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QUAKERS EIGHTH
COLUMBUS -- Salem’s first loss of the season cost the Quakers four spots in the Associated Press Ohio high school football state poll released Tuesday.
The Quakers (7-1) dropped to eighth in Division III after a 28-14 loss at Howland last Friday.
It was the first time the Quakers scored less than 21 points in a game this season and the fewest since a 49-0 loss to eventual Division IV state champion Cleveland Glenville in a second-round playoff game on Nov. 7.
This Friday Salem hosts Carrollton (2-6), which owns victories over Edison and Marlington this season.
West Branch (7-1) is ranked 25th in Division IV. The Warriors host Alliance on Friday and Salem on Oct. 23.
Garrettsville Garfield (8-0) is ranked 13th in Division V heading into Friday’s game at Crestview.
South Range (7-1) is ranked fourth in Division VI and will play at Canfield on Friday.
OHTANI WILL PLAY
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Shohei Ohtani will be in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ lineup for Game 3 of the National League Championship Series against the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night.
Manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday that Ohtani will bat anywhere from second to sixth with the two-time defending World Series champion Dodgers losing the first two games of the best-of-seven series.
“He was very convicted that he is onto something mechanically (with his swing),” Roberts said. “He was adamant that he can help us. He’s well enough to help us win a baseball game, so that’s all I needed to hear.”
Ohtani is hitting .150 (3 for 20) over six postseason games. He has seven strikeouts, three walks and one stolen base with no home runs, no RBIs and an OPS of .411.
He hasn’t homered since Aug. 18 at Colorado.
Ohtani admitted before the NLDS against Atlanta that he’s not 100% healthy from right biceps and left knee issues that bothered him the last the last few months of the regular season. He has appeared visibly uncomfortable at the plate while flailing at pitches.
“The symptoms have subdued a lot,” Ohtani said Tuesday through a translator while making an unscheduled appearance in the off-day interview room. “The symptoms shouldn’t be the reason why I can’t hit, and even if the injuries happen by accident, I take full responsibility.”
Roberts spoke to Ohtani before the team worked out at Dodger Stadium, where Ohtani took on-field batting practice, something he rarely does during the regular season.
Roberts said their conversation wasn’t about benching the Japanese superstar, but rather offering him time off similar to Freddie Freeman during the postseason in 2024. Freeman had a sprained ankle and bone bruise, and took three days off spanning the NL Division Series and NLCS before earning World Series MVP honors.
GAME OVER
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) -- Deion Sanders has turned the page on a playbook that was reportedly lost and dismissed any kind of bearing it could have had on a loss to Texas Tech.
The Colorado coach minimized the incident in which pages of his team’s game plan were supposedly left behind at the hotel where the Buffaloes stay before home games. It was posted on a Red Raider Sports message board before the Buffaloes lost 29-7 to No. 10 Texas Tech on Oct. 3 and gained traction on social media in the aftermath.
There won’t be any further digging into what may or may not have transpired, Sanders said Tuesday.
“Why would we? It’s over. Game’s over,” Sanders said as his team prepares to play No. 11 Utah (5-0, 2-0 Big 12) on Saturday night at Folsom Field. “We probably know a lot more you think we do. But a whole playbook?”
Or portions of the play script, in this supposed case.
“That happens sometimes,” Sanders said. “I’ve seen that, heard of that on the pro level as well as the collegiate level. But I think we scored on the first drive, so I guess it didn’t work.”