Hale in state semifinals

POWELL — Steve Hale, a 1985 graduate of Beaver Local High School, has led the Olentangy Liberty High School football team to the Division I state semifinals a third straight season.

Liberty (9-4) will play ninth-ranked Lakewood St. Edward (9-3) at 7 p.m. Friday at Mansfield’s Arlin Field.

Hale is in his 16th season as head coach at Liberty. He has been a head coach for 20 years, including Shelby, with 12 playoff appearances and two Associated Press coach of the year awards.

His parents are the late James and Eula Hale of Calcutta.

Football fans banned

GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Students at a North Carolina high school whose football team is in the playoffs have been banned from seeing their opening postseason game after an on-field brawl in a previous game.

WNCT in Greenville reports the N.C. High School Athletic Association announced the ban on South Central High School students after they got into a brawl with players from D.H. Conley High School on Nov. 1 on South Central’s field.

The NCHSAA determined D.H. Conley students didn’t start the fight and thus avoided punishment.

Pitt County Schools said several South Central students would be banned from future games, but didn’t specify that no students would be prevented from attending the playoff game.

The association said if South Central wins Friday’s game against South View, students can attend future playoff games.

Cavs, Smith part ways

CLEVELAND (AP) — J.R. Smith’s bumpy-but-never-boring stay with the Cleveland Cavaliers is over.

The team said Tuesday that the disgruntled forward, who had requested to be traded earlier this season, “will no longer be with team as the organization works with JR and his representation regarding his future.”

The Cavaliers will try to trade Smith. He will make $14.7 million this season, and $3.8 million of his $15.6 million salary for next season is guaranteed.

For now, the 33-year-old Smith is without a team and that seems to suit him just fine. He has been dismayed with his reduced role as the Cavaliers rebuild in their first season since LeBron James left for the second time as a free agent.

Smith’s unhappiness had created another distraction in a stormy season for Cleveland, which is a league-worst 2-13 and has been blown out numerous times.

The Cavaliers fired coach Tyronn Lue last month following a 0-6 start, and the team has been riddled with injuries, the most prominent to All-Star forward Kevin Love, who remains out indefinitely following foot surgery.

Smith’s departure comes a day before James makes his return to Cleveland for the first time with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Smith came to the Cavaliers in a trade from the New York Knicks in 2015. While his play has been inconsistent, he was a major contributor on Cleveland’s 2016 championship team. He made two 3-pointers early in the second half of Game 7 as the Cavaliers rallied to win and become the first team in league history to overcome a 3-1 series deficit.

With Smith gone, the Cavaliers have just three players — Love, Tristan Thompson and Channing Frye — left from their title team.

Before the Cavs won the championship, Smith already had become a favorite with Cleveland fans. He seemed to endear himself further to many by remaining shirtless during the team’s victory parade through the city’s streets.

However, Smith’s support eroded some during last year’s Finals when he lost track of the score in Game 1 and dribbled out the final seconds of regulation, depriving the Cavaliers a chance to steal a win. Cleveland wound up losing in overtime and got swept by the Warriors.

Smith is averaging a career-low 6.7 points this season. He has averaged 10.3 points in 255 games with Cleveland over the past five seasons.

Lefty O’Doul’s reopens

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A legendary San Francisco baseball memorabilia bar forced from its touristy spot in the city’s downtown has re-opened in equally touristy Fisherman’s Wharf.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed helped cut the ribbon for the opening of Lefty O’Doul’s Ballpark Buffet and Cafe on Tuesday, along with owner Nick Bovis.

Several hundred fans, including the city’s political elite, attended the ceremony, and the Archbishop Riordan High School marching band played.

Lefty O’Doul’s left its long-time spot on Geary Street by the cable cars in January 2017 after a dispute with the building’s landlord.

Francis “Lefty” O’Doul was born in San Francisco in 1897.

He was two-time National League batting champion who was known as a colorful man about town, friend to Joe DiMaggio and an ambassador of baseball to Japan.