night against the 8-0 Chippewa Chipps, it’s not what happened.

Not even close.After losing star running back

Corbin Mager early in the second half to a twisted ankle, the Falcons put the game in the hands of senior quarter-back Troy Marksberry. He didn’t disap-point.

The senior’s last two passes of the game were both touchdowns and cov-ered 54 and 48 yards, respectively, bringing Hillsdale (8-1, 6-0) back from a 7-6 halftime deficit and giving it a huge, 18-15 win over state-ranked

Chippewa (8-1, 5-1).The victory clinched at least a tie

for the Wayne County Athletic League championship for the Falcons. It was the seventh time in the last eight years Hillsdale has beaten Chippewa, aveng-ing a 20-13 loss to the Chipps last year.

“That’s a huge win. Huge win,” said Hillsdale coach Tom Williams. “They are just so good as a team. I am so proud of our guys.”

SATURDAY OCTOBER 25, 2014 ASHLAND TIMES-GAZETTE SECTION B

Super Saturday set for Mounties, Redbirds

It would make sense to call today a “Super Saturday” for area football.

It’s safe to say there hasn’t been a bigger one for local teams in years.

According to the projection web-site Fantastic50.net, both Loudonville (8-0) and Mapleton (6-2) already have clinched playoff spots — the Redbirds doing so for the third straight season and the Mounties making it in for the second year in a row.

Both teams are in position today to make a mammoth move up in their respective regional rankings in Week 9 road showdowns against a

pair of 7-1 opponents.Mapleton’s contest comes against

No. 5-ranked, Division VII St. Paul, and it carries big weight in more ways than one. Both teams enter the 7 p.m. game at Warren Whitney Field with perfect 5-0 records in Firelands Con-ference play, so the winner clinches a share of this year’s FC crown.

With Week 10 featuring the Mounties against Western Reserve (2-7, 2-4) and the Flyers against Monroeville (1-8, 1-5), today’s game essentially will be for all the marbles.

Mapleton’s only FC title came in 1991 and its last win over St. Paul was a 32-26 outcome in 1995. When

the teams met in Week 9 last year, the Mounties needed a win for a shot at a share of the league, but fell, 42-13.

Mapleton is riding its first six-game win streak since 1991, and the last five victories in that run each have come by at least 23 points. A win over St. Paul would give the Mounties their second triumph over a team with a winning record this season, but the Flyers present a tall task.

St. Paul has won at least a share of 15 of the last 22 FC titles and already has clinched a home playoff game. In their seven wins this year, no team has been within fewer than

By DOUG HAIDETT-G Sports Editor

Cardinals hold on to beat PiratesBy ANDREW HARNERT-G Sports Writer

SHEFFIELD — A botched free kick was the last in a string of unusual plays in the second half of Friday night’s matchup between Black River and Brookside.

But just when it looked like the Pirates would have 21 seconds to try to turn in the go-ahead score, an odd bounce gave possession right back to the Cardinals and serious-ly hampered Black River’s playoff hopes.

The poorly punted free kick by the Cardi-nals ended up bouncing back into their hands to end a bizarre second half that saw six turnovers, an intentional safety and a 13-8 win for Brookside, its second Patriot Ath-letic Conference win this season and first against the Pirates since 2005.

“We’ll take it,” Brookside coach Thom Lesiecki said. “We really needed a win.”

Lesiecki played very conservatively in the final 2 minutes, taking three quar-terback kneel-downs before intentional-ly surrendering a safety with 21 seconds left on the clock.

◆ BROOKSIDE 13 BLACK RIVER 8

◆ MADISON 41, ASHLAND 35

◆ HILLSDALE 18, CHIPPEWA 15

◆ MONROEVILLE 14 CRESTVIEW 7

Chipps are down

By MATT TULLIST-G Correspondent

Arrows lose heartbreakerMADISON TWP. —

Ashland football coach Scott Valentine walked around the Arrows’ locker room Friday shaking hands with every player he could find after their game at Madison.

On a wild night in which his team overcame a 35-14 second-half deficit only to lose, 41-35 — a defeat that shattered Ashland’s shot at an Ohio Cardinal Conference title and lowered its odds at a postseason berth — Valen-tine said it was the least he could do.

“After a tough loss like that, I think it’s important for kids to understand,” Valen-tine said. “I’m so proud of the

kids and I think they needed that (hand shake), just because of where we were at and how we came back. It’s disappointing because we had the opportunities and we just didn’t get it done.”

With a 35-28 win by Wooster (6-3, 5-1 OCC) at West Holmes (6-3, 5-1), the door was open for Ashland (5-4, 4-2) to grab what could be a share of the OCC crown. But in a game that both teams needed to sharpen their playoff chances, Madi-son (6-3, 4-2) answered the Arrows’ 21-0 second-half run with a 64-yard run by Juwan Howard (28 carries, 195 yards, 2 TDs) with 8:08 left to play, holding on to its

By DOUG HAIDETT-G Sports Editor

Cougars drop tough one to Eagles on road

MONROEVILLE — Unable to over-come a couple of crucial penalty calls for holding in the fourth quarter, which negated two huge offensive plays, the Crestview football team could not top Monro-eville, falling 14-7 on Friday in Firelands Con-ference action, as the Eagles picked up their initial win of the season.

Down seven points and faced with a sec-ond-and-4 from its own 3-yard line, Crestview (2-7, 1-5 FC) quarterback Dakota Shafer ran down the field for a nearly 60 yards, only to have the play whistled dead for holding.

A failed pass on the next play forced Crestview to punt.

Having recovered a fumble by Mon-roeville’s Blake Anderson, Crestview had another shot at trying to score with 1:13 left in the game.

Shafer hooked up with tight end Sawyer Radcliffe for a 50-yard gain into Monroeville territory. Again, the

By LARRY STINET-G Correspondent

For more on these games, turn to Page B4.

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL - WEEK 9

Norwayne ...........49

Northwestern ..... 14

Western Reserve ...57

South Central ....... 30

Plymouth .............. 34

New London............ 6

Turn to SATURDAY, Page B2

Times-Gazette file photo

Mapleton’s Corey Kowatch (39) runs with the ball after making a catch during a game earlier this season.

Tyler Doerrer (1) of Ashland can’t keep Alec Keen of Madison from scoringduring Friday’s game at Madison High School.

Times-Gazette photo/Steve Stokes

Turn to PIRATES, Page B3

LaFever

Turn to COUGARS, Page B3

Times-Gazette photo/Joe Pelletier

Hillsdale’s Luke Summerfield (23) celebrates after his Falcons knocked off undefeated Chip-pewa at Doylestown Memorial Stadium on Friday.

Hillsdale moves into WCAL driver’s seat with huge win

Turn to HUGE, Page B3

McIntyre

Slone

Turn to AHS, Page B3

Chase trims downFor this week’s look at everything NASCAR, see Page B5.

Back at homeThe Browns look to bounce back Sunday against Oakland. For more, see Page B2.

SAN FRANCISCO — Jer-emy Guthrie pitched shutout ball into the sixth inning, L o r e n z o Cain drove in an early run off Tim Hudson and made a pair of nifty catch-es, and the Kansas City Royals beat the San Francisco Giants 3-2 on Friday night to take a 2-1 World Series lead.

Cain’s RBI groundout three batters in put the Royals ahead, and Kansas City expanded its lead to 3-0 in the sixth when Alex Gordon hit an RBI double off Cain and scored on Eric Hosmer’s single off left-hander Javier Lopez.

San Francisco finally got to Guthrie in the bottom of the sixth when pinch-hitter Michael Morse hit an RBI double over third base just past the glove of a diving Michael Moustakas and scored on Buster Posey’s groundout against Kelvin Herrera.

Herrera, Brandon Finnegan, Wade Davis and Greg Holland combined for four innings of hitless relief,

the longest in a Series game in 22 years.

Game 4 is tonight with Kansas City’s Jason Vargas facing San Francisco’s Ryan Vogelsong

Of the 57 times a World Series has been tied 1-1, the Game 3 winner has taken the title 37 times.

Guthrie returned to the area where he gained atten-tion pitching for Stanford in 2001-02, becoming a first-round draft pick, and made just his second start since Sept. 26. He allowed two runs and four hits in five-plus innings.

Guthrie gave up an infield single in the second to Hunter Pence, who was caught steal-ing second by catcher Salvador Perez, followed by Brandon Belt’s single to center. Guthrie retired his next 10 batters in order and combined with Hud-son to get out 20 in a row, the longest Series streak since the Yankees’ Don Larsen and the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Sal Maglie retired the first 23 batters dur-ing Larsen’s perfect game in 1956, according to STATS.

29 points of the Flyers, whose lone loss came in Week 3, 14-7 against a Huron team (7-1) ranked ninth in Division V.

St. Paul averages nearly 400 rushing yards per game, as Brad Smith and Devin Smith have combined for more than 2,100 yards and 28 TDs on the ground. The Flyers have outscored their FC opponents 249-34.

The other aspect of the matchup is that it could be a playoff preview. Both in Divi-sion VII, Region 23, the teams could see each other as early as the second round.

Mapleton running back Travis Pickering cleared 4,000 career rushing yards and 50 career TDs last week, and already has re-set the school record for single-season TDs and points he broke last year (currently 21 and 126).

Loudonville, meanwhile, is trying to become the area’s first team to start a season 9-0 since both Crestview and Hillsdale in 2011. The Redbirds, ranked third in Division VI, kick off 2 p.m. at Gilmour Academy’s Weber Stadium looking to win

for the ninth time by at least 30 points this season.

Since Week 8 of the 2011 sea-son, Loudonville is 28-3 in regular-season games. The ’Birds will be trying to expand on that success against a Lancers team that unof-ficially has clinched its second straight postseason berth and is coached by reigning AP Division V Coach of the Year Shawn Dodd.

Gilmour has put up 40 points in six of its eight games thus far, but it also has given up its share

of points. Three of the Lancers’ wins have come by six or fewer points and the team has allowed at least 40 points three times.

Loudonville will be trying to snap Gilmour’s nine-game home win streak while also continuing its march toward hosting a play-off game at Redbird Stadium for the first time. To do so, LHS will have to hold down Lancers QB Connor Lesko, who has account-ed for more than 2,000 yards and 25 touchdowns passing and running.

Impressively, the Redbirds have been more dominant on the road this year, winning games at Crestview (79-0), Bishop Ready (64-14) and Danville (67-7).

The team’s swarming defense has four players with at least 12 tackles for loss in Joe Artrip (18), Mike Henderson (13), Tristan Bender (13) and Kyle Graham (12). Meanwhile, QB Kolton Edmondson has passed (1,085 yards) and rushed (1,299) for more than 1,000 yards for the second year in a row.

Loudonville will close its reg-ular season at Shelby (2-6), and if the team can run the table, it will be its first undefeated regu-lar season since its run to the state title game in 1990.

CLEVELAND — When the Oak-land Raiders travel east, their perfor-mance usually heads south.

The NFL’s only winless team, the Silver and Black have lost 15 straight games in the Eastern time zone, a stretch of road ineptitude dating to 2009. The last time the Raiders came east and went home with a win was Dec. 6, 2009, when Bruce Gradkows-ki threw three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter — the winner with 9 seconds remaining — in a 27-24 win over Pittsburgh.

Since then, the East has been a beast for the Raiders.

On Sunday, they’ll be back where that Eastern losing streak started Dec. 27, 2009, with a 23-9 loss to the Browns.

The Raiders (0-6) dropped their first two road games in the East this season — they played Miami in Lon-don — but both games were close. Oakland lost 19-14 against the New York Jets in the season opener, and 16-9 at New England two weeks later.

Before he was fired, former Raid-ers coach Dennis Allen moved up the travel schedule one day to try and shake his team from its slump. It didn’t work and interim coach Tony Sparano isn’t planning anything radi-cal for his first road trip since replac-ing Allen on Sept. 30.

Sparano is well aware of the Raid-ers’ travel difficulties, and he has grown weary of being asked about it. There are many bigger priorities.

“This week it’s going to be, ‘How come you guys haven’t won a game on the other side of the turnpike in however long or whatever the case that is,’ ” he said. “I’m not worried about any of those things. I’m wor-ried about what our players think and what we as coaches think, and then how we implement it from there.

Right now, there is a great belief in that room that we’re going to get this thing turned around and that we are getting better.”

Maybe a 4:25 p.m. local kickoff will help the Raiders adjust.

The Browns (3-3) hope getting home will help them shake off an embarrass-ing loss at Jacksonville, where they were manhandled by the Jaguars, who got their first win of the season.

“We definitely want to go out there and just get that bad taste out of our mouth and just go out there and try to dominate,” Pro Bowl cor-nerback Joe Haden said. “We feel like this is a good opponent, but we know we have to go out there and do what we have to do.

“What we did last week isn’t us.”HOYER HYSTERIA: Browns quar-

terback Brian Hoyer had his worst start as a pro last week, completing just 16 of 41 passes. He had several balls bat-ted down at the line and seemed to rush several throws. The rough outing prompted cries — outside the team — for backup Johnny Manziel. Hoyer feels

coach Mike Pettine has his back, but another bad game could change things dramatically.

SHINY CARR: Raiders rookie quarterback Derek Carr has been a bright spot during Oakland’s six-game skid to start the season. Despite getting little help from the Raiders’ feeble running game — they rank last in the league — Carr is completing 63 percent of his passes. He’s the first rookie QB to throw eight touchdown passes in his first five games.

“This is a kid that can legitimately make all the throws,” Pettine said. “You could tell he’s got a firm grasp of what they’re doing. He knows where to go with the football.”

WOE-LINE: The Browns learned last week that life without Pro Bowl center Alex Mack might be painful. He is out for the season after breaking his left leg Oct. 12 against Pittsburgh. Cleveland’s front wall struggled minus Mack as John Greco slid over from right guard and Paul McQuistan start-ed in Greco’s old spot.

The Browns toyed with different combinations during practice this week.

ROADERS: No team can match Oakland’s travel itinerary. Including their trip to England, the Raiders will travel 36,106 miles this season, nearly 10,000 more than any team. They’ll also make four trips exceed-ing 2,000 miles.

NO STOPPING: The Browns haven’t been able to stop the run consistently all season. They’ll enter ranked No. 32 in rushing defense, allowing 155.5 yards per game. Cleveland is on pace to have its worst rushing defense since 2000, when the Browns gave up 156.6 yards.

“It’s frustrating,” Pettine said. “It’s something we look at, but we don’t want to panic about it. When it’s a lot of little things sometimes it takes some time to get that corrected.”

B2 SATURDAY OCTOBER 25, 2014 SPORTS ASHLAND TIMES-GAZETTE

SATURDAY, OCT. 25

LOCAL

HIGH SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY — Ashland in Division I regional championships in Tiffin (boys at 12:30 p.m., girls at 3 p.m.); Black River, Crest-view, Mapleton, New London in Division III regional championships at Boardman High School (boys 11 a.m., girls at 1:30 p.m.); Northwestern in Division II regional championships at Boardman High School (boys at 11:45 a.m., girls at 2:15 p.m.)

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL — Loudonville at Gilmour Academy, 2 p.m.; Mapleton at St. Paul, 7 p.m.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL — Northern Michigan at Ashland, 1 p.m.

COLLEGE WOMEN’S TENNIS — Ashland at GLIAC Tournament

COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL — Ashland at Malone, 2 p.m.

ON TV

AUTO RACINGFS1 — NASCAR, Sprint Cup, practice for Goody’s

Headache Relief Shot 500, at Martinsville, Va., 9 a.m.

FS1 — NASCAR, Truck Series, pole qualifying for Kroger 200, at Martinsville, Va., 10 a.m.

FS1 — NASCAR, Sprint Cup, “Happy Hour Series,” fi nal practice for Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500, at Martinsville, Va., Noon

FS1 — NASCAR, Truck Series, Kroger 200, at Martinsville, Va., 1:30 p.m.

COLLEGE FOOTBALLESPN — Texas at Kansas St., noonESPN2 — Rutgers at Nebraska, noonFSN — North Texas at Rice, NoonABC — Michigan at Michigan St., 3:30 p.m.CBS — Mississippi St. at Kentucky, 3:30 p.m.ESPN — West Virginia at Oklahoma St., 3:30 p.m.ESPN2 — Oregon St. at Stanford, 3:30 p.m.FOX — Texas Tech at TCU, 3:30 p.m.FS1 — FAU at Marshall, 3:30 p.m.ESPN — Mississippi at LSU, 4 p.m.ESPN2 — Alabama at Tennessee, 7:30 p.m.ABC — Ohio St. at Penn St., 8:07 p.m.FS1 — Southern Cal at Utah, 10 p.m.ESPN — Arizona St. at Washington, 10:45 p.m.

WORLD SERIESFOX — Game 4, Kansas City at San Francisco, 8

p.m.MOTORSPORTS

FS1 — MotoGP World Championship, Grand Prix of Malaysia, at Sepang, 3:30 a.m.

SOCCERNBC — Premier League, Leicester at Swansea

City, 12:30 p.m.NBC — MLS, Los Angeles at Seattle, 2:30 p.m.

SUNDAY, OCT. 26

LOCAL

COLLEGE WOMEN’S SOCCER — Walsh at Ashland, 1 p.m.

COLLEGE WOMEN’S TENNIS — Ashland at GLIAC Tournament

ON TV

AUTO RACINGESPN — NASCAR, Sprint Cup, Goody’s Headache

Relief Shot 500, at Martinsville, Va., 1:30 p.m.FIGURE SKATING

NBC — ISU, Grand Prix Skate America, at Chicago, 4 p.m.

WORLD SERIESFOX — Game 5, Kansas City at San Francisco, 8

p.m.MOTORSPORTS

FS1 — MotoGP Moto3, Grand Prix of Malaysia, at Sepang (same-day tape), 12:30 p.m.

FS1 — MotoGP Moto2, Grand Prix of Malaysia, at Sepang (same-day tape), 1:30 p.m.

NFLFOX — Detroit vs. Atlanta, at London, 9:30 a.m.CBS — Regional coverage, 1 p.m.FOX — Regional coverage, 1 p.m.FOX — Regional coverage, 4 p.m.CBS — Oakland at Cleveland, 4:25 p.m.NBC — Green Bay at New Orleans, 8:20 p.m.

NHLFSO — Columbus at Los Angeles, 4 p.m.

SOCCERNBC — Premier League, Chelsea at Manchester

United, NoonFS1 — Women’s national teams, CONCACAF

Championship/qualifi er for World Cup, third place, teams TBD, at Chester, Pa., 3 p.m.

FS1 — Women’s national teams, CONCACAF Championship/qualifier for World Cup, championship, teams TBD, at Chester, Pa., 6 p.m.

ESPN2 — MLS, New York at Kansas City, 8:30 p.m.

TENNISESPN2 — WTA, BNP Paribas Finals, championship,

at Singapore, 7 a.m.COLLEGE WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

ESPN2 — Nebraska at Wisconsin, 5 p.m.

SPORTS SCHEDULES

East has been a beast for the RaidersBROWNS

LOCAL SPORTS ROUNDUPMLB

ASHLAND UNIVERSITY ROUNDUP

Locals run well in Columbus Marathon

COLUMBUS — Many area runners competed in the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Marathon on Oct. 19.

Locals were led by Ashland’s Nancy Smith (3:40:14), who finished first in her division, while her time was good for 1,068th overall.

Three men from Ashland earned the area’s top finishes, including Tim Collins, who finished 112th overall out of 5,459 for the best local time in 2:57:15. Collins was 14th in his age group.

Tim Black finished 102nd in his age group (656th overall, 3:26:49), while Luc Hicks finished 126th (880th, 3:34:02).

New London’s Gabrielle Wuensch (3:30:26) led local women, finishing 769th overall and 38th in her division. Ashland’s Erin Emmons (921st, 3:35:02) finished 20th in her division.

For complete results from the Columbus Mara-thon, visit www.mtecresults.com and click on the race link.

Eighth-Grade FootballCrestview 44, Monroeville 22

OLIVESBURG — The Cougars were named conference champions Thursday after a win against the Eagles.

Dylan Balcarcel ran in two touchdowns, while Drake Sanders, Kyler Roberts and Jacob Greer each earned a rushing TD. Kaleb Goon also had a TD reception from Brevin King.

The Cougars closed the season with a 6-1 record.

T-G Staff Reports

Eagles sweep Cavaliers on the road in volleyball

CANTON — The Ashland University volleyball team beat Walsh on Friday, 25-21, 25-14, 25-22, in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action.

Ashland (6-13, 6-6 GLIAC) was led by Samantha Zuber (five kills, four digs, four aces, two blocks) and Alli Cud-worth (12 kills, two aces, 14 digs).

Katie Siefert also chipped in for the Eagles, earning 29 assists. Other notable per-formances came from Casey Clark (5 kills, 2 aces, 2 assists, 13 digs) and Rylee Scott (5 kills, 9 digs, ace).

Women’s SoccerAshland 2Lake Erie 1

PAINESVILLE — The Eagles defeated the Storm on Friday.

Ashland (8-6, 4-5 GLIAC) was tied 0-0 with the Storm at intermission. Lake Erie broke the silence, scoring 12 minutes into the second half. Kelsey McKernan and Morgan Bitten-gle then had unassisted goals to give Ashland the lead.

Karly Beuck was at goal-keeper for the Eagles and earned six saves. Sarah Stroope was in goal for Lake Erie and earned six saves.

Ashland had the advantage in shots (13-12) and in corner kicks (8-2).

T-G Staff Reports

By TOM WITHERSAssociated Press BROWNS KICKOFF

Oakland (0-6)at Cleveland (3-3)

■ Where: FirstEnergy Stadium■ When: 4:25 p.m. Sunday■ Radio: WMAN-AM 1100 WQKT-FM 104.5■ Television: CBS■ Point spread: Browns by 7

Series History■ All-time series: Raiders, 22-8■ Last meeting: Browns, 20-17 (Dec.

2, 2012)

Royals beat Giants 3-2 for 2-1 World Series leadT-G Staff Reports

LHS has 3 road wins by 50-plus pointsSATURDAYContinued from Page B1

Times-Gazette file photo

Loudonville’s Joey Artrip (85) gets a sack during a game earlier this season.

41-35 lead the rest of the way.“I think it would have been

real easy to dip our head when the momentum swung back to Ashland at the end and they tied it up,” Rams coach Sean Conway said, “so to go ahead and get that last touchdown I think shows a lot of character out of our kids.”

The Arrows had the ball at the end with a chance to take the lead, but they couldn’t get past their own 40-yard line as the clock ran out. Sophomore quarterback Grant Denbow’s final completion unofficially broke the school record for completions in a game (34 of 58, 385 yards, 5 TDs), and Ashland receiver Trey Smith (12 catches, 129 yards, TD) surpassed 1,000 receiving yards and unofficially tied the area record for single-season receptions (79).

But Madison intercepted five Denbow passes, and despite a wild 53 seconds in the fourth quarter during which the teams traded three turnovers, neither team scored in the final 8:08.

“There are some things that they did a little bit differently tonight (with coverages in the secondary), but I thought Grant read a lot of things nice,” Valentine said. “... Overall, he threw the ball well and we executed a lot of the things we wanted to.”

Johnny Jackson and Tyler Wilson both recovered second-half fumbles by the Rams. Wil-son stripped the ball away from Howard with less than 4 min-utes left in the third quarter to set up a 5-yard Denbow-to-Jake Purtell TD pass that made it 35-28 after Dominic Donofrio’s fourth of five PAT kicks.

Ashland’s defense then stiff-ened for a goal-line stand on the next drive, getting a fourth-

and-goal stop on its own 1 to get the ball back to Denbow, who set up a 12-yard, game-tying TD pass to Smith with a deep ball for a 75-yard gain to Nich Bernhard (7 catches, 126 yards).

Ashland had answered a 28-0 run by the Rams with a 21-0 run of its own, but those were the last points it would score. Howard found paydirt three plays into Madison’s ensuing drive — the sixth of six rushing touchdowns from five different players for the hosts — and Denbow was intercepted by Alec Keen and Kyle Galco on two of Ashland’s final four possessions.

Conway said the Rams mixed up coverages far more than they usually do to thwart the AHS passing attack, as Logan Pack added two inter-ceptions and Kanyon Tackett had another.

By game’s end, Denbow had matched his five interceptions with five touchdowns, tying the school record for single-game TDs for the second straight week.

“Tons of anxious moments, but when you play a Scott Val-entine-coached team, they’re never gonna quit, they’re never gonna give up,” Conway said. “... It was a wild game and it’s going to have a special place for me when it’s all said and done.”

Going without a single pass-ing yard in the game, the Rams built their 35-14 lead on How-ard and sophomore speedster

Tyrell Ajian (7 carries, 109 yards, TD).

“Both of them are good backs, they got some seams and broke it and we didn’t tack-le well (early),” Valentine said.

At halftime, Madison had 215 yards rushing on 25 car-ries, helping the hosts build a 28-14 lead despite first-quarter TD passes from Denbow to Bernhard and Cole McQuate.

Ashland will host winless Lexington next week in its regular-season finale, and the Arrows’ odds at a playoff berth will be up in the air.

“A lot of it depends on what happened tonight with a lot of other people,” Valentine said, “so we’ll wait and see.”

Ashland 14 0 14 7 — 35Madison 14 14 7 6 — 41

FirstQuarterA — McQuate 5 pass from Denbow (Donofrio kick), 6:38.M — Ajian 24 run (French kick), 5:40.A — Bernhard 15 pass from Denbow (Donofrio kick), 3:28.M — Pack 3 run (French kick), 1:25.

SecondQuarterM — Keen 2 run (French kick), 9:48.M — Howard 3 run (French kick), 1:23.

ThirdQuarterM — Tackett 2 run (French kick), 7:01.A — Bernhard 5 pass from Denbow (Donofrio kick), 4:12.A — Purtell 5 pass from Denbow (Donofrio kick), 3:29.

FourthQuarterA — Smith 12 pass from Denbow (Donofrio kick), 9:07.M — Howard 64 run (kick blocked), 8:08.

——— A MFirst downs 19 13Rushes-yards 12-16 52-347Passing 385 0Comp-Att-Int 34-58-5 0-3-0Fumbles-Lost 0-0 4-2Penalties-Yards 7-90 6-40

———INDIVIDUALLEADERS

RUSHING — Ashland, Wilson 1-8. Madison, Howard 28-195.PASSING — Ashland, Denbow 34-58-385-5. Madison, Finley 0-3-0-0.RECEIVING— Ashland, Smith 12-129.

Chippewa came into the game averaging 45 points per game, and Hillsdale shut the Chipps, led by senior quarter-back Bailey Breitenstine, down. Chippewa scored just seven points in the first half, and that came on a one-play, 10-yard drive that happened after Hillsdale fumbled the ball deep in its own territory.

“Our defense has played great all year,” Williams said. “They’re good at adjusting, and the guys just hung in there.”

In the first half, Hillsdale ran the ball. A lot. Mager carried the ball 13 times for 49 yards before the break, including a 2-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.

Early in the second half, though, he rolled his ankle on a long run that was ultimately called back due to penalties.

That’s when Marksberry (11 of 18, 173 yards passing) took over. He led the Falcons in rush-

ing with 84 yards on 22 carries. It was his arm, though, that won the game.

Early in the fourth quarter and down 7-6, the Falcons faced a third-and-5 from their own 46. Marksberry dropped back and lofted a pass down the right sideline that receiver Andrew Wolf ran under, caught and car-ried into the end zone. The play went for 54 yards. Wolf finished the night with four catches for 82 yards.

After Chippewa’s offense stalled once again and was forced to punt, Hillsdale blocked the punt and took over on Chip-pewa’s 48-yard line. After two failed running plays, Marksber-ry dropped back and rolled to his left.

He heaved a high, floating throw toward the end zone that Doug Cline jumped up and grabbed over a Chipp defender.

Cline turned and took about five steps and was in the end zone. It was his fifth catch, giv-ing him 79 yards receiving.

In less than 4 minutes, the Falcons had tripled their point

output for the night and gave their defense a cushion.

Mike Bohley, Chippewa’s sec-ond-year coach, was not happy with his team’s performance, particularly in the area of pen-alties, which constantly stalled his offense and forced them into third-and-long situations. The

Chipps had 11 penalties for 110 yards on the night.

“You cannot win a football game of this magnitude with 11 penalties and 110 yards,” he said. “They didn’t make those penalties. We did.”

Bohley said the Falcons’ defense was sound all night

long and made it tough for his offense to get going by pressur-ing Breitenstine (13 of 21, 199 yards, 2 TDs) constantly.

“They play really well,” he said of the Hillsdale defense. “They rally to the ball and limit explosive plays.”

On the night, Chippewa had just three plays of more than 20 yards.

Hillsdale 6 0 0 12 — 18Chippewa 0 7 0 8 — 15

FirstQuarterH — Mager 2 yard run (kick failed), 0:23

SecondQuarterC — Breitenstine 10 yard pass to Z. Zollinger, (Gerstenslager kick), 10:15

FourthQuarterH — Wolf 54 pass Marksberry (kick failed), 10:09H — D. Cline 48 yard pass from Marksberry, (conversion failed) , 6:51C — Bennett 31 yard pass from Breitenstine (Zollinger run), 5:46

——— H CFirst downs 17 14Rushes-yards 49-199 35-112Passing 173 199Comp-Att-Int 11-18-0 13-21-0Fumbles-Lost 5-2 3-0Penalties-Yards 4-35 11-110

———INDIVIDUALLEADERS

RUSHING — Hillsdale, Marksberry 22-84. Chippewa, Breitenstine 20-61.PASSING— Hillsdale, Marksberry 11-18-173-0. Chippewa, Breitenstine 13-21-199-0.RECEIVING— Hillsdale, Wolf 4-82 yards. Chip-pewa, Durbin, 5-61.

referee signaled the play dead, calling the Cougars for holding, and with 14 seconds remaining in the game, Crestview faced a second-and-21 situation from its own 24-yard line.

Four plays later, Shafer com-pleted a 3-yard pass to Tyler Brown, but the clock ran out, end-ing any further comeback bid.

“I appreciate the way our kids fought against adversity, you know, that’s really all you

can ask them to do,” Crestview coach Chad Coffman said. “... We have a 60-yard play and they call it back, then we have a 50-yard play and they call it back. I think it’s discouraging for the kids, but I’ll tell you what they responded with was to turn around and do it over and over again.”

Monroeville took a 7-0 lead with 6:39 left in the first quarter as Cody Hershiser scored from 3 yards out and Ryan Watt added the PAT.

The Eagles increased their lead to 14-0 when Hershiser scored his second TD on an

11-yard run with 2:48 to play in the second quarter, with Watt again adding the PAT.

Crestview responded in the third quarter as Shafer broke loose for a 22-yard TD scamper off right tackle with Konnor Hickey adding the PAT.

The Cougars had a couple of chances to score in the first half but were turned back by the Eagles defense.

“It hurt a lot, obviously any time you get down there you want to score, you need to score,” Coffman said. “We weren’t able to do that and it is

a big deal because we did move the ball at times.”

Dawson LaFever led Crest-view with 97 yards rushing on 14 carries and Shafer went 8 of 14 passing for 113 yards. Tanner Noblet caught a trio of passes for 48 yards and LaFever added three catches for 38 yards.

Hershiser paced Monroeville with 70 yards rushing on 14 carries and Anderson added 43 yards on the ground on 15 totes.

“We moved the ball, but we just weren’t ready to overcome everything that was thrown upon us tonight,” Coffman said.

Crestview 0 0 7 0 —7Monroeville 7 7 0 0 —14

FirstQuarterM — Hershiser 3 run (Watt kick), 6:39.

SecondQuarterM — Hershiser 11 run (Watt kick), 2:48.

ThirdQuarterC — Shafer 22 run (Hickey kick), 9:44.

——— C MFirst downs 9 9Rushes-yards 34-160 56-134Passing 113 17Comp-Att-Int 8-14-1 2-4-0Fumbles-Lost 1-1 3-2Penalties-Yards 8-75 5-35

———INDIVIDUALLEADERS

RUSHING— Crestview, LaFever 14-97. Monro-eville, Hershiser 34-70.PASSING — Crestview, Shafer 8-14-113-1. Monroeville, Watt 2-4-17-0.RECEIVING— Crestview, LaFever 3-38. Monro-eville, Ott 1-13.

With the ensuing free kick, the Cardinals (4-5, 2-4 PAC) hoped to pin Black River (4-5, 3-3 PAC) deep in its own ter-ritory. The Pirates, who would have been in solid playoff posi-tioning by winning the last two games of the season, would have had to put together a long drive without any timeouts.

Instead, the kick went only about 15 yards off the side of the punter’s foot, and Brook-side was able to get to the ball first to seal a win and snap a four-game losing streak. “I’ve never seen a miss on a punt that ended up our ball,” Lesiecki said.

At one point in the third quarter, four straight posses-sions ended in lost fumbles, and there were seven such plays in the game — four for the Pirates and three for the Cardinals. Brookside’s Hunter Schmeitzer also had two interceptions to end promising scoring drives.

“Our defense did play well,” said Leisecki, whose squad handed Black River a third loss in the PAC for the first time since 2007. “You look at the beginning of the season, they are scoring 70 points and 50 points, so for us to give up a single score is impressive for our defense.”

Brookside also had three stops on fourth down, and held strong in the red zone, allowing the Pirates to score on just one of five trips inside the 20-yard line.

Black River’s one break-through broke a scoreless tie with 2:55 left in the opening half, during which the Pirates converted 4 of 7 third downs and gained 15 first downs. Senior fullback Ryan Slone bulled his way in from a yard out for the TD.

Brookside, which was held to 14 yards in the first half and 17 yards on its first drive of the second half, answered a minute later with a 43-yard run up the middle by senior quarterback Tyler O’Malley, who also opened the drive with a 40-yard pass.

“We made a couple big plays just before half,” Lesiecki said. “We hit the big pass and the big run, and it puts us in the lead going into the half.”

Black River tried to gain back the momentum before the break, using a 35-yard pass from Mike Hazlett to senior Alex McIntyre to break into the red zone, but two incompletions and a sack ended the half.

Earlier in the half, the Pirates coughed up a fumble on a botched handoff on the second drive and Hazlett tossed an interception on the next drive. Both turnovers were commit-ted inside the Brookside 35-yard line.

On the first drive of the sec-ond half, Black River needed just six plays to drive from its own 17-yard line to the Brook-side 4, but failed to convert on four straight rushes inside the 5-yard.

“I thought our defense really stepped up tonight,” Lesiecki said. “We made a lot of fourth-down stops and we gave up a lot of yards, but when we needed to get the stops, we ended up get-ting them.”

Pirates running back Dalton Toth surpassed 1,200 yards for the season on his fourth carry of the game, but did not play in the second half. He finished with 11 carries for 109 yards.

David Bell again did not play, and seven players had at least one rushing attempt.

Black River coach Al Young declined comment after the game.BlackRiver 0 6 0 2 —8Brookside 0 7 6 0 —13

SecondQuarterBR — Slone 1 run (kick failed), 2:55.B — O’Malley 43 run (Rich kick), 1:55.

ThirdQuarterB — Taw 3 pass from O’Malley (kick failed), 5:06.

FourthQuarterBR — Safety, 0:21.

——— BR BFirst downs 20 10Rushes-yards 53-248 44-87Passing 91 66Comp-Att-Int 4-13-2 5-13-0Fumbles-Lost 4-4 3-3Penalties-Yards 3-24 6-29

———INDIVIDUALLEADERS

RUSHING — Black River, Toth 11-109. Brook-side, Brown-Fugate 16-59.PASSING — Black River, Hazlett 4-13-91-2. Brookside, O’Malley 5-13-66-0.RECEIVING — Black River, McIntyre 2-63. Brookside, Houston 1-40.

ASHLAND TIMES-GAZETTE SportS SATURDAY OCTOBER 25, 2014 B3

Hillsdale defense key in WCAL win

Trey Smith surpasses 1,000 yards at receiver

Black River was down 7-6 at half

Dawson LaFever led Crestview in rushing with 97 yards

Times-Gazette photo/Steve Stokes

Ashland’s Nich Bernhard (18) drags Tyrell Ajian (2) into the end zone as he scores during Friday’s game at Madison High School.

PIRATESContinued from Page B1

COUGARSContinued from Page B1

HUGEContinued from Page B1

Times-Gazette photo/Joe Pelletier

Hillsdale’s Corbin Mager (12) eludes Chippewa’s Austin Durbin (23) at Doylestown Memorial Stadium on Friday.

AHSContinued from Page B1

CRESTON — With a dominating rushing attack, Norwayne defeated North-western on Friday, 49-14.

The Bob-cats took control of the game early and gave the Huskies no reprieve in the Wayne County Athletic League matchup, as Northwestern (3-6, 1-5 WCAL) would go into halftime down 21-0.

Norwayne (5-4, 2-4 WCAL) was led by Jer-emy Miller, who averaged 11.8 yards per carry on the ground and scored three

touchdowns. Miller also ran in a pair of two-point conver-sions.

Northwestern couldn’t find success on the ground, as the Huskies earned just 17 yards.

In the second half, North-western’s Cameron Taylor threw a pair of TD passes, one to Isaac Sadzewicz and one to Ryan Sheridan. Taylor threw for 261 yards and ran for 27, but was sacked four times.

Norwayne had over 500 yards of offense — including 296 yards on the ground for Miller — and four receivers with at least 20 yards.

Northwestern0 0 14 0 — 14Norwayne 14 7 21 7 — 49

FirstQuarterNOR — Miller 4 run (kick failed), 7:15.NOR — Miller 32 run (Miller run), 4:18.

SecondQuarterNOR — Unknown 49 pass from Zollinger (Schwartz kick), 9:31.

ThirdQuarterNW — Sadzewicz 41 pass from Taylor (Orosz kick), 10:22.NOR — Under interception (Miller run), 7:47.NW — Sheridan 70 pass from Taylor (Orosz kick), 5:41.NOR — Zollinger 18 run (Schwartz kick), 1:22.NOR — Miller 7 run (kick failed), 0:02.

FourthQuarterNOR — Hall 13 pass from Dreher (Schwartz kick), 7:48.

——— NW NORFirst downs 15 26Rushes-yards 24-17 44-401Passing 259 151Comp-Att-Int 24-49-4 10-18-1Fumbles-Lost 0-0 3-3Penalties-Yards 9-79 13-148

———INDIVIDUALLEADERS

RUSHING— Northwestern, Taylor 11-27. Norwayne, Miller 25-296.PASSING — Northwestern, Taylor 23-46-261-2. Norwayne, Zollinger 5-12-87-1RECEIVING —Northwestern, Sadzewicz 7-128. Norwayne, Miller 2-23.

B4 SATURDAY OCTOBER 25, 2014 SportS ASHLAND TIMES-GAZETTE

TimeTrialResultsMartinsvilleSpeedway

66thAnnualGoody’sHeadacheReliefShot500

1 1 Jamie McMurray 18.954 99.9052 22 Joey Logano 19.011 99.6053 20 Matt Kenseth 19.066 99.3184 14 Tony Stewart 19.07 99.2975 11 Denny Hamlin 19.076 99.2666 2 Brad Keselowski 19.081 99.247 48 Jimmie Johnson 19.083 99.238 18 Kyle Busch 19.087 99.2099 31 Ryan Newman 19.159 98.83610 41 Kurt Busch 19.201 98.6211 99 Carl Edwards 19.214 98.55312 15 Clint Bowyer 19.258 98.328

Pos Car Driver Time SpeedQualifyingRound2

1 20 Matt Kenseth 18.971 99.8162 1 Jamie McMurray 19.033 99.493 11 Denny Hamlin 19.048 99.4124 48 Jimmie Johnson 19.089 99.1985 2 Brad Keselowski 19.093 99.1786 15 Clint Bowyer 19.094 99.1737 22 Joey Logano 19.109 99.0958 18 Kyle Busch 19.134 98.9659 31 Ryan Newman 19.141 98.92910 41 Kurt Busch 19.15 98.88311 99 Carl Edwards 19.152 98.87212 14 Tony Stewart 19.155 98.85713 24 Jeff Gordon 19.158 98.84114 27 Paul Menard 19.163 98.81515 47 AJ Allmendinger 19.164 98.8116 42 Kyle Larson # 19.196 98.64617 55 Brian Vickers 19.2 98.62518 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 19.207 98.58919 3 Austin Dillon # 19.231 98.46620 13 Casey Mears 19.231 98.46621 16 Greg Biffle 19.235 98.44622 51 Justin Allgaier # 19.256 98.33823 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 19.257 98.33324 5 Kasey Kahne 19.267 98.28225 9 Marcos Ambrose 19.28 98.21626 78 Martin Truex Jr. 19.283 98.227 43 Aric Almirola 19.3 98.11428 40 Landon Cassill(i) 19.305 98.08929 34 David Ragan 19.308 98.07330 10 Danica Patrick 19.341 97.90631 36 Reed Sorenson 19.345 97.88632 23 Alex Bowman # 19.347 97.87633 4 Kevin Harvick 19.355 97.83534 38 David Gilliland 19.365 97.78535 98 Josh Wise 19.376 97.72936 26 Cole Whitt # 19.383 97.69437 7 Michael Annett # 19.457 97.32238 93 Clay Rogers 19.568 96.7739 33 Travis Kvapil 19.583 96.69640 83 JJ Yeley(i) 19.611 96.55841 44 Timmy Hill 19.719 96.02942 32 Kyle Fowler(i) 19.787 95.69943 66 Mike Wallace(i) 19.8 95.636

QualifyingRound1Pos Car Driver Time Speed

NASCAR

OHIOCARDINALCONFERENCE OVERALL OCCSCHOOL W L W LWooster 6 3 5 1West Holmes 5 4 5 1Madison 6 3 4 2Ashland 5 4 4 2Mansfield Senior 4 5 3 3 Clear Fork 4 5 2 4Orrville 2 7 1 5Lexington 0 9 0 6

Friday’sGamesMadison 41, Ashland 35Mansfield Senior 64, Lexington 15Clear Fork 56, Orrville 48Wooster 35, West Holmes 28

FIRELANDSCONFERENCE OVERALL FCSCHOOL W L W LSt. Paul #5, D7 7 1 5 0Mapleton 6 2 5 0Plymouth #11, D7 7 2 4 2New London 3 6 3 3South Central 3 6 2 4W. Reserve 2 7 2 4Crestview 2 7 1 5Monroeville 1 8 1 5

Friday’sGamesMonroeville 14, Crestview 7Plymouth 34, New London 6Western Reserve 57, South Central 30

Saturday’sGameMapleton at St Paul

MID-BUCKEYECONFERENCE OVERALL MBCSCHOOL W L W LLoudonville #3, D6 8 0 2 0Danville 5 4 1 1Lucas 5 4 0 2

Friday’sGameDanville 28, Lucas 14

Saturday’sGameLoudonville at Gilmour Academy

PATRIOTATHLETICCONFERENCE

OVERALL PACSCHOOL W L W L

STARS DIVISIONBuckeye 7 2 6 0Keystone 7 2 5 1Firelands 6 3 3 3Black River 4 5 3 3Wellington 2 7 2 4Brookside 3 6 1 5

STRIPES DIVISIONColumbia 8 1 6 0Clearview 5 4 3 3Lutheran West 4 5 3 3Fairview 3 6 3 3Brooklyn 2 7 1 5Oberlin 1 8 0 6

Friday’sGamesBrookside 13, Black River 8Buckeye 35, Keystone 18Firelands 27, Wellington 24Columbia 56, Brooklyn 7Lutheran West 19, Clearview 18Fairview 31, Oberlin 6

WAYNECOUNTYATHLETICLEAGUE

OVERALLWCALSCHOOL W L W LHillsdale 8 1 6 0Chippewa #7, D5 8 1 5 1Smithville 6 3 4 2Dalton 5 4 3 3Waynedale 4 5 3 3Norwayne 5 4 2 4Northwestern 3 6 1 5Rittman 2 7 0 6

Friday’sGamesHillsdale 18, Chippewa 15Smithville 36, Dalton 18Norwayne 49, Northwestern 14Waynedale 49, Rittman 15

ForallthescoresfromaroundthestateofOhio,visitwww.times-gazette.comandclickontheHighSchoolFootballScoreboardunderthelocalsportstab.

HigH SCHool FootbAll HowtoreachtheT-G

sportsdepartmentPhone

SportseditorDougHaidet419-281-0581, ext. 245

SportswriterBeckyTenerMeziere419-281-0581, ext. 255

SportswriterAndrewHarner

419-281-0581, ext. 244

EmailSportseditorDougHaidetdhaidet@times-gazette.com

SportswriterBeckyTenerMeziere

btener@times-gazette.comSportswriter

AndrewHarneraharner@times-gazette.com

GeneralT-Gsportssports@times-gazette.com

Fax419-281-8692

Announcementpolicy

All announcements submitted to the Times-Gazette will appear in print only one time.

Those who have announcements to submit to the Times-Gazette can do so by phone, fax, mail or email in the ways outlined above.

AHShostingwinteryouthhoopsleague

The Ashland High School boys basketball team is hosting a Winter Youth League for basketball-playing boys and girls in grades 3-6. The league will take place Sundays at the Ashland YMCA and Ashland Middle School from Dec. 14 through Feb. 22.

Cost is $350 per team and there is a $25 discount for multiple teams. There is a $40 individual fee for third- and fourth-grade Ashland city participants, who will be placed on balanced teams.

Practice and team-placement dates and times for Ashland city third- and fourth-graders will be 5-7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16, and Sunday, Nov. 23, at Ashland High School. Fifth- and sixth-grade divisions will form their own teams.

For more information, or to join a team, contact Bryan Hall (419-651-0635) or Tim Fralick (tfralick@ashland.edu).

ANNouNCiNg

GREATLAKESINTERCOLLEGIATEATHLETICCONFERENCE

FOOTBALL OVERALL GLIACSCHOOL W L W L

SOUTH DIVISIONAshland#24 6 1 6 1Ohio Dominican #16 6 1 6 1Findlay 4 3 3 3Tiffin 4 3 3 3Lake Erie 3 4 2 4Walsh 2 5 2 5Malone 1 6 1 6

NORTH DIVISIONFerris St. #6 7 0 6 0Michigan Tech #13 6 0 6 0Northwood 4 3 3 3Grand Valley St. 3 4 3 3Wayne St. 3 4 2 4Hillsdale 2 5 2 4Northern Michigan 2 5 1 5Saginaw Valley St. 1 6 1 5Note: Rankings are from the AFCA poll released Oct. 20.**Indicates teams receiving votes in poll

Saturday’sGamesN. Michigan at Ashland, 1 p.m.Walsh at Wayne St.Grand Valley St. at FindlayFerris St. at Michigan TechHillsdale at TiffinLake Erie at MaloneNorthwood at Saginaw Valley St.

gliAC FootbAll

LURAYLANESBILLHARRISSENIORSLEAGUERick Cooke 270—693; Chuck

Grissinger 246—622; Tom Hollins 224—617; Bill Dignin 209—613; Doyle Greshner 203—575.

HIGH GAME — Luray Lanes 593, Luray Lanes 590

HIGH SERIES — A&M Welding Supply 1693, Luray Lanes 1677.

STANDINGS — A&M Welding Supply 22-10, Frazer Automotive 18-14, Bill Harris No. 2 18-14, Ashland Home Int. 18-14.

FRIDAYSENIORSLEAGUESylvia Dobbin 179—474; Joan

Reed 170—451; Mattie Halstead 154—429.

LADYEAGLESLEAGUELisa Stout 212—548; Robin Hawks

185—539; Lynn Lewis 188—523; Connie Crawford 148—502; Mindy Kelly 168—467.

HIGH GAME — Women of the Moose 624, Ball, Bounce & Sport 595.

HIGH SERIES — Ball, Bounce & Sport 1731, Women of the Moose 1727.

STANDINGS — Ball, Bounce & Sport 20, BBC Car Care 18.5, UPI 18.

THURSDAYSENIORSLEAGUEDee Stevens 221—614; Keith Siler

208—575; Chuck Grissinger 211—540; Marion Hess 200—535; Tom Provateare 181—529.

Sylvia Dobbins 165—463; Maxine Shopbell 175—437; Karen Laughery 167—428; Mattie Halstead 149—425; Marlene Harvey 165—402.

bowliNg

TheAssociatedPressAllTimesEDT

AMERICANCONFERENCEEast

W L T Pct PF PANew England 5 2 0 .714 187 154Buffalo 4 3 0 .571 135 142Miami 3 3 0 .500 147 138N.Y. Jets 1 6 0 .143 121 185

South W L T Pct PF PAIndianapolis 5 2 0 .714 216 136Houston 3 4 0 .429 155 150Tennessee 2 5 0 .286 121 172Jacksonville 1 6 0 .143 105 191

North W L T Pct PF PABaltimore 5 2 0 .714 193 104Cincinnati 3 2 1 .583 134 140Pittsburgh 4 3 0 .571 154 162Cleveland 3 3 0 .500 140 139

West W L T Pct PF PADenver 6 1 0 .857 224 142San Diego 5 3 0 .625 205 149Kansas City 3 3 0 .500 142 121Oakland 0 6 0 .000 92 158

NATIONALCONFERENCEEast

W L T Pct PF PADallas 6 1 0 .857 196 147Philadelphia 5 1 0 .833 183 132N.Y. Giants 3 4 0 .429 154 169Washington 2 5 0 .286 151 183

South W L T Pct PF PACarolina 3 3 1 .500 158 195New Orleans 2 4 0 .333 155 165Atlanta 2 5 0 .286 171 199Tampa Bay 1 5 0 .167 120 204

North W L T Pct PF PADetroit 5 2 0 .714 140 105Green Bay 5 2 0 .714 199 147Chicago 3 4 0 .429 157 171Minnesota 2 5 0 .286 120 160

West W L T Pct PF PAArizona 5 1 0 .833 140 119San Francisco 4 3 0 .571 158 165Seattle 3 3 0 .500 159 141St. Louis 2 4 0 .333 129 176

___Thursday’sGame

Denver 35, San Diego 21Sunday’sGames

Detroit vs. Atlanta at London, 9:30 a.m.St. Louis at Kansas City, 1 p.m.Houston at Tennessee, 1 p.m.Minnesota at Tampa Bay, 1 p.m.Seattle at Carolina, 1 p.m.Baltimore at Cincinnati, 1 p.m.Miami at Jacksonville, 1 p.m.Chicago at New England, 1 p.m.Buffalo at N.Y. Jets, 1 p.m.Philadelphia at Arizona, 4:05 p.m.Oakland at Cleveland, 4:25 p.m.Indianapolis at Pittsburgh, 4:25 p.m.Green Bay at New Orleans, 8:30 p.m.Open: N.Y. Giants, San Francisco

NFl

TheAssociatedPressAllTimesEDT

EASTERNCONFERENCE W L T Pts GFGAy-D.C. 17 9 7 58 51 36x-N. England 16 13 4 52 50 46x-Kansas City 14 12 7 49 48 39x-Columbus 13 10 10 49 50 41x-New York 12 10 11 47 53 50Philadelphia 10 11 12 42 50 49Toronto FC 11 14 8 41 44 53Houston 11 17 6 39 39 58Chicago 6 10 18 36 41 51Montreal 6 18 9 27 37 57

WESTERNCONFERENCE W L T Pts GFGAx-Seattle 19 10 4 61 63 50x-Los Angeles 17 6 10 61 69 35x Salt Lake 15 8 11 56 54 39x-FC Dallas 16 11 6 54 55 43Vancouver 11 8 14 47 41 40Portland 11 9 13 46 59 52Colorado 8 17 8 32 43 61Chivas USA 8 19 6 30 28 61San Jose 6 15 12 30 35 49NOTE: Three points for victory, one point for tie.x- clinched playoff berthy- clinched conference

___Wednesday’sGames

Real Salt Lake 2, Chivas USA 0Friday’sGames

Chicago 2, Houston 1Saturday’sGames

Los Angeles at Seattle FC, 3 p.m.D.C. United at Montreal, 4 p.m.Toronto FC at New England, 7:30 p.m.Portland at FC Dallas, 8:30 p.m.Colorado at Vancouver, 10 p.m.

Sunday’sGamesPhiladelphia at Columbus, 4 p.m.San Jose at Chivas USA, 4:30 p.m.New York at Sporting Kansas City, 8:30 p.m.

MlS

TheAssociatedPressAllTimesEDTx-ifnecessaryWORLDSERIES

(Best-of-7)AllgamestelevisedbyFox

KansasCity2,SanFrancisco1Tuesday, Oct. 21: San Francisco 7, Kansas City 1Wednesday, Oct. 22: Kansas City 7, San Francisco 2Friday, Oct. 24: Kansas City 3, San Francisco 2Saturday, Oct. 25: Kansas City (Vargas 11-10) at San Francisco (Vogelsong 8-13), 8:07 p.m.Sunday, Oct. 26: Kansas City (Shields 14-8) at San Francisco (Bumgarner 18-10), 8:07 p.m.x-Tuesday, Oct. 28: San Francisco at Kansas City, 8:07 p.m.x-Wednesday, Oct. 29: San Francisco at Kansas City, 8:07 p.m.

woRld SeRieS

TheAssociatedPressAllTimesEDT

EASTERNCONFERENCEAtlanticDivision

GP W L OT Pts GF GAMontreal 7 6 1 0 12 22 21Tampa Bay 8 5 2 1 11 25 16Detroit 7 4 1 2 10 16 13Ottawa 5 4 1 0 8 14 10Boston 9 4 5 0 8 22 23Toronto 7 3 3 1 7 20 21Florida 6 2 2 2 6 9 14Buffalo 8 1 7 0 2 9 28

MetropolitanDivision GP W L OT Pts GF GAN.Y. Islanders 7 5 2 0 10 25 22Columbus 6 4 2 0 8 20 16Washington 6 3 1 2 8 20 14New Jersey 7 3 2 2 8 22 23N.Y. Rangers 7 4 3 0 8 21 23Pittsburgh 6 3 2 1 7 22 19Philadelphia 7 2 3 2 6 22 28Carolina 6 0 4 2 2 11 23

WESTERNCONFERENCECentralDivision

GP W L OT Pts GF GANashville 7 5 0 2 12 19 13Dallas 7 4 1 2 10 24 22Chicago 6 4 1 1 9 18 10Minnesota 5 3 2 0 6 12 4St. Louis 6 2 3 1 5 13 13Winnipeg 7 2 5 0 4 13 20Colorado 7 1 4 2 4 12 24

PacificDivision GP W L OT Pts GF GAAnaheim 7 6 1 0 12 25 14Los Angeles 7 5 1 1 11 17 10Calgary 9 5 3 1 11 25 19San Jose 8 4 3 1 9 27 25Vancouver 6 4 2 0 8 20 17Arizona 6 2 3 1 5 16 24Edmonton 7 2 4 1 5 17 29NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss.

Thursday’sGamesN.Y. Islanders 3, Boston 2Detroit 4, Pittsburgh 3, OTVancouver 4, St. Louis 1Nashville 3, Chicago 2Minnesota 2, Arizona 0Calgary 5, Carolina 0Los Angeles 2, Buffalo 0Columbus 5, San Jose 4

Friday’sGamesLategamesnotincludedDallas 3, New Jersey 2, SOTampa Bay 4, Winnipeg 2Vancouver at Colorado, (n)Carolina at Edmonton, (n)Columbus at Anaheim, (n)

Saturday’sGamesBuffalo at San Jose, 4 p.m.Boston at Toronto, 7 p.m.N.Y. Rangers at Montreal, 7 p.m.New Jersey at Ottawa, 7 p.m.Dallas at N.Y. Islanders, 7 p.m.Detroit at Philadelphia, 7 p.m.Chicago at St. Louis, 8 p.m.Pittsburgh at Nashville, 8 p.m.Tampa Bay at Minnesota, 8 p.m.Florida at Arizona, 9 p.m.Washington at Calgary, 10 p.m.

Sunday’sGamesColorado at Winnipeg, 3 p.m.Columbus at Los Angeles, 4 p.m.Ottawa at Chicago, 7 p.m.San Jose at Anaheim, 8 p.m.Washington at Vancouver, 9:30 p.m.

NHlHigH SCHool FootbAll u PlyMoutH 34, New loNdoN 6

Big Red handles Wildcats in FC

PLYMOUTH — The New London football team was coming off a pair of big wins against Monroeville and Western Reserve head-ed into Week 9’s matchup, but its two-game winning streak wasn’t enough to roll over state-ranked Plymouth (No. 11, Division VII) on Friday night.

The Wildcats fell to their Firelands Conference foe 34-6, in a contest that show-cased a lot of the Big Red’s defense and not a lot of New London’s offense.

“They just came out ready to play and got that 20-0 lead,” New London coach Brad Pickens said of Plymouth. “... They showed up wanting to win in the first half and we waited for the second quarter or the second half to really want to fight for it.”

The Wildcats’ lone score of the night came with less than a minute on the clock in the fourth quarter, when a series of plays got New London (3-6, 3-3 FC) to the 2-yard line and Nate Thom-as was able to punch in the touchdown. The Wildcats went for the two-point con-

version, but the pass was batted down by the Big Red (7-2, 4-2 FC) defense.

The Big Red got off to a strong start with a pair of touchdowns in the first quarter. Plymouth’s opening play showcased a short pass from quarterback Hunter Bailey to Tyrell Edmiston, who took it 75 yards to the end zone. Five minutes later, the Big Red added another TD off a 29-yard pass from Bailey to Chance Butcher to take a 13-0 lead.

While the Big Red found offensive success, the Wild-cats didn’t cross into Plym-outh territory until the sec-ond quarter.

“Plymouth did a great job defensively,” Pickens said. “They did some differ-ent things. Things we didn’t expect.”

“They were a little bit more physical than we were, so they did a great job,” Pick-ens added. “... Their defense led them tonight.”

The Wildcats’ best drive of the first half came with just seconds left before inter-mission, when runs from Thomas and Derek Phillips took the squad down the field. Just shy of the 35-yard line, New London threw a deep pass to the end zone, but it was incomplete.

The Big Red added anoth-er TD in the second quarter, where Bailey found Butcher

on a 29-yarder.Butcher chipped in anoth-

er touchdown in the third quarter on a 5-yard run, while Remington Smedley caught a pass from Bailey in the third quarter for a TD, as well.

The loss capped the Wild-cats only pair of consecutive wins this season. It was a loss of momentum Pickens didn’t want to see with one game remaining.

“It’s tough,” he said. “We were finally starting to do some good things. ... Some-thing like this, it will make them have to make a choice whether they want to battle (and) keep winning.”

NewLondon 0 0 0 7 — 6Plymouth 13 7 14 0 — 34

FirstQuarterP — Edmiston 75 pass from Bailey, (Kick failed), 8:29P — Butcher 28 pass from Bailey, (Saez kick), 3:01

SecondQuarterP — Butcher 29 pass from Bailey, (Saez kick), 7:09

ThirdQuarterP — Smedley 4 pass from Bailey, (Saez kick), 10:14p — Butcher 5 run (Saez kick), 3:37

FourthQuarterNL — Thomas 2 run (pass fail), 0:57

——— NL PFirst downs 5 15Rushes-yards 14-84 22-117Passing 66 226Comp-Att-Int 5-12-0 11-19-0Fumbles-Lost 1-0 0-0Penalties-Yards 4-40 3-30

———INDIVIDUALLEADERS

RUSHING— New London, Thomas 11-56. Plymouth, Butcher 9-55.PASSING— New London, Hamilton 5-12-66-0. Plymouth, 11-18-226-0 RECEIVING— New London, Phillips 2-33. Plymouth, Edmiston 5-107

By BECKY TENER MEZIERET-G Sports Writer

Thomas

u weSteRN ReSeRve 57, SoutH CeNtRAl 30

Rough 3rd quarter dooms TrojansCOLLINS — South Cen-

tral allowed a 29-point third quarter Friday to Western Reserve on the road and couldn’t recover in a 57-30 loss.

While it was the third time this season the Trojans (3-6, 2-5 Firelands Confer-ence) have scored at least 30 points, it also was the third time South Central has allowed at least 50 points this season.

Quarterback Dakota Stump led the Roughrid-ers (2-7, 2-4), passing for 53 yards and a touchdown

while also rushing for 155 yards and three TDs.

For South Central, Michael Jenny scored on a 12-yard run and caught a TD pass from Jacob Carney in the first quar-ter to give the Trojans a 14-7 lead.

South Central then took a 22-21 lead into halftime after Carney hit Stephen Goetz with a 19-yard TD pass in the second quarter.

But the Roughriders out-scored the Trojans 36-8 in the second half to seal the deal.

South Central saw Car-ney throw for 146 yards and three TDs, as Matt Kelsey also scored and posted nine tackles for the squad, which hosts New London in Week 10.

S.Central 14 8 0 8 — 30W.Reserve 14 7 29 7 — 57

T-G Staff Report

u NoRwAyNe 49, NoRtHweSteRN 14

Bobcats rush to defeat HuskiesT-G Staff Report

Taylor

Carney Jenny

Bengals’ Green doubtful at RavensAssociated Press

CINCINNATI — Bengals receiv-er A.J. Green is expected to miss a pivotal AFC North game against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday because of an injured right big toe.

The Pro Bowl receiver was list-ed as doubtful Friday. He’s missed the last two games with the injury, suffered during a season-opening win in Baltimore. The Ravens (5-2) can take control of the divi-sion with a win over the defending champion Bengals (3-2-1) at Paul Brown Stadium.

Pro Bowl linebacker Vontaze Burfict was listed as probable with a strained neck. He’s missed two games because of concussions.

Cornerback Leon Hall also was probable. He had to leave a 27-0 loss to Indianapolis last Sun-day with a back injury.

NFl

For URGENT REPAIRS only.

1.5 mills LIMITED to 5 years.

Previous Permanent Improvement

Levy has EXPIRED.

Paid for by The Committee to Preserve Our SchoolsBrian Hinkle, Treasurer

FOR

FRIDAY APRIL 11, 2014 ASHLAND TIMES-GAZETTE SECTION B

Look for more atphotos.times-gazette.com.

Eagles to honor Bruce at spring gameAnyone who builds a resume good

enough to become head football coach at Ohio State has been part of the game long enough to have ties all over the state.

Leader of the Buckeyes from 1979 through 1987, Earle Bruce is no different.

When he’s honored today with the Ashland University Gridiron Club’s Life-time Achievement Award at the annual Purple and Gold Spring Game (7 p.m.), he won’t be receiving it in unfamiliar territory.

Bruce got his high school coaching start in 1953 as an assistant coach at Mansfield Senior before becoming the head coach at Salem in 1956.

After an ensuing stint at Sandusky from 1960 through 1963, he landed one of the state’s most sought-after gridiron gigs when he took over at Massillon Washing-ton, never losing a game in his two sea-sons (20-0).

It’s a former coaching post he shares with Ashland coach Lee Owens, who led the Tigers from 1988 through 1991 and got a little motivation from Bruce to take that job in the first place.

Bruce said he himself nearly turned down the Massillon position before get-ting some words of wisdom from Ohio State legend Woody Hayes. Years later, he said Owens was in a similar situation.

“I got a call from Woody Hayes and he said, ‘You can’t turn that job down, Earle. That’s the greatest job in Ohio and you better take it right now,’ ” said Bruce, now 83 and working for WTVN-AM 610 in Columbus. “And I said, ‘Oh, OK coach.’

“So (when Owens was in the same spot 24 years later), I called coach Owens down at Lancaster ... and I said, ‘You should take it. It is the greatest stepping stone in America, so you better think about it.’ And he did and he went to Mas-sillon and had a nice career there.”

Even prior to that conversation, Owens said that following his state title at Galion in 1985 he wrote a letter to Bruce trying to land a job as an assistant for him at Ohio State.

“He didn’t interview me, but he knew who I was,” Owens said with a laugh, “so that was good.”

Bruce’s ties to Ashland football go beyond that, too. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2002 alongside Ashland coaching legend Fred Martinelli, who Bruce said he dearly loves.

“I used to take the Mansfield reserves down (to Bellville when Martinelli was coaching high school) to scrimmage them and he kicked the hell out of us all the time,” Bruce said.

When mulling over possible honorees for AU’s Lifetime Achievement Award, Owens said highlighting Bruce’s career — which

By DOUG HAIDETT-G Sports Editor

ASHLAND UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL

HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL u WENDY’S SpRING CLASSIC pREVIEW

Arrows cruise past rival ColtsBy TIM SHOEMAKERT-G Sports Writer

It was so windy Thursday at Brookside Park, there were times when the wind actu-ally changed the numbers on the scorecards in favor of Clear Fork.

But in reality, it was the Ashland High School boys tennis team that breezed past the Colts for a 5-0 victory, claiming its first Ohio Cardinal Conference win of the season in the process.

“We were hoping for a 5-0 win only for the fact we didn’t get any points against Lexing-ton,” Ashland coach Rick Crooks said. “You don’t wanna lose a point where you probably shouldn’t simply for the fact at the end of the season you don’t want that point to come back and haunt you some place.”

“I was hoping for this ending and we got it,” he continued. “I told the guys before we started that we needed the 5-0 (win) and we needed the five points and they all came through. I’m very pleased.”

The Arrows (4-1, 1-1 OCC) didn’t waste any time with a Clear Fork team that came into Thursday’s match unbeaten on the season (now 3-1, 0-1).

Andy Elderbrock was first off the court in a 6-0, 6-0 win at second singles over Ben Stew-art that took just over 30 minutes to complete.

Tim Sprunger also cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Adam Remy at first singles, while Caleb Sinchok trailed 2-1 early in the first set of his third-singles match with

Spring into action

The 21st annual Wendy’s Spring Classic Softball Invi-tational is back for another year of impressive competi-tion at Brookside Parks.

The 2014 edition, which is set to begin 4:30 p.m. today, will be a little differ-ent, as the Classic is running a week earlier than usual and is a day shorter — only today and Saturday. Perhaps the biggest change, however, is the weather, with sun and warm temperatures headlin-ing a tourney that has been plagued with rain, snow and cold.

“Everything is looking

good,” Wendy’s Spring Clas-sic Board of Directors co-President John Davis said. “I really have not had any obstacles to this point. The only thing that we need to keep in mind is that we need to get the fields dried out from all the rain.”

The Classic, which will showcase local squads Ashland, Crestview, Hillsdale and Loudonville, may lack an abundance of out-of-state teams but is brimming with state talent, boasting an over-all record in 2013 of 483-170 (.739) from the 24-team field and has three of Ohio’s four state champions.

The Classic runs today and Saturday, all-day admis-

sion to the games will be $5 — good at all the parks — and children ages 7 and under are free.

Weather woes subsided

Mother Nature has been ruthless the week of Wendy’s Spring Classic, but this year it looks like the tourney will finally catch a break.

“I have been involved with the Wendy’s for prob-

ably seven or eight years now, and I don’t ever recall weather not being a factor,” Davis said.

After years of putting together a contingency plan for the Classic, Davis said he didn’t take the time to do one this time around.

“It looks outstanding,” Davis said of the weather. “I am always very cautious, but I’m ready to play the 37 games on Friday and Sat-urday and be excited about that.”

“The ironic thing is that there were a couple teams that we’ve had come fre-quently in the past, who

By BECKY TENER MEZIERET-G Sports Writer

Times-Gazette file photo

The Hillsdale and Ashland softball teams stand during the national anthem during the Wendy’s Spring Classic Softball Invitational at Brookside Park last season. The Classic is set to begin 4:30 p.m., with the Feature Game beginning at 6:45 at Brookside Main.

Haas has Masters lead after Day 1By DOUG FERGUSONAssociated Press

AUGUSTA, Ga. — No nerves. No wor-ries. Adam Scott never knew the opening round at Augusta National could be so enjoyable.

With his green jacket upstairs in the locker room for Masters champions, Scott made only one bad swing that cost him two shots in a round of 3-under 69. It was the lowest open-ing score by a defending champion in 13 years, and it left Scott one shot behind leader Bill Haas on an otherwise demand-ing day.

“It was really how you hope to come out and play at any major, and especially the Masters,” Scott said. “And there’s no doubt winning the Masters last year had me a little more comfortable on the first tee than I’ve ever been in the past, because I didn’t have the legs shaking and nerves jangling for six or seven holes like usual.”

Haas, with a rich family history at Augusta that includes a green jacket for his great uncle Bob Goalby, settled down after an opening bogey with a collection of good birdie putts and an 8-iron to 5 feet for birdie on the 18th for a 68.

It was the first time in 18 majors that Haas has had the lead after any round. That only gets him a crystal vase for the low round of the day at the Masters. Haas knows better than to put too much stock

Repetitive Redbirds crack win column

LOUDONVILLE — In a game that felt more like it was being played in a wind tunnel than on a baseball field Thursday, Loudonville found out that sometimes repetition reaps winning rewards.

The Redbirds scored three runs in each of their first three innings against visiting St. Peter’s and watched starting pitcher Garrett Quickle throw 15 pitches in each of his first three innings on the mound.

Reoccurrences like those helped lead to Loudonville’s first win of the season, an 11-4 rout of the Spartans that nearly ended via the mercy rule after both the fifth and sixth innings.

The 11 runs were just one short of what the Redbirds (1-4, 1-1 Mid-Buckeye Conference) scored in their

first four games combined.“I kind of gave (Loudonville ath-

letic director Justin Todd) a little bit of a hard time because our non-league schedule is brutal this year,” Loudonville coach Brandon Grimes said. “There’s no letup, we were see-ing 6-foot-5 lefties in the first three games we played.

“It was nice to come out tonight and get a win. We needed to see some runners get on, we needed to move some people around, see some runs put up.”

It didn’t take the Redbirds long to get things rolling. By the end of

By DOUG HAIDETT-G Sports Editor

HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL u LOUDONVILLE 11, ST. pETER’S 4

Classic begins with talent-packed field primed for titles

Turn to ACTION, Page B5

HIGH SCHOOL BOYS TENNIS u ASHLAND 5, CLEAR FORk 0

Photo courtesy of OSU athletics

Former Ohio State football coach Earle Bruce will be hon-ored tonight with a Lifetime Achievement Award during Ashland’s annual Purple and Gold Spring Game at Jack Mill-er Stadium/Martinelli Field.

InsideFor more on the Wendy’s Spring Classic, including in-depth stories and a full competition bracket, see Pages B2-B3.

Times-Gazette photo/Joe Pelletier

St. Peter’s Chris Marek can’t tag Loudonville’s Austin VanSickle at second base during Thursday’s game at Loudonville High School.

Turn to HONOR, Page B5

STAT OF THE STORY3: Loudonville scored three runs in each of the first three innings and starting pitcher Garrett Quickle allowed just three hits.

Turn to REDBIRDS, Page B5

pGA TOUR

Turn to ARROWS, Page B5

Turn to LEADS, Page B5

B2 FRIDAY APRIL 11, 2014 21ST ANNUAL WENDY’S SPRING CLASSIC ASHLAND TIMES-GAZETTE

WENDY’S SPRINGCLASSIC RECORDS

ALL-TIME■ MOST WINS — 25, Tallmadge, 1994-2012; Hillsdale,

1995-2014■ HIGHEST WINNING PERCENTAGE — 1.000 (6-0),

Hueytown (Ala.), 2008 and 2010■ MOST GAMES PLAYED — 49, Hillsdale (1995-present)■ LONGEST WINNING STREAK — 10 (tie), Akron Ellet,

1996-2000, and Tallmadge, 1995-98

SINGLE-GAME■ LONGEST GAME — 11 innings, Colonel Crawford 1,

Montour (Pa.) 0, 2004■ HIGHEST-SCORING GAME, BOTH TEAMS — 22 runs

(tie), Lake Park (Ill.) 13, Ashland 9, 2010; Bartlett (Ill.) 14, Colonel Crawford 8, 2010

■ HIGHEST-SCORING GAME, ONE TEAM — 16 runs (tie), Akron Springfi eld, 1996; Washington (Pa.), 2006; Cicero-North Syracuse, 2008; Elyria, 2010

CLASSIC■ MOST SHUTOUTS — 20 (2001)■ MOST EXTRA-INNING GAMES — 9 (2004)■ MOST 1-0 GAMES — 8 (2001)■ MOST ONE-RUN GAMES — 16 (2004)

2014 CLASSIC TEAMS■ LONGEST HIATUS — Austintown-Fitch, gone since 1995■ WINNINGEST COACHES — Bud Weisgerber,

Strasburg-Franklin (658 wins); Ken Fenik, Elyria (455); Lorenzo Sozio, Mount St. Dominic (426).

■ BEST 2013 RECORD — North Canton Hoover, 34-0.

AUA provides 106 with scholarships

T-G Staff Report

Since 1995, the Ashland Umpires Association, which hosts both the Wendy’s Spring Classic Softball Invitational and the MVD Sports Ohio Invitational, has awarded 106 local softball players $84,520 worth of scholarship money since inception.

Last year, the AUA awarded scholarships to six area athletes, including Shannon Boehm (Mapleton), Tessa Cooperrider (Loudonville), Amber Deter (Hillsdale), Sara Kreitzer (Crestview), Casey McDan-iel (Ashland) and Brette Purvis (Crestview).

The following is a complete list of AUA scholarship winners:

2013 — Shannon Boehm, Mapleton; Tessa Cooperrider, Loudonville; Amber Deter, Hillsdale; Sara Kreitzer, Crestview; Casey McDaniel, Ashland; Brette Purvis, Crestview.

2012 — Taylor Kinsey, Ashland; Katie Paramore, Mapleton; Lindsay Shoup, Crestview; Megan Shoup, Crestview; Andi VanSickle, Loudonville.

2011 — Paige King, Hillsdale; Julia Fabich, Ashland; Kelsey Dropsey, Hillsdale; Jerrica Young, Loudonville; Faith Stiteler, Ashland; Hayley Glaze, Crestview; Morgan Walter, Crestview.

2010 — Janey Fulk, Crestview; Melanie Fitch, Crestview; Carly West, Hillsdale; Kaitlin Davis, Loudonville; Christine Camp, Loudonville; Cynthia Jackson, Mapleton; Sadie Wiley, Mapleton.

2009 — Amber Chapman, Ashland; Erin Ebert, Hillsdale; Cally McGee, Ashland; Brandy Mennell, Mapleton; Alicia Metzger, Crestview; Taylor Rogers, Ashland.

2008 — Emily Ford, Mapleton; Jill Rohr, Mapleton; Sheena Burwell, Loudonville; Brittany Filak, Ashland; Megan Smith, Hillsdale; Alyssa Purvis, Crestview; Kate Stimpert, Crestview; Addie Runkle, Hillsdale.

2007 — Miranda Braun, Mapleton; Paige Galligher, Hillsdale; Natalie McFadden, Loudonville; Cheyenne Smith, Crestview; Molly Steffen, Mapleton; Rachel Yarman, Ashland.

2006 — Ashley Burwell, Loudonville; Whitney Dropsey, Hillsdale; Nikki Evans, Ashland; Kim Fulk, Hillsdale; Tiffany Hoover, Loudonville; Ashley Montgomery, Mapleton; Heather Randles, Loudonville.

2005 — Crystal Dilgard, Loudonville; Tara Ickes, Ashland; Matti McFarlin, Ashland; Theresa Pagano, Mapleton; Courtney Shank, Mapleton; Kelly Stephens, Crestview; Tiffany Uhler, Hillsdale.

2004 — Morgan Braun, Mapleton; Kelly Click, Ashland; Mary Jo Glenn, Crestview; Christina Jackson, Hillsdale; Ashley Jenkins, Loudonville; Kelly Mowry, Hillsdale.

2003 — Jill Allerding, Loudonville; Mandy Brown, Mapleton; Billie Jo Brumfi eld, Loudonville; Carly Moore, Mapleton; Mandy Stoner, Hillsdale.

2002 — Katelyn Beddow, Ashland; Erin Christopher, Loudonville; Jessie Fulk, Hillsdale; Arica Harrison, Hillsdale; Julie Rider, Crestview; Krista Smith, Mapleton; Jill Stanley, Loudonville.

2001 — Kelly Bond, Crestview; Carly Cole, Ashland; Ashley Ekey, Mapleton; Mindee Fisher, Loudonville; Jessica Freel, Loudonville; Stacy Rogers, Ashland; Michelle Shenberger, Hillsdale; Alex Tilton, Hillsdale.

2000 — Jolene Edwards, Ashland; Lindsey Potter, Ashland; Hollie Ramsey, Crestview; Jessica Reynolds, Mapleton; Cassie Rogers, Hillsdale; Tiffany Simpson, Hillsdale.

1999 — Heather Haldeman, Ashland; Becky Rider, Crestview; Sarah Spidel, Mapleton; Jena Whitcomb, Loudonville.

1998 — Lisa Haudenschild, Loudonville; Felicia Jones, Ashland; Bridget Lambright, Crestview; Lisa Smith, Hillsdale.

1997 — Darci Christopher, Loudonville; Kasey Gee, Crestview; Jessica Miller, Loudonville; Amy Skafec, Ashland.

1996 — Sarah Allerding, Loudonville; Jody Eichelberger, Hillsdale; Hope Gardner, Hillsdale.

1995 — April Barr, Mapleton; Cindy Puster, Ashland.

Crestview makes debut, Falcons hit 20

For the first time in 20 years the Wendy’s Spring Classic Softball Invitational will showcase a quartet of local squads.

The usual trio — Ashland, Hillsdale and Loudonville — have made a combined 55 appearances in the Classic, and will be joined by Crestview for this year’s edition.

The Cougars have never com-peted in the local staple, though second-year coach Bob Derr said the team had been offered a posi-tion in the past, but couldn’t make it work at that time.

The Cougars snagged an invite this year due to the exit of Livo-nia Ladywood — a 2012 Michigan state champion — which had to withdraw from the Classic due to an MHSAA violation involving trav-el to an out-of-state tournament.

Wendy’s Spring Classic Board of Directors co-President John Davis said he and the rest of the board were pleased to fill the vacancy with the Cougars.

“We called coach Derr right there in the meeting I announced Ladywood couldn’t attend, and he said, ‘We’d love to,’ ” Davis said of Crestview.

Other than the Arrows, Falcons

and Redbirds, only two other local teams have competed in the Clas-sic: Black River and Mapleton (1994).

The Classic prides itself on bringing in a mix of in-state and out-of-state talent, but Davis said he was surprised this would only be the Cougars’ first trip.

“I was just as surprised that they have never played in it before,” Davis said. “I can’t speak to any-thing before the my seven or eight years (with the Classic), but I’m not sure why (Crestview) and some of the other locals haven’t made appearances.”

Derr said a trip to the Classic is a great opportunity for his squad, which has players who have always gone to the invite as spectators and are thrilled to compete

“The girls are excited,” Derr said. “As they should be.”

The coach is very familiar with the Classic, whose daughter, an Ashland High School graduate played in it.

“Ashland is still home for me,” said Derr, now a Loudonville resi-dent. “I know a lot of people up there and it will be good to be back.”

While Crestview makes its shin-ing debut, Hillsdale will make its record 20th appearance, the most of any school.

The Falcons, who missed only the inaugural year of the Classic, post a record number of wins (25) and hope to continue their tradition

of success.“We are really excited and ready

to play,” third-year Hillsdale coach Ben Bolen said. “I think the girls are prepared and ready to go.”

After 19 appearances, Bolen said the Falcons know what to expect and look forward to the programs they’ll meet in action.

“I think the girls are ready to see the other teams,” he said. “They know that they have a lot more girls to pick from than us.”

The Falcons also tote a lot of expectations into the Classic, with an overall record of 25-24.

“It’s important to us that we compete well there,” Bolen said. “We have a young team with three or four freshmen in our lineup. It’s good for them to get this kind of experience.”

The Cougars, Derr said, are hop-ing to make a good showing in their first Classic appearance.

“We’ve been practicing harder on fundamentals,” he said. “I told the girls, ‘When you play good com-petition, fundamentals will keep you in the game.’ ”

The keys, Derr said, are doing the things that don’t show up in the scorebook, like bunting and smart base running. He also said his team will need to play strong defense behind pitcher Macie Restille.

“Macie is always going to keep us in every game,” Derr said. “But we have to play good defense behind her. If Macie gives us outs, we can’t afford to give up any others.”

By BECKY TENER MEZIERET-G Sports Writer

Steeped in history

The Friday Night Feature Game is the crown jewel of the Wendy’s Spring Classic Softball Invitational, with enough local history to build fervent rivalries.

Tonight, the marquee matchup will showcase Ashland High School and Loudonville, who are both making their 19th appearance in the Classic.

Both teams are under new direc-tion, as legendary Loudonville skip-per Bill Herman makes his Classic debut with the Arrows and the Red-birds’ new manager, Serena Fenton, gets her first shot at the invite as a head coach.

The game, which will honor Bob and Connie Edwards, will begin 6:45 p.m. at Brookside Main. The Young Marines of Mansfield will present the Colors and Ashland High School’s Arrow Dynamics will perform the national anthem.

History may always be part of the Feature Game, but this matchup is brimming with it.

Herman spent 10 years as the Redbirds’ head coach and said it will be fun to face off against his old team tonight.

“On their roster, I really only know a few of the girls,” said Her-man, who left his post at LHS in 2009 after winning 189 games there. “I haven’t coached any of them. I’ve been gone that long.”

Herman, who now has 194 career wins after starting 5-1 with the Arrows, said he welcomes the meeting with Loudonville (3-0), noting he wants to play Ashland’s “backyard rivals” because they are strong competitors.

“I just want to face good com-petition and I know they will bring their ‘A’ game,” Herman said. “You want to play good teams like that. If we wouldn’t have got them or been

selected to play them, we would have scheduled them during the course of the season because we want to play good competition.”

On the other side of the dia-mond, Fenton, who was on the Red-birds coaching staff last year, will be taking part in the Wendy’s after coming as a fan when she was play-ing softball at Clear Fork.

“Oh, we are excited,” Fenton said. “When I was in high school I never was in the Wendy’s, but I always came to it.”

“I remember telling the girls last year as a volunteer assistant, ‘Thank you for giving me my first Wendy’s experience.’ ”

The Arrows and Redbirds have put together some big performanc-es in Classic action. The pair have played three previous times in the Feature Game, with Ashland hold-ing the advantage, 2-1. The Red-birds won the last meeting between the two, 5-4, in 2011.

Loudonville is hoping for a simi-lar showing this time.

“We are ready,” Fenton said. “... The girls have been working hard and we’re ready to get out there and play.”

The Redbirds will depend on a team effort led by seniors Bekka Leitenberger and Shelby VanSick-le, along with contributions from

sophomore Sarah Wickline.Unfortunately for Loudonville,

the Classic falls the same weekend as prom, but Fenton said her team is committed to putting together a strong showing without any distrac-tions.

“We know there is going to be good competition there and the girls say they are focused,” Fenton said. “Bill is a very good coach, so we know that he is going to have (Ashland) prepared.”

The Arrows will depend on a strong defense behind ace pitcher Racquel Ward during their time at the Classic, while Nos. 1, 2 and 3 hitters Bryanna Masters, Morghan Light and Kaylee Harpster will need to get the offense going.

Herman said the Arrows are ready to compete and he’s ready for his teams get some experience against strong teams.

“You always want to play compe-tition like that at this point in the season,” Herman said. “It feels like tournament time.”

“It’s a little different when the girls step out there, everything is a little different,” Herman said. “It’s a very good test anytime in the season to play on that kind of stage. If they can go out and perform in that atmo-sphere they’ll learn a lot out there.”

Feature game honorees The 2014 Feature Game will honor

longtime Wendy’s Spring Classic vol-unteers Bob and Connie Edwards.

The couple has been a part of the Classic committee for years, along with service to local softball.

“They are synonymous with the Wendy’s,” Spring Classic Board of Directors co-President John Davis “... They have really contributed so much for us.”

The couple have mostly been in charge of sales and gate attendants.

By BECKY TENER MEZIERET-G Sports Writer

WENDY’S WEATHER WATCH■ TODAY — Intervals of clouds and sunshine.

High around 62. Winds at 5 to 10 mph. A 10-percent chance of rain.

■ TONIGHT — Partly cloudy skies. Low around 41. Winds at 5 to 10 mph. A 10-percent chance of rain.

■ SATURDAY — Partly cloudy skies. High around 68. Winds at 5 to 10 mph. No chance of rain.

Times-Gazette file photos

At left, Ashland High School’s Racquel Ward (14) bats against Lexington during high school softball action earlier this season. At right, Loudonville’s Shelby VanSickle throws a pitch during a game last season. Ward and VanSickle will be keys for their respective teams in tonight’s Feature Game.

Herman’s Arrows face Redbirds in feature

FRIDAY NIGHTFEATURE GAME

HISTORY2013 — Hillsdale 9, Ashland 82012 — Loudonville 9, Hillsdale 02011 — Loudonville 5, Ashland 42010 — Hillsdale 4, Ashland 32009 — Hillsdale 6, Loudonville 12008 — Hillsdale 4, Ashland 22007 — Ashland 6, Loudonville 1 2006 — Loudonville 4, Hillsdale 12005 — Ashland 5, Hillsdale 2 2004 — Ashland 5, Loudonville 0

ASHLAND TIMES-GAZETTE 21ST ANNUAL WENDY’S SPRING CLASSIC FRIDAY APRIL 11, 2014 B3

HOOVER vsNEUQUA VALLEY

TODAY — 4:30 P.M. MAIN

WALSH JESUIT vsAUSTINTOWN-FITCH

TODAY — 4:30 P.M. BW #1

ELYRIA vsMAUMEE

TODAY — 4:30 P.M. BW #2

LEBANON vsSPRINGFIELD

TODAY — 4:30 P.M. BW #3

GAME 15SATURDAY

9 A.M.MAIN

GAME 13TODAY

8:05 P.M.BW #2

GAME 16TODAY

8:15 P.M.BW #4

GAME 14TODAY

8:10 P.M.BW #3

CHAMPIONSHIPSATURDAY12:30 P.M.

MAIN

FIFTH PLACESATURDAY12:35 P.M.

BW #2

SEVENTH PLACESATURDAY12:40 P.M.

BW #3

THIRD PLACESATURDAY12:30 P.M.

BW #1

GREENVILLE vsMOUNT ST. DOMINIC

TODAY — 4:30 P.M. BW #4

ASHLAND vsLOUDONVILLE

TODAY — 6:45 P.M. MAIN

PERRY vsURSULINE

TODAY — 6:15 P.M. BW #1

BLOOM-CARROLL vsCANFIELD

TODAY — 6:20 P.M. BW #2

GAME 19SATURDAY

9 A.M.BW #3

GAME 17SATURDAY

9 A.M.BW #1

GAME 20SATURDAY

9 A.M.BW #4

GAME 18SATURDAY

9 A.M.BW #2

CHAMPIONSHIPSATURDAY

2:15 P.M.MAIN

FIFTH PLACESATURDAY2:20 P.M.BW #2

SEVENTH PLACESATURDAY2:25 P.M.BW #3

THIRD PLACESATURDAY

2:15 P.M.BW #1

KENTON RIDGE vsLEXINGTON

TODAY — 6:25 P.M. BW #3

CRESTVIEW vsWINDHAM

TODAY — 6:30 P.M. BW #4

COLUMBIA vsHILLSDALE

TODAY — 8:30 P.M. MAIN

STRASBURG-FRANKLIN vsBISHOP READY

TODAY — 8 P.M. BW #1

GAME 23SATURDAY10:45 A.M.

BW #1

GAME 21SATURDAY10:45 A.M.

MAIN

GAME 24SATURDAY10:55 A.M.

BW #3

GAME 22SATURDAY10:50 A.M.

BW #2

CHAMPIONSHIPSATURDAY

4 P.M.MAIN

FIFTH PLACESATURDAY4:10 P.M.BW #2

SEVENTH PLACESATURDAY

4:15 P.M.BW #3

THIRD PLACESATURDAY

4 P.M.BW #1

BEYOND THE BRACKETSWHO HAS WHAT IT TAKES TO BE CLASSIC CHAMPS?

RED POOL

BLACK POOL

YELLOW POOL

WALSH-JESUITWARRIORS

Location: Cuyahoga FallsConference: North Coast League2013 record: 26-6Head coach: Bill DavisWendy’s appearances: 8thAll-time Wendy’s record: 13-42013 postseason: Division II state semifi nal

SPRINGFIELDSPARTANS

Location: AkronConference: Portage Trail2013 record: 25-5Head coach: Carly FreyWendy’s appearances: 8thAll-time Wendy’s record: 15-32013 postseason: Division II district runner-up

MAUMEEPANTHERS

Location: MaumeeConference: Northern LakesLeague2013 record: 18-9Head coach: Shawn WatsonWendy’s appearances: 1st2013 postseason: Division II district runner-up

NEUQUA VALLEYWILDCATS

Location: Naperville, Ill.Conference: Upstate Eight2013 record: 18-12Head coach: Melissa WilsonWendy’s appearances: 3rdAll-time Wendy’s record: 3-1

LEBANONWARRIORS

Location: LebanonConference: Greater Western Ohio2013 record: 26-3Head coach: Brian KindellWendy’s appearances: 3rdAll-time Wendy’s record: 3-22013 postseason: Division I regional runner-up

ELYRIAPIONEERS

Location: ElyriaConference: Northeastern Ohio2013 record: 27-6Head coach: Ken FenikWendy’s appearances: 10thAll-time Wendy’s record: 14-92013 postseason: Division I state runner-up

HOOVERVIKINGS

Location: North CantonConference: Federal League2013 record: 34-0Head coach: Jerry GoodpastureWendy’s appearances: 13thAll-time Wendy’s record: 23-72013 postseason: Division I state champions

AUSTINTOWN-FITCHFALCONS

Location: AustintownConference: All-American2013 record: 20-9Head coach: Melody WardWendy’s appearances: 2ndAll-time Wendy’s record: 2-12013 postseason: Division I regional semifi nal

GREENVILLEGREEN WAVE

Location: GreenvilleConference: Greater Western Ohio2013 record: 25-7Head coach: Jerrod NewlandWendy’s appearances: 5thAll-time Wendy’s record: 5-82013 postseason: Division II regional runner-up

ASHLANDARROWS

Location: AshlandConference: Ohio Cardinal2013 record: 14-13Head coach: Bill HermanWendy’s appearances: 19thAll-time Wendy’s record: 14-332013 postseason: Division I district semifi nal

PERRYPANTHERS

Location: MassillonConference: Federal League2013 record: 18-9Head coach: Alison HeppeWendy’s appearances: 6thAll-time Wendy’s record: 7-42013 postseason: Division I sectional runner-up

CANFIELDCARDINALS

Location: Canfi eldConference: All-American2013 record: 18-9Head coach: Ray MelewskiWendy’s appearances: 5thAll-time Wendy’s record: 5-62013 postseason: Division II regional semifi nal

LOUDONVILLEREDBIRDS

Location: LoudonvilleConference: Mid-Buckeye2013 record: 22-9Head coach: Serena FentonWendy’s appearances: 19thAll-time Wendy’s record: 24-222013 postseason: Division III regional semifi nal

URSULINEFIGHTING IRISH

Location: YoungstownConference: Independent2013 record: 20-10Head coach: Michael KernanWendy’s appearances: 3rdAll-time Wendy’s record: 3-32013 postseason: Division III regional semifi nal

MOUNT ST. DOMINICLIONS

Location: Caldwell, N.J.Conference: Super Essex2013 record: 25-7Head coach: Lorenzo SozioWendy’s appearances: 1st

BLOOM-CARROLLBULLDOGS

Location: CarrollConference: Mid-State League2013 record: 29-3Head coach: Aaron AlveloWendy’s appearances: 5thAll-time Wendy’s record: 4-32013 postseason: Division III state champion

COLUMBIARAIDERS

Location: Columbia StationConference: Patriot Athletic2013 record: 29-5Head coach: Ken LugoWendy’s appearances: 1st2013 postseason: Division III state runner-up

BISHOP READYSILVER KNIGHTS

Location: ColumbusConference: Central Catholic League2013 record: 15-16Head coach: Jen GoffWendy’s appearances: 3rdAll-time Wendy’s record: 1-22013 postseason: Division III state semifi nal

WINDHAM BOMBERS

Location: WindhamConference: Northeastern Athletic2013 record: 20-6Head coach: Elliot ThompsonWendy’s appearances: 2ndAll-time Wendy’s record: 0-22013 postseason: Division IV district runner-up

HILLSDALEFALCONS

Location: JeromesvilleConference: Wayne County Athletic League2013 record: 15-10Head coach: Ben BolenWendy’s appearances: 20thAll-time Wendy’s record: 25-242013 postseason: Division III sectional runner-up

LEXINGTONLADY LEX

Location: LexingtonConference: Ohio Cardinal2013 record: 19-8Head coach: Mike HammanWendy’s appearances: 2ndAll-time Wendy’s record: 0-12013 postseason: Division II sectional runner-up

CRESTVIEWCOUGARS

Location: OlivesburgConference: Firelands2013 record: 16-6Head coach: Bob DerrWendy’s appearances: 1st2013 postseason: Division III sectional semifi nal

STRASBURG-FRANKLINTIGERS

Location: StrasburgConference: Inter-Valley2013 record: 30-5Head coach: Bud WeisgarberWendy’s appearances: 2ndAll-time Wendy’s record: 0-32013 postseason: Division IV state champion

KENTON RIDGECOUGARS

Location: Springfi eldConference: Central Buckeye2013 record: 31-3Head coach: Sarah SchalnatWendy’s appearances: 1st2013 postseason: Division II state runner-up

2013

STATE CHAMP

2013

STATE CHAMP

2013

STATE CHAMP

B4 FRIDAY APRIL 11, 2014 SportS ASHLAND TIMES-GAZETTE

FRIDAY, APRIL 11

LOCAL

HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL — Loudonville at Smithville, 4:30 p.m.; Lucas at South Central, 4:30 p.m.; St. Paul at Mapleton, 4:30 p.m.; Hillsdale at Keystone, 5 p.m.

HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL — Ashland, Crestview, Hillsdale, Loudonville at Wendy’s Classic; Black River, Northwestern at J.B. Firestone Invitational, 5 p.m.; Lucas at South Central, 4:30 p.m.; St. Paul at Mapleton, 4:30 p.m.

HIGH SCHOOL BOYS TENNIS — Marion Harding at Ashland, 4:30 p.m.

HIGH SCHOOL TRACK & FIELD — Loudonville at Mount Gilead Relays, 4:30 p.m.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL — Ashland University Purple and Gold Spring Game, 7 p.m.

ON TV

AUTO RACINGFS1 — NASCAR, Sprint Cup, practice for Southern

500, at Darlington, S.C., 11:30 a.m.FS1 — NASCAR, Sprint Cup, “Happy Hour Series,”

final practice for Southern 500, at Darlington, S.C., 2 p.m.

FS1 — NASCAR, Sprint Cup, pole qualifying for Southern 500, at Darlington, S.C., 6 p.m.

ESPN2 — NASCAR, Nationwide Series, Help A Hero 200, at Darlington, S.C., 8 p.m.

BOXINGESPN2 — Super middleweights, Gilberto Ramirez

(27-0-0) vs. Giovanni Lorenzo (32-6-0), at Las Vegas, 10 p.m.

GOLFESPN — Masters Tournament, Second round, at

Augusta, Ga., 3 p.m.MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

STO — Cleveland at Chicago White Sox, 8 p.m.NBA

FSO — Cleveland at Milwaukee, 8:30 p.m.

SATURDAY, APRIL 12

LOCAL

HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL — Ashland at Shelby (DH), 11 a.m.; Northwestern at Loudonville (DH), noon; Mapleton at Columbia (DH), 3 p.m.

HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL — Ashland, Crestview, Hillsdale, Loudonville at Wendy’s Classic; Black River, Northwestern at J.B. Firestone Invitational, 10 a.m.; Norwayne at Mapleton (DH), 11 a.m.; New London at Keystone (DH) with Youngstown, 12 p.m.; South Central at Northmor (DH), 11 a.m.

HIGH SCHOOL TRACK & FIELD — Ashland at Lexington Invite, 10 a.m.; Crestview, South Central at Shelby Invite, 11:30 a.m.; Mapleton at West Holmes Invite; New London Relays, 12 p.m.; Northwestern at McKay Relays, 10 a.m.

COLLEGE BASEBALL — Ashland at Northwood (DH), 1 p.m.

COLLEGE TRACK & FIELD — Ashland at All-Ohio Invitational (Cincinnati); Ashland at Lake Erie Open

SportS ScheduleSAreA prep rouNdup

’Birds edge Falcons in rival gameLOUDONVILLE — The Loudonville soft-

ball team won a tight one at home Thursday over Hillsdale in a matchup of fierce rivals, 5-4.

Loudonville (3-0) was able to score all five of its runs in the first two innings of the game.

Shelby VanSickle had a single and a home run, while Bekka Leitenberger added a sin-gle and a double. Sarah Wickline also had a pair of singles. VanSickle got the win, strik-ing out three in seven innings.

Hillsdale (3-5) was unable to mount the comeback despite three hits from Adrianna Rogers and two from Ashlee Cline.

Hillsdale 200 011 0—4100Loudonville 230 000 x—573

Hillsdalemulti-hitplayers: Rogers (3-1b); Cline (2-1b). Loudonville multi-hit players: VanSickle (1b, HR);

Leitenberger (1b, 2b); Wickline (2-1b). RBIs— VanSickle, Leitenberger 2, Wickline, Nebergall. 2B— Nebergall. WP— VanSickle (SO-3, BB-2)LP— Cline (SO-3, BB-4)

Ashland 5, Orrville 4

ORRVILLE — Ashland won a nail-biter on the road at Orrville on Thursday.

With the Arrows (5-1, 4-0 OCC) cling-ing to a one-run lead in the bottom of the seventh, Orrville had a runner at third with nobody out but was unable to score.

Racquel Ward pitched a strong game, striking out 11 in the win to go along with a single and double at the plate.

Sydni Carpenter hit a home run and a sin-gle, while Kylie Chandler added two singles.

Ashland 021 010 1—580Orrville 202 000 0—472

Ashland multi-hit players: Carpenter (1b, HR); Ward (1b, 2b); Chandler (2-1b).

RBIs— Harpster, Carpenter, Chandler, B. Masters.WP— Ward (SO-11, BB-2)LP— Kauf (SO-3, BB-3)

Northwestern 4, Chippewa 2DOYLESTOWN — The Huskies (5-1,

3-1 WCAL) scored all four of their runs Thursday in the second inning thanks to a pair of RBIs from a Courtney Mackey dou-ble and a Shelby Miller single.

Miller pitched the complete game for Northwestern, striking out four.

Northwestern 040 000 0—472Chippewa 000 200 0—260

Northwesternmulti-hitplayers: Akers (2-1b). Chippewa multi-hit players: Pendleton (2-1b); Cashner

(2-1b). RBIs— Mackey 2, Miller 2; Cashner 2. 2Bs— Mackey; Shannon. WP— Miller, 2-0 (SO-4, BB-1)LP— Cashner (SO-4, BB-2)

Brooklyn 11, Black River 7BROOKLYN — The Pirates (1-4, 0-2

PAC) had strong games at the plate Thurs-day from Tori Smart and Kaina Schmoll, who both had three singles and RBIs.

Madison Combs added a double in the loss.

BlackRiver 000 200 5—772Brooklyn 231 041 x—1170

BlackRivermulti-hitplayers: Smart (3-1b); Schmoll (3-1b).Brooklynmulti-hitplayers: Butler (2-1b).RBIs— Smart, Schmoll. 2Bs— Combs; Baker.

Mapleton 1, Dalton 0NANKIN — The Mounties (3-0) scored

the only run in the game Thursday in the sec-ond inning thanks to a Taylor VanDriest RBI. Leslie Rogers added a double for Mapleton.

Shelbi Gregg got the win for the Mount-ies, striking out two.

Dalton 000 000 0—0Mapleton 010 000 x—1

Mapletonmulti-hitplayers: Gregg (2-1b). RBIs—VanDriest.2B— Rogers.WP— Gregg (SO-2, BB-3)LP— Weaver (SO-8, BB-1)

Col. Crawford 10, S. Central 1NORTH ROBINSON — South Central

(1-2) received its only RBI on Thursday from Amanda McGahhey.

Hannah Vogel added a single and a dou-ble, while Ashlee Tuttle and Karlie Conaway also doubled.

SouthCentral 100 000 0—160C.Crawford 223 102 x—1053

SouthCentralmulti-hitplayers: Vogel (1b, 2b). ColonelCrawfordmulti-hitplayers: Burnhart (2b, HR). RBIs— McGahhey. Other2Bs— Tuttle, Conaway; Tinkey.3B— Stuckman.WP— Reynolds (SO-6, BB-0)LP— Tuttle (SO-4, BB-6)

Baseball Black River 11, Brooklyn 0

BROOKLYN — Black River cruised to victory on the road at Brooklyn on Thursday.

The Pirates (4-1, 2-0 PAC) jumped out front from the beginning, led by three dou-bles and an RBI from Andrew Vaughn.

Glen Crabtree and Nick Sas both had a sin-gle and a double. Sas had a pair of RBIs, as well.

Sas got the win, pitching three innings, allowing no runs and striking out four.

BlackRiver 206 30—11130Brooklyn 000 00—024

Black River multi-hit players: Vaughn (3-2b); Minnich (2-1b); Crabtree (1b, 2b); Sas (1b, 2b).

RBIs— Vaughn, Minnich, Sexton, Sas 2, Holly, Hawley, Norton. 2B— Holly. HR— Norton. WP— Sas, 1-1 (SO-4, BB-3)LP— Heatwole (SO-4, BB-0)

Orrville 7, Ashland 1ORRVILLE — The Arrows (2-2, 2-2

OCC) were only able to generate three hits in the ballgame Thursday, coming from Jake Allton, Alex Stefaniuk and Jake Purtell.

David Van Hove scored the team’s only run.

Ashland 010 000 0—134Orrville 132 010 x—762

Orrvillemulti-hitplayers: Schley (1b, HR). RBIs— Schley 3, Smith 2, Howman, Stauffer. WP— Stauffer (SO-6, BB-2)LP— Lefelhoc, 0-1 (SO-1, BB-2)

Dalton 12, Mapleton 0 (5 inn.)NANKIN — Mapleton was defeated at

home by Dalton on Thursday. Getting hits for the Mounties (2-1) were

Seth Galbraith, Travis Pickering and JJ Espy.

Dalton 471 00—1217Mapleton 000 00—03

Daltonmulti-hitplayers: Huth (3-1b); Husted (2-1b); Fogel (3-1b); Mann (2-1b); Gregory (2-1b); Laubach (2-1b).

Huron 8, New London 6NEW LONDON — The Wildcats’ (3-2)

comeback effort Thursday fell short despite strong games at the plate from DJ Yates (single, triple) and Derek Phillips (two singles, double).

Ben Young added a double in the loss.

Huron 410 000 2—8143NewLondon 121 000 2—681

Huronmulti-hitplayers: Sauter (2b, 3b). New London multi-hit players: Yates (1b, 3b); Phillips

(2-1b, 2b). RBIs — Sauter 3, Bogden, Bollender, Campbell; Young,

Haswell, Bene, Lane. Other2Bs— Hufnayle, Bounenbacher; Young.WP— HufnayleLP— Thomas (SO-5)

Canton CC 6, Hillsdale 1CANTON — The Falcons (3-3) generat-

ed just one run in the road game Thursday, scored by Brock Stromack.

Doug Cline led the way in hits for Hillsdale with a pair of singles.

Hillsdale 010 000 0—154CantonCC 101 202 x—640

Hillsdalemulti-hitplayers: Cline (2-1b). CantonCCmulti-hitplayers: Murphy (2-1b). RBIs— Murphy 2, Vance, Regula, Blackerby.2B— Vance.WP— Vance (SO-12, BB-3)LP— Garber (SO-0, BB-4)

Chippewa 6, Northwestern 5DOYLESTOWN — Northwestern lost a

close one on the road at Chippewa on Thursday.The Huskies (2-4, 2-2 WCAL) were able to

score four runs in the game’s last two innings, but Chippewa was able to walk off with the win in the bottom of the seventh, breaking a 5-5 tie.

Six players singled for Northwestern.

Northwestern 010 003 1—562Chippewa 000 050 1—675

WP— Weisl (SO-0, BB-2)LP— R. Schwartz (SO-0, BB-1)

Track & Field Trojans compete at Northmor

GALION — South Central competed in a five-team meet Thursday.

The boys won, scoring 70 points, just ahead of Northmor (67). The girls placed second, fin-ishing with 68 points behind Northmor (119).

Stephen Goetz won both the 400-meter dash (55.30) and the long jump (17-1), while teammate Matt Kelsey won the 110 hurdles (15.79) and the 300 hurdles (44.30).

Carson Kinney was victorious in the shot put (41-00) and the relay teams won in the 3200 (9:38.20) and the 800 (1:41.20).

For the girls, Alexis Huffman won the 100 hurdles (18.30), Alexis Whitright won the 100 (13.40) and Lexi Adams won the 200 (28.10).

The 800 relay team also won in 2:03.90.

Black River hosts triSULLIVAN — The Pirates hosted a tri with

Fairview and Lutheran West on Wednesday.Individually, Tanner Hawley took home wins

in the 1,600 (5:04.5) and the 3,200 (11:13.3). David Bell also got the win in the 100 (11.86).

In the field events, John Ternes won the discus (119-1) and Aaron Schmitz got the win in the pole vault (7-6).

The 200 and 800 (9:29.8) relay teams also were victorious for Black River.

T-G Staff Reports

HowtoreachtheT-Gsportsdepartment

PhoneSportseditorDougHaidet

419-281-0581, ext. 245SportswriterTimShoemaker

419-281-0581, ext. 244Sportswriter

BeckyTenerMeziere419-281-0581, ext. 255

EmailSportseditorDougHaidetdhaidet@times-gazette.com

SportswriterTimShoemaker tshoemaker@times-gazette.com

SportswriterBeckyTenerMeziere

btener@times-gazette.comGeneralT-Gsports

sports@times-gazette.com

Fax419-281-8692

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ANNouNciNg

LURAYLANESLADYEAGLESLEAGUE

Stasie Kost 223—609; Kelly Brown 215—580; Nikki Evans 198—568; Tina Hofer 204—560; Nancy Cahill 190—512.

HIGH GAME — Kelly’s Heroes 782, Kelly’s Heroes 754.

HIGH SERIES — Kelly’s Heroes 2268, Woman of the Moose 1929.

STANDINGS — Women of the Moose 45, Luscious Kreations 41, Bates Outdoor Mgt. 40.

BowliNg

TheAssociatedPressAllTimesEDT

EASTERNCONFERENCEAtlanticDivision

W L Pct GBx-Toronto 46 32 .590 —x-Brooklyn 43 35 .551 3New York 33 45 .423 13Boston 23 55 .295 23Philadelphia 17 61 .218 29

SoutheastDivision W L Pct GBy-Miami 53 25 .679 —x-Charlotte 40 38 .513 13x-Washington 40 38 .513 13Atlanta 35 43 .449 18Orlando 23 55 .295 30

CentralDivision W L Pct GBy-Indiana 54 25 .684 —x-Chicago 46 32 .590 71⁄2Cleveland 32 47 .405 22Detroit 29 50 .367 25Milwaukee 14 64 .179 391⁄2

WESTERNCONFERENCESouthwestDivision

W L Pct GBy-San Antonio 61 18 .772 —x-Houston 52 26 .667 81⁄2Dallas 48 32 .600 131⁄2Memphis 46 32 .590 141⁄2New Orleans 32 46 .410 281⁄2

NorthwestDivision W L Pct GBy-Okla. City 57 21 .731 —x-Portland 51 28 .646 61⁄2Minnesota 39 39 .500 18Denver 34 44 .436 23Utah 24 54 .308 33

PacificDivision W L Pct GBy-L.A. Clippers 55 24 .696 —Golden State 48 29 .623 6Phoenix 47 31 .603 71⁄2Sacramento 27 52 .342 28L.A. Lakers 25 53 .321 291⁄2x-clinched playoff spoty-clinched division

___Wednesday’sGames

Orlando 115, Brooklyn 111Charlotte 94, Washington 88, OTCleveland 122, Detroit 100Toronto 125, Philadelphia 114Atlanta 105, Boston 97Chicago 102, Minnesota 87Indiana 104, Milwaukee 102Memphis 107, Miami 102Phoenix 94, New Orleans 88Denver 123, Houston 116Portland 100, Sacramento 99Oklahoma City 107, L.A. Clippers 101

Thursday’sGamesLategamenotincludedSan Antonio 109, Dallas 100Denver at Golden State, (n)

Friday’sGamesWashington at Orlando, 7 p.m.New York at Toronto, 7 p.m.Atlanta at Brooklyn, 7:30 p.m.Charlotte at Boston, 7:30 p.m.Indiana at Miami, 7:30 p.m.Detroit at Chicago, 8 p.m.Houston at Minnesota, 8 p.m.New Orleans at Oklahoma City, 8 p.m.Philadelphia at Memphis, 8 p.m.Cleveland at Milwaukee, 8:30 p.m.Phoenix at San Antonio, 8:30 p.m.Portland at Utah, 9 p.m.Golden State at L.A. Lakers, 10:30 p.m.

Saturday’sGamesSacramento at L.A. Clippers, 3:30 p.m.Milwaukee at Washington, 7 p.m.Philadelphia at Charlotte, 7 p.m.Boston at Cleveland, 7:30 p.m.Miami at Atlanta, 7:30 p.m.New Orleans at Houston, 8 p.m.Phoenix at Dallas, 8:30 p.m.Utah at Denver, 9 p.m.

NBA

TheAssociatedPressAllTimesEDT

EASTERNCONFERENCEAtlanticDivision

GPW LOTPt GF GAz-Boston 80 53 18 9 115 255 173x-Montreal 81 45 28 8 98 214 204x-Tampa Bay 80 44 27 9 97 236 213x-Detroit 80 38 27 15 91 218 228Ottawa 80 35 31 14 84 232 263Toronto 81 38 35 8 84 231 255Florida 81 29 44 8 66 194 265Buffalo 80 21 50 9 51 153 240

MetropolitanDivision GPW LOTPt GF GAy-Pittsburgh 80 51 24 5 107 244 200x-NY Rangers 81 45 31 5 95 218 192x-Philadelphia 80 41 30 9 91 227 226x-Columbus 80 42 31 7 91 226 211Washington 80 37 30 13 87 231 239New Jersey 80 34 29 17 85 192 203Carolina 80 34 35 11 79 199 224NY Islanders 80 32 37 11 75 218 262

WESTERNCONFERENCECentralDivision

GPW LOTPt GF GAx-St. Louis 80 52 21 7 111 248 185x-Colorado 79 51 21 7 109 243 210x-Chicago 80 46 19 15 107 262 209x-Minnesota 81 43 26 12 98 204 199Dallas 80 39 30 11 89 231 226Nashville 80 36 32 12 84 202 234Winnipeg 81 36 35 10 82 222 234

PacificDivision GPW LOTPt GF GAy-Anaheim 80 52 20 8 112 259 204x-San Jose 80 49 22 9 107 241 197x-L. Angeles 80 45 28 7 97 200 170Phoenix 80 36 29 15 87 212 227Vancouver 79 35 33 11 81 187 213Calgary 80 35 38 7 77 205 231Edmonton 80 28 43 9 65 198 265NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss.x-clinched playoff spoty-clinched divisionz-clinched conference

Thursday’sGamesLategamesnotincludedOttawa 2, New Jersey 1, SOWinnipeg 2, Boston 1, SON.Y. Rangers 2, Buffalo 1Washington 5, Carolina 2N.Y. Islanders 2, Montreal 0Tampa Bay 4, Philadelphia 2Florida 4, Toronto 2Nashville 2, Phoenix 0Minnesota 4, St. Louis 2Los Angeles at Edmonton, (n)Colorado at Vancouver, (n)

Friday’sGamesChicago at Washington, 7 p.m.Carolina at Detroit, 7:30 p.m.Columbus at Tampa Bay, 7:30 p.m.N.Y. Islanders at New Jersey, 7:30 p.m.St. Louis at Dallas, 8:30 p.m.Winnipeg at Calgary, 9 p.m.Colorado at San Jose, 10 p.m.

Saturday’sGamesBuffalo at Boston, 12:30 p.m.Philadelphia at Pittsburgh, 3 p.m.N.Y. Rangers at Montreal, 7 p.m.Toronto at Ottawa, 7 p.m.Columbus at Florida, 7 p.m.Chicago at Nashville, 8 p.m.San Jose at Phoenix, 9 p.m.Vancouver at Edmonton, 10 p.m.Anaheim at Los Angeles, 10:30 p.m.

Nhl

AmericanLeagueTheAssociatedPress

EastDivision W L Pct GBNew York 5 5 .500 —Tampa Bay 5 5 .500 —Toronto 5 5 .500 —Baltimore 4 5 .444 1⁄2Boston 4 6 .400 1

CentralDivision W L Pct GBDetroit 5 2 .714 —Chicago 5 5 .500 11⁄2Cleveland 5 5 .500 11⁄2Kansas City 4 4 .500 11⁄2Minnesota 3 6 .333 3

WestDivision W L Pct GBOakland 6 3 .667 —Seattle 5 3 .625 1⁄2Los Angeles 4 5 .444 2Texas 4 5 .444 2Houston 4 6 .400 21⁄2

___Thursday’sGames

Oakland 6, Minnesota 1N.Y. Yankees 4, Boston 1Houston 6, Toronto 4Chicago White Sox 7, Cleveland 3

Friday’sGamesBoston (Lester 0-2) at N.Y. Yankees (Sabathia 1-1), 7:05 p.m.Toronto (McGowan 0-1) at Baltimore (Tillman 1-0), 7:05 p.m.Tampa Bay (Price 1-0) at Cincinnati (Cueto 0-1), 7:10 p.m.Houston (Feldman 2-0) at Texas (Darvish 1-0), 8:05 p.m.Cleveland (Carrasco 0-1) at Chicago White Sox (Sale 2-0), 8:10 p.m.Kansas City (B.Chen 0-0) at Minnesota (Gibson 1-0), 8:10 p.m.N.Y. Mets (Gee 0-0) at L.A. Angels (Skaggs 1-0), 10:05 p.m.Detroit (Porcello 1-0) at San Diego (Cashner 0-1), 10:10 p.m.Oakland (Milone 0-0) at Seattle (F.Hernandez 2-0), 10:10 p.m.

Saturday’sGamesBoston at N.Y. Yankees, 1:05 p.m.Tampa Bay at Cincinnati, 1:10 p.m.Cleveland at Chicago White Sox, 2:10 p.m.Kansas City at Minnesota, 2:10 p.m.Toronto at Baltimore, 7:05 p.m.Houston at Texas, 8:05 p.m.Detroit at San Diego, 8:40 p.m.N.Y. Mets at L.A. Angels, 9:05 p.m.Oakland at Seattle, 9:10 p.m.

Sunday’sGamesTampa Bay at Cincinnati, 1:10 p.m.Toronto at Baltimore, 1:35 p.m.Cleveland at Chicago White Sox, 2:10 p.m.Kansas City at Minnesota, 2:10 p.m.Houston at Texas, 3:05 p.m.N.Y. Mets at L.A. Angels, 3:35 p.m.Detroit at San Diego, 4:10 p.m.Oakland at Seattle, 4:10 p.m.Boston at N.Y. Yankees, 8:05 p.m.

NationalLeagueTheAssociatedPress

EastDivision W L Pct GBWashington 7 2 .778 —Atlanta 5 4 .556 2Miami 5 5 .500 21⁄2New York 4 5 .444 3Philadelphia 3 6 .333 4

CentralDivision W L Pct GBMilwaukee 7 2 .778 —Pittsburgh 6 3 .667 1St. Louis 5 4 .556 2Chicago 3 6 .333 4Cincinnati 3 6 .333 4

WestDivision W L Pct GBSan Francisco 6 3 .667 —Los Angeles 6 4 .600 1⁄2Colorado 5 5 .500 11⁄2San Diego 3 6 .333 3Arizona 3 8 .273 4

___Thursday’sGames

LategamenotincludedPittsburgh 5, Chicago Cubs 4Washington 7, Miami 1Milwaukee 6, Philadelphia 2N.Y. Mets 6, Atlanta 4Arizona at San Francisco, (n)

Friday’sGamesMiami (Fernandez 2-0) at Philadelphia (Burnett 0-1), 7:05 p.m.Tampa Bay (Price 1-0) at Cincinnati (Cueto 0-1), 7:10 p.m.Washington (Roark 1-0) at Atlanta (Teheran 1-1), 7:35 p.m.Pittsburgh (Liriano 0-1) at Milwaukee (W.Peralta 0-0), 8:10 p.m.Chicago Cubs (Samardzija 0-1) at St. Louis (J.Kelly 1-0), 8:15 p.m.L.A. Dodgers (Ryu 1-1) at Arizona (McCarthy 0-1), 9:40 p.m.N.Y. Mets (Gee 0-0) at L.A. Angels (Skaggs 1-0), 10:05 p.m.Detroit (Porcello 1-0) at San Diego (Cashner 0-1), 10:10 p.m.Colorado (De La Rosa 0-1) at San Francisco (Bumgarner 1-0), 10:15 p.m.

Saturday’sGamesTampa Bay at Cincinnati, 1:10 p.m.Chicago Cubs at St. Louis, 2:15 p.m.Colorado at San Francisco, 4:05 p.m.Miami at Philadelphia, 7:05 p.m.Pittsburgh at Milwaukee, 7:10 p.m.Washington at Atlanta, 7:10 p.m.L.A. Dodgers at Arizona, 8:10 p.m.Detroit at San Diego, 8:40 p.m.N.Y. Mets at L.A. Angels, 9:05 p.m.

MlB

AShlANd uNiVerSitY rouNdup

Softball sweeps twinbill with Lake EriePAINESVILLE — The

Ashland University softball team got the bats rolling Thurs-day in sweeping a doubleheader with Lake Erie, earning a 7-2 win in Game 1 and an 11-3 five-inning victory in Game 2.

Cayla Seidler had a huge day for AU (17-10, 6-4 GLIAC), going 7 for 9 at the plate in the two games.

In the opener, Seidler was 3 for 5 with a pair of dou-bles, home run and six RBIs. In Game 2, she went 4 for 4

with two more doubles, two RBIs and three runs.

In Game 1, Taylor Men-hart was 4 for 4 at the plate and Carly West added three hits for the Eagles.

Sarah Alley went 2 for 2 with a pair of RBIs in Game 2, while Menhart also had two hits.

Amber McDermott earned the win in the circle for AU in Game 1, throwing five innings and allowing just two runs.

The win in Game 2 went to Alley, who threw 11⁄3 innings of shutout relief, allowing one hit.

GAME1Ashland 100 202 2—7152LakeErie 001 010 0—272

Ashland multi-hit players: Seidler (2-2b, HR); Menhart (4-1b); West (3-1b); Weber (2-1b).

Lake Erie multi-hit player: Karako (2b, 1b).

RBIs— Seidler 6, Prokopakis; Karako 2.Other2Bs— Alley; Anderson.WP— McDermott, 4-1 (SO-2, BB-1)LP— Anderson (SO-1, BB-4)S— Galloway

GAME2LakeErie 003 00—346Ashland 101 72—11132

Lake Erie multi-hit player: Valvoda (2-1b).

Ashland multi-hit players: Seidler (2-2b, 2-1b); Menhart (2b, 1b); Alley (2-1b).

RBIs — Gratz 2; Seidler 2, Alley 2, Menhart, Galloway, Garant.

Other2Bs— West.OtherHRs— Gratz.WP— Alley, 7-4 (SO-1, BB-0)LP— Davis (SO-0, BB-0)

T-G Staff Report

TheAssociatedPressAllTimesEDT

Thursday’sGamesPhiladelphia 69, Orlando 56

Friday’sGamesNew Orleans at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.Tampa Bay at Jacksonville, 8 p.m.

Saturday’sGamesSan Antonio at Iowa, 8:05 p.m.Cleveland at Los Angeles, 10 p.m.Portland at Spokane, 10 p.m.Arizona at San Jose, 10:30 p.m.

Friday,April18San Antonio at New Orleans, 8:30 p.m.San Jose at Portland, 10 p.m.

Saturday,April19Jacksonville at Philadelphia, 6 p.m.Tampa Bay at Orlando, 7:30 p.m.Los Angeles at Iowa, 8:05 p.m.Pittsburgh at Arizona, 9 p.m.Cleveland at Spokane, 10 p.m.

AFl

FRIDAY MARCH 7, 2014 ASHLAND TIMES-GAZETTE SECTION B

Look for more atphotos.times-gazette.com.

Times-Gazette photo/Sarah Gordon

Mapleton’s Jessie Vance (23) puts up a shot over Cuyahoga Heights’ Jenna Stegmaier (30) dur-ing their Division IV regional semifinal Thursday at Perry High School.

Times-Gazette photo/Sarah Gordon

Mapleton’s Shelbi Gregg (32), Jerrica Smith (11), Mackenzie Guy (30) and Leslie Rogers (22) react on the bench Thursday dur-ing their regional semifinal loss to Cuyahoga Heights at Perry High School.

Ashland High

School’s Isaac

White (12) shoots over

Mansfield Senior’s

Dejorr Gibson

(2) during Thursday’s

district semifinal at Galion High

School.

Times-Gazette photo/Tom E.

Puskar

Arrows still trying to get over hump

GALION — Ashland High School boys basketball coach Tim Fralick knows both the Ohio Cardinal Conference and Bowling Green District go through Mansfield Senior.

After Thursday night’s 56-47 loss to the Tygers in the district semifinal, he and the Arrows are still searching for a way to break through that wall.

“I think our guys know that the conference, sec-tional and district, it runs through Senior,” Fralick said. “There’s no bones about it, it runs through them and we’re gonna have to beat them.”

“They may lose guys, but they’re gonna have guys come up and they have guys in their program who are gonna pressure you,” he continued. “No matter what

their last name is, they’re gonna pressure you and we’re gonna have to be able to deal with that pressure and make good basketball plays against that pressure.”

Thursday’s loss marked the third straight season the Arrows were eliminated from the tournament by the Tygers and Ashland hasn’t beaten Mansfield Senior in tournament action since 2008.

Since that 64-54 win over the Tygers in 2008, Ashland is just 1-16 against Senior High and 0-5 against the Tygers in the tourney.

“What it looks like, at least the times I’ve been a part of

By TIM SHOEMAKERT-G Sports Writer

Tygers pressure too much for AHS

GALION — In the end, the Mansfield Senior boys basketball team’s unrelenting pressure was too much for Ashland to overcome.

With the game tied 42-42 with 4:49 left to play, Mansfield Senior proceeded to peel off 11 consecu-tive points and defensively shut down the Arrows’ offense as the Tygers went on to a 56-47 Divi-sion I district semifinal victory.

Mansfield Senior (17-7) now moves on to the Division I dis-trict championship game against Perrysburg, set for 7 p.m. Satur-day at Bowling Green State Uni-versity. The loss ends Ashland’s season at 12-12.

Ashland coach Tim Fralick said it was Mansfield Senior’s continual pressure which his Arrows fell victim to.

“We didn’t handle their pres-sure very well and I thought we’d do a better job at that,” Fralick said. “I have to give them credit. They forced us to really try to spread them out and do some dif-ferent things.”

By LARRY STINET-G Correspondent

An unhappy ending

MASSILLON — The Mapleton girls basketball team fell short of the happy ending it had come for in the postseason.

Unfortunately for the Mounties (19-8), their season came to a halt Thursday along with their offense against a strong defensive team in Cuyahoga Heights (26-1) in a Division IV regional semifinal.

The Redskins were as prepared and focused as advertised and their half-

court defense stifled the Mounties en route to a 52-27 victory.

“I’m proud of our girls for doing what they’ve done to get to this point,” Mapleton coach Matt Hess said. “But we certainly didn’t execute tonight, they were the better team.”

“... We worked extremely hard and

had a good game plan but we didn’t execute it.”

Cuyahoga Heights moves on to play Bishop Rosecrans 7:30 p.m. Saturday for the regional title.

Mapleton got off to a slow start, after Leslie Rogers (four points) hit a jumper around the 6-minute mark to tie the game at 2-all, the Redskins fol-lowed with a 15-0 run to the end of the first quarter.

By BECKY TENER MEZIERET-G Sports Writer

HIGH SCHOOL BOYS BASKETBALL ◆ DIVISION I DISTRICT SEMIFINAL

Tribe being protective of young SalazarBy STEVE DIMATTEOAssociated Press

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — The Cleveland Indians are extremely excited about having Danny Salazar for a full season, and that is why they are taking their time with the young pitcher this spring.

“His stuff is electric. The more he pitches for us, the better we are,” Indians man-ager Terry Francona said. “We all know that. Saying that, there’s a way to get there and by just turning him loose in February, I don’t think we felt like that was the best way to get there.”

Last season, the 24-year-old right-hander pitched a career-high 145 innings between Double-A, Triple-A and Cleveland, making his big league debut in July. In 10 starts with Cleveland he went 2-3 with a 3.12 ERA and was chosen to the start the AL wild-card game against Tampa Bay, where he gave up three runs in four innings of a 4-0 loss.

Salazar, who had elbow-reconstruction surgery in 2010, has yet to pitch in a Cac-tus League game this spring; he’ll throw one inning in an intrasquad game Friday. Still, he doesn’t mind the schedule.

“They told me that early because they want to be patient with me now,” Salazar said. “So in the season I can throw maybe 180 innings or maybe 200 innings.”

Francona knows how important Salazar is to Cleveland’s success this season — and beyond — so he’s not concerned with tak-ing it slow now.

That’s not to say it’s always been easy maintaining that slow transition.

“I told him every time (last season), I wish I didn’t have to take you out,’” Francona said.

Just 52 innings into his big league career, there is still plenty left for Salazar to take in, both on and off the field.

“I’m still learning little things from everything here and from other players,” Salazar said. “I always like watching how they do things here during the game and during the practice.”

While he continues to get acclimated to everyday life in the major leagues by learning from his teammates, Salazar also knows he has to adapt his own approach to avoid any sign of a sophomore slump.

“You have to mix your fastball, throw-ing hard and throwing soft,” Salazar said. “(I need to) just be consistent, throwing my pitches down in the zone and elevating whenever I want. Also pitching my slider. I’ve been working on it and it’s working really good right now.”

If the Indians are going to make another run at the playoffs — “Unfinished Busi-ness” is the credo in the clubhouse — Sala-zar will be a key.

With an off day in the first week of April, the Indians also have plenty of flexibility as to when Salazar can make his first start.

“Opening day is not the finishing line with off days and things built-in,” Francona said. “I guess I don’t get too caught up in it because we care so much about getting him ready for his career that a week in April is not the end of the world.”

But once Danny Salazar’s regular sea-son starts, there won’t be an innings limit and there won’t be any restrictions.

HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS BASKETBALL ◆ DIVISION IV REGIONAL SEMIFINAL INDIANS

Mapleton’s fairy-tale run ends against Redskins STAT OF THE STORY5: The Mounties had fi ve players

score in the contest and they hit fi ve 3-pointers for the game.

Turn to ENDING, Page B3

Turn to PRESSURE, Page B3 Turn to ARROWS, Page B3

Mapleton commits to continue ‘Mountie Basketball’

MASSILLON — The tears pouring down the Mapleton girls basketball players’ faces were different this time.

On Thursday, they were not tears of joy and accom-plishment, but those of an unforeseen ending.

What wasn’t different for Mapleton in its Division IV regional final loss to Cuyahoga Heights was an unwavering passion.

Despite the poor shooting and defensive struggles, the Mounties used the final 5 min-utes of the contest — trailing by 20 — to play what they call “Mountie Basketball.”

Their style of play — scrap-py, intense, balanced — is what got the Mounties so far,

and in their curtain call they also flashed a glimpse of it.

“You can’t give up,” senior guard Jessie Vance said. “You have to play till the end no matter how the game goes, even if you’re down by 20 in the first quarter. There is always a way to make a come-back, and we could have.”

The Mounties put a lack-luster Firelands Conference showing behind them when the postseason began, reviv-ing a team that had high expectations for itself.

They rolled through each game, learning from the highs and the lows, and in the end they achieved something very rare for their program — a district title.

“I told them, ‘We belong here

By BECKY TENER MEZIERET-G Sports Writer

Turn to CONTINUE, Page B3

Racing in VegasFor a breakdown on this week in NASCAR, see Page B4.

B2 FRIDAY MARCH 7, 2014 SportS Data ASHLAND TIMES-GAZETTE

FRIDAY, MARCH 7

LOCAL

COLLEGE BASEBALL — Ashland vs. Missouri-St. Louis (DH) in Florida, 3 p.m.

COLLEGE SOFTBALL — Ashland vs. St. Anselm (9 a.m.) and Southern N.H. (11 a.m.) in Florida

ON TV

AUTO RACINGFS1 — NASCAR, Sprint Cup, practice for KOBALT

400, at Las Vegas, 2 p.m.FS1 — NASCAR, Nationwide Series, practice for

Boyd Gaming 300, at Las Vegas, 3:30 p.m.FS1 — NASCAR, Nationwide Series, practice for

Boyd Gaming 300, at Las Vegas, 5 p.m.FS1 — NASCAR, Sprint Cup, pole qualifying for

KOBALT 400, at Las Vegas, 6:30 p.m.BOXING

ESPN2 — Lightweights, Rustam Nugaev (26-6-0) vs. Marvin Quintero (25-4-0), at Pala, Calif., 9 p.m.

MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALLESPN2 — Kent St. at Akron, 7 p.m.

NBAFSO — Cleveland at Charlotte, 7 p.m.ESPN — Memphis at Chicago, 7 p.m.ESPN — Indiana at Houston, 9:30 p.m.

SATURDAY, MARCH 8

LOCAL

HIGH SCHOOL INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD — Local qualifiers in OATCCC Indoor State Championships at University of Akron

COLLEGE BASEBALL — Ashland vs. Minnesota State-Mankato in Florida, 10 a.m.

COLLEGE SOFTBALL — Ashland vs. Alderson-Broaddus (8 a.m) and West Liberty (10 a.m.) in Florida

SportS ScheduleS

LURAY LANESBANTAM/PREP LEAGUE

Parker Grissinger 185—324; Aiden Brown 150—276; Garren Ward 146—268; Gaven Cooke 143—266; Avery Brown 120—240.

Aubrie Cooke 94—181; Shyann Simmons 98—170; Jessica Whitehead 68—134; Amelia Brown 80—129; Mackenzie Kuhn 61—117.

HIGH GAME — T-Birds 511, Big Buck 445.

HIGH SERIES — T-Birds 989, Big Buck 810.

STANDINGS — Big Buck 16, T-Birds 15, Lightning Thieves 13, Go Bucks 8.

JR./MAJ. LEAGUEDustin Kidd 267—627; Michael

Staniford 211—592; Gaven Wuthrich 244—585; Jacob Allton 203—582; Bryar Massie 203—573.

Samantha Staniford 169—444; Hannah Heifer 160—419; Leah Maruna 153—405; Kyleigh Bonnell 120—327; Jasmine Schaub 106—324.

HIGH GAME — Thee Bowling Team 836, Bombers 715.

HIGH SERIES — Thee Bowling Team 2287, Bombers 1946.

STANDINGS — Thee Bowling Team 23, Bad Boys 19, Rock & Roll Express 2 161⁄2, 4 Strikers 16, Indians 15.

BUMPERS LEAGUELogan Leiter 97—187; Raylon

Leiter 106—184.Madison Whitehead 99—173.

TUESDAY 1:00 LEAGUEWilma Fryman 192—488; Dee

Johnson 173—477; Carol Deibler 168—470.

HIGH GAME — Slic Chics 683, Quilted Memories 674.

HIGH SERIES — Quilted Memories 1969, Slic Chics 1927.

STANDINGS — Quilted Memories 16-8, Art Printing 15-9, Slic Chics 141⁄2 - 91⁄2.

Bowling

COLUMBUS — The 2014 Associated Press All-Northwest District boys and girls basketball teams, as selected by a media panel from the district. Area players are bolded. Due to space constraints, only divisions with local players are included.

BOYSDIVISION I

FIRST TEAM: Nate Allen, Tol. Bowsher, 6-foot-4, senior, 22.2 points per game; Nick Moschetti, Perrysburg, 6-3, sr., 22.6; DeShone Kizer, Tol. Central Cath., 6-5, sr., 12.4; Anthony Glover, Jr., Tol. St. John’s Jesuit, 6-0, sr., 18.1; Adam Twining, Findlay, 6-3, sr., 15.6.

Player of the year: Nate Allen, Tol. Bowsher.

Coach of the year: Joe Guerrero, Tol. Bowsher.

SECOND TEAM: Matt Fox, Whitehouse Anthony Wayne, 6-2, sr., 19.0; Dajuan King, Tol. Bowsher, 6-1, sr., 20.5; LaMonta Stone, Bowling Green, 5-7, jr., 20.7; Manny Durden, Holland Springfield, 6-2, sr., 15.3; Matt Morrison, Sylvania Southview, 5-7, sr., 15.1; Isaac White, Ashland, 5-11, jr., 17.6.

THIRD TEAM: Parker Ernsthausen, Tol. St. John’s Jesuit, 6-9, sr., 12.3; Marcus Winters, Tol. Central Cath., 6-0, jr., 13.0; Cameron White, Tol. Bowsher, 6-1, sr., 16.0; Mario Davison, Mansfield Senior, 5-11, sr., 6.5; Jack Gedeon, Fremont Ross, 6-5, sr., 8.1; Michael, Clark, Findlay, 6-1, sr., 9.4.

Special MentionNate Patterson, Perrysburg; Jake

Reid, Whitehouse Anthony Wayne; Tyrell Ajian, Mansfield Madison; Mike Mitchell, Tol. Start; Aerin West, Sylvania Northview; Nate Hall, Sylvania Southview; Jermiah Braswell, Tol. Central Cath.; Jon Ashe, Tol. Whitmer; Sam Hickey, Tol. Whitmer; Tyler Longstreth, Marion Harding; Austin Gutting, Findlay; Jalen Reese, Mansfield Senior; Dejorr Gibson, Mansfield Senior; Trey Smith, Ashland; Brett Vipperman, Ashland; Coy VanTilburg, Mansfield Madison.

DIVISION IIIFIRST TEAM: Noah Bramlage,

Ottawa-Glandorf, 6-7, jr., 18.2; Connor McCreary, North Robinson Colonel Crawford, 5-11, sr., 18.6; Derek Drewes, Defiance Tinora, 6-0, sr., 20.7; Luke Fisher, Archbold, 6-8, jr., 15.9; Martyce Kimbrough, Lima Central Cath., 6-0, sr., 19.0; Ryan Mikesell, St. Henry, 6-6, jr., 21.1.

Player of the year: Derek Drewes, Defiance Tinora.

Coach of the year: C. J. Kin, Carey.

SECOND TEAM: Adam Cytlak, Findlay Liberty-Benton, 6-3, sr., 13.3; John Darnall, Findlay Liberty-Benton, 6-0, sr., 13.8; Jared Wentling, Carey, 6-2, jr., 22.0; Jake Schmeltz, Pemberville Eastwood, 6-1, sr., 20.0; Xavier Simpson, Lima Central Cath., 5-9, sophomore, 18.5; Trey Smith, Delphos Jefferson, 6-5, soph., 21.7.

THIRD TEAM: Todd Entenmann, North Robinson Colonel Crawford, 6-2, jr., 16.0; Carson Ebert, Willard, 6-1, jr.; 15.0; Dylan Bailey, Castalia Margaretta, 6-2, sr., 17.9; Kyle Kauser, Paulding, 5-9, sr., 15.5; Bryce McComb, Swanton, 6-0, soph., 17.9; Bryan Powers, Carey, 6-0, jr., 18.2.

Special MentionLee Holderman, Mt. Blanchard

Riverdale; Mason Davis, Bucyrus Wynford; Cody Thompson, Huron; Logan Pinkelman, Metamora Evergreen; Kaleb Pohlman, Liberty Center; Brandon Wolters, Coldwater; Brody Hoying, Coldwater; Brant Barna, Rockford Parkway.

Aaron Arnold, Bloomdale Elmwood; Grant Peters, Pemberville Eastwood; Ryan Geise, Findlay Liberty-Benton; Zach Garver, Findlay Liberty-Benton; Jimmy Fox, Mt. Blanchard Riverdale; Sawyer Junge, Van Buren; Levi Kistler, Bluffton; Jake Glowaski, Bucyrus Wynford; Jordan Moore, Willard; Brian Snouffer, Bucyrus; Greg Patrick, Bucyrus; Chris Laughlin, Milan Edison; Keegan Bollenbacher, Huron; Cory Haswell, New London; Ben Young, New London; Nate Good, Collins Western Reserve; Dakota Hankins, Collins Western Reserve; Zach Boes, Carey; Ryan Lommerse, Bascom Hopewell-Loudon; Tyler Schwieterman, St. Henry; Mitchel Stammen, St. Henry; Connor Holliday, Van Wert; Ross Thompson, Delphos Jefferson; Tyson Schnitkey, Archbold; Ethan Edwards, Delta; Logan Meyer, Liberty Center; Jacob Miller, Defiance Tinora; Guy Harder, Paulding.

GIRLSDIVISION I

FIRST TEAM: Tierra Floyd, Tol. Notre Dame, 6-2, jr., 18.3; Sarah Baer, Perrysburg, 6-1, sr., 17.1; Keshyra McCarver, Tol. Whitmer, 5-10, sr., 14.0; Kaayla McIntyre, Tol. Notre Dame, 6-2, jr., 12.7; 14.8; Indiya Benjamin, Lima Senior, 5-6, sr., 20.1.

Player of the year: Indiya Benjamin, Lima Senior.

Coach of the year: Vince Halliday, Lima Senior.

SECOND TEAM: Taryn Stanley, Sylvania Southview, 5-11, sr., 14.7; Natalie Yoder, Holland Springfield, 5-5, jr., 17.4; Alexis Stoops, Ashland, 5-11, sr.; Jeryn Reese, Mansfield Senior, 6-0, jr., 12.6; Rion Thompson, Lima Senior, 5-9, soph., 21.2.

THIRD TEAM: Allex Brown, Perrysburg, 6-1, jr., 12.3; Kendall McCoy, Sylvania Northview, 6-0, jr., 13.5; Jasmine Bonivel, Whitehouse Anthony Wayne, 5-10, sr., 11.1; Maddie Cole, Sylvania Northview, 6-0, jr., 10.7; Emily Westphal, Sylvania Southview, 6-0, jr., 12.7.

Special MentionMorgan Connor, Oregon

Clay; Kendall Jessing, Sylvania Northview; Fallyn Stephens, Marion Harding; Naya Pender, Mansfield Senior; Mariah Mansperger, Ashland; Sydney Powhida, Holland Springfield; Haley Hess, Oregon

Clay; Abby Sattler, Perrysburg; Jayda Worthy, Tol. Notre Dame; Ramiah Henry, Tol. Waite; Erica Johnson, Mansfield Senior.

DIVISION IIIFIRST TEAM: Rachel Myers,

Findlay Liberty-Benton, 5-8, sr., 23.3; Taylor Graboski, Upper Sandusky, 6-2, sr., 17.6; Macey Sheerer, Bucyrus, 5-6, sr., 19.1; Cassidy Wyse, Archbold, 5-10, sr., 14.1; Andrea Cecil, Oak Harbor, 6-0, soph., 19.6; Kaycee Rowe, Lafayette Allen East, 5-8, sr., 18.2.

Player of the year: Rachel Myers, Findlay Liberty-Benton.

Coaches of the year: Tom Kontak, Oak Harbor; Nate Irwin, Findlay Liberty-Benton.

SECOND TEAM: Kristen Miller, Ottawa-Glandorf, 5-6, sr. 12.6; Kristen Curtis, Bloomdale Elmwood, 5-6, sr., 16.2; Meghan Harrer, Bucyrus Wynford, 5-9, sr., 14.3; Brigan Wymer, Delta, 5-7, jr., 19.6; Haili Mossing, Metamora Evergreen, 5-7, soph., 17.4; Niki Meyer, Liberty Center, 5-9, sr., 19.0.

THIRD TEAM: Allie Dewire, Tol. Ottawa Hills, 5-6, jr., 12.7; Lauren Kotey, Findlay Liberty-Benton, 6-2, jr., 12.6; Brenna Quinn, Bucyrus Wynford, 6-0, sr., 11.9; Kasey Adelsperger, Sycamore Mohawk, 5-10, sr., 15.5; Jesse Fidler, Archbold, 5-9, sr., 13.9; Ciara Albright, Genoa, 5-7, sr., 18.8; Meredith Shepherd, Lima Central Cath., 5-6, sr., 14.8.

Special MentionRenee Stimpert, Ashland

Crestview; Kelci Simms, Bucyrus; Julie Hotz, Rossford; Allie Wank, Elmore Woodmore; Brooke Bostelman, Kenton; Sydney McCluer, Columbus Grove; Olivia VanSlooten, Tol. Ottawa Hills; Haley Pickard, Genoa; Kalene Johnson, Upper Sandusky; Samantha Ervin, Elmwood; Kasey Adelsperger, Sycamore Mohawk; Sarah Schriner, Bluffton; Elissa Ellerbrock, Ottawa-Glandorf; Ellie Richmond, Bucyrus Wynford; Hannah Wyeth, Bucyrus; Ashley Myers, Huron; Kelly Norrod, New London; Miah Ward, Collins Western Reserve; Jacqui Mullins, Collins Western Reserve; Kalene Johnson, Upper Sandusky; Emma Smith Upper Sandusky; Julie Adelsperger, Mohawk; Clara Adelsperger, Mohawk; Cassidy Williams, Archbold; Samantha Ervin Jr., Bloomdale Elmwood; Abby Hesselschwardt, Tontogany Otsego; Mackenzie Johnson, Elmore Woodmore; Sydney Mohler, Lima Central Cath.; Carly Clum, Lafayette Allen East; Lauren Leugers, Coldwater; Sarah Kanney, Coldwater; Sierra Fent, Rockford Parkway; Cami Hellarth, Rockford Parkway; Ashley Mack, Defiance Tinora; Maicie Wheeler, Swanton.

DIVISION IVFIRST TEAM: Molly Glick, Arcadia,

5-11, jr., 17.6; Kamryn Troike, Fostoria St. Wendelin, 6-3, soph., 20.7; Anna Hintz, Greenwich South Central, 6-1, jr., 19.5; Marissa Myles, Holgate, 6-0, sr., 14.0; Dana Fricke, Pettisville, 5-10, jr., 15.4; Paige Ordway, Continental, 5-10, sr., 17.7; Haley Horstman, New Knoxville, 5-7, sr., 15.5.

Player of the year: Haley Horstman, New Knoxville.

Coach of the year: Phil Vaughn, Carey

SECOND TEAM: Darian Westmeyer, Tol. Christian, 5-8, sr., 14.3; Amber Gerdeman, Leipsic, 6-1, sr., 12.2; Molly Hammersmith, Defiance Ayersville, 5-1,, soph., 12.0; Kara Scherger, New Riegel, 5-6, jr., 13.5; Sydney Wentling, Carey, 5-10, soph., 13.2; Lindsey Motycka, Convoy Crestview, 5-10, jr., 12.5; Brooke Winner, Maria Stein Marion Local, 5-10, sr., 16.4.

THIRD TEAM: Jordyn Wright, Mt. Blanchard Riverdale, 5-7, sr., 15.6; Courtney Cramer, Arcadia, 5-5, sr., 18.0; Hannah Bleikamp, West Unity Hilltop, 5-4, sr., 15.0; Paige Lehman, New Knoxville, 5-10, sr., 11.6; Claire Fischer, Minster, 5-7, sr., 9.9; Allie Thobe, Maria Stein Marion Local, 5-6, jr., 12.0; Conner Varner, Stryker, 5-9, sr., 16.7.

Special MentionMegan Maag, Pandora-Gilboa;

Tiza Jones, Mansfield St. Peter’s; Summer Sweeting, Greenwich South Central; Megan Schubert, Defiance Ayersville; Kate Brickner, Tiffin Calvert; Seina Adachi, Attica Seneca East; Tori Wyss, Ada; Taylor Mangas, Ottoville; Lexie Davis, Lima Perry; Tori Lennartz, Fort Recovery; Ally Mikesell, St. Henry; Meg Reineke, New Knoxville; Rosie Westerbeck, New Bremen; Faith Johnson, Tol. Christian; Camille Gist, Tol. Christian; Haley Gerten, Leipsic; Vanessa McCullough, Pandora-Gilboa; Courtney Cramer, Arcadia; Dani Heaster, Arlington; Brenna Dee, McComb; Kylie Osterhage, Kalida; Sydney Holderman, Mt. Blanchard Riverdale; Taylor Frey, Mt. Blanchard Riverdale; Emily Clymer, McComb; Brenna Dee, McComb; Addie Daugherty, Mansfield Christian; Kelsey Breznicki, Plymouth; Alli Hintz, Greenwich South Central; Emily Yeager, Mansfield St. Peter’s; Cassie Sager, North Robinson Colonel Crawford; Lydia Ott, Norwalk St. Paul; Samantha Reer, Monroeville; Paige Leitz, Monroeville; Lauren Ladd; New Riegel, Taylor Kirian, New Riegel; Ali Rymer, Carey; Nicole Bickley, Calvert; Alli Adelsperger, Old Fort; Brittany Kahle, Kalida; Emily Bauer, Convoy Crestview; Mackenzie Riggenbach Convoy Crestview; Julia Thatcher, Van Wert Lincolnview; Shelby Spradlin, Upper Scioto Valley; Bree Mullins, Upper Scioto Valley; Megan Stephens, Danbury; Cadence Jacobs, Marion Local; Emily Mescher, Marion Local; Kara Jutte, Fort Recovery; Taylor Koesters, St. Henry; Erin Lavelle, Lakeside Danbury; Kayla Richard, Minster; Logan Arnold, Minster; Bella Stoll, Norwalk St. Paul.

All-nw diStrict BASketBAll

How to reach the T-G sports department

PhoneSports editor Doug Haidet

419-281-0581, ext. 245Sports writer Tim Shoemaker

419-281-0581, ext. 244Sports writer

Becky Tener Meziere 419-281-0581, ext. 255

EmailSports editor Doug Haidetdhaidet@times-gazette.com

Sports writer Tim Shoemaker tshoemaker@times-gazette.com

Sports writer Becky Tener Meziere

btener@times-gazette.comGeneral T-G sports

sports@times-gazette.com

Fax419-281-8692

Announcing

The Associated PressAll Times EST

EASTERN CONFERENCEAtlantic Division

W L Pct GBToronto 33 26 .559 —Brooklyn 30 29 .508 3New York 22 40 .355 121⁄2Boston 20 41 .328 14Philadelphia 15 46 .246 19

Southeast Division W L Pct GBMiami 43 16 .729 —Washington 32 29 .525 12Charlotte 28 33 .459 16Atlanta 26 33 .441 17Orlando 19 44 .302 26

Central Division W L Pct GBx-Indiana 46 15 .754 —Chicago 34 27 .557 12Detroit 24 37 .393 22Cleveland 24 38 .387 221⁄2Milwaukee 12 48 .200 331⁄2

WESTERN CONFERENCESouthwest Division

W L Pct GBSan Antonio 45 16 .738 —Houston 42 19 .689 3Dallas 36 26 .581 91⁄2Memphis 34 26 .567 101⁄2New Orleans 24 37 .393 21

Northwest Division W L Pct GBOklahoma City 46 15 .754 —Portland 42 19 .689 4Minnesota 30 30 .500 151⁄2Denver 26 34 .433 191⁄2Utah 21 40 .344 25

Pacific Division W L Pct GBL.A. Clippers 42 20 .677 —Golden State 38 24 .613 4Phoenix 35 25 .583 6Sacramento 22 39 .361 191⁄2L.A. Lakers 21 40 .344 201⁄2x-clinched playoff spot

___Thursday’s Games

Late games not includedSan Antonio 111, Miami 87Oklahoma City at Phoenix, (n)L.A. Clippers at L.A. Lakers, (n)

Friday’s GamesMemphis at Chicago, 7 p.m.Sacramento at Toronto, 7 p.m.Cleveland at Charlotte, 7 p.m.Brooklyn at Boston, 7:30 p.m.Utah at New York, 7:30 p.m.Detroit at Minnesota, 8 p.m.Milwaukee at New Orleans, 8 p.m.Portland at Dallas, 8:30 p.m.L.A. Lakers at Denver, 9 p.m.Indiana at Houston, 9:30 p.m.Atlanta at Golden State, 10:30 p.m.

nBA

The Associated PressAll Times EST

EASTERN CONFERENCEAtlantic Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GABoston 62 40 17 5 85 195 138Montreal 64 35 22 7 77 164 157Toronto 64 33 23 8 74 189 195Tampa Bay 63 34 24 5 73 180 163Detroit 62 28 21 13 69 164 172Ottawa 63 27 25 11 65 177 206Florida 62 23 32 7 53 152 201Buffalo 62 19 35 8 46 127 184

Metropolitan Division GP W L OT Pts GF GAPittsburgh 61 41 16 4 86 195 150Philadelphia 63 33 24 6 72 180 184N.Y. Rangers 63 33 26 4 70 164 160Columbus 63 32 26 5 69 185 178Washington 64 29 25 10 68 188 195New Jersey 63 27 23 13 67 152 156Carolina 62 27 26 9 63 154 175NY Islanders 64 24 32 8 56 176 217

WESTERN CONFERENCECentral Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GASt. Louis 62 42 14 6 90 206 142Chicago 64 37 13 14 88 221 171Colorado 63 41 17 5 87 195 168Minnesota 62 34 21 7 75 153 150Dallas 62 29 23 10 68 175 175Winnipeg 64 30 27 7 67 177 184Nashville 63 26 27 10 62 152 190

Pacific Division GP W L OT Pts GF GAAnaheim 63 43 14 6 92 205 154San Jose 63 39 17 7 85 190 154Los Angeles 64 36 22 6 78 155 135Phoenix 62 28 23 11 67 170 180Vancouver 64 28 26 10 66 150 167Calgary 62 24 31 7 55 145 186Edmonton 63 21 34 8 50 157 206

NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss.

Thursday’s GamesLate games not includedBoston 3, Washington 0Los Angeles 3, Winnipeg 1Buffalo 3, Tampa Bay 1Colorado 3, Detroit 2, OTChicago 6, Columbus 1St. Louis 2, Nashville 1Vancouver at Dallas, (n)Montreal at Phoenix, (n)N.Y. Islanders at Edmonton, (n)Pittsburgh at San Jose, (n)

Friday’s GamesN.Y. Rangers at Carolina, 7 p.m.New Jersey at Detroit, 7:30 p.m.Buffalo at Florida, 7:30 p.m.N.Y. Islanders at Calgary, 9 p.m.Pittsburgh at Anaheim, 10 p.m.

nhl

Submitted photo

Ashland team finishes perfectThe third-grade Ashland boys basketball team recently finished its season with a perfect 10-0 record and a title in the season-ending tournament sponsored by the Ashland Boys Basketball Parents Association at the Ashland YMCA. The Ashland team was coached by Rich Steury and Aaron Bates. Team members pictured left to right in the front row are Kamden Mowry, Parker Grissinger, Nathan Gerhart and Wyatt Mohrman. Left to right in the back row are Grayson Steury, Keslar Bates, Caden Van Tilburg and Colin Caram.

AreA prep roundup

Hintz leads All-NW District picksThe area had 11 players

selected Thursday when the Associated Press released this year’s All-Northwest District boys and girls bas-ketball teams.

Finishing highest on the list locally was South Cen-tral’s Anna Hintz, who was a Division IV first-team pick.

After that, Ashland had a pair of second-team picks in Division I, including Isaac White for the boys and Alex-is Stoops for the girls.

Also in Division I for the Arrows, Brett Vipperman, Trey Smith and Mariah Mansperger all were special-mention selections.

In Division III, New Lon-don’s Cory Haswell and Ben Young made the boys special-mention list, while Crest-view’s Renee Stimpert made special mention for the girls.

Rounding out the area’s All-Northwest honorees in Division IV girls basketball were South Central’s Sum-mer Sweeting and Alli Hintz.

Stoops tops area’s District 6 picks

The Ashland area was represented well recently when the Al l -Distr ic t 6 basketball teams were released, with A s h l a n d ’ s Alexis Stoops leading the charge as the girls Division I Player of the Year.

The Arrows also had Mariah Mansperger on the first-team list, while Sydni Carpenter (second team), Kylie Chandler (honorable mention) and Cassidy Yetzer (honorable mention) also made the squad.

In Division III for the girls, Crestview’s Renee Stimpert was a first-teamer, New London’s Kelly Norrod made the second team and honorable-mention picks were New London’s Nicole Richards and Krista Kur-

unsaari, and Crestview’s Macie Restille.

In Division IV, South Central’s Anna Hintz was a first-team choice, while Tro-jans Summer Sweeting and Alli Hintz were both honor-able mention.

For the boys, Ashland had four choices in Division I, including Isaac White (first team), Trey Smith (second team), Brett Vipperman (sec-ond team) and Drew Dickin-son (honorable mention).

In Division III, New Lon-don’s Cory Haswell and Ben Young both made honorable mention.

Mapleton places four on District 4 team

The Mapleton girls bas-ketball team put a quartet of players on the District 4 team recently in Division IV.

Hannah Krause and Jes-sie Vance both were selected to the first team while Leslie Rogers and Jerrica Smith were honorable-mention choices.

T-G Staff Reports

AShlAnd uniVerSitY roundup

Eagles get shutout softball winCLERMONT, Fla. — The

Ashland University softball team improved to 7-2 on the season Thurs-day with a 9-0 shutout of the University of Sciences.

Jenn Moore smacked a bas-es-loaded double and drove in four runs while both Carly West (two runs) and Cayla Seidler (double, two RBIs).

Amber McDermott was

the winning pitcher, tossing five innings of three-hit ball and striking out four.

Ashland also was sched-uled to play Concordia on Thursday, but that game was rained out.

Baseball Eagles edged by Lewis in rain-soaked game

AUBURNDALE, Fla. — Ashland cut a 6-0 deficit in half Thursday during action

against Lewis, but couldn’t come back all the way in a 6-3, rain-filled defeat that was called after eight innings.

The Eagles (5-4) received a pair of hits each from Tyler Gray (double, RBI) and Kyle Brooks, but Jon Thacker was handed the loss, giving up six runs on eight hits and four walks in six innings. He also struck out six.

Reliever Sam Sha-fer pitched two scoreless innings.

T-G Staff Reports

SportS ShortS u From wire reportS

Browns agree to terms with CundiffCLEVELAND — Billy

Cundiff didn’t make Browns fans forget kicker Phil Daw-son. However, he did make them miss him a little less.

Cundiff, who had the unenviable job of replacing Dawson last season, agreed Thursday to a one-year, $1.02 million contract with the Browns. Cundiff was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent last week, but Cleveland locked him up for another year.

After the Browns’ front office allowed the popular Dawson to leave and sign with San Francisco last year, Cundiff made 21 of 26 field-goal attempts and 32 extra points in 16 games.

Cundiff also set a franchise record with 42 touchbacks. Of Cundiff’s 62 kickoffs, the opposing team started at or inside their own 20-year line 53 times.

The 33-year-old Cundiff, who began his NFL career with Dallas in 2002, made the Pro Bowl with Baltimore in 2010. He kicked in five games for the Browns in 2009

and has also played for New Orleans and Washington.

The Browns also extend-ed a contract tender to start-ing inside linebacker Craig Robertson as an exclusive-rights free agent.

Robertson started 14 games last season, his sec-ond with Cleveland. The 6-foot-1, 234-pounder fin-ished with 89 tackles — 63 solos — and had three sacks and an interception.

An exclusive-rights free agent doesn’t have nego-tiating power and must stay with a team if he’s ten-dered. Robertson will make $570,000 next season.

Blue Jackets Blackhawks shuffle lines, blast Columbus

CHICAGO — Andrew Shaw and Jonathan Toews had two goals apiece, and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-1 on Thursday night.

Brandon Bollig and Bryan Bickell also scored as Chi-cago bounced back from a

4-2 home loss to Colorado on Tuesday night. Corey Crawford made 22 saves for his 10th consecutive victory against Columbus.

Ryan Johansen scored his 25th goal for the Blue Jack-ets, who had won three in a row. Sergei Bobrovsky made 14 stops before he was pulled during the Blackhawks’ three-goal second period.

Indians Masterson goes three shutout innings in win

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Travis Wood gave up one hit and struck out three in three scoreless innings Thursday but the Chicago Cubs fell to Cleveland, 1-0.

Indians starter Justin Masterson gave up three hits and a walk, striking out three in three shutout innings.

Masterson worked him-self into a bases-loaded jam in the first by giving up one-out hits to Donnie Mur-phy and Anthony Rizzo and walking Nate Schierholtz.

Stoops

ASHLAND TIMES-GAZETTE SportS FRIDAY MARCH 7, 2014 B3

“They got off to a good start and we didn’t,” Hess said. “They set the pace for the game and for whatever reason we didn’t seem mentally pre-pared.”

“We came out flat and we weren’t active offensively.”

The Redskins played an impec-cable man-to-man defense that shut down the Mountie post players and limited Mapleton to contested shots on the outside.

“They had a size advantage and their posts are good and play hard,” Cuyahoga Heights coach Al Martin said. “We were concerned about it and we tried hard to get them to push the ball back outside. We thought that there was maybe a chance that we could disrupt and get some steals and that turned out to be true.

“We got some steals in the first half and we didn’t give their posts too many times where they caught it one on one.”

The Mounties turned the ball over in the paint three straight times in the first quarter and each time the Redskins found the open teammate on the offensive end and hit a 3-pointer to take a big lead. The squad hit eight treys for the night.

“We shoot a lot of them and we shot more 3s than 2s on the year,”

Martin said. “So it’s kind of who we are, but when you get this far in the tournament if you don’t make them it’s not very good.”

Mapleton went from the 6-minute mark in the first quarter until 3:28 in the second before they got their sec-ond basket, going 2 of 9 in the first half. Jerrica Smith (nine points) hit a 3 to end the scoring drought.

Leslie Rogers hit a pair of foul shots with 30 seconds left to con-clude the scoring in the first half, as the Mounties trailed 30-7.

“There is a reason why they hold teams to the points they do because of defensive effort,” Hess said. “Defensively we were stagnant. We didn’t look prepared and I’ll take responsibility for that.”

“I burnt three timeouts to start the game just to get something out of them,” Hess said. “... We just kind of froze offensively.”

The Mounties were able to control the offensive efforts of Northeast Lakes District Player of the Year Jenna Stegmaier (seven points), with a great effort from Smith.

Unfortunately for the Mounties, other Redskins stepped up to the challenge. Elizabeth Spence (20 points) led the squad, while Allison Triskett (nine points) found the bas-kets to lead the team.

“The chemistry is really good and it starts with Jenna,” Martin said. “... She shares the ball as well

as anybody does and we are very comfortable with taking shots.”

The Mounties finally got their offense running better in the third quarter with help from Hannah Krause (six points, nine rebounds) inside, Faith Edwards (six points) from 3-point range and Sydney Wilder (two points, two steals) from the line, but it was too late to change the outcome.

“I don’t want to take anything away from (the Redskins), but for as poorly as we shot the ball and played offensively,” Hess said. “We scored the most points against them than anybody did in the tour-nament. It’s great defense, but it’s nothing that we shouldn’t be able to execute against.”

“We wish them the best,” he con-tinued. “They’re a good team and they deserve to be at this point.”

It was the final game for seniors Wilder, Smith, Jessie Vance, Mack-enzie Guy and Frankie Haupricht.

“This won’t hurt as much prob-ably tomorrow or on the bus ride home,” Hess said. “But we weren’t planning on giving the end-of-the-year speech tonight.”

CUYAHOGA HEIGHTS: Triskett 3-0-9; Spence 6-4-20; Mervar 2-0-5; Denner 1-0-3; Seneski 1-1-4; Stegmaier 2-5-7; Goetz 2-0-4; TEAM 17-10-52.

MAPLETON: Sydney Wilder 0-2-2; Jerrica Smith 3-0-9; Faith Edwards 2-0-6; Hannah Krause 3-0-6; Leslie Rogers 1-2-4. TEAM 9-4-27. Cuyahoga Hts. 17 13 13 9 — 52Mapleton 2 5 12 8 — 27

3-point field goals: Cuyahoga Heights 8 (Triskett 3, Spence 2, Mervar, Denner, Seneski); Mapleton 5 (Smith 3, Edwards 2).

ENDINGContinued from Page B1

“... We rebounded from that early on and we made some plays in our spread, attacking the rim and kicking it out and finding open shooters and mak-ing shots and it was nice to see our guys be able to make those plays and make those adjustments but we just weren’t able to make enough of them down the stretch,” Fralick added. “It was similar to what they did the other night against Madison. I think they ratchet it up a notch in the second half defensively and it really created offense for them. They do an excel-lent job of pressuring you defensively and I can’t say enough about them. They’re a top tier ball club and the credit goes to their coach and their players.”

One of the Tyger play-ers who hurt the Arrows throughout the evening was senior Mario Davison, who led all players with 20 points, including mak-ing 6 of 9 free throws, all in the fourth quarter when Ashland fell behind and was forced to foul.

“Our philosophy is make your layups, make your free throws and guard the snot out of people,” Tygers coach J.T. Reese said. “If we do that, we can win. And tonight, (Davison) made his layups, his free throws and he guarded the snot out of people.”

Ashland tried to coun-ter with their steady trio of Isaac White, who led the team with 18 points, while Trey Smith and Brett Vipperman, each

scored 11.But Mansfield Senior

continually hounded all three during the course of the game and made them labor to bring the ball up the court.

Mansfield Senior grabbed an early 10-7 first quarter lead before Ashland rallied in the sec-ond quarter, sinking 7 of 10 floor shots to earn a 25-23 edge at intermis-sion. After three quarters it was still anyone’s game as the Tygers only led 37-35, setting up what most believed to a nip-and-tuck finish down the stretch.

The last time Ashland

had the lead was at 40-39 when White completed an old fashioned three-point play with 5:46 left to play.

Ashland even got the ball back when Mansfield Senior was called for an over-and-back infraction but only seconds later the Arrows were called for the same.

The Tygers then went on to outscore the Arrows 17-8 the rest of the way.

On the night, Ashland sank 16 of 37 action attempts for 43 percent to Mansfield’s 19 of 41 show-ing for 46 percent. At the line, the Arrows meshed 10 of 12 shots and the Tygers hit on 14 of 19.

Mansfield’s pres-sure defense forced 13 Ashland turnovers with the Tygers only commit-ting seven. Mansfield also held a slight 26-23 edge on the glass with Malon Samuel snagging five for the Tygers and Vipper-man pacing Ashland with seven.

Chek Washington added 10 points for Mansfield Senior with Jalen Reese pitching in nine markers.

Fralick will have a solid nucleus to work with next season as there were no seniors on the squad and after getting off to a 2-7 start, the Arrows finished strong in the second half of the season, having won their last 5 of 6 and 8 of 11 games.

“We do realize we do have a very good young nucleus of players and these guys have an oppor-tunity to be a very special group,” Fralick said. “That doesn’t guarantee any-thing but they do have the opportunity to be a special group if they’re willing to put that time in, in the off-season to improving themselves in a number of different ways.”

ASHLAND: Isaac White 6-3-18; Trey Smith 2-7-11; Brett Vipperman 5-0-11; Logan Brewer 2-0-5; Drew Dickinson 1-0-2. TEAM 16-10-47.

MANSFIELD SENIOR: Gibson 1-4-6; Davison 7-6-20; Wilder 1-0-2; James 1-4-6; Butts 1-1-3; Reese 4-1-9; Washington 4-2-10. TEAM 19-14-56.Ashland 7 18 10 12 — 47Mansfield Sr. 10 13 14 19 — 56

3-point field goals: Ashland 5 (White 3, Vipperman, Brewer); Mansfield Senior 4 (Washington 2, Butts, Reese).

PRESSUREContinued from Page B1

this, is (Ashland is) so in-depth at running their offense,” Mansfield Senior coach J.T. Reese said. “What you have to do is get them in something they’re not used to and we did a good job of that.”

Brett Vipperman scored inside with just under 5 minutes remaining in Thursday’s game to tie it at 42-all, but from there the Tygers took over.

An 11-0 run followed thanks to some high-pres-sure Mansfield Senior defense and timely free-throw shooting, and the Tygers advanced to the district title game for the third time in the last four seasons.

“First of all, Ashland and Isaac White and those guys, they’re great players,” Reese said. “What we try to do is, we know it’s not gonna take one or two guys or one or two quarters to try to harness their talent.”

“What ended up hap-pening was I thought as long as they took shots off the dribble as opposed to wide open, we were going to be fine.”

It was the second straight season Ashland had fallen to Mansfield Senior twice in the regular season, but had a shot at redemp-tion in the postseason.

But like last year’s 47-40 loss in the sectional title game, Thursday’s contest was all about Senior’s defensive effort.

“That was the biggest key of the game was their pressure,” Fralick said.

“They prevented us from getting ball reversals and made our guards really work.

“Our guards are guys that we’re counting on to give us big scoring punches and they made them work for everything they got.”

With Mansfield Senior playing without its top scorer, Donovyn Benson, who was ruled ineligible a few weeks ago — forc-ing the team to forfeit its OCC title to West Holmes — it seemed like this might be the year the Arrows could get past the Tygers and move on to play for a district title.

But that will have to wait for at least another season as Ashland, which doesn’t have a senior on its roster, will return everyone to next year’s team.

“Whenever you come out here and you make it this far and you have this type of run here that we’ve made over the sec-ond half of the season, it’s disappointing,” Fralick said. “You’re building up, you’re building up, you’re getting better and you go on a five-game win-ning streak, you’re able to win a sectional, all those things are great, but then it just drops and it’s tough to deal with.”

“I’ve been really impressed with just the way they’ve handled the season,” he continued. “It was a very slow start for us, but to be able to pick up the pieces and keep mov-ing forward and keep get-ting better and finish the season 12-12 after starting 2-7, I think is an incredible accomplishment.”

ARROWSContinued from Page B1

Photo by Joe Pelletier

Ashland High School’s Trey Smith (14) drives against Mansfield Senior’s Naradain James (14) during Thursday’s district semifi-nal at Galion High School.

Times-Gazette photo/Sarah Gordon

Mapleton’s Hannah Krause (20) and Cuyahoga Heights’ Lauren Goetz (34) reach for a rebound during their regional semifinal Thursday at Perry High School.

STAT OF THE STORY3: Ashland had three double-digit scorers and hit five 3-pointers, but fell to Mansfield Senior for the third team this season.

and don’t think for a second that we didn’t,’ ” Mapleton coach Matt Hess said. “... We just unfortunately didn’t have it.”

On the team’s biggest stage, things didn’t go how the Mounties hoped. Thankfully, they can look at the bigger picture.

“We didn’t play how we wanted to, but in the end we started picking it up,” senior guard Jerrica Smith said. “We finished the season with a great impact on Mountie basketball, though.”

“We’re happy about getting here finally and playing as a team,” Smith continued. “But it’s bittersweet.”

The Mounties’ dreams this sea-son were perpetuated by their five seniors — Smith, Vance, Frankie Haupricht, Mackenzie Guy and

Sydney Wilder.“They’ve set the tone and the

example for these underclassmen, without a doubt,” Hess said. “We are certainly going to miss their contributions. ... They’ve moved our program in the right direction.”

“More importantly than basket-ball, we’ve built relationships with these seniors over the last six years and they feel like part of your fam-ily,” Hess continued. “... Hopefully, basketball doesn’t define them, but hopefully it has shaped who they’ve become as people.”

Mapleton’s accomplishments have set the bar for the Mounties of the future, including next season’s returning players: Hannah Krause, Leslie Rogers and Faith Edwards.

“I have faith that they will step up,” Smith said. “I have faith in them and they should have faith in themselves.”

In reflection, Smith, choked by tears, reminisced about what the Mounties built off the court.

“It’s hard,” Smith said. “I defi-nitely wish it wasn’t the last game. I enjoyed playing with my teammates. They are like sisters to me and I would do anything for any of them. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye.”

The ending was difficult for all the players to handle, but one thing Smith said helped ease the pain: the overwhelming fan support, which came out dressed in blue and red and encouraged its players to the very end.

“It was fun playing at regionals,” Smith said with a smile. “We had so many fans that supported us, and that hasn’t really happened before this game.”

■ Contact Becky Tener Meziere, sports writer, at 419-281-0581, ext. 255, or btener@times-gazette.com.

CONTINUEContinued from Page B1

Jerrica Smith led Mounties with nine points

MHS sets standard for future seasons

Mansfield’s Davison led scoring with 20 points

AHS finishes 12-12

Alston keys OSU win INDIANAPOLIS (AP)

— Ameryst Alston scored 30 points and Darryce Moore and Martina Eller-be had double-doubles as eighth-seeded Ohio State pulled away in the clos-ing minutes Thursday to defeat ninth-seeded North-western 86-77 in the Big 10 Tournament opener.

Ellerbe finished with

16 points and a career-high 13 rebounds for the Buckeyes (16-17), who face top-seeded and 11th-ranked Penn State (22-6) today. Moore added 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Maggie Lyon led North-western (15-15) with 25 points, Nia Coffey had 19 with 11 rebounds, Lauren Douglas had 15 points.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Ashland Youth BaseballSign-Ups in March10am-2pm at MVD Sports in Ashland on March 15th & 22ndPony League (15 & Under) - $6010 Under & 12 Under - $45Rookie (7 & 8 yrs.) and T-Ball (5 & 6 yrs.) - $30$10 late fee after March 22nd, no exceptions. No spots guaranteed for late sign up - you will be put on waiting list.To download a form, visit www.eteamz.com/ashlandyouthbaseball/ Accepting applications for umpires.Checks Payable to: AYB P.O. Box 942 Ashland, OH 44805

B4 FRIDAY MARCH 7, 2014 SportS ASHLAND TIMES-GAZETTE

FEUD OF THE WEEK

WHAT’S ON TAP?

Ken Willis has been covering NAS-CAR for The Daytona Beach News-Journal for 27 years. Reach him at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com

FEUD OF THE WEEK

QUESTIONS & ATTITUDECompelling questions ...

and maybe a few actual answers

HOT TOPICS: 3 ISSUES GENERATING A BUZZSPEED FREAKSA couple questions we had to ask — ourselves

facebook.com/nascardaytona

@nascardaytona

news-journalonline.com/nascar

ONLINE EXTRAS

FEEDBACKDo you have questions orcomments about NASCAR This Week? Contact Godwin Kelly at godwin.kelly@news-jrnl.com or Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com

WEEKLY DRIVER RANKINGS — BASED ON BEHAVIOR AND PERFORMANCE

PHOENIX REWIND

Godwin Kelly is the Daytona Beach News-Journal’s motorsports editor and has covered NASCAR for 30

years. Reach him at godwin.kelly@news-jrnl.com

GODWIN’S LAS VEGAS PICKS

CUP POINTS

Kevin Harvick has 24 Cup Series wins. Five of those have been scored at Phoenix International Raceway — the latest came Sunday when he cap-tured The Profi t on CNBC 500K. This victory made Harvick the winningest Cup Series driver in the history of Phoenix.

Leading 224 of the 312 laps, Harvick averaged 109.229 mph and held off attacks from Daytona 500 champion Dale Earnhardt Jr., 2012 Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski, and mongoose-like Joey Logano. At the checkered fl ag, Harvick was 0.489 of a second — about fi ve car lengths — ahead of Earnhardt.

The winner was especially pleased since it was just his second race with Stewart-Haas Racing af-ter spending 13 years at Richard Childress Racing without winning the Cup championship.

“Man, this just solidifi es so many things and so many decisions,” Harvick said. “It’s been so much work with all the time and effort that these guys have put in, but what a race car. (Crew chief) Rod-ney Childers has just done a phenomenal job of putting this team together. These guys all want to win. That’s why they came here. That’s why I came here, too.”

Where does Harvick have his second-most track victories? At Richmond, where he has scored three wins since 2001.

DANICA LEADS THE WAYDanica Patrick has crashed out of the fi rst two

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races of 2014, but she leads stock-car racing in one very important category — Twitter followers. Patrick became the

fi rst Cup Series driver to surpass the 1 million mark in Twitter followers in the past two weeks. Of course, she can expect stiff competition from Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the social-media race. Earnhardt activated his @DaleJr account after he won the Daytona 500 and immediately had 200,000 fol-lowers. That number rises each day. As the Twitter race heats up between Patrick and Earnhardt, Jimmie Johnson remains in second place on the Cup Series list with 530,000 followers. Patrick’s boyfriend, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., has about 130,000 followers, while over in the IndyCar Series Juan Pablo Montoya leads the pack with 800,000 or so followers. Which brings to mind this saying: Lead, follow or Tweet yourself out of the way.

THANKS FOR NOT ASKINGTony Stewart has been on the mend since last

August, when he shattered his right leg in a sprint car accident on a dinky dirt oval in the Midwest. His recovery has been slow and taxing. Two weeks into the 2014 season, he has tired of talking about it.

“I’ll be honest, I’ll be more happy when every-body quits asking me how I feel,” Stewart told the media at Phoenix. “I’m not 100 percent. I’m not go-ing to be 100 percent for a while. It was fi ne. There wasn’t any drama, same as we said for the (Sprint Unlimited), same as we said for the qualifying race and same as we said after the (Daytona) 500. I appreciate everybody checking on me, but it’s not going to change in a week.”

Stewart will answer the question again — yes, next week.

The desert fox

AP/ROSS D. FRANKLIN

This is what a racing honeymoon looks like. Nothing makes racers and race-team owners happier than winning races. Judging from his record, Kevin Harvick has done a lot of hugging at Phoenix.

AP/ROSS D. FRANKLIN

Talk about your high maintenance … she carries Bear Bond tape.

Time to panic? Or is it ‘Danic?’After checking the offi cially licensed

Meter of Anxiety, it appears to be hold-ing right in the middle, at “Anxious,” which is better than “Panic” but worse than “Mildly Concerned.” After getting caught up in another wreck at Phoenix, Danica Patrick’s No. 10 car is 41st in owner points, and since the seven provisional starting spots each week — following this week at Las Vegas — will be handed out based on the current owner-points standings … um, a good roll in Vegas would help her cause.

And the other Danica issue?Maybe she’s following the lead of

team owner Tony Stewart, who has been known to storm away from the track without comment after a particu-larly frustrating situation. But as tough as it can be, drivers have to know that NASCAR’s fortunes were largely built by the availability of drivers, regardless of their present mood. Hurrying to the airport and issuing a media statement through the PR team might make good sense for your personal psyche, but it does the industry no good.

Who’s Aleia Wolfe’s OB/GYN?Good question. Aleia, wife of Brad

Keselowski’s crew chief Paul Wolfe, gave birth to a baby boy Sunday morn-ing. Paul left Kez’s pit box to be by his wife’s side. All of the drivers’ babies in recent years were born in the off-season or an early weekday, meaning no tough decisions to make on a race weekend. The “miracles” of modern obstetrics apparently don’t fi lter down to the crew.

Winner: Carl EdwardsRest of the top fi ve: Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Tony StewartDark horse: Brian Vickers

Disappointment: Kevin HarvickFirst one out: Michael McDowellDon’t be surprised if: Drivers gamble on a fuel run to score the victory.

AP/ROSS D. FRANKLIN

Not a bank robber — nor, apparently, driver of getaway car.

More bad luck for Danica. Any advice?GODSPEAK: Keep your chin up and the gas pedal down. This is just a spate of bad luck.KEN’S CALL: She was running 24th at Phoenix when she wrecked. Advice: Fewer wrecks happen near the front.

Any early opinion on the new qualifying format?GODSPEAK: It’s much better than single-car (yawn) qualifying. You’ve got to love the group-qualifying, knock-out-round concept.KEN’S CALL: I defy anyone to know what to think yet. Give it some more time, then ask.

DANICAPATRICK

JUSTINALLGAIER

Danica Patrick vs. Justin Allgaier: They made contact, which led to Pat-rick blowing a tire and crashing, which led Patrick to confront Allgaier after the Phoenix race.Godwin Kelly gives his take: “When you crash out of a race and a team-mate wins, that magnifi es the anger factor. This may not be over.”

SPRINT CUP: Kobalt 400SITE: Las Vegas Motor SpeedwaySCHEDULE: Friday, practice (Fox Sports 1, 2 p.m.), qualifying (Fox Sports 1, 6:35 p.m.). Saturday, practice (Fox Sports 2, 2:30 p.m.). Sunday, race (Fox, coverage starts at 2:30 p.m., green fl ag at 3:16 p.m.)NATIONWIDE: Boyd Gaming 300 SITE: Las Vegas Motor SpeedwaySCHEDULE: Saturday, race (ESPN2, coverage starts at 4 p.m., green fl ag at 4:27 p.m.)

1. Earnhardt Jr.* —2. Harvick* -113. Keselowski -64. Gordon -105. Johnson -126. Logano -157. Kenseth -208. Hamlin -229. Edwards -2510. Biffl e -2610. McMurray -2610. Mears -2613. Stenhouse Jr. -2714. Ky. Busch -2915. Newman -3016. Dillon -3417. Ambrose -4118. Kahne -4319. Sorenson -4920. Stewart -5320. Allmendinger -5322. Almirola -5523. Bowyer -5623. Menard -5625. Vickers -57

* Has victory, has qualifi ed for Chase

KEVINHARVICK

Looking like bell cow at

Stewart-Haas

JUNIOR EARNHARDT

Are Junior Mints named

for him

BRADKESELOWSKIMiddle name

is Aaron

JEFFGORDON

Finishes fi fth this week in

Vegas

JIMMIE JOHNSON

Going through the motions,

for now

KYLEBUSCHWins his

“home game” this week

MATTKENSETH

Quietly pro-ductive start — go fi gure

JOEYLOGANO

Finally looking like a keeper

RYANNEWMANCan fi nd Ukraine

on a map

CARLEDWARDS

Hey, it’s better

than 11th

Pepsi released another video of Jeff Gordon terrifying a passenger in a street car. Last year he shocked a car salesman on a test drive. This year he played a cab driver outrunning a police car. Gordon talked about these videos with the media at Phoenix International Raceway.

What can you say about the new test-drive video that Pepsi released?

“I’m so proud of them for believing in us and taking risks to step outside the bound-

aries, and what they call maxing it out, and they defi nitely did. It was a lot of fun, but it was nerve-wracking because we had one take to do that and pull it off. There was a lot involved, but the results are really, really good.”

When did you go to acting school? Did you have fun playing the ex-con cabbie, and were you worried at all that the guy was going to go crazy?

“I like good editing because they can

make me look as good as I can look. The acting was pretty poor if you look at it from my standpoint, but when you get into makeup like that and they put this disguise on you and the tattoo and the outfi t and everything, you start to get comfortable in it once you’re in it long enough. I’m no actor, but I did the best I could, and luckily the disguise helped me pull it off.”

Why did you want to do this?“I like stepping outside the boundaries,

when it’s something like this. We did the fi rst video, and when you look at all the comments from the fi rst video, I think that it was really the bloggers, the media, the fans … it was everybody really challenging us to go and do this because of their com-ments of saying, ‘Hey, Jeff wasn’t driving the car, or this or that wasn’t real.’ Guess what, here’s the results of that because we wanted to go out there and show everybody how authentic and how real this can be.”

Jeff on his cabbie role: ‘I like stepping outside the boundaries’

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 15, 2014 ASHLAND TIMES-GAZETTE SECTION B

Look for more atphotos.times-gazette.com.

Huskies knock off Pirates in battle of former NHS coaches

SULLIVAN — Several times dur-ing Tuesday’s game against North-western, Black River boys basketball coach Josh Calame was shouting instructions to his team, telling his players exactly what the Huskies were going to do on offense.

After spending the three pre-vious seasons as an assistant to Northwestern coach Mark Alberts Jr., he would know.

But after a back-and-forth first quarter, the Huskies’ full-court pressure and interior size was too much for the Pirates as they cruised to a 62-33 victory.

“Everything they ran, we run. It’s exactly the same plays and we call them the same thing almost,” Calame said. “We practice against that every day in practice, but we don’t see that.

“... They know how to force teams like us into turnovers.”

Northwestern’s full-court pres-sure forced the Pirates (2-9) into 17 first-half turnovers, allowing the Huskies (8-5) to grab a 29-14 lead at halftime after Black River snagged an early 6-3 lead in the

first quarter.The Huskies led 14-9 after one,

but started the second on a 13-3 run thanks in large part to some solid shooting from the free-throw line.

“I was extremely happy after the start of the second quarter, because I thought the first quarter, they completely outhustled us and out outplayed us,” Alberts said. “We were up 14-9 and I think our guys didn’t come out ready to play with the mindset they needed to have. In the second quarter they did and in the third quarter we really did.”

Northwestern was 15 for 20 from the stripe in the first half as three Black River starters picked up three fouls.

“I’m not going to make excuses, but we got in foul trouble,” Calame said. “We had a couple guys who had seen hardly any varsity experi-ence and to throw them in a game like that against a team like that, they’re gonna panic at times and

make some mistakes.”Brandon Covert and Matt Kohler

each scored five points in a 16-2 run that began the third quarter, stretch-ing the NHS lead to 45-16.

Covert and Kohler each finished the game with 12 points, while Malachi Nolletti and Collin Cayse each had 10. Derek Koch added nine points and 12 rebounds to round out a well-balanced effort for the Huskies.

“We’re not built for one guy to make a bunch of baskets even though they could,” Alberts said. “... We had a lot of good looks at the basket, but unfortunately some of them didn’t go in.”

Allan Benson was the lone dou-ble-figure scorer for Black River, fin-ishing with a team-high 10 points.

Northwestern forced 28 Black River turnovers in the game, but the Huskies also committed 23 of their own.

“Defensively, that’s the way we need to play, but offensively we can’t have 23 turnovers and be suc-cessful,” Alberts said. “Especially in a game like this when we didn’t

By TIM SHOEMAKERT-G Sports Writer

Brady-Manning, 49ers-Seahawks spice up title gamesBy DENNIS WASZAK JR.Associated Press

Familiar foes. Rivalry showdowns.Talk about a couple of juicy title-game tussles.It’s Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady — Round

15 — in the AFC championship game next Sunday, while the San Francisco 49ers square off against the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC title bout.

Yep, here we go again. With a Super Bowl trip on the line.

“It’s the Broncos versus the Patriots and certainly Tom and I have played against each other a lot,” Manning said, “but when you get to the AFC championship, it’s

about two good teams that have been through a lot to get there.”

Manning helped lead Denver past the San Diego Chargers 24-17 on Sunday, setting up another meeting with Brady and New England, which beat Indianapolis 43-22 on Saturday night. The Broncos (14-3) opened as 61⁄2-point favorites for the game at Denver.

“That’s two of the greats,” Denver wide receiver Eric Decker said. “It’s going to be talked about a lot throughout the week.”

Manning and Brady have squared off 14 times throughout their careers, with the Patriots quar-terback holding a 10-4 edge in the head-to-head matchup, including a 34-31 overtime victory in November. They each have a win against the other in the AFC championship game: Brady in the 2003 playoffs and Manning in the 2006 postseason with Indianapolis.

And the winner went on to win the Super Bowl each time.

But, it’s not necessarily the same old story this time around. Both the Broncos and Patriots have been winning with balanced offenses, relying not only on the strong arms of their record-breaking quarterbacks but also on their running games.

Manning was 25 of 36 for 230 yards and two TDs, but the Broncos controlled the clock on the ground. After gaining just 18 yards against San Diego last month, the Broncos ran for 133 yards, including 82 by Knowshon Moreno, whose 3-yard TD run put them ahead 24-7 with 8:12 left.

The Chargers rallied to get within a score late, but Manning completed a pair of key third-down passes in the final minutes to prevent San Diego from getting a final chance.

“They’re a great team, they had a big win (Sat-urday) night,” Manning said of the Patriots. “We’re going to enjoy this one tonight, start to work on them tomorrow and I know it’ll be a heck of a game.”

At Foxborough, Mass., LeGarrette Blount car-ried the Patriots (13-4) to their third straight AFC title game with four touchdown runs against the Colts. Stevan Ridley added two rushing scores, giv-ing New England six TDs — and none by Brady.

“The way our defense is getting the ball for us and, really, what we’ve done the last three or four weeks (with) the running game has just been awe-some,” Brady said. “Hopefully, we can do it next week, too.”

In the NFC, the 49ers and Seahawks are all set to play in the latest chapter in one of the NFL’s budding — and bitter — rivalries.

The Seahawks (14-3) opened as 3-point favor-ites for the game at Seattle against 49ers (14-4), who defeated the Carolina Panthers 23-10 on Sun-day.

On Saturday, Marshawn Lynch ran for a fran-chise playoff-record 140 yards and two touchdowns

Finishing touches

All it took was another last-sec-ond layup.

On Tuesday night against No. 10-ranked, one-loss Willard (Divi-sion II), the Ashland High School girls basketball team captured not just victory but redemption in Arrow Arena.

Alexis Stoops sent a pass inside to Mariah Manspeger, who finished an uncontested layup to put the Arrows up 51-49 with 5 seconds left.

The Crimson Flashes (10-2) could not capitalize on their final shot, as the Arrows (10-4) held the final score.

“It was our defense down the stretch,” Ashland coach Jason Snow said. “We blocked some shots, we boarded the ball, we caused turn-overs when we needed them. I thought our kids handled the adver-sity well.”

Ashland, who fell to Ohio Car-dinal Conference foe Clear Fork on Saturday in overtime after a buzzer-beating layup, were met with the joyous result of fervency it the tight contest.

“We were pretty bummed about (Saturday’s loss), but it’s over and it’s in the past and we need to move on from it,” Mansperger said. “Coach told us about this team and how they only had one loss and that we were going to need that ‘play hard mentality.’ ”

It was Stoops, who came off the bench to lead the Arrows with 18 points, digging the team out of a 49-45 deficit in the final minute of play with a 10-foot jumper and a pair of foul shots to tie the game at 49-all.

By BECKY TENER MEZIERET-G Sports Writer

Cougars escape, get close win at home

OLIVESBURG — Tues-day night’s game between Norwayne and Crestview was about as back-and-forth as they come, with neither team holding a lead more than five points throughout the contest.

The Cougars (5-9) were able to come away with the victory thanks to a clutch 3-pointer from Macie Restille late to beat the Bobcats (6-7), 52-50.

With the game tied at

47 with 1:05 left, Crest-view’s Renee Stimpert got one of her seven steals in the game, which led to a Restille 3-pointer in the left corner, which gave the Cou-gars a 50-47 lead with 58

seconds remaining. Restille had 14 points on the night.

“(Restille) is probably one of the better shooters out here and her shots improved as the year has gone on. We actually want her to shoot a little more,” Crestview coach Tracy Richards said. “That was a huge 3 and a big momen-

tum change that got us a lit-tle cushion that we needed.”

Stimpert then made the contest a two-possession game when she hit one of her two free throws with 24.1 seconds remaining, but the ’Cats weren’t done.

Natalie Ferguson kept Norwayne’s chances alive when she hit a 3-pointer in the left corner with 11.6 seconds remaining, forcing Stimpert to shoot two free throws with eight seconds left. Stimpert hit the first

By BRENT POZZAT-G Correspondent

HIGH SCHOOL BOYS BASKETBALL u NOrTHwESTErN 62, BLACK rIvEr 33

Times-Gazette photo/Sarah Gordon

Northwestern’s Collin Cayse (5) makes a basket during Tuesday’s game at Black River.

HIGH SCHOOL GIrLS BASKETBALL u ASHLANd 51, wILLArd 49NFL

u CrESTvIEw 52, NOrwAYNE 50

Times-Gazette photo/Sarah Gordon

Ashland High School’s Mariah Mansperger (54) puts up a shot during a game against Willard at Ashland High School on Tuesday.

STAT OF THE STORY2: Northwestern had four players score in double figures as the Huskies used a 15-5 second quarter to pull ahead in the contest.

Turn to BATTLE, Page B3

Turn to TITLE, Page B3

Arrows stop ranked Crimson Flashes with last-second basket

Turn to FINISHING, Page B3

STAT OF THE STORY2: Macie Restille hit a pair of 3-pointers and was one of three double-digit scorers for the Cougars.

Turn to COUGARS, Page B3

Restille Hill

Best on the courtThe T-G’s annual boys hoops midseason check-in will run in Thursday’s edition.

B2 WEDNESDAY JANUARY 15, 2014 SportS Data ASHLAND TIMES-GAZETTE

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 15

LOCAL

HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS BASKETBALL — Fairview at Black River, 7 p.m.

HIGH SCHOOL BOWLING — Black River vs. Keystone at Slovak Club

HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING — Hillsdale at Madison, 6 p.m.; Loudonville at Waynedale tri, 6 p.m.

ON TV

MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALLESPN2 — Notre Dame at Maryland, 7 p.m.

NBAESPN — Utah at San Antonio, 8 p.m.ESPN — Denver at Golden State, 10:30 p.m.FSO — Cleveland at Portland, 10 p.m.

TENNISESPN2 — Australian Open, Second round, at

Melbourne, Australia, 9 p.m.ESPN2 — Australian Open, Second round, at

Melbourne, Australia, 3 a.m.

THURSDAY, JAN. 16

LOCAL

HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS BASKETBALL — Crestview at New London, 7:30 p.m.; Rittman at Northwestern, 7:30 p.m.; South Central at St. Paul, 7:30 p.m.; Ashland at Mansfield Sr., 7:30 p.m.; Waynedale at Hillsdale, 7 p.m.; Ontario at Loudonville, 7:30 p.m.; Plymouth at Mapleton, 7:30 p.m.

HIGH SCHOOL SWIMMING — Ashland at Lexington, 6 p.m.

HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING — Black River at Firelands, 6 p.m.

COLLEGE MEN’S BASKETBALL — Walsh at Ashland, 7:30 p.m.

COLLEGE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL — Walsh at Ashland, 5:30 p.m.

SportS ScheduleSHow to reach the T-G sports department

PhoneSports editor Doug Haidet

419-281-0581, ext. 245Sports writer Tim Shoemaker

419-281-0581, ext. 244Sports writer

Becky Tener Meziere 419-281-0581, ext. 255

EmailSports editor Doug Haidetdhaidet@times-gazette.com

Sports writer Tim Shoemaker tshoemaker@times-gazette.com

Sports writer Becky Tener Meziere

btener@times-gazette.comGeneral T-G sports

sports@times-gazette.com

Fax419-281-8692

A reminder forwinter coaches

Winter sports coaches are asked to submit information on non-covered sporting events by 10:30 p.m. Monday-Friday and by 6 p.m. Sunday for events held Saturday. Coaches can do so by phone, fax or email in the ways outlined above.

Announcing

The Associated PressAll Times EST

Wild-card PlayoffsSaturday, Jan. 4

Indianapolis 45, Kansas City 44New Orleans 26, Philadelphia 24

Sunday, Jan. 5San Diego 27, Cincinnati 10San Francisco 23, Green Bay 20

Divisional PlayoffsSaturday, Jan. 11

Seattle 23, New Orleans 15New England 43, Indianpolis 22

Sunday, Jan. 12San Francisco 23, Carolina 10Denver 24, San Diego 17

Conference ChampionshipsSunday, Jan. 19

New England at Denver, 3 p.m. (CBS)San Francisco at Seattle, 6:30 p.m. (FOX)

Pro BowlSunday, Jan. 26

At HonoluluTBD, 7:30 p.m. (NBC)

Super BowlSunday, Feb. 2

At East Rutherford, N.J.AFC champion vs. NFC champion, 6:30 p.m. (FOX)

nFl plAyoFFS

LURAY LANESTUESDAY SENIORS LEAGUE

Chuck Grissinger 279—731; Tom Hollins 226—607; Roger Shopbell 174—502; Gene Brown 187—486; Doyle Greshner 174—468.

Sylvia Dobbins 187—551; Maxine Shopbell 157—433; Karen Laughery 151—430; Marlene Harvey 168—420.

LADY EAGLES LEAGUENikki Evans 192—545; Gina

Thomas 191—540; Heather Gangi 181—517; Michelle Gordon 182—504; Lisa Stout 184—501.

HIGH GAME — Kelly’s Heroes 2084, Kelly’s Heroes 1751.

HIGH SERIES — Kelly’s Heroes 2084, UPI 1751.

STANDINGS — UPI 7, Snyder/Lance 7, Gloomen of the Moose 7.

ABER’S TRUCK CENTER MIXED LEAGUE

Bruce Bailey 239—667; Larry Schaub 233—598; Dave Rohrbaugh 210—598; Mark Lehman 236—594; Doug Drown 207—588.

Cathy Staniford 229—614; Dawn Lehman 180—470; Mary Adkins 162—468; Cathy Conrad 167—450; Tina Massie 180—449.

HIGH GAME — Fenders 778, 3 Screws & A Nut 718.

HIGH SERIES — Fenders 2231, 3 Screws & A Nut 2123.

STANDINGS — 3 Screws & A Nut 28-12, Alternators 28-12.

BANTAM/PREP LEAGUEParker Grissinger 178—346;

Aiden Brown 134—258; Garren Ward 121—225; Avery Brown 116—212; Gavin Cooke 102—203.

Aubrie Cooke 101—186; Kelsey Baker 90—176; Shyann Simmons 89—157; Amelia Brown 65—129; Mackenzie Kuln 64—117.

HIGH GAME — T Birds 459, Lighting Thieves 381.

HIGH SERIES — T Birds 857, Lighting Thieves 761.

STANDINGS — Lighting Thieves 3, T Birds 2, Big Bucks 2, Flower Power 1.

JR/MJ LEAGUEMichael Staniford 256—661;

Bryar Massie 231—634; Dustin Kidd 246—608; Bob Kaufman 239—604; Lance Kolp 192—562.

Samantha Staniford 183—508; Leah Maruna 142—385; Jasmine Schaub 121—307; Kyleigh Bonnell 144—305; Kathy Lehman 126—296.

HIGH GAME — Bombers 735, Thee Bowling Team 710.

HIGH SERIES — Bombers 2176, Thee Bowling 2103.

STANDINGS — 4 Strikers 4, Thee Bowling Team 4, Bad Boys 4, Rock & Roll Express 2 4, Bombers 3.

Bowling

NABC Division II Coaches PollReleased Jan. 14

Editor’s Note: First-place votes appear in parentheses. Bolded teams play in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.TEAM (#1 votes) REC PTS1. West Liberty (14) 12-0 3972. Bellarmine (2) 12-0 3863. Florida Southern 15-0 3674. Metro State 12-1 3475. Indiana (Pa.) 14-0 3286. Tarleton State 13-0 3147. Drury 12-1 3118. East Stroudsburg 15-0 2889. Cal St. San Bernardino 11-1 25510. Southern Indiana 11-1 24711. Lincoln Memorial 11-1 22612. Dixie State 12-1 22113. Colorado Mines 12-1 20214. Indianapolis 11-1 15915. South Carolina Aiken 12-2 15316. Winona State 15-2 12617. Lake Superior State 15-1 12218. California Baptist 13-0 10819. Western Washington 10-3 9820. Minnesota State 14-3 8321. Montevallo 11-2 7522. Franklin Pierce 12-2 7023. Lewis 11-1 6524. Delta State 12-2 5125. Chico State 10-2 41

Others Receiving Votes: Georgia Southwestern, 37; Missouri Southern, 31; Georgia Regents, 24; Seattle Pacific, 14; Cal Poly Pomona, 9; Southern Connecticut State, 9; Walsh, 9; Angelo State, 7; Central Missouri, 7; Michigan Tech, 3; Northeastern State, 3; Hawaii Pacific, 2; Barry, 1; Fort Hays State, 1; Midwestern State, 1; Saint Leo, 1; Texas A&M International, 1.

diviSion ii Men’S hoopS

WBCA Division II Coaches PollReleased Jan. 14

Editor’s Note: First-place votes appear in parentheses. Bolded teams play in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.TEAM (#1 votes) REC PTS1. Bentley (28) 14-0 7932. Gannon (1) 16-0 7513. Emporia State (1) 16-0 7474. Nova Southeastern (1) 12-0 7065. Colorado Mesa 14-0 6606. Harding 15-0 5917. West Texas A&M 11-1 5908. Central Missouri 12-1 5489. Delta State 11-1 53310. Drury 12-1 51211. Wayne State (Neb.) 16-1 50812 .Glenville State 13-2 39913. Rollins 13-2 389t-14. Tarleton State 12-1 378t-14. Indianapolis 11-2 37816. Virginia State 11-1 26717. Cal St. Poly-Pomona 11-2 20618. Quincy (Ill.) 11-2 20419. North Georgia 11-1 13920. Wayne State 11-1 11821. Adelphi 12-2 11022. Minn. St.-Mankato 10-4 10823. Fort Hayes 11-2 8524. Georgia College 11-2 8425. Lewis University 10-2 83

Others Receiving Votes (min. 20): Simon Fraser University (BC) 48; Northwest Nazarene University (Idaho) 46; Northern State University (S.D.) 38; Indiana University of Pennsylvania 36; University of Alaska - Anchorage 33; Saint Mary’s University (Texas) 30; Augustana College (S.D.) 29; Michigan Technological University 28; Northern Michigan University 28; Wingate University (N.C.) 22; University of District of Columbia 21; Lenoir-Rhyne University (N.C.) 16.

diviSion ii woMen’S hoopS

The Top Ten teams in the second Associated Press Ohio high school basketball polls of the 2013-2014 season with first-place votes in parentheses and won-loss record, total points and position last week at right. Bolded teams play in one of the five area conferences:

DIVISION I1, Mason (10) 12-0 1902, Wadsworth (5) 11-0 1803, Kett. Fairmont (5) 13-1 1564, Tol. Notre Dame 8-0 1335, N. Can. Hoover (1) 12-1 1136, Reynoldsburg 13-1 937, Cin. Princeton 9-1 918, Stow-Munroe Falls 12-0 599, Berea Midpark 13-0 4110, Canton McKinley 11-2 32

Others receiving 12 or more points: 11, Middleburg Hts. Midpark 25. 12, Perrysburg 19.

DIVISION IIt-1, West Holmes (5) 12-0 179t-1, Clyde (11) 12-0 1793, Kettering Alter (2) 12-0 1544, Akr. SVSM 11-0 1215, Clinton-Massie (1) 13-0 1016, Athens 14-0 887, Steubenville 12-0 848, Tol. Rogers 9-2 739, Kenton Ridge (1) 14-1 4510, Willard 9-1 28

Others receiving 12 or more points: 11, Beloit W. Branch 19. 12, Cortland Lakeview (1) 17. 13, Lima Bath 13.

DIVISION III1, Oak Hill (9) 10-0 1862, Cols. Africentric (8) 12-1 1783, Pymatuning Val.(2) 11-0 1514, Archbold 11-1 1275, Chippewa 12-1 1056, Miami East (1) 12-1 957, Ottawa-Glandorf 9-2 898, Beverly Ft. Frye 9-1 759, Versailles (1) 11-2 7210, Liberty-Benton 10-1 33

Others receiving 12 or more points: 11, Proctorville Fairland 12.

DIVISION IV1, Newark Cath. (8) 10-1 1602, Berlin Hiland (4) 10-1 1543, Reeds. Eastern (3) 9-0 1224, Ft. Loramie (3) 10-1 1205, Fayetteville-Perry (1) 11-0 1166, Bridgeport (1) 13-0 1157, Conotton Valley 9-0 818, Marion Local (1) 11-2 739, Arlington 11-1 5610, Minster 10-2 40

Others receiving 12 or more points: 11, Holgate 21. 12, Peebles 17. 12, Zanesville Rosecrans 17. 14, Carey 15. 15, Convoy Crestview 12.

high School girlS hoopS

AreA prep roundup

Mapleton knocks off Kidron Central Christian at home

NANKIN — The Mapleton girls basketball team picked up a home nonconference win Tues-day against Kidron Central Christian, 47-34.

Hannah Krause had a double -dou-ble for the M o u n t i e s (9-5), finish-ing with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Les-lie Rogers added 18 points, seven boards and four steals.

Jerrica Smith also added six points and seven steals, while Jessie Vance chipped in seven points for Mapleton.

MAPLETON: Jerrica Smith 3-0-6; Frankie Haupricht 2-0-4; Hannah Krause 6-0-12; Leslie Rogers 8-1-18; Jessie Vance 3-0-7. TEAM 22-1-47.

KIDRON CC: Wenger 2-0-5; Pasho 3-0-9; Darr 0-1-1; Miller 1-1-3; Coblentz 5-5-15; Swift 0-1-1. TEAM 11-8-34.

3-point field goals: Mapleton 2 (Rogers, Vance); Kidron CC 4 (Pasho 3, Wenger).

Boys Basketball Firelands 46 New London 31

OBERLIN — The Wild-cats fell on the road Tuesday to Firelands.

Ben Young led the way for New London (4-6), scor-ing 11 points, while Cory Haswell chipped in eight.

NEW LONDON: Graham McGrail 1-0-2; Nick Thomas 3-0-6; Cory Haswell 3-1-8; Ben Young 5-1-11; John Brady 1-0-2; Julian Molnar 1-0-2. TEAM 14-2-31.

FIRELANDS: Sittinger 2-0-4; Sklarek 4-0-11; Smith 4-1-10; Sigsworth 2-1-5; Ruffner 3-2-8; Klingshirn 1-0-2; Jimmy Willbond 2-0-6. TEAM 18-4-46.New London 13 8 7 3 — 31Firelands 9 16 11 8 — 46

3-point field goals: New London 1 (Haswell); Firelands 6 (Sklarek 3, Willbond 2, Smith).

Football Arrows earn Academic All-Ohio honors

The Ashland High School

football team was recently recognized for Academic Excellence.

To qualify, the grade-point averages of the Top 22 lettermen for each team were averaged and ranked. Only 40 of the 715 eligible high schools throughout Ohio earned the coveted honor of Academic All-Ohio

Four Arrows were also recognized for individual honors, including Jacob All-ton, Jerrod Coning, Heath Reineke and Nick Zurcher, who were named to the 2013 Academic All-Ohio Football Team.

Only 106 student-athletes from the more than 35,000 players throughout Ohio were recognized. To qualify, the honoree must be first team All-Conference, first team All-County or first team All-District in combina-tion with exemplary academ-ic performance.

T-G Staff Reports

The Associated PressAll Times EST

EASTERN CONFERENCEAtlantic Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GABoston 46 29 15 2 60 132 102Tampa Bay 47 28 15 4 60 136 113Montreal 47 26 16 5 57 118 111Toronto 48 23 20 5 51 132 146Detroit 46 20 16 10 50 118 127Ottawa 47 21 18 8 50 134 146Florida 46 18 21 7 43 109 141Buffalo 45 13 27 5 31 80 125

Metropolitan Division GP W L OT Pts GF GAPittsburgh 47 33 12 2 68 152 112Washington 46 22 16 8 52 137 137Philadelphia 47 24 19 4 52 125 132N.Y. Rangers 48 24 21 3 51 119 126New Jersey 48 20 18 10 50 112 118Columbus 46 22 20 4 48 129 131Carolina 46 19 18 9 47 111 130N.Y. Islanders 48 18 23 7 43 132 156

WESTERN CONFERENCECentral Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GAChicago 49 30 8 11 71 177 135St. Louis 45 32 8 5 69 163 100Colorado 46 29 12 5 63 135 117Minnesota 49 25 19 5 55 118 122Dallas 46 21 18 7 49 132 141Nashville 48 20 21 7 47 113 143Winnipeg 48 20 23 5 45 133 146

Pacific Division GP W L OT Pts GF GAAnaheim 48 35 8 5 75 161 119San Jose 47 29 12 6 64 150 117Los Angeles 47 28 14 5 61 120 96Vancouver 47 24 14 9 57 123 115Phoenix 46 21 16 9 51 135 143Calgary 47 16 25 6 38 105 148Edmonton 49 15 29 5 35 128 174

NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss.

Monday’s GamesCalgary 2, Carolina 0Columbus 3, Tampa Bay 2Winnipeg 5, Phoenix 1Los Angeles 1, Vancouver 0

Tuesday’s GamesSan Jose 2, Washington 1, SOToronto 4, Boston 3Tampa Bay 2, N.Y. Rangers 1Philadelphia 4, Buffalo 3New Jersey 4, Montreal 1Florida 4, N.Y. Islanders 2Colorado 3, Chicago 2, OTSt. Louis 2, Phoenix 1Nashville 4, Calgary 2Ottawa 3, Minnesota 0Dallas 5, Edmonton 2

Wednesday’s GamesBuffalo at Toronto, 7:30 p.m.Washington at Pittsburgh, 8 p.m.Vancouver at Anaheim, 10:30 p.m.

nhl

The Associated PressAll Times EST

EASTERN CONFERENCEAtlantic Division

W L Pct GBToronto 19 17 .528 —Brooklyn 15 22 .405 41⁄2New York 15 23 .395 5Boston 13 26 .333 71⁄2Philadelphia 12 25 .324 71⁄2

Southeast Division W L Pct GBMiami 27 10 .730 —Atlanta 20 18 .526 71⁄2Washington 17 19 .472 91⁄2Charlotte 16 23 .410 12Orlando 10 28 .263 171⁄2

Central Division W L Pct GBIndiana 30 7 .811 —Chicago 17 19 .472 121⁄2Detroit 16 22 .421 141⁄2Cleveland 13 24 .351 17Milwaukee 7 30 .189 23

WESTERN CONFERENCESouthwest Division

W L Pct GBSan Antonio 30 8 .789 —Houston 25 14 .641 51⁄2Dallas 23 16 .590 71⁄2Memphis 17 19 .472 12New Orleans 15 22 .405 141⁄2

Northwest Division W L Pct GBPortland 28 9 .757 —Oklahoma City 28 9 .757 —Denver 19 18 .514 9Minnesota 18 19 .486 10Utah 13 26 .333 16

Pacific Division W L Pct GBL.A. Clippers 26 13 .667 —Golden State 25 14 .641 1Phoenix 21 16 .568 4L.A. Lakers 14 23 .378 11Sacramento 13 23 .361 111⁄2

___Monday’s Games

Toronto 116, Milwaukee 94Houston 104, Boston 92New York 98, Phoenix 96, OTWashington 102, Chicago 88San Antonio 101, New Orleans 95Dallas 107, Orlando 88Utah 118, Denver 103

Tuesday’s GamesLate games not includedIndiana 116, Sacramento 92Charlotte 108, New York 98Oklahoma City at Memphis, (n)Cleveland at L.A. Lakers, (n)

Wednesday’s GamesChicago at Orlando, 7 p.m.Charlotte at Philadelphia, 7 p.m.Miami at Washington, 7 p.m.Toronto at Boston, 7:30 p.m.Sacramento at Minnesota, 8 p.m.Memphis at Milwaukee, 8 p.m.Houston at New Orleans, 8 p.m.Utah at San Antonio, 8 p.m.L.A. Lakers at Phoenix, 9 p.m.Cleveland at Portland, 10 p.m.Denver at Golden State, 10:30 p.m.Dallas at L.A. Clippers, 10:30 p.m.

Thursday’s GamesBrooklyn vs. Atlanta at London, England, 3 p.m.New York at Indiana, 7 p.m.Oklahoma City at Houston, 9:30 p.m.

nBA

youth SportS roundup

Ashland wins WABC Kaderly ClassicAPPLE CREEK — The Ashland Middle

School wrestling team brought home the team championship at the WABC Kaderly Classic from Waynedale on Saturday.

Ashland had 13 place winners and 243 total points, led by individual tournament champions Clay Eagle (80), Austin McNa-mara (92), Jake Visintine (98) and Landon Plank (110).

Cameron Wilson (205) came away in second place, while Jacob Whitesel (116), Brycen Light (134), Gage Adkins (142) and Josh Bever (150) all finished in third.

Finishing in fifth place were Ridge Kitts (128), Tristian Pitz (160), Joe Heifner (245), with Alex Laing (122) finishing in sixth.

Crestview takes fifth at New London invite

NEW LONDON — The Cougars took fifth place as a team Saturday in the Randy Harner Memorial Invitational, led by weight-class champs Cade Rogers and Tim Henry.

Other placers for Crestview were Lane Fry (second) and Colton Campbell (third).

Eighth-Grade Boys Basketball Crestview 45 Plymouth 10

The Cougars won big against Plymouth on Saturday.

Leading scorers for Crestview (9-1) were Nic Stimpert (14 points), Jessie Wilson (11) and Christian Durbin (six).

Crestview 42 Mapleton 36 (3 OT)

NANKIN — The Mounties lost a heart-breaker in triple overtime at home Wednesday.

Mapleton was led by Sam Mulins (10 points) and Logan Hensel (nine).

Crestview’s stats were previously run in the T-G.

Ashland falls to Madison, tops West Holmes

Ashland lost a defensive game at home Saturday to Madison, 29-23, but followed that with a 28-20 win over West Holmes on Monday.

Against the Rams, the Arrows (5-6, 5-5 OCC) were led by the performances of Kam-

rin Knowlton-Goings (eight points, four rebounds); Tyler Croskey (six points, five rebounds); and Travis Lamb (three points).

In the victory over the Knights, Knowl-ton-Goings had a double-double (12 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks, 3 steals) and Manny Langston also had a big game (10 points, 7 rebounds, 6 steals, 4 assists).

Eighth-Grade Girls Basketball Ashland 24 West Holmes 23

MILLERSBURG — The Arrows held off the Knights for the win Monday, led by 13 points from Maddie White.

Kylie Radebaugh added five points in the victory for Ashland (5-6).

Mapleton 22 Crestview 20

Sloan Welch hit the game-winning shot with 9 seconds left Monday as the Mounties got the win.

Sarah Pelton scored eight points and Savannah Barr added seven for Mapleton, while Crestview was led by six points from Kennedy Hickey.

Seventh-Grade Boys Basketball Ashland go 1-1 in OCC play

The Arrows split a pair of recent games, first beating Madison 41-33 at home Satur-day, led by Garrett Denbow’s huge game of 23 points and 11 rebounds.

Ashland (3-8, 2-8 OCC) had eight total players find the scoring column, with Klejhan Randleman (four points, seven rebounds) and Gavin Harper (four points, four rebounds, steal) as the next leading scorers to Denbow.

On Monday, the Arrows fell to West Hol-mes, 43-21.

Top performers in that contest for Ashland were Brennen Hunt (six points, two rebounds, assist); Max Watson (three points, two assists, two steals); and Harper (two points, four rebounds).

Crestview 28 Mapleton 25

The Mounties lost a tough game to the Cougars recently. Mapleton was led by Aus-tin Sanders’ 10 points.

T-G Staff Reports

SportS ShortS u FroM wire reportS

Blue Jackets send Prout to SpringfieldCOLUMBUS — The Columbus Blue

Jackets have assigned defenseman Dalton Prout to their American Hockey League affiliate in Springfield, Mass. on Tuesday.

The 23-year-old Prout has two assists, 31 penalty minutes and 41 blocked shots in 25 games with Columbus this season. He tallied one goal and six assists with 27 penalty min-utes and a plus-15 rating in 28 games with the Blue Jackets during the 2012-13 campaign, leading the club in plus/minus while ranking second among rookie NHL defensemen.

A native of Kingsville, Ontario, Prout was Columbus’ seventh pick, 154th overall, in the 2010 NHL draft.

MLS Columbus gets player, 1st-round pick from LA

COLUMBUS — The Columbus Crew have acquired midfielder Hector Jimenez and a first-round pick in the MLS draft from the L.A. Galaxy for the Crew’s second-round

pick and allocation money.The first-round pick is 14th overall, while

the selection sent to the Galaxy is the 23rd. The draft is Thursday.

The 25-year-old Jimenez has played in 43 games in three seasons with the Galaxy. Last year he had three goals and four assists in 26 appearances.

On Monday, the Crew acquired the rights to defender Michael Parkhurst from the New England Revolution for the Crew’s first-round selection (fourth overall) in the draft and more allocation money.

College Basketball No. 19 Cincinnati rallies to 69-58 win over Temple

CINCINNATi — Sean Kilpatrick emerged from his 3-point shooting slump Tuesday night, and Justin Jackson had a double-double, rallying No. 19 Cincinnati from a late deficit to a 69-58 victory over short-handed Temple.

H. Krause

The Crimson Flashes then lost the ball with an over-and-back on an inbounds pass that set the wheels in motion for Mansperger’s final shot.

“Credit to Alexis for connect-ing with Mariah and making that great play,” Snow said. “Credit to Mariah for cutting to the basket, she could have stood at the foul line and watched.”

Ashland stuck with the Crim-son Flashes from the get-go, taking an 8-4 lead in the first quarter. The Arrows, however, were plagued by strings of turnovers. A trio at the tailend of the first frame set Willard up to turn a 10-9 deficit into a 15-10 lead at the end of the quarter.

“They’re not 6-foot-3 or 6-1 but they are 5-9 across the board and they are pretty strong,” Snow said of Willard. “They bang you around. ... Their athleticism (sets them apart).”

But Snow felt his team was able to battle against Willard’s attack.

“We tried to mix things up and tried a lot of different things tonight,” Snow said. “We thought we caused some confusion and that’s how we were able to stay in it.”

Mansperger (15 points, 14 rebounds) kept Ashland in the game in the second frame, going 6 of 6 from the line.

“I just tried to get in there, go after the basket and maybe draw a foul, even if I didn’t get the and-one,” said Mansperger, who was 9 of 10 from the line on the night. “I’m a pretty decent foul shooter so I just got to the line and focus on my shot.”

“Tonight was nice because Alexis and I were both on,” Mansperger continued. “Coach has been talking about how we just needed a game where we were both playing really well and I think tonight was it.”

A pair of back-to-back 3-pointers from Kylie Chandler (six points) and Stoops gave the team a 22-20 lead. Cassidy Yetzer (four steals) hit a layup to close the half with the score tied at 26-all.

The Arrows pulled out to 30-26 advantage after halftime but another trio of turnovers — the Arrows had 15 on the night — allowed the Crim-

son Flashes to command a 34-32 lead.Stoops stepped up and gave he

typically stellar performance, hitting the Arrows’ final six points of the third quarter.

“She came in and played hard,” Snow said. “She did what she need-ed to do.”

Before Stoops and Mansperger pushed Ashland to a win, the Crim-son Flashes took a 47-41 lead by crashing the boards on the Arrows’ fruitless field goal attempts.

Ashland also received big con-tributions on the night from Shelby White (four points) and Sydni Car-penter (six points).

Notes: The Ashland junior var-sity also won, 29-27. The Arrows were led by Ryleigh Honaker, who scored eight points. ... The Arrows rescheduled game with Ontario will be played Tuesday, Jan. 21.

WILLARD Adams 4-0-8; Thorton 2-2-6; Worcester 1-0-2; Hamilton 1-0-3; Schloemer 2-0-5; King 4-1-9; Feltner 3-0-7; King 3-3-9. TEAM 20-6-49.

ASHLAND: Sydni Carpenter 3-0-6; Shelby White 1-2-4; Kylie Chandler 2-0-6; Cassidy Yetzer 1-0-2; Alexis Stoops 6-5-18; Mariah Mansperger 3-9-15. TEAM 16-16-51.Willard 15 11 12 11 — 49Ashland 10 16 13 12 — 51

3-point field goals: Willard 3 (Hamilton, Schloemer, Feltner); Ashland 3 (Chandler 2, Stoops)

Junior varsity: Ashland, 29-27.

ASHLAND TIMES-GAZETTE SportS WEDNESDAY JANUARY 15, 2014 B3

Times-Gazette photo/Sarah Gordon

Ashland High School’s Shelby White (14) steals a ball from Willard’s Marie Thornton (5) during a game at Ashland High School on Tuesday.

Black River’s Allan Benson

(12) moves past Northwestern’s

Nathaniel Shore (10) and Bailey Mowrer

(12) during Tuesday’s game

at Black River High School.

Times-Gazette photo/Sarah Gordon

even get pressed and I think they were all careless turnovers.”

“We’re trying to get these guys to believe that no matter how many shots you miss, no matter what you score, you can always be in the game by playing tremendous defense,” added Calame of his team’s defensive effort. “They’re buying in, they’re playing so hard on defense, they’re playing with intensity and getting after it. That’s the best defense I’ve seen in quite a while.”

Both coaches admitted it was dif-ferent coaching against each other as opposed to being on the same bench, but both Alberts and Calame said they enjoyed the experience.

“It was pretty neat. I hope and wish him all the best,” Alberts said of Calame. “I know that he’s gonna do a heck of a job getting his guys ready and hopefully the

guys buy into what he’s talking about and I know that they already have.”

“I played for him and I coached for him for three years and up until this year, my whole life has revolved around Northwest-ern basketball basically and my roots over there are deep,” Calame added of his men-tor. “It was definitely an interesting night.

“He gets a lot of the credit for what I am and what we’re doing and a lot of what I’ve learned is from him.”

Note: Northwestern won the junior var-sity contest by the same score, 62-33. Trevor Kline led the Huskies with 17 points, while David Jeske had 11 to lead Black River.

NORTHWESTERN: Austin Howman 1-0-2; Matt Kohler 3-6-12; Collin Cayse 4-2-10; Brandon Covert 5-2-12; Malachi Nolletti 4-2-10; Derek Koch 2-5-9; Bailey Mowrer 2-1-5; Ben Ladrach 0-2-2. TEAM 21-20-62.

BLACK RIVER: Allan Benson 3-3-10; Logan Goff 2-0-4; Curtis Roupe 1-0-2; Tyler Potter 3-0-6; Glen Crabtree 2-0-5; Dylan Lewis 2-1-5; David Jeske 0-1-1. TEAM 13-5-33.Northwestern 14 15 20 13 — 62Black River 9 5 7 12 — 33

3-point field goals: Black River 1 (Benson).Junior varsity: Northwestern, 62-33.

BATTLEContinued from Page B1

and Seattle’s defense flus-tered Drew Brees and New Orleans in a 23-15 victory. The top-seeded Seahawks advanced to the NFC title game for the second time, and first since the 2005 playoffs.

“We haven’t done anything yet,” quarter-back Russell Wilson said. “That’s our goal. We have 60 minutes of football left.”

San Francisco, which lost last year to Baltimore, is looking for a return trip to the Super Bowl. And lots of hard hits and plenty of jawing might be expect-ed in this latest matchup

with the Seahawks.“I think we’re the two

teams everyone was look-ing at from the begin-ning,” 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick said. “It’s going to be a knock-down, drag-out game.”

Count on it.The previous few

games between the NFC West rivals have been full of contempt, with shov-ing, pushing and arguing spicing things up. Even the coaches don’t care for each other.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh have been rivals dating to their days as opponents in the old Pac-10. In 2009, after

Harbaugh’s Stanford team ran up the score on Car-roll’s Southern California squad in a 55-21 rout, the two met at midfield and an annoyed Carroll barked, “What’s your deal?”

That’s carried over to the NFL — and it might get ramped up again dur-ing the week.

“We’re healthy, we’re a great team and we’re will-ing to do whatever it takes to get that ring,” 49ers running back Frank Gore said. “We’re playing great ball.”

Good thing, since the 49ers have committed seven turnovers and been outscored 71-16 in their past two trips to Seattle,

including a 29-3 Week 2 loss in September.

“We’re a different team than we were the first time we played them up there,” Kaepernick insisted.

The 49ers will get a chance to prove that next weekend.

At Seattle, Steven Hauschka kicked three field goals in blustery con-ditions, and Lynch capped the victory with a 31-yard scoring run with 2:40 left that Carroll celebrated by jumping into offensive line coach Tom Cable’s arms.

“It feels awesome,” fullback Michael Robin-son said, “but this doesn’t mean anything if we don’t win next week.”

TITLEContinued from Page B1

FINISHINGContinued from Page B1

STAT OF THE STORY10: The Arrows topped No. 10-ranked Willard for their 10th win of the season.

Team’s list of coaching candidates shrinkingCLEVELAND — The Browns’

list of coaching candidates keeps shrinking.

Two more names were scratched off on Tuesday.

Green Bay quarterbacks coach Ben McAdoo, who interviewed with Cleveland last week, was hired as the New York Giants offensive coordinator and Ari-zona defensive coordinator Todd Bowles removed his name from consideration after recently meet-ing with Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and CEO Joe Banner.

McAdoo and Bowles are two of the six candidates known to have interviewed with the Browns, who are looking for their fourth coach in six years — and seventh since 1999 — after Rob Chudzinski was fired following a 4-12 season.

Cleveland has also met with New England offensive coordi-nator Josh McDaniels, who took his name out of the running, and former San Diego offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt, hired on Monday by Tennessee.

The Browns have also inter-viewed Seattle defensive coor-dinator Dan Quinn and former Titans coach Mike Munchak.

It appears Cleveland intends to speak with Denver offensive coordinator Adam Gase before making any final decision. The 35-year-old has emerged as the front-runner to land Cleveland’s job because he was the first can-didate the Browns contacted after Chudzinski was dismissed and Haslam has a long-time rela-tionship with Broncos quarter-back Peyton Manning, who has praised Gase.

In his first season with the Broncos, Gase has helped Man-ning set several NFL records with a prolific offense and he is seen as one of pro football’s bright

young innovators and rising coaching stars. Contacted earlier this month, Gase told both the Browns and Minnesota Vikings that he wanted to wait until after the Broncos’ season ended before he did any interviews.

League rules prohibit teams from offering assistant coaches jobs while they are in the play-offs. The Broncos face the Patri-ots in Sunday’s AFC Champion-ship, and if Denver loses, the Browns are expected to move quickly to interview Gase.

He is represented by agent Bob Lamonte, who has a his-tory with the Browns. Former

Cleveland coach Pat Shurmur is a Lamonte client as is former general manager Tom Heckert, who was fired by the Browns last year. Heckert now works with Gase in Denver.

The Browns and Vikings are the only two teams still search-ing for a coach.

McAdoo was seen as a long-shot to wind up in Cleveland, but a strong endorsement from Pack-ers quarterback Aaron Rodgers seemed to add some validity to the Browns’ interest. However, the 36-year-old decided to join the Giants, replacing long-time coordinator Kevin Gilbride.

By TOM WITHERSAssociated Press

BROWNS

NHS had 4 players in double figures

Stoops chipped in 18 to pace Ashland

49ers looking for return trip to Super Bowl

and missed the second.With the Bobcats out of

timeouts, they were unable to draw up a play and could not get the potential game-winning or game-tying shot off in time, getting the Cougars the win.

Tuesday’s game was one of the only games in which the Cougars had a size advantage. And they took advantage, feeding Megan Hill down low, with Hill racking up 16 points on 8 of 10 shooting and also adding 14 rebounds. The Cougars were able to outrebound the Bobcats 41-31 in the game.

“We thought we could play more inside today. That’s probably one of the few teams where we prob-ably have a size advantage on, so we wanted to play more from the inside out tonight,” Richards said. “Megan Hill was big for us tonight inside. We were trying to get the ball into her and feed her as much as possible.”

Norwayne was able to keep the Cougar offense in check for the most part, forcing 20 turnovers com-pared to their 15, with Stimpert finding difficulty

to get open looks, causing her to go 4 for 19 from the field, scoring 11 points.

“We just thought we wanted to shadow (Stim-pert) and locate her and for the most part, the girls did do a pretty good job of that, but we did talk before the game that it’s more than just her. You can’t just shut her down and let the other girls run wild,” Norwayne coach Doug Hanzie said.

Individually, the Bob-cats were led by Ferguson (16 points), Kirsten Hilty (8 points, 10 rebounds) and Hailey Booth (eight points), who had to sit out for a good portion of the game due to foul trouble.

A close, two-point loss for the Bobcats was a dis-appointment for Hanzie and his team.

“We were kind of disap-pointed. Give Crestview credit. They played hard. They hit some shots I was kind of disappointed in our intensity tonight. I thought we could have shared the ball a little bit more,” he said. “At points in time, I thought they outworked us up the floor and that’s a credit to their girls. They supplemented their offense in transition and they got to the foul

line when they needed to.”The Cougars led went

12 of 23 at the line com-pared to Norwayne, who went 9 of 14. Patty Stim-pert was able to make six of her 10 free throws to add to her eight points in the game. Caitlyn Fulk also came back for the Cougars and added two points after missing the previous three games due to a back injury.

The Cougars are now focusing on a conference matchup with New Lon-don on Thursday.

“We’ve still got some work to do, but hopefully moving ahead, it’s good momentum going into New London on Thurs-day,” Richards said.

Note: The Cougars fell in their junior varsity game to the Bobcats, 29-13. Lead-ing scorers for Crestview were Sidney McLaughlin (nine points) and Maddie Bartram (three).

NORWAYNE: Hilty 2-4-8; Gill 2-0-4; Ferguson 6-0-16; Vance 2-0-5; Booth 3-2-8; Rios 3-3-9. TEAM 18-9-50.

CRESTVIEW: Macie Restille 5-2-14; Caitlyn Fulk 1-0-2; Renee Stimpert 4-3-11; Patty Stimpert 1-6-8; Megan Hill 8-0-16; Rashay Givens 0-1-1. TEAM 19-12-52.Norwayne 13 10 15 12 — 50Crestview 10 13 13 16 — 52

3-point field goals: Norwayne 5 (Ferguson 4, Vance); Crestview 2 (Restille 2).

Junior varsity: Norwayne, 29-13.

COUGARSContinued from Page B1

Hill led Crestview with 16 points

1245 E. Main St., Ashland • 419-282-6866

THE NEIL KADEYPlayer of the Week

Neil KadeyInsurance

Garrison made waves at Saturday’s Ohio Cardinal Conference Championships, setting a handful of records and bringing home a pair of first-place marks in the Ashland boys swimming and diving team’s third-place finish. The senior set a championship record in the 200-yard freestyle (1:46.18), while also breaking the former record at 54:79 in the 100 butterfly, good for second place. Garrison also swam a record leg in the 400 free relay, helping the Ashland quartet of Zach Obrecht, Luke Simmons and Logan Leon take first in 3:27.74.Call:

Davis Garrison