×

SPORTS BRIEFING

Laurel shakes South Range

SHAKER HEIGHTS — Highly-regarded Shaker Heights Laurel pulled away in the second half to beat South Range, 72-51, in girls basketball action Saturday.

Laurel led 29-22 at halftime before scoring 43 seconds in the second half.

Laurel advanced to the Division II regional final last season, falling to West Branch 41-37 in Barberton — the weekend before the coronavirus pandemic shut down the basketball season.

100th straight start for Kelce

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jason Kelce wore a brace on his injured elbow and needed help from a teammate to buckle his chin strap.

Pain wasn’t going to stop him from playing. It hardly ever does.

The Philadelphia Eagles’ three-time All-Pro center from Cleveland Heights High School will make his 100th consecutive start Monday night against the Seattle Seahawks.

49ers need a new home

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan said the team was blindsided by new coronavirus regulations put in place by Santa Clara County officials that will force the 49ers to find a temporary new home for practice and games.

The county announced the new rules Saturday that include a three-week ban on practices and games for contact sports starting Monday.

Steelers are holding steady

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t add any players to the team’s expanding reserve/COVID-19 list on Sunday, but coach Mike Tomlin isn’t exactly ready to say Tuesday night’s rescheduled visit by Baltimore is a go.

“I don’t know that I can say I’m confident of anything in this environment,” Tomlin said. “I got great news today that we had no new positives … (but) it’s a sensitive situation … you talk about degrees of confidence and things of that nature, it’s a slippery slope.”

The Steelers (10-0) were supposed to host the Ravens (6-4) on Thanksgiving. A COVID-19 outbreak in Baltimore initially led the NFL to push the game to Sunday. When positive tests among the Ravens continued to pile up, the league postponed it until Tuesday. It’s still on … for now.

While Tomlin has constantly praised his team’s diligence to the league’s COVID-19 protocols, Pittsburgh has not been immune. The team has placed four players on the reserve/COVID-19 list since Thursday, a group that includes leading rusher James Conner and defensive end Stephon Tuitt. Two coaches — special teams coordinator Danny Smith and quarterbacks coach Matt Canada — will also be unavailable should the Steelers end up playing on Tuesday due to what the team called an “illness.”

Tomlin shrugged off the suggestion that what is happening to the Steelers and Ravens should serve as a message to the rest of the league as winter looms and cases across the world — let alone the NFL — skyrocket.

“We don’t need cautionary tales,” Tomlin said. “We’ve been living this every day. We’ve been tested daily since July 20th. … We have taken this very seriously, it’s just confirmation of what we already know.”

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.39/week.

Subscribe Today