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PLAYOFF OPENERS
Four area football teams open the Ohio high school football playoffs tonight.
There will be two played in Columbiana County as United (8-1) hosts Warren JFK (6-4) in Division VI and 17th-ranked East Liverpool (8-2) entertains Columbus Marion-Franklin (6-4) in Division IV.
Gates open at 5:30 p.m. for both games. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
Road playoff games include Columbiana (8-2) at Brookfield (8-2) in Division VI and Beaver Local (6-4) at 12th-ranked Urichsville Claymont (9-1) in Division IV.
Tickets are $12 for adults and $5 for students.
Salem and West Branch received first-round byes and will host second-round games next Friday, Nov. 6.
BOARDMAN REGIONAL
BOARDMAN -- Fifty-three area cross country runners will be competing in the regional meet at Boardman High School on Saturday.
Runners from Columbiana, Heartland Christian, Lisbon, Salem, Southern Local, United, West Branch are among the regional qualifiers.
Saturday’s time schedule is 10 a.m. for Division I girls, 10:40 a.m. for Division I boys, 11:50 a.m. for Division II girls, 12:30 p.m. for Division II boys, 1:40 p.m. for Division II girls, 2:20 p.m. for Division III boys, 3:30 p.m. for Division IV girls and 4:10 p.m. for Division IV boys.
Runners are vying for berths in the state cross country meet at Fortress Obetz on Saturday, Nov. 7.
Tickets for the regional meet are $12 for adults and $5 for students.
PICKERINGTON REGIONAL
PICKERINGTON -- Twenty-seven cross country runners from Beaver Local, East Liverpool and Minerva will be competing in the regional meet at Pickerington North High School on Saturday.
All of the area runners are in Division III with the girls race at 1:40 p.m. and the boys race at 2:20 p.m.
The top eight boys teams and top 16 individuals not on a qualifying team and the top seven girls teams and top 14 individuals not on a qualifying team advance to the state meet, which will be held Saturday, Nov. 7, at Fortress Obetz.
Tickets for the regional meet are $12 for adults and $5 for students.
SALEM MEETING
SALEM -- The Salem X-Tra Mile club will meet at 7 p.m. Monday in the high school cafeteria. The main topic will be planning for the high school cross country banquet.
HUTTON SCORES
NEW CONCORD – Junior Rylee Hutton scored the first goal and the Mount Union’s women’s soccer team keep going in a 7-0 win over Muskingum 7-0 on Wednesday night.
The Purple Raiders (8-6-1, 3-3-1 Ohio Athletic Conference) took the lead in the fourth minute as Hutton scored off an assist from junior Rachel Chenos.
Hutton played 48 minutes and lead the team with five goals this season.
The Purple Raiders will host Ohio Northern in their regular-season finale at 4 p.m. Saturday.
BREWERS PARADE
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Milwaukee could come to a standstill as fans celebrate the Brewers’ first World Series title.
Thousands of fans are expected to line the streets for a victory parade on Friday, forcing the state’s largest school district in Milwaukee to close because of operational and safety concerns.
The small-market Brewers gave their long-suffering fans the title they had been waiting for with a 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday, clinching the series in five games.
Milwaukee Public Schools canceled classes on Friday, allowing fans to enjoy the parade that will run through downtown and conclude with a fan fest at Henry Maier Festival Park, not far from the shore of Lake Michigan.
One fan who joined the queue to get tickets for the rally at American Family Insurance Amphitheater said he was behind 34,000 people -- at 8 a.m. Thursday.
The franchise originated as the Seattle Pilots in 1969 before moving to Milwaukee and becoming the Brewers the following year.
Milwaukee has celebrated a World Series title once before. The Milwaukee Braves won the 1957 World Series over the New York Yankees before moving to Atlanta in 1966.
RAYS 0-3 IN SERIES
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Eyes red and voice soft, Drew Rasmussen stood in front of his locker.
“Failure sucks. And to be this close, it’s really, really hard,” the Tampa Bay Rays pitcher said. “That’s the best team I’ve played at the major league level.”
Predicted by many to finish at or near the bottom of the AL East, the Rays reached the World Series for the third time but remain without a title. Their year ended Wednesday night with a 4-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 5, leaving them among four teams without a title along with Colorado, San Diego and Seattle.
“They’re banged up and hurting right now,” manager Kevin Cash said of his players.
An expansion team that started in 1998, the Rays also lost in the World Series to Philadelphia in 2008 and to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020. The only other clubs to lose in their first three Series appearances were the Brooklyn Dodgers (0-7) and Detroit Tigers (0-4), according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
LOCKOUT LOOMS
NEW YORK (AP) -- When Jake Bauers gloved the final out of the Milwaukee Brewers’ first World Series triumph, it might have ended the last Major League Baseball game for a long time.
While just 148 days remain until the scheduled start of the 2027 season on March 24, owners have proposed a salary cap for the first time since their 1994 plan led to a 7 1/2-month strike and the first cancellation of the World Series in 90 years.
“Obviously, you’d love to see the game be in a good spot and continue to be played,” Milwaukee captain Christian Yelich said Wednesday a few hours before his team finished a five-game victory over Tampa Bay. “I think the game’s in a great spot right now with a lot of people tuned in, a lot of popularity, a lot of great players out there. It would obviously be a shame if we miss time, but we’ll have plenty of time this offseason to talk about it.”
Baseball’s five-year labor contract, agreed to in March 2022 on the 99th day of a management lockout, expires on Dec. 1. MLB is likely to lock out players again as soon as the deal expires.
That could create another free-agent frenzy ahead of the expiration. On Dec. 1, 2021, clubs committed to $1.4 billion in salaries that included nine-figure contracts for Javier Báez, Byron Buxton, Kevin Gausman, Max Scherzer, Corey Seager and Marcus Semien.
This year’s free-agent class is headed by Tarik Skubal, Freddy Peralta, Michael King, Seiya Suzuki and Randy Arozarena. There were 144 new free agents Thursday and several dozen more can go free by Monday.
COURT RULING
COLUMBUS (AP) -- The Ohio Supreme Court filed an order Thursday that will keep the two dozen players involved in an eligibility case in that state available to play for teams across the country, with the start of college basketball season beginning next week.
The order kept in place a ruling from earlier this month, when the state’s high court stayed a lower-court ruling that would have declared the players ineligible.
The NCAA is the defendant in a case filed by lead plaintiff Filip Borovicanin of Xavier, which opens its season on Monday. Other basketball players in the case include Gonzaga’s Javon Bennett, Cincinnati’s MJ Collins and Auburn’s Kolby King.
The court became involved in the college eligibility issue when it was asked to determine the legality of an executive order issued earlier this month by Gov. Mike DeWine that granted athletes in Ohio who graduated from high school in 2022 a fifth year of college eligibility in defiance of NCAA rules.
Part of the case involved both parties asking the court to weigh in on the Borovicanin case.
The NCAA then sued DeWine in federal court, saying his order made it “impossible for all schools to compete on a level playing field.”
Earlier this year, the NCAA passed a rule granting players five seasons of eligibility, but it did not include the high school class of ’22 in the new rule. That, in turn, has triggered dozens of lawsuits across the country and created chaos as coaches try to finalize their rosters.