Section 2 field hockey rankings are released each Monday during the regular season and sectionals.
In all, five teams are ranked, regardless of classification.
Click on a team for highlights from the past week.
There's more to Albany with the Times Union. Subscribe today for just 25¢.
This article originally published at 2026 Section 2 high school field hockey weekly power rankings.

#field #rankings #albany

TROY - With a pair of former University at Albany quarterbacks at the controls, the Utica offense shredded RPI again on Saturday.
Former Great Danes backup Tyler Szalkowski completed 29 of 38 passes for 402 yards and a pair of touchdowns to lead the Pioneers to a 38-14 victory over the Engineers at East Campus Stadium.
"I enjoyed my time at Albany," said Szalkowski, who spent the 2021 and 2022 seasons with the Great Danes. "Everything they did for me just made me who I am today."
Utica improved to 2-0, while RPI fell to 1-1.
It was the second straight year Szalkowski picked apart RPI. He was 27-of-29 passing for 385 yards and six touchdowns when the Pioneers blew out the Engineers 41-14 in Utica last season.

#utica #great #former

Lily Reynolds enjoyed a tremendous first full season pitching on the varsity level as a sophomore for Colonie in 2026.
Before her final two high schools seasons, Reynolds has already provided longtime University at Albany softball coach Chris Cannata her verbal commitment to pitch for the Great Danes of the America East Conference.
"I just realized that I wanted to stay home and be around my family. That was really the big deciding factor for me - not necessarily the D-I label," Reynolds said of her decision.
"She called me (Wednesday) and I told her this is the best news ever," said Colonie coach Kelly Colvin, who played at Shenendehowa and UAlbany. "Lily has put in so much hard work with us at Colonie and with the (Capital District) Fusion. It is really cool to see it pay off for her. We're all very excited."
During her sophomore season, Reynolds compiled a 7-2 record with a 1.61 earned run average and 115 strikeouts over 91 1/3 innings for the Wolf Pack. She was named to the Times Union all-star team as a first-team selection.

#colonie #coach

Section 2 football rankings are released each Tuesday during the regular season and sectionals.
In each class, five teams are ranked. This year, with Class C and D schools playing a combined regular-season schedule, those teams are grouped into one ranking.
Click on a team for highlights from the past week.
There's more to Albany with the Times Union. Subscribe today for just 25¢.
This article originally published at 2026 Section 2 high school football power rankings after Week 1.

#class #week #teams #tuesday

On Monday, Patrons walked out of the Saratoga Race Course for the final time this summer and crew members packed their gear as they closed out the 2026 racing season in Saratoga Springs.
The season saw 50 days of racing, including a 45-day summer meet and the five-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.
A few colorful coats remain in the nearly empty jockey silks room on the last day of racing at Saratoga Race Course. (Lori Van Buren/Times Union)
There's more to Albany with the Times Union. Subscribe today for just 25¢.
This article originally published at Photos: Closing day at Saratoga Race Course.

#racing

BUFFALO - The wins over Football Bowl Subdivision teams will be much harder to come by over the next three years.
The University at Albany is set to play Purdue next season, Michigan State in 2028, and Cincinnati in 2029, according to an athletic department official.
Those games will offer big paydays but a slim chance of victory against teams from the Power Four conferences.
However, UAlbany had a realistic chance of pulling off an FBS upset on Thursday night. The Great Danes were sitting on the Buffalo 1 with less than two minutes left and trailing by 4 points.
Instead, UAlbany unraveled with mistakes in a 21-17 defeat in a game that didn't end until 1:22 a.m. because of lightning and heavy rain that delayed the opening kickoff by more than 2 ½ hours.

#buffalo #ualbany #next #bowl

Yes, there is such a thing as a good 5-5 start – at least for now, considering how insane it is to try figuring out all these teams with mostly new players.

What's so good about it? Going 3-2 yesterday was fine, and over the first two runs, one loss was that horrific Hawaii beat against Stanford, another came in the final seconds of Illinois-UAB, and then there's the whopper – thinking Rutgers would destroy UMass. Historically shocking whiff, cap tipped, moving on.

There aren't many options for the Friday games, but let's force down an appetizer before the smorgasbord on Saturday.

Last Week's Results: 5-5
– All the Week 1 Picks
– Week 1 Expert Picks
Line: Point Total 46.5
ATS Pick: Under

This is one of those picks to see if we have our in-season game legs early on. Seriously, feel free to ignore this one, because it's a little dangerous.

Both teams have new coaching staffs, new ideas, and wholesale personnel changes. That, and 46.5 isn't all that hard to hit – the original call to make this one of the games was when the total was 49.5.

Again, I'm flying a bit blind here, but it's Pat Fitzgerald with a pieced-together team. It'll be about the defense and running game. Mike Jacobs' Toledo side will keep the chains moving and the clock rolling. This should be a good, tough fight.
– Toledo vs Michigan State Game Preview
Line: Kansas -41.5
ATS Pick: Kansas

It's a small sample size, but one key mini-trend isn't shocking – with the exception of Buffalo against Albany, FBS teams are annihilating the FCSers.

Utah 66, Idaho 14
UCF 73, Bethune-Cookman 6
Missouri 54, UAPB 14
Delaware 42, Merrimack 7
Kennesaw State 47, West Georgia 0 (I LOVED this and chickened out yesterday, not making this one of the five best picks)
Minnesota 59, Eastern Illinois 7

I never change our call on the predicted final score in our game previews unless something insane happens, but Kansas big at home against LIU – partly because it'll likely go full throttle for a full 60 minutes – was the call from the start. If anything, we were probably too conservative on what the Jayhawks will do.
– LIU vs Kansas Game Preview

Sticking with that FBS blowout over FCS thing …
Line: Purdue -35.5, o/u: 55.5
ATS Pick: Purdue

There's no need to do a deep dive here. Purdue has a brutal schedule ahead, it's been a rough run over the last few years, and the coaches will keep pushing because the program has to set a new tone. Purdue beat Indiana State 49-0 in 2024, and Indiana slipped past the Sycamores by 73 last year.
– Indiana State vs Purdue Game Preview
Line: Point Total 47.5
ATS Pick: Over

Two things are in play here. First, the Stanford defense didn't look like anything special once the Hawaii offense got rolling in the 37-27 Cardinal win. There's a real chance Miami takes care of most of the total on its own.

Here's the second part – the line is 24.5. In the six games last year when Miami won by more than that, all but the 38-7 win over Pi

BUFFALO, N,Y. (AP) — Chance Morrow caught his third touchdown pass from Elijah Holmes with 4:23 left in the game and the Buffalo Bulls beat the Albany Great Danes of the FCS 21-17 on Thursday night.
Morrow finished with seven receptions for 48 yards for the Bulls (1-0). Holmes was 26-of-47 passing for 189 yards and hit Morrow for touchdowns of 9, 4 and 5 yards.
Kickoff, which had originally been scheduled for 7 p.m. local time, was delayed about 2 3/4 hours due to inclement weather in the area.
Rahshan La Mons ran for a 4-yard gain that made it second-and-goal from inside the 1 with 1:26 left, but a false start moved the Great Danes (1-1) back outside the 5. On fourth-and-goal, Stevie Bracey tackled Luke McAuliffe at the 3 to seal it.
Holmes led the Bulls on a 15-play, 75-yard drive that took more than 6 1/2 minutes off the clock and made it 7-7 when he hit Morrow for a 9-yard TD with 11:23 left in the first half.

#yards

The 2026 Syracuse Football season is two days away and we've got a lot of questions as the Orange prepare to welcome New Hampshire on Saturday. What will we learn from this game? It might not be too telling, but we've got some things we'll be watching for.
Kevin: Running game
I think the Orange will keep things vanilla but last week UAlbany averaged over 7 yards per carry against UNH. This means Syracuse should be able to control the line of scrimmage and chew up yardage without having to show any new wrinkles before they face Cal. On defense, I'm watching to see how Vince Kehres has his defense attack the running game of his opponent. Can the Syracuse front seven get into the backfield and force the Wildcats into obvious passing situations?
Mike: Early receiving impressions
I'll take the other offensive category featuring a vastly different cast than last year. With both Justus Ross-Simmons and Tyshawn Russell not in the two-deep for Week 1, I'm intrigued to see who in the room takes first steps towards being a prominent target this season. Could Umari Hatcher finally return to 2023 form? Do any of the underclassmen start an early breakout? And will the tight ends be a factor in the pass game this season? The reps should be spread around here so let's see who shines.

#orange

A.J. Cavotta will cap a standout golf year with an autumn trip to Florida.
A teaching pro at Anders Mattson Golf in Saratoga Springs, Cavotta grabbed Northeastern New York's PGA berth into the 50th **** istant PGA Professional Championship, shooting a 3-under-par 139 over 36 holes Monday at Mohawk to win the section's **** istants Championship.
Cavotta, 24, the 2019 Times Union boys' golf Athlete of the Year from Saratoga Springs, was in a three-way tie with Nolan Crowley, who also works at Mattson's studio, and Nick Frankl of Albany. A bogey-free second round of 5-under 66 gave Cavotta a five-stroke victory over Crowley, the 2018 TU boys' golf Athlete of the Year who also played at Saratoga.
The victory punched Cavotta's ticket to Port St. Lucie, Fla., where the Wanamaker Course at the PGA Golf Club will play host to the national **** istants championship Nov. 12-15, and adds to a 2026 season in which he:
• earned $40,000 by winning the Next Golf Tour Championship, a worldwide circuit played on golf simulators (February)
• finished fourth in the Massachusetts Open, taking home $4,500 (June)
• captured the $2,000 top prize at the Donald Ross Classic at Glens Falls, his first major victory in the NENYPGA (June)
• placed second in the New York Open, losing in a playoff, at Bethpage Black, winning $11,000 (July)
• took sixth in the Canada Cup at Victoriaville, Quebec, worth $4,900 (August)
• was selected as the NENYPGA's **** istant Professional of the Year (August)
Scotia native Laura Diaz, now living in Winston-Salem, N.C., tied for seventh in the U.S. Senior Women's Open in Ann Arbor, Mich., 10 shots behind winner Maria McBride of Sweden. Diaz, 51, hit all 14 fairways in three of her four rounds. She tied for 15th last season in her first year of eligibility. … Samantha Schuffenecker has been named the new women's golf coach at Union.

#cavotta #open #professional

East Union's Ann Fleming Leflore has been voted the Daily Journal Female Athlete of the Week, while New Albany's Coen Foster and Nettleton's Tyler Gilbert are Male co-Athletes of the Week for Aug. 17-22.
Leflore, an outside hitter for the volleyball team, had a huge week. Over the course of six matches, the junior notched 91 kills, including 52 during the Union County Tournament, which East Union won. Leflore earned 59.4% of the vote in the Female Athlete of the Week Twitter poll, beating out Myrtle's Ally Murphy and Walnut's Molly-Kate Rolison.
Foster and Gilbert tied in the Male Athlete of the Week poll, as each earned 38.5% of the vote. Foster, a cross country runner, won the Myrtle Invitational race on Saturday with a time of 16 minutes, 23.47 seconds. Gilbert, a member of Nettleton's football team, scored two touchdowns in a 16-15 jamboree win versus Mantachie on Friday.
Hamilton's Sebastian Joslin was the other nominee.

#male #union

Over the summer, the Daily Journal released its annual high school football position rankings, listing the top five area players at each major position group. So in case you missed it, here is a recap of those rankings.
Defensive linemen
1. Ladanuel Jordan, Sr., Starkville
2. NaBrandon Patterson, Sr., Corinth
3. Jayden Foster, Sr., New Albany

#rankings #daily #journal #jordan

A divided federal appeals court ruled that the Trump-picked US Attorney in Albany is serving unlawfully and can no longer be involved in the investigation of one of the president's top foes.
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, upheld a lower court's ruling from January that said the appointment of John Sarcone, then-Acting US attorney for the Northern District of New York, is not valid and disqualified him from a probe into the state's Attorney General Letitia James.
The decision marks the third time a federal appeals court has rejected as unlawful the Trump administration's process for naming US attorneys without Senate approval.
"We disagree with the court's decision, and intend to take this case to the Supreme Court," the Justice Department wrote in a tweet Friday.
Earlier this week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said the US attorney for Nevada, Sigal Chattah, is serving unlawfully. The Justice Department said it would appeal to the Supreme Court. In December the Third Circuit ruled that Alina Habba was not validly appointed US attorney for New Jersey.

#appeals #department

The Houston Rockets have had players donning a total of 52 different jersey numbers (and have one not part of any numerical series for Houston ***** istant coach and general manager Carroll Dawson) since their founding at the start of the 1967-68 season, worn by just under 500 players in the course of Rockets history.
To honor all of the players who wore those numbers over the decades, Rockets Wire is covering the entire history of jersey numbers and the players who wore them since the founding of the team all those years ago right up to the present day.
With seven of those jerseys now retired to honor some of the greatest Rockets of all time to wear those jerseys, there is a lot of history to cover.
And for today's article, we will continue with the fourth of eight who wore the No. 27, big man Caldwell Jones. After ending his college career at Albany State University, Jones was picked up with the 32nd overall selection of the 1973 NBA Draft by the Philadelphia 76ers.
The McGehee, Arkansas native played the first several seasons of his pro career in the ABA instead before joining the Sixers. That came to an end when he was dealt to the Houston Rockets in 1982. His stay with the team lasted until he was dealt again, this time to the Chicago Bulls in 1984.

#wore #jersey #since

On the outskirts of Perth a football club runs out each week wearing a badge that would look instantly familiar to anyone from the Isle of Man.
It is the island's three-legged triskelion, but with a footballing twist.
The team is on the other side of the world, in Australia, about 9,200 miles (14,800km) from Douglas, so is this a mistake?
No... The logo was created as a deliberate tribute to three Manxmen who settled on the land more than a century ago.
In February 1905, Ernest Kerruish, an accountant from Union Mills, boarded a ship headed to Albany, Western Australia, with his wife Blanche, his brother-in-law Arthur Eaten and John Creer, a young farmer from Marown.

#ernest #union

Aug. 6—GRAND FORKS — The UND football team wore full pads and brought in local officials on Thursday morning as the Fighting Hawks went through fall camp Day 8.
Here are five observations from practice.
Although the offense has had the better of the defense the last few days, UND's true freshmen defensive tackles — twins Mason Beaver and Isaac Beaver of Kearney, Mo. — have shown a knack for getting into the backfield.
Early during live hitting, Mason brought down UND hard-nosed running back Griffin Broderick. Later, Isaac had a five-play stretch in which he was in the backfield twice — the second time he flushed quarterback Jack Sulik for what might have been a quarterback sack.
UND has shown at fall camp it's planning to start Logyn Eckheart and Albany transfer Kylyn Macklin at tackle, but the Beaver twins are pushing the next mix along with Eastern Illinois transfer Kefa Pereira (6-1, 305) and Tyler Henry.

#beaver #mason #backfield

The high school girls' golf season has teed off. Batesville was the first local program to start the season.
The Lady Bulldogs traveled to the 15-team Bloomington South Invitational at Stone Crest Golf Course. Batesville posted a team score of 337 to place fourth overall.
Center Grove won the team ******* le with a 301 followed by Castle 306, Floyd Central 324, Batesville 337, New Albany 350, Bedford North Lawrence 350, Washington 366, Southport 379, Bloomington South 381, Seymour 391, Mt. Vernon 396, Evansville Memorial 413, Columbus East 417, Madison 419 and Clay City 479.
Batesville sophomore Stella Maple carded an even-par round of 71 to place second individually.
Alexis Gallagher was next for Batesville with 78. Grace Saner finished with 92. Adelyne Koehne had a 96 and Makenna Moore completed her round with 118.

#bloomington

Gerry McNamara's first Syracuse Men's Basketball non-conference home schedule is looking a lot like one from his playing days as as the Orange will welcome the Cornell Big Red to the JMA Dome.
After a year off, Cornell joins Colgate in returning to the Syracuse schedule in the 26-27 season. The two teams will play on Wednesday November 18th and this will be the 130th meeting between the schools.
Syracuse holds the edge 98-31. The Orange have won the last 44 (#BRAND) meetings between the Central New York rivals and will look to keep that streak going.
It seems likely that the Orange will have a game on November 14/15 and with football on the road, it would seem like that's a good time for Albany to make the trip West on I-90 to play, or maybe that's when Syracuse squeezes in a trip to NYC to face Rutgers or St. John's?
Those are the final three non-conference games to be scheduled so we should hear about those dates soon. So far, Syracuse's non-conference schedule looks as follows:

#syracuse #schedule #play #gerry

(Original Caption) Louisville, KY: The twin spires atop the stands at Churchill Downs Race Track remind all of the magic of Thoroughbred racing.
In an effort to help elevate Thoroughbred racing among the everyday sports fan, Churchill Downs and the New York Racing ****** ociation will launch a three-year-old championship series consisting of six races beginning in 2027. Starting on the first Saturday in May with the Kentucky Derby and culminating in September with a return to Churchill Downs, the idea is to promote a familiarity with fans as the top three-year-old horses are encouraged to compete and develop those rivalries that can add to the lore of the sport of kings. A prize of $5 million in bonus cash will be awarded to the runner that accumulates the most points throughout the series.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - Racing is always good at the historic Saratoga Race Course. (Skip ****** stein/Albany Times Union via Getty Images)
The world's most famous race, and perhaps race track, will bat leadoff in this newly proposed racing series on May 1, 2027. The Kentucky Derby has been contested every year since 1875 on that dirt oval in Louisville, Kentucky known as Churchill Downs. Restricted to three-year-olds only, the consistency of this event and the ever-building notoriety surrounding it has made it the focal point for fans of all shapes and sizes. In an effort to continue to cultivate the massive interest generated by the Derby, the Belmont Stakes at the newly renovated Belmont Park will be the next race in the series on June 5. The Matt Winn Stakes at Churchill Downs will follow in early July and then the series will shift to historic Saratoga for the Jim Dandy Stakes (late July, early August) and Travers Stakes (late August). A final Championship race will be run in September back beneath the Twin Spires of Churchill Downs.
The dates for both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes are set and the other dates are to be finalized. ****** ing of races will be important as encouragement for participation in the six-race series in a five-month span. Of course, another encouraging factor is a proposed $5 million prize pool that will be awarded based on points accrued during the series. Each individual race will still carry its own purse as well.

#race

One down, 13 to go.
The football cleats were in the grass as Florida A&M began its 2026 preseason training camp practice on Friday, July 31.
It marked the first for new head coach Quinn Fordham Gray Sr., a former Rattler Hall of Fame quarterback hired last December from Albany State. He has 14 camp practices to evaluate his inaugural FAMU football team with the season kickoff less than a month away on Aug. 29, hosting NCAA Division II's Albany State.
The Orange and Green started training camp with 87 players, per the Southwestern Athletic Conference's media guide. They look to rebound from a 5-7 season in 2025, prior to Gray's hire.
And camp will be a major part of making that a reality.

#albany #training #season #quinn

Between them, Albany Firebirds quarterbacks Sam Castronova and Tyler Kulka put up numbers this season that leave every other passing attack in Arena Football One in the dust.
Castronova and Kulka each started six of Albany's 12 regular-season games, combining for 3,199 yards and 76 touchdowns through the air against just seven combined interceptions. But, when it came to selecting his starting quarterback for the AF1 playoffs, Albany head coach Damon Ware knew he had to lean on experience.
That means Castronova, who won championships in Albany with the defunct Empire in 2022 and the undefeated Firebirds in 2025, will start Saturday's 4 p.m. semifinal game against the Minnesota Monsters at MVP Arena.
"Sam's at the top of his game, so Sam gets the slight nod," Ware said. "He's been there, done that. He's just such a phenomenal player."
Castronova hasn't played since a June 20 loss to the Nashville Kats, as he was away from the team due to personal reasons for the final two games of the regular season and Albany - which went 9-3 during the regular season - has also had three bye weeks during that time.

#season #firebirds #games #game

Here is the week-by-week 2026 schedule for central Ohio high school football. Schedules were obtained from area schools and are subject to change.
Fairbanks at North Robinson Colonel Crawford; Harvest Prep at Versailles
Africentric at Groveport; Amanda-Clearcreek at West Jefferson; Bellville Clear Fork at Granville; Berlin Center Western Reserve at Whetstone; Berne Union at Bidwell River Valley; Bloom-Carroll at Caledonia River Valley; Bucyrus Wynford at Cardington; Canal Winchester at Grove City; Centennial at Grandview Heights; Centerburg at Utica; Chillicothe Southeastern at Fairfield Christian; Circleville at Chillicothe; Dalton at Danville; Dayton Dunbar at Briggs; Delaware at Buckeye Valley; Dublin Coffman at Hartley; Dublin Scioto at Thomas Worthington; East Knox at Northridge; Eastmoor Academy vs. Ready at Fortress Obetz; Fisher Catholic at Belpre; Franklin Heights at West; Fredericktown at Highland; Hamilton Township at Whitehall; Heath at Duncan Falls Philo; Hilliard Bradley at Big Walnut; Hilliard Darby at Lancaster; Huntington at Newark Catholic; KIPP Columbus at Beechcroft; Liberty Union at Woodsfield Monroe Central; Licking Heights at Newark; Linden-McKinley at Bexley; Logan Elm at Chillicothe Zane Trace; Madison-Plains at Westfall; Mansfield Senior at Hilliard Davidson; Marion Pleasant at North Union; Martins Ferry at Mount Gilead; Marysville at Westerville North; Millersport at Portsmouth Sciotoville East; Mount Vernon at Marion Harding; New Albany at London; New Lexington at Fairfield Union; Northland at Columbus Academy; Olentangy Liberty vs. Lakewood St. Edward at Lakewood; Olentangy Orange at Olentangy Berlin; Pickerington Central at Gahanna; Pickerington North at Troy; Reynoldsburg at Toledo Whitmer; St. Charles at Central Crossing; South at Mifflin; Thornville Sheridan at Licking Valley; Upper Arlington at Olentangy; Vermilion at Johnstown; Walnut Ridge at East; Watkins Memorial at Worthington Kilbourne; Watterson at Whitehouse Anthony Wayne; West Liberty-Salem at Jonathan Alder; Westerville Central at Marion-Franklin; Westerville South at Dublin Jerome; Westland at Teays Valley; Worthington Christian at Grove City Christian; Youngstown Ursuline at DeSales; Zanesville West Muskingum at Lakewood
Independence vs. Dayton Meadowdale at Welcome Stadium; Columbus Crusaders at Byron Center (Michigan) Grand Valley Christian
Beechcroft at Independence; Berne Union at Chillicothe Huntington; Bexley at Worthington Christian; Big Walnut at Dublin Coffman; Briggs at Dublin Scioto; Buckeye Valley at Africentric; Bucyrus Wynford at East Knox; Canal Winchester at New Albany; Cardington at Sycamore Mohawk; Centerburg at Johnstown; Cincinnati Aiken at Northland; Circleville at Washington Court House; Cleveland Glenville at Olentangy Liberty; Cleveland St. Ignatius at Pickerington North; Danville at Utica; DeSales at Walnut Ridge; East at Whitehall; Eastmoor Academy at Cincinnati College Preparatory Academy; Franklin Heights at Linden-McKi

ALBANY - If the Albany Firebirds want to repeat as Arena Football One champions, they'll probably have to go on the road to do it.
The Firebirds entered Saturday's regular-season finale against the Nashville Kats at MVP Arena with a chance to take the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage for the postseason away from Nashville. Instead, while the Firebirds came back from an early 19-point deficit to tie the game on multiple occasions in the second half, the Kats were able to scratch out a 57-54 victory to lock up the top seed.
In order to earn the No. 1 seed, Albany (9-3) would have needed to win by 10 or more points to win a head-to-head point differential tiebreaker over Nashville (11-1).
Firebirds coach Damon Ware said that, while he was hopeful his team could turn the tables on Nashville and get the top seed, he's satisfied with being locked into the No. 2 seed and getting two straight bye weeks for his injury-riddled team to get ready for the playoffs.

Warrenton High School graduate Jacob Morrow is a classic case of hard work pays off.
The 24 year old was a versatile athlete at Warrenton excelling in football, basketball and baseball. Though Morrow was a three-sport athlete, like many of the high schoolers in Clatsop County, his best sport was baseball.
Morrow made the Warrenton varsity baseball team as a freshman and was a two-time all-state player his sophomore and junior years. Due to Morrow graduating in 2020, he missed out on much of his senior year due to the pandemic.
After graduating from Warrenton, he went on to attend Linn Benton Community College in Albany, then finished up his college career at Washington State University. Much like in his high school days, Morrow was a standout in baseball at both Linn Benton and WSU. He spent two years as a starter on a very competitive Linn Benton roster, before being named to the Buster Posey watch list his senior year as a Cougar. The Buster Posey Award, formerly known as the Johnny Bench Award, was created in 2000 to honor college baseball's top catcher in the National Collegiate Athletic ***** ociation's Division I. The award was renamed in 2019 after Johnny Bench announced the creation of his own national award for amateur catchers. The commission renamed it after Buster Posey and schools nominate their catchers during the season to create the official watch list.
Upon graduating from college in 2024, Morrow took his talents to Cleburne, Texas and the Independent League. The small town located about 40 minutes outside of Fort Worth served as the start of Morrow's professional baseball journey. Brian Bruney was the last player from Clatsop County to make it to the Major Leagues. Bruney had a 9-year big league career and won a World Series with the New York Yankees in 2009. Morrow hopes his time playing in the Independent League will help him get there.

Two Florida A&M football players will accompany head coach Quinn Fordham Gray Sr. at Southwestern Athletic Conference Media Day.
Quarterback Isaiah Knowles and edge rusher Antonio Camon Jr. have been picked to represent the Rattlers alongside the newly hired head coach to preview the 2026 football season.
SWAC Football Media Day is on Wednesday, July 15, at the Sheraton-Birmingham in Alabama. It features all of the league’s football teams.
Knowles is a new addition to the Rattlers, transferring from NCAA Division II Albany State after winning back-to-back Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year awards. The graduate followed Gray to FAMU after spending three seasons together at Albany State, where they captured the SIAC Championship and were named Division II’s Black College Football National Champions in 2025.
Camon has been with FAMU football since the 2024 season. In 2025, he led the team with four sacks and added 19 tackles and 6.5 tackles for loss as a redshirt sophomore. Camon initially entered the NCAA Transfer Portal but was convinced by Gray to withdraw.

WASHINGTON (AP) — One by one, the burly mixed martial arts fighters made their entrance past the solemn, hulking marble statue of America's 16th president and jogged down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to roars from thousands of fans drawn to the unusual sporting weekend marking the nation's 250th anniversary and President Donald Trump's 80th birthday.
The news conference Friday night featured the fighters who are preparing to face off Sunday in the Octagon built outside the White House. But it was also a chance to see the UFC fans who have thronged to Washington and endured lightning, humidity and bugs for the spectacle.
Tracy Philbeck and his son Levi drove from Charlotte, North Carolina, with a group of friends to support their favorite fighter, American Justin Gaethje, in the upcoming lightweight ******* le bout against Georgian Ilia Topuria.
"You will hear an eagle screaming when Justin Gaethje wins,” the elder Philbeck chuckled.
David Halstead journeyed from Albany, in Western Australia, to watch the sport he has loved for a decade. Halstead said Trump, who regularly attends the fights, “put UFC on the map."

Late defensive stand helps Neillsville earn D4 girls basketball ****** le

ASHWAUBENON − Two critical defensive plays by Neillsville helped preserve the school's second state ****** le in the WIAA Division 4 girls basketball championship game March 14.
Madi Davel's steal with a few seconds left thwarted a potential winning shot from Albany/Monticello. Her two bonus free throws with 0.8 seconds remaining left the ****** e Stallions with one final attempt. Another steal by Laylah Walk on the inbound pass secured the 43-40 win for the Warriors as time expired at the Resch Center.
Eden Marg, a