DETROIT — Football is atestosterone game.

Take a look at just aboutany sideline during a foot-ball game. Some playerswill rant, some will flex,some will paint their faceswith eye black.

It’s a man’s game, even ifboys play it.

That’s the reputation, anddepending on the coach, thewhole team embraces it, evencelebrates it. You have to betougher than the other guy,

more physical thanthe other player, abetter man than theplayer across the line.

Friday’s statechampionships, how-ever, showed anotherside of football.

Two teams, MountPleasant SacredHeart and Ithaca,answered physical chal-lenges with precision andefficiency in ways that sheertestosterone couldn’t answer.

Mount PleasantSacred Heart ranand threw circlesaround Saugatuckfor a 42-21 Division 8state championship.Saugatuck enteredthe game havingthrown just 50 pass-es all season.

Ithaca followedwith a 45-35 exhibitionof passing precision in itsDivision 6 state title game,beating a Monroe St. Mary’s

Catholic Central team thataveraged less than fourpasses a game.

Both opponents relied onrunning the ball, winningthe battle in the trenches,breaking tackles and tak-ing time off the clock so theother team couldn’t score.

That’s a great philoso-phy, especially if the gameis outdoors in the mud andrain, or if the other team isincapable of matching upphysically.

Ithaca and Sacred Heartmatched up — and more.Both teams cut apart theother defenses through the

air. Sacred Heart quarter-back Mitchell Myler, only

Unstoppable

See CHAMPS, B3

B1 • SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2010 • THE SAGINAW NEWS • mlive.com

pres

ents

UPCOMING HOME GAMES...HERE TODAY...NHL TOMORROW!

3911329-01For tickets & information,

call or visit our website:Catch the games on FM

TALK & SPORTS 100.5 FM989-497-7747 • WWW.SAGINAWSPIRIT.COM

TICKETSNOW ON SALE! Saturday

Dec. 4 - 7:11pmvs. Owen Sound Attack

Meijer Teddy Bear Toss Night!

WednesdayDec. 1 - 7:11pm

vs. Soo Greyhounds$2 Beer Night/$2 Hot Dog Night! *Voucher can be used for any Spirit

game(s) after 1/1/11. Package availableuntil 12/24/10.

5 Upper Level Ticket Vouchers1 $10 Spirit Merchandise

Gift CardONLY

$3995

Santa’sSanta’sStocking StufferStocking Stuffer

Call theSpirit Storeto purchaseyours today.

EMILY-ROSE BENNETT | THE SAGINAW NEWS

Ithaca coach Terry Hessbrook hoists the Division 6 football statechampionship trophy after the Yellowjackets defeated MonroeSt. Mary Catholic Central, 45-35, Friday at Ford Field in Detroit.

HUGHBernreuter

hbernreuter@thesaginawnews.com

GEOFF MOTTgmott@thesaginawnews.com | (989) 894-9600

Regardless of sport, the rivalryis always fierce between MidlandHigh and Midland Dow.

“You don’t need to add any fuelto that fire,” Midland High girlsbasketball coach Elaine Mahabirsaid. “It’s been instilled in thesekids since birth. That rivalry runsreal deep in this community.”

Expect fireworks in Midland

during the Dec. 22 non-conferencegame and even more fireworksin the Jan. 21 Saginaw ValleyLeague game. Both Midlandschools are favored to capturethe SVL crown.

Last season, Midland Hightrounced Dow by an average of22.5 points a game in two regularseason wins as the Chemics wenton to share the Saginaw ValleyLeague title with Arthur Hill.

The Chargers got the last laugh,

however, beating Midland 44-38 indistricts before advancing to theClass A state quarterfinals.

The Chemics return a bevy oftalented juniors while the Char-gers return Michigan State-boundforward Becca Mills. Both schoolsare dusting spots off in the trophycase.

“We feel we are the team tobeat,” said Mahabir, whose teamopens with Bay City Central athome on Friday. “Our goal is not

to share the SVL title. We want totake control and take care of busi-ness. Prove that we’ve maturedand can take over.”

Midland High returns four start-ers and is led by News DreamTeamer Dani Blake, a 6-footerwho can play anywhere frompoint guard to center.

Blake, along with fellow four-year varsity player Amy Lane,is flanked by a talented trio ofjuniors in Jennifer Jarema, Tiarra

Carter and Maura McAfee — allvarsity players since their fresh-man year. Carter gives the Chem-ics an athletic inside presencewhile Jarema can score inside andout. True freshman Jesse Walterwill see time at point guard.

“Those juniors are our majorcomponents and we’ve finally got-ten them experience,” Mahabirsaid. “These girls have played

Midland High, Midland Dow eager to renew rivalry on the court

See BASKETBALL, B2

Ithaca, Mount Pleasant Sacred Heartuse precision offenses to win state titles

GENE J. PUSKAR | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Above, Michigan State’s Jesse Johnson, left, and Jon Misch, rear, douse coach Mark Dantonio withconfetti late in the fourth quarter on Saturday. Below, Michigan State quarterback Kirk Cousins (8)celebrates after beating Penn State.

hareholdersMSU captures its first Big Ten Conference title in 20 yearsGREG JOHNSONFOR THE SAGINAW NEWS

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. —Except for a wild final fiveminutes as Michigan Statefought off a Penn State rally,the Spartans were in charge.

And finally, after 20 years,in a remarkable season inwhich the head coach had aheart attack and recoveredand the team insisted fromthe start it would be specialdespite being picked to finishin the bottom half of the BigTen Conference, MichiganState donned championshiphats and celebrated in a sta-dium where a Spartans teamhad not won in 45 years.

“We’ve been saying allyear long, ‘We will be cham-pions,’ ” Michigan Statecoach Mark Dantonio said.“It’s nice to be able to saywe are champions.”

MSU (11-1) held off PennState, 28-22, in the cold ofBeaver Stadium on Satur-day to claim at least a share

of the conference title forthe first time since 1990.

The Spartans’ hopes fora Rose Bowl trip rest onthe results of the final BCSpoints standings followingnext weekend’s action.

The highest-ranked BigTen team willgo to Pasadenafor the RoseBowl. The No.10 Spartans(11-1), whiletied atop theconferencestandings with Wisconsinand Ohio State, trail them inthe latest rankings. Wiscon-sin is No. 7, while Ohio Stateis No. 8.

“You certainly have tothrow our hat in the ring,”Dantonio said in an appealto the BCS committees.“We’re the only team thatbeat Wisconsin, I might add,and we did it convincingly.I’ll repeat that: convincingly.

“If they are up at six orseven, we should be right

there with them.”Dantonio also said the

Spartans will be happy nomatter their bowl destination.

“Our goal is to win thechampionship,” he said.“That’s our No. 1 goal.Where people place us from

there, we’ll stillgo to whateverbowl as BigTen champi-ons.”

All-Ameri-can linebackerGreg Jones,

who in part opted for afinal year at MSU insteadof the NFL draft because hethought the team could win,said the title makes all thework worth it.

“It’s truly an amazingfeeling right now,” he said.

Jones also scoffed at talkthat Michigan State finallyhad beaten back a frustrat-ing history of coming closebut not winning.

See MSU, B4

champions

PETE BIGELOWFOR THE SAGINAW NEWS

COLUMBUS, Ohio — In the faceof his second straight lopsideddefeat, an uncompetitive contestagainst his chief rival, Rich Rodri-guez did his best to reassure Michi-gan football fans that his program ison the right track.

“The worst is behind us,” he said.“I know it is.”

Look on the bright side, Michiganfans. He might be right. It would behard for the Wolverines to performmuch worse than they did in a 37-7loss to Ohio State on Saturday.

Offensively, the Wolverines playedtheir worst game since their last tripto the ’Shoe in 2008.

Defensively, they allowed 478yards and couldn’t get a stop when itmattered most.

On special teams, they allowed an85-yard kickoff return for a touch-down that broke the game open inthe second quarter and watched theirbackup punter shank punts of 18 and23 yards.

It was Michigan’s seventh consecu-tive defeat in the once-storied rivalrywith the Buckeyes.

Michigan suffers seventhstraight loss to Ohio State

See U-M, B4

Michigan quarterback Denard Robinsonwalks off the field after his team’s 37-7

loss to Ohio State on Saturday.

AMY SANCETTA | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

$49 P175

/70R

-13

WINTERTOURING

WINTERTRUCK/SUV

WINTERPERFORMANCE

$ $ $

P195/65R-15 P195/60R-15 P245/75R-16

69 99EA

70

WINTER TIRES

FROM

discounttire.comAMERICA’S LARGEST INDEPENDENT TIRE DEALER

STATE OR LOCAL TAXES AND, WHERE REQUIRED OR CHARGED, STATE ENVIRONMENTAL OR DISPOSAL FEES ARE EXTRA.

72(8 "8002%3 -/,18 "8002& 5 4)*. $"0 -,4.*- 6/,!46'!+*#

DISCOUNT TIRE.COM

ON A SET OF 4 FALKEN ROCKY MOUNTAIN TIRES!ONLINE OR MAIL-IN REBATE. VALID THROUGH 12/4/10. SEE SALES ASSOCIATE FOR DETAILS.

50$#%"!#

$

SAGINAW 3872 Bay Rd. .....................989-799-8090

MIDLAND 221 S Saginaw Rd. ...........989-631-6670

BAY CITY 730 N Euclid Ave. ..............989-686-0392

3915

494-

01

B2 SUNDAY,NOVEMBER 28,2010 mlive.comTHE SAGINAW NEWSSPORTS

STUDENTS!HONOR A SPECIAL

EDUCATOR!CRYSTAL APPLE AWARD NOMINATIONS

NOW BEING ACCEPTED!

Submit your nomination by visiting:MLive.com/crystalappleaward

In 750 words or less, tell us why you feel this elementary,middle or high school educator is exceptional! Educators must be

actively teaching at a public, private or parochial school inSaginaw, Bay or Midland Counties.

NOMINATIONS ACCEPTED

SUNDAY, NOV. 21— THRU —

FRIDAY, DEC. 10

For rules and information,visit MLive.com/crystalappleaward

or call 989.894.9662

THE SAGINAW NEWS ANDTHE BAY CITY TIMES PRESENT:

SPONSORED BYDOW CORNING AND HEMLOCK SEMICONDUCTOR

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Nominators must be legal residents of Michigan actively enrolled in a public, private or parochialschool in Saginaw, Bay or Midland County Michigan and age 13 or older. Nominees must be legal residents of Michigan

actively working in an educational position at a public, private or parochial school in Saginaw, Bay or Midland CountyMichigan and age 18 or older. Employees of Sponsor, their immediate families and those living in the same household are

not eligible.Void outside Saginaw, Bay and Midland County Michigan and where prohibited. A.R.V. of Nominator Prize:$35. A.R.V. of Nominee prize: $350. Sponsors:The Bay City Times and the Saginaw News. 39

27000-01

SPONSORED BY:

SAGINAW VALLEYLEAGUE

Defending champions: Arthur Hilland Midland HighReturning all-league players: BeccaMills (Midland Dow); Sarah Arent(Midland Dow); Dani Blake (MidlandHigh); Hannah Manness (MountPleasant); Taylor Gibson (MountPleasant); Tiarra Carter (MidlandHigh); Jennifer Jarema (MidlandHigh); Maura McAfee (Midland);Emerald Joiner (Arthur Hill).Favorite: Midland HighSleeper: Saginaw HighGlance: Midland Dow avenged tworegular season losses to MidlandHigh during the regular season bybeating the Chemics and advanc-ing to the state quarterfinals. Theroad to the SVL crown runs throughMidland this year, but SaginawHigh and Flint Northern both returnathletic players while Arthur Hilland Heritage pose a threat as well.“There’s some good teams rightthere in the middle of the pack,”Dow coach Bob Wellman said.“Saginaw High will surprise somepeople and Heritage is better thanwhat they’ve been. (Heritage coachTim Conley) always does a good jobof getting them ready to play.”

TVC EASTDefending champion: FrankenmuthReturning all-league play-ers: Sarah Hartley (Birch Run);Desirae Duvernois (Frankenmuth);McCauley Mossner (Frankenmuth);LaBriana Burton (Bridgeport); MadiCampbell (Caro).Favorite: FrankenmuthSleeper: North BranchGlance: Frankenmuth went unde-feated in conference play last yearas the Eagles wrapped up a fourth-straight TVC East title. Honorablemention all-stater McCauleyMossner returns to lead the Eagles,who also welcome back starterDesirae Duvernois, a junior who hasstarted at point guard since she wasa freshman. “North Branch will beup there again and they have girlsback,” Frankenmuth coach TomKeller said. “Birch Run will be betterand that (Sarah Hartley) is a goodplayer. They were young.”

TVC CENTRALDefending champions: Freelandand HemlockReturning all-league players:Tori Jankoska (Freeland); ShelbyHerrington (Hemlock); Peyton Apsey(Hemlock); Chelsea Chritz (BullockCreek); Rachel Lackie (Shepherd);Chazsi Beckman (Chesaning);Jaymie Smith (Swan Valley).Favorite: Hemlock

Sleeper: ShepherdGlance: Freeland, Hemlock andBullock Creek shared the leaguetitle last season with Freelandemerging over its league rivals towin the district and advance to thestate quarterfinals. The Falconsreturn the league’s top talent insophomore Tori Jankoska — whoverbally committed to MichiganState this fall — but Hemlock andBullock Creek also bring back tal-ent. Hemlock returns 6-foot-2 postplayer Shelby Herrington, who hassigned with Oakland University,while Bullock Creek has a solidinside-outside player in ChelseaChritz. “It’s going to be a physicalconference and you have to cometo play every night,” Hemlock coachBrandon Kalina said. “Tori is asgood as they come at point guardand Shepherd’s Rachel Lacki is realstrong. Kritz gives Bullock Creeka good core and we have PeytonApsey, who might be the best ath-lete in the area. The league is goingto be real competitive.”

TVC WESTDefending champions: ValleyLutheran and CarrolltonTop returning players: MaureenYurgens (Valley Lutheran); TristaBrownlee (Valley Lutheran); KaylaEngelhard (Valley Lutheran); BethDavenport (Carrollton); ChelsyChapin (Merrill); Danielle Morris(St. Louis); Megan McSweyn (St.Charles); Hannah Reeves (Ithaca).Favorite: Valley LutheranSleeper: Michigan Lutheran SeminaryGlance: Valley Lutheran returnsits top eight players from last yearto the rotation and looks for theoutright title this year as Carrolltonloses the talents of ShawntoreahTurk and Myeisha Agnew to gradu-ation. While the Chargers returnthree-year starters Kayla Engelhardand Maureen Yurgens, Carrolltonlooks to four-year starter BethDavenport. “She averaged 10 pointsa game last year but we’ll expectmore,” Carrollton coach SteveSaults said. “Valley Luthern didn’tlose anybody and will be good andSeminary is always good and wellcoached. You can’t count them out.St. Charles also brings great sizeand athleticism.”

GREATER THUMBDefending champion: ReeseReturning all-league players:McKensie Parrish (Cass City); EmilyAranyos (Vassar).Favorite: ReeseSleeper: Cass CityGlance: Reese ran the table to wina second-straight Greater ThumbWest title last year and now has justone returning starter and very littlepractice time after the Rockets vol-

leyball team advanced to the statesemifinals. Sarah Spiekerman returnsfor a fourth season as the startingcenter for Reese. “We have twothird-year players back and someother seasoned players who will stepinto different roles,” Reese coachDenny Gruber said. “The GreaterThumb will be improved this year.Unionville-Sebewaing and Cass Citywere young last year and Bay City AllSaints is improved. Vassar is alwaystough. It’s a youthful conference thatwill get better by the end of the year.”

JACK PINEDefending champion: GladwinReturning all-league players:Melanie Smalley (Gladwin); OliviaRingwalt (Farwell)Favorite: GladwinSleeper: FarwellGlance: Gladwin edged Clareby one game for the Jack PineConference title last year and nowwelcomes new coach Emily Coteafter the departure of Andy Micelli.The Flying G’s return the league’stop player in Melanie Smalley.“We look pretty good with Melanielooking to score her 1,000th careerpoint,” Cote said. “She’s got adecent supporting cast, with quickdefensive junior Ashley White andSavannah Vorachek.” Most of theJack Pine’s all-conference selec-tions have graduated. “Beavertonis decently tough while Clare lostsome good seniors,” Cote said.“But everyone will compete in thisleague. We’ve got big goals.”

OTHERSPlayers to watch: Jessi Franz(Nouvel CC); Taylor Hengesbach(Nouvel CC); Julia Wagner (MPSacred Heart); Elizabeth Hunter(MP Sacred Heart) Katie Murphy(Coleman); Erica Hansen (MPSacred Heart); Morgan Wendling(New Lothrop)Glance: Jessi Franz returns for afourth year at the varsity level to leadNouvel Catholic Central, which lostto New Lothrop in regionals last sea-son. “We have six players back whoplayed significant minutes last year,”Nouvel coach Kris Hengesbachsaid. “The potential is there for us.”The Panthers have four seniors,two juniors, three sophomores anda freshman on varsity. Jim Perrytakes over coaching duties at NewLothrop after Tom Kohlmann re-signed after 10 seasons in which hecompiled a 216-30 record with twoClass D state titles. New Lothrophad won two straight state titles be-fore losing in the semifinals last yearto Flint Hamady. Mount PleasantSacred Heart won the Mid-StateActivities Conference before bowingout in the Class D quarterfinals lastyear in overtime.

2010-11 Girls Basketball Outlook

a lot of good basketball together and we’rehoping this is the pinnacle.

“This is when they bring it all together.”Standing in the way is the 6-foot-3 frame of

the athletically gifted Mills.Mills, who announced earlier this month

that she’ll head to Michigan State next year,averaged 19 points, nine rebounds and three

steals a game.“She spends as much time

as anyone in the gym and hasreally improved her shots fromthe perimeter this year,” Dowcoach Bob Wellman said. “Youcan’t just sit inside on her. Herpost moves have improved aswell.

“She’s been first team all-state the last two seasons.She’s very consistent on bothends of the floor. I’m hopingshe gets noticed and grabssome attention for Miss Bas-ketball.”

Dow also returns a strongstarting nucleus with seniorsKatie Isles at point guard,Sarah Arent at forward andTaylor Thurston at shootingguard.

“(Midland High) beat uspretty good in the regularseason, we made some adjust-

ments and came up with a nice run to thequarterfinals,” said Wellman, whose teamopens with an early test when Flushing comesto town on Wednesday. “I think we’re in posi-tion again this year. We lost to Arthur Hill andMidland in Valley play and we’d like to get W’sagainst them.”

Saginaw High lost talent in Chloe Davisand Diamond Tolliver, but returns youthfulplayers with speed and quickness to sparkthe rivalry with Arthur Hill and contend inthe SVL.

“I think we’re a good sleeper pick,” Sagi-naw High coach Sophia Jordan said. “We’resmall but quick and we’ll use that to ouradvantage.”

Senior small forward Ashley Beamonreturns to the lineup, along with Buena Vistatransfer Sparkle Perkins, a senior guard.Arthur Hill lost All-SVL selections CorieBuchanan and Chyna Abraham to graduationwhile Heritage also lost two All-SVL picks— Davielle Thomas and Abbey Miller.

“The league sets you up for all differentkinds of play,” Mahabir said. “Some play in thezone, slow the game down, while others wanta track meet. You have to be ready for eachteam, every night.

“We’ve got a lot of built-up emotion gener-ated from the completion of that district finallast year.

“We remember what that feels like. We don’twant to feel it again.”

KYLE AUSTINkaustin@thesaginawnews.com | (989) 372-2439

SAGINAW — It wouldn’tseem possible, but JoshShalla’s night got even bet-ter just after he skated offthe ice.

That’s when he learnedthe four goals he had justscored set a Saginaw Spiritsingle-game record.

Shalla’s output led histeam out of a two-gamefunk and to a 5-2 win overthe Windsor Spitfires infront of 3,393 Saturday nightat The Dow Event Center.

“I’m just happy we won,really,” Shalla said, down-playing his record-settingperformance.

Shalla’s goal total forthe year now stands at 22,tying him with Ottawa’sTyler Toffoli for the leaguelead. Saginaw also holds theleague lead with 40 points,four more than the OwenSound Attack.

The Spirit continue asix-game homestand witha Wednesday game againstSault. Ste. Marie.

After starting the weekwith two of its worst gamesof the season, Spirit cap-tain Jordan Szwarz calledout his teammates Fridayfor showing “no effort” inan “embarrassing” perfor-mance. He spoke minutesafter the Spirit lost in over-time to the PeterboroughPetes, who had four wins in22 games coming in.

Before Saturday’s game,the team had what Spiritcoach and General ManagerTodd Watson called a “heart-to-heart” chat about not let-ting the losing ways continue.

“We just said hey, weknow we’re better thanwhat we’ve played,” Watsonsaid. “Teams go throughstretches, and it’s time toput a stop to it. You can turnwhat was a bad week into adecent week.”

Spirit players got themessage. They jumped upon Windsor, the two-timedefending Memorial Cupchampions, with four goalsin the games’s first 28 min-utes. The Spitfires stayedin the game with a pair ofsecond-period goals, beforeShalla added his fourth goalsix minutes into the thirdperiod.

Shalla’s performancecame a night after Sag-inaw’s Brandon Saadrecorded a hat trick in aSpirit loss. Saad sits in sixthplace in the league, with 19goals. Wednesday, the Spiritwere shut out for the firsttime this season, 3-0, by thePlymouth Whalers.

Those two games prompt-ed some lineup changes.Vincent Trocheck, normallyalongside Saad on the firstline, moved to the secondline to play with Shalla.

Shalla’s first two goalscame by picking uprebounds from Trocheckshots. His fourth was setup when Trocheck stole thepuck and made a pass toShalla. Trocheck finishedthe game with four assists.

“We haven’t got to playmuch together in the lasttwo years,” Shalla said.“That’s the most ice timewe got in the last two years,and it looks like things arehappening.”

Spirit goaltender MavricParks earned the win in net,recording 36 saves. Two ofSaginaw’s goals were short-handed, bringing its seasontotal to a league-leadingeight shorthanded goals.

Noteworthy• Spirit defenseman Brad

Walch will be out for an extend-ed period of time after sufferinga broken ankle in Saturday’sgame.

• Spirit forward MichaelSgarbossa returned to the line-up after missing three gameswith an upper body injury. Theteam had originally said hewould be out of action for 2-4weeks.

Spirit 5, Spitfires 2Next: Sault Ste. Marieat Saginaw, 7:11 p.m.WednesdayRadio: WSGW-FM,100.5• Visit mlive.com/spiritfor more coverage

From B1 — BASKETBALLMidland High, Midland Dow teams to beat in SVL

BeccaMills

DaniBlake

Shalla netsfour goalsin victory

3857

136-

02

Enter Your Picks Today!Visit www.mlive.com/propicks

WIN!A “RIDELIKE APRO”

Grand Prize21 WEEKLY WINNERS

1 GRAND PRIZE SEASON WINNER

Make your game picks up to 15 minutes before each game!Create your own public or private groups!

iPhone contest version!

Weekly winner will receive a $25 gift card from Duke’s Car Stereo.“Ride Like A Pro” Grand Prize - $2,000 prize package includes:

Premium Kenwood automotive sound system including stereo, two amplifiers, front and rearspeakers, sub-woofer, Viper car alarm and complete window tinting package!

Visit mlive.com/propicks to submit your picks.See contest details and complete rules online.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. To enter and for full rules, go to www.MLive.com. Starts 12:00 NOON ET 9/9/10 and ends 12:00NOON ET 2/6/11. Open to legal residents of Michigan 13 or older, except employees of Sponsors, Administrator, their immediatefamilies and those living in the same household. Void outside Michigan and where prohibited. A.R.V. of 21 weekly prizes:$25 each and 1 grand prize: $2,000: Sponsor: The Flint Journal, The Saginaw News, The Bay City Times and Michigan Live LLC.Administrator: Second Street Media, Inc.

compliments of

$2,000$2,000Prize Package

mlive.com SUNDAY,NOVEMBER 28,2010 B3THE SAGINAW NEWSSPORTS

HUGH BERNREUTERhbernreuter@thesaginawnews.com(989) 372-2502

DETROIT — There wasnothing mythical aboutthis championship.

Nor was there anythingquestionable, controver-sial or debatable about iteither.

Mount Pleasant SacredHeart rolled over Sau-gatuck, 42-21, to claim itsfirst Division 8 footballstate championship Fridayat Ford Field.

“My only hope was thatsince we were in a statechampionship game, Iwanted our players to playlike champions,” SacredHeart coach Rick Robertssaid. “I’m happy to saythey did.”

The 13-1Irish alsoclaimed “myth-ical” statefootball titlesin 1933, 1970and 1971 ... allbefore the cur-rent footballplayoff system.

“This is veryspecial,” Rob-erts said. “Thisis as good as itgets. I wouldsay it’s rightup there withthe day you getmarried or theday your chil-dren are born... but I don’twant to get mywife mad.”

SacredHeart scored21 points inless than sixminutes in thesecond quarter,leading to a35-7 halftimelead.

“That’s hap-pened all sea-son long,” Rob-erts said. “Weare an explo-

sive team on offense.”Sacred Heart scored

on its opening possession— and every possessionin the first half. The Irishscored on their openingpossession in all 14 gamesthis season.

“I just thought ouroffense couldn’t bestopped,” Sacred Heartquarterback Mitchell Mylersaid. “We have a lot of con-fidence in our offense.”

The Irish scored first ona 20-yard run by BennettMyler then finished thefirst quarter ahead 14-0 onMitchell Myler’s 7-yard run.

Saugatuck, however,scored in the second quar-ter on a 3-yard TD run byLance Kleino.

Sacred Heart answeredquickly on a 66-yard TDpass to Matt Mills and a33-yard TD to Ryan Grinz-inger.

“When we scored thattouchdown, I thought thegame was over,” Robertssaid. “I don’t mean to berude, but I felt our defen-sive team had settled intowhat their offensive pack-age was.

“And without a strongpassing attack, I was con-fident they would not beable to score enough.”

Saugatuck, which threwjust 50 times during theseason, completed 1 of 5passes Friday for 4 yards.

“Sacred Heart is veryfast, very physical,” Sau-gatuck coach Bill Dunnsaid. “The sophomore quar-terback (Mitchell Myler) isan outstanding player.”

Mills tacked on anothertouchdown for the Irish inthe third quarter, returninga punt 47 yards for a 42-7lead.

Saugatuck tacked ontwo TDs in the fourthquarter on a 6-yard run byKleino and a 6-yard run byEthan Colton.

Even in the fourth,however, the highlightsbelonged to Sacred Heart.

In the fourth quarter,Mills uncorked a state-championship record74-yard punt, sending the10-4 Indians back to theSaugatuck 17-yard line.

“I’ve kicked those inpractice, but when it comesto games, I lose focus some-times,” Mills said. “That feltperfect. It was phenomenal... a great feeling.”

Mitchell Myler com-pleted 9 of 11 passes for178 yards and two touch-downs, including four toMills for 97 yards.

Nicholas Hire ran 14times for 91 yards to leadthe Irish

Bennett Myler, who ranfor two TDs and 46 yards,made his mark on defensewith 4.5 tackles, a fumblerecovery and interception.

Ryan Szymanski led theMPSH defense with 8.5tackles

“My first year was 1978and we made the playoffsand I thought this waseasy, we’ll do this everyyear,” Roberts said. “I’vewaited 33 years for this.It had to happen this yearbecause I won’t be herein 33 years. It’s just veryspecial.”

Irish simply too much for Saugatuckin Division 8 championship game

Ithaca, Sacred Heart return with state titles

HUGH BERNREUTERhbernreuter@thesaginawnews.com(989) 372-2502

DETROIT — Alex Niznaktook his final loss personally.

Maybe that’s why it washis final loss.

The Ithaca senior ran fora state-championship recordfive touchdowns, leading theYellowjackets to a 45-35 Divi-sion 6 football state cham-pionship win over MonroeSt. Mary Catholic Central onFriday at Ford Field.

Niznak, a 6-foot-3 quar-terback who will join theCentral Michigan Universityteam next season, com-pleted 22 of 26 passes for251 yards. He added 15 car-ries for 138 yards and fivetouchdowns.

“Once Alex gets into agroove, he seems to seeeverything on the field,”Ithaca coach Terry Hess-brook said. “He showed whyhe’s an all-state quarterbackand a Division I recruit.”

The seeds of Friday’s winwere planted in Ithaca’s 2009semifinal loss to eventualstate champion Montagueand quarterback Cody Kater.

The 47-16 loss motivatedNiznak to do more than hedid his junior year, when hecombined to run and throwfor 50 touchdowns. Beforethe game, Niznak read aDetroit Free Press quotethat said he would learnfrom Kater about being aDivision I quarterback.

“I took that like a punch inthe chin,” Niznak said. “Butthey were right. That wasmy motivation. What theysaid about Kater I wantedthem to say about me.”

Niznak finished with 52touchdowns this season,giving him 102 for the pasttwo seasons.

“He actually played offen-sive and defensive line inour youth leagues becauseour rules ... he was toobig to play quarterback,”Hessbrook said. “When hewas a freshman, he said hewanted to play quarterback.Even then, you knew he wasgoing to be special.

“But he was so raw. Peo-ple don’t realize how muchwork he has put in, from theweight room to his footworkto his mechanics.

“When we played Mon-tague last year, our wholeteam absolutely laid an egg.Alex made some mistakes.But he put all the pres-sure from that game on hisshoulders.”

Niznak wasn’t sure hewas going to get a chance togo out with an undefeated14-0 season.

St. Mary controlled theball and dominated the firsthalf, taking a 21-14 lead.The Falcons took the open-ing drive and ran more thaneight minutes off the clockbefore scoring on LukeYinger’s 3-yard run.

Less then three minuteslater, Niznak ran for a2-yard TD to tie the game.

But then the turnovershit. A tipped pass was inter-cepted by St. Mary and afumble at the 4-yard linewas recovered in the endzone by the Falcons, bothending Ithaca drives.

The Falcons capitalizedwith a 15-yard TD run byDaniel Couturier and an18-yard TD run by JackCusumano.

The Yellowjacketsanswered just before half-time on a 5-yard TD run byGarrett Miniard.

“They were just killing usat the point of attack,” Hess-brook said. “I wasn’t surewe could stop them. I wasvery nervous.

“I told the offense that weneeded them to make plays.The last couple of weeks, ourdefense made plays to help uswin. This game, we neededthe offense to make plays.”

The offense listened.Ithaca took the second-

half kickoff and drove for atouchdown, capped by a

55-yard run by Niznak.Zach Whipple’s 40-yard

field goal gave Ithaca a 24-21lead.

“That was huge becausewe really needed the pointsand we didn’t want to givethem the ball back,” Hess-brook said. “We knew hecould kick it. At CMU thisweek, he was kicking themfrom 48, 50 yards out. WhenI looked at our coaches tosee if we should try it, theydidn’t hesitate.”

But the Falcons cameright back to take the leadon a 2-yard run by ZachMoore before Niznakanswerd with a 5-yard run.

St. Mary took its finallead on a 2-yard run byMoore with 5:10 remainingin the game, 35-31.

That left plenty of timefor Niznak, who led the Yel-lowjackets on an 76-yarddrive, capped by a 7-yardTD run with 2:02 remaining.

“We just couldn’t stoptheir quarterback,” St. Marycoach Jack Giarmo said.“He’s just a mobile quarter-back who can beat you in anumber of ways. We werehoping for one stop, get theball and run it out.”

With 2:02 remaining,St. Mary began on its own25. But the Falcons, whopassed just seven times inthe game, were unable toget a first down.

After taking possession,Niznak put the cap on thegame with a 36-yard TD run.

“Looking at film beforethe game, I thought Katerwas better,” Giarmo said.“But after this. ...”

Luke Capen led the Ithacareceivers with 11 catchesfor 134 yards, while CharlesSchnetzler caught five pass-es for 61 yards.

“As a fan, if you didn’tcare who won, that had tobe an unbelievable gameto watch,” Hessbrook said.“It was just a tremendoushigh school football game.I’m just happy we came outahead in the end.

“This is so big for ourcommunity.”

Ithaca quarterback Alex Niznak dives for one of his state record fivetouchdowns during the Yellowjackets’ 45-35 victory over Monroe

St. Mary Catholic Central in the Division 6 state championship game.Right, Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart’s Nicholas Hire finds running

room against Saugatuck in the Division 8 state title game.Sacred Heart won the game, 42-21.

ROBIN BUCKSON | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Alex Niznak’srecord-setting daylifts Yellowjackets

a sophomore, completed 9 of 11 passes for178 yards. Ithaca quarterback Alex Niznakcompleted 22 of 26 passes for 251 yards.

Not only couldn’t either opponent stopthe passing attacks, they couldn’t counterwith their own.

Saugatuck got down early and had noway of scoring quickly. St. Mary’s too wasfaced with having to score quickly and sim-ply couldn’t do it. Neither team is designedto score quickly.

“You absolutely have to be able to doboth pass and run,” Ithaca coach TerryHessbrook said. “Defenses had to respectour four wideouts, so Alex had room to runup the middle.”

Sacred Heart coach Rick Roberts talkedabout the different attitude with a teamthat can throw the ball, citing the confi-dence even in third-and-long situations thatthe players can succeed.

As more games are played on artificialturf, more teams will get away from the3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-mud theory. Itsimply doesn’t work when you need toscore in two minutes or are faced withthird and 15.

Of course, it helps to have quarterbackslike Niznak and Myler.

CMU, here I come

CMU finished its football season with aloss Friday to Toledo, but not all was gloomin Chippewa-land.

Niznak’s state-final performance gavehope to the CMU fans. The 6-foot-3 quar-terback threw for 251 yards and also ranfor 134 ... and a state-championship recordfive touchdowns.

Adding Friday’s numbers gives Niznakback-to-back 50-TD seasons. As a junior,Niznak combined to throw and pass for50 touchdowns. Niznak finished his seniorseason with 1,173 yards rushing and 21touchdowns. He also completed 140 of 219

passes for 2,728 yards and 31 touchdowns.Unlike last season’s star quarterback,

Montague’s Cody Kater, Niznak seemsperfectly content to play for CMU. Katercommitted to CMU, but then opted out andswitched to Cincinnati when Butch Jonesleft Mount Pleasant for the Bearcats.

CMU fans probably need to be a littlepatient. Niznak probably isn’t ready forthe Mid-American Conference just yet.He picked apart a St. Mary’s defense thatwas giving him plenty of room to completeshort passes, which Niznak exploited.

Given his precision, size and runningstyle, Niznak does look like a young DanLeFevour, but even LeFevour redshirted hisfirst year at CMU.

From B1 — CHAMPS Ithaca, Sacred Heart quarterbacks lead the way to state titles

ROBIN BUCKSON | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart’s Nicholas Hire,left, and Joey Bishop celebrate their win overSaugatuck in the Division 8 championship game.

B4 SUNDAY,NOVEMBER 28,2010 mlive.comTHE SAGINAW NEWSSPORTS

TOPAssociated PressAP BCS Team W-L This Week (Sat.

unless noted) Next Week

1 1 Oregon 11-0 beat (21)Arizona, 48-29 (Fri.) at Oregon State2 2 Auburn 12-0 beat (11)Alabama, 28-27 (Fri.) (18)S. Carolina3 4 Boise State 10-1 lost to (19)Nevada, 34-31 (Fri.) Utah State4 3 TCU 12-0 beat New Mexico, 66-17 Idle5 7 Wisconsin 11-1 beat Northwestern, 70-23 Idle6 5 LSU 10-2 lost to (12)Arkansas, 31-23 Idle7 6 Stanford 10-1 Oregon State, 7:30 p.m. Idle8 8 Ohio State 11-1 beat Michigan, 37-7 Idle9 11 Alabama 9-3 lost to (2)Auburn, 28-27 (Fri.) Idle

10 9 Oklahoma State 10-1 (14)Oklahoma, 8 p.m. Idle11 10 Michigan State 11-1 beat Penn State, 28-22 Idle12 12 Arkansas 10-2 beat (5)LSU, 31-23 Idle13 16 Virginia Tech 10-2 beat Virginia, 37-7 Idle14 13 Oklahoma 9-2 at (10)Oklahoma St., 8 p.m. Idle15 14 Missouri 10-2 beat Kansas, 35-7 Idle16 15 Nebraska 10-2 beat Colorado, 45-17 (Fri.) Idle17 17 Texas A&M 9-3 beat Texas, 24-17 (Thu.) Idle18 18 South Carolina 8-3 at Clemson, 7 p.m. (2)Auburn19 19 Nevada 11-1 beat (3)Boise State, 34-31 (Fri.) at Louisiana Tech20 21 Arizona 7-4 lost to (1)Oregon, 48-29 (Fri.) Arizona State21 23 N.C. State 8-4 lost to Maryland, 38-31 Idle22 22 Florida State 9-3 beat Florida, 31-7 Idle23 20 Utah 10-2 beat Brigham Young, 17-16 Idle24 24 Iowa 7-5 lost to Minnesota, 27-24 Idle25 25 Mississippi State 7-4 at Mississippi, 7 p.m. Idle

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MADISON, Wis. — The Big Ten race won’t offi-cially be decided until Dec. 5 when the final BCSstandings come out. No. 5 Wisconsin, however, leftlittle doubt which of the three teams that tied forfirst would be going to the Rose Bowl.

The Badgers, No. 8 Ohio State and No. 11 Michi-gan State all finished 11-1 and 7-1 in the confer-ence. The BCS standings will be used to break thetie. Wisconsin held the advantage coming into theweekend and its 70-23 victory against Northwest-ern should keep the Badgers ahead of their rivals.

Montee Ball rushed for 178 yards and four touch-downs as the Badgers made it four straight winsby 20 points or more. It also was the third time thisseason the Badgers scored 70 points or more.

Scott Tolzien was 15 of 19 for 230 yards and fourtouchdowns, including a pair to wide receiver NickToon. Defensive end J.J. Watt, who forced twofumbles, made a big hit that caused an interceptionand blocked an extra point try.

No. 1 Oregon 48, Arizona 29EUGENE, Ore. — Darron Thomas passed for three

touchdowns and ran for another and top-ranked Oregonearned at least a share of a second consecutive Pac-10title with a 48-29 victory over No. 20 Arizona on Fridaynight. LaMichael James shrugged off talk of an injuryto run for 126 yards and two scores for the Ducks, whotrailed 19-14 at halftime.

No. 2 Auburn 28, No. 9 Alabama 27TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Cam Newton threw for three

touchdowns and ran for another, leading No. 2 Auburnback from a 24-point deficit Friday for a stunning 28-27victory over No. 9 Alabama that kept the Tigers on coursefor a shot at the national championship.

Auburn trailed 21-0 before it picked up a first down,and Alabama had a 314-2 lead in total yards at one point.

No. 19 Nevada 34, No. 3 Boise State 31, OTRENO, Nevada — Anthony Martinez kicked a 34-yard

field goal in overtime Friday night, capping a Nevadacomeback that gave the Wolf Pack a 34-31 win over pre-viously unbeaten No. 3 Boise State.

The kick came after Boise State’s kicker missed a 26-yard field goal with two seconds left in regulation andanother from 29 yards in overtime. It snapped BoiseState’s 24-game winning streak.

No. 4 TCU 66, New Mexico 17ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Andy Dalton threw three

touchdown passes before leaving with an elbow injuryand TCU capped its second straight undefeated regularseason with a second consecutive Mountain West title.

No. 12 Arkansas 31, No. 6 LSU 23LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Ryan Mallett threw for 320

yards and three touchdowns as Arkansas put itself inposition to land the school’s first BCS bid.

Mallett finished 13 of 23 passing and had TD passesof 85, 80 and 39 yards for the Razorbacks, who won theirsixth straight game and finished second in the SEC West.The junior QB broke the school record for TD passes inthe game, passing Clint Stoerner’s 57. Mallett now has 60touchdown passes in two seasons at Arkansas.

LSU was outgained 464-294 and never led.

No. 15 Missouri 35, Kansas 7KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Blaine Gabbert directed scor-

ing drives on the Tigers’ first two possessions and laterscored on a 1-yard run in the 119th edition of collegefootball’s second-oldest rivalry.

No. 13 Virginia Tech 37, Virginia 7BLACKSBURG, Va. — Ryan Williams ran for two

touchdowns and Virginia Tech won its 10th consecutivegame and seventh in a row over Virginia. Tyrod Taylorthrew for 176 yards and a touchdown and became thecareer passing yardage leader for the Hokies.

No. 16 Nebraska 45, Colorado 17BOULDER, Colo. — Running back Rex Burkhead

passed for two touchdowns and ran for 101 yards andanother score, and the Cornhuskers clinched the Big 12North in the final meeting between Nebraska and Colo-rado before they head to different conferences.

Nebraska (10-2, 6-2) will go to Arlington, Texas, nextSaturday hoping to win its third Big 12 title.

Maryland 38, No. 21 N.C. State 31COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Danny O’Brien threw for a

career-high 417 yards and four touchdowns, all to TorreySmith, and Maryland denied North Carolina State a spotin the Atlantic Coast Conference title game.

No. 22 Florida State 31, Florida 7TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Seminoles ended a six-

year losing streak against archrival Florida and slippedinto next week’s Atlantic Coast Conference title game.

Christian Ponder threw for 221 yards and three touch-downs. Florida (7-5) capped its worst regular seasonunder Urban Meyer.

No. 23 Utah 17, BYU 16SALT LAKE CITY — Brandon Burton blocked a last-

second field goal to lift Utah to a wild victory againstBYU in their final game as Mountain West Conferencerivals. Mitch Payne had already kicked three field goalsfor BYU and was lined up for the game-winning 42-yard-er. But Burton came up big for the Utes, who likely areheaded to the Las Vegas Bowl.

Minnesota 27, No. 24 Iowa 24MINNEAPOLIS — Duane Bennett’s touchdown run

with 4:31 left lifted Minnesota to its first victory againstIowa in four years. DeLeon Eskridge had 95 yards and aTD on 21 carries for Minnesota (3-9, 2-6 Big Ten), whichoutmuscled Iowa on both sides of the line of scrimmage.

Badgers leave no doubt

He said since he came in with Dan-tonio, it always has been about win-ning a championship.

“This is a different MSU,” Jonessaid, “a different green.”

The Spartans didn’t escape the daywithout some harrowing moments,especially in the final five minutes.

They built a 28-10 lead with thehelp of bend-but-don’t-break defenseand a balance of passing and rushingmixed with trick plays.

Still, leading rusher Edwin Bakermarred his day of 118 yards rushingwith a late fumble. And safety TrentonRobinson intercepted a pass in theend zone with 1:01 remaining only torun out and fumble at the 4-yard line.

Penn State quarterback MattMcGloin followed Robinson’s fumblewith a 4-yard touchdown pass toDerek Moye but missed on a two-point conversion pass, so the NittanyLions trailed by six points (28-22).

Michigan State tight end BrianLinthicum, who is part of the “hands”team for onside kicks, made a diveand caught Penn State’s onsideattempt with 55 seconds remaining tosecure the win.

“There was no panic,” Linthicumsaid. “We knew we could still win. Itold myself just before he kicked itthat this was my chance to end thegame.”

MSU junior quarterback Kirk Cous-ins threw two touchdown passes toB.J. Cunningham, but Keith Nichol,the wide receiver Cousins beat out lastyear for the starting job, also got inthe act.

On one of a handful of trick plays

the Spartans used, Nichol lined up atquarterback, ran a bootleg and fired atouchdown pass to tight end CharlieGantt. It gave the Spartans a 28-10

lead and proved to be the winningpoints.

“It’s great to be part of a champion,great to be a contributor,” Nichol said.

From B1 — MSUSpartans finally back on top of Big Ten

With athletic directorDave Brandon listening tohis message in the post-game press conference,Rodriguez rattled througha list of breaks that wentagainst the Wolverines.

But ultimately, nothingcould change the fact he’sfallen to 0-3 in his tenureagainst Ohio State and 6-18in Big Ten games. He madeno effort to conceal his feel-ings.

“I’m ticked,” he said.“What, do you want me togo jump out there and holdhands with all the Buckeyefans and sing Kumbaya? Iwish we would have playedbetter.”

From the start, the Wol-verines (7-5 overall, 3-5 BigTen) came apart. Droppedpasses and untimely penal-ties helped stall two earlydrivers deep into Ohio Stateterritory that resulted inzero points.

Two first-half fumblesrecovered by Ohio Statehurt, as did Tate Forcier’sinterception to start the sec-ond half.

The Wolverines defenselooked sharp early, andforced three-and-outs onOhio State’s first two pos-sessions. But on 3rd and 5,Terrelle Pryor found DaneSanzenbacher for a 39-yardgain late in the first quarterthat loosened the defense.

Dan Herron carried 22times for 175 yards for OhioState. He appeared to have

a 98-yard touchdown runlate in the third quarter thatwould have been the longestplay in school history.

But officials called San-zenbacher for holding lateon the run, and the official89-yard run merely tied theall-time record of longestplay from scrimmage set byGene Fekete against Pitts-burgh in 1942.

Despite the performance,Michigan defensive tackleMike Martin felt like thedefense is ultimately point-ed in the right direction.

“There’s a lot of goodthings to come,” he said. “Ifeel Michigan has been res-urrected. But a lot of things,a lot of it hasn’t shown yet.We have a lot of young guyscoming back, the D-line willhave all seniors next year,and we’ll be ready to go.”

In the meantime, the Wol-verines have a bowl gameto look forward to this year.Projections have them fac-ing a Big 12 opponent inthe Insight Bowl, althoughthat could change based onMinnesota’s upset of Iowaon Saturday.

They could use the nextmonth to not only practice15 times for their bowlgame, but to heal.

Quarterback Denard Rob-inson dislocated two fingerson his left hand Saturday,which sidelined him foralmost all the second half.He still carried 18 times for105 yards on the day.

Receiver Darryl Stonumcaught seven passes for 81yards Saturday despite aninjured ankle, and fellowreceivers Junior Hemingwayand Jeremy Gallon did notplay.

The Wolverines lookedforward to the bowl game,but the loss to the Buckeyesstill stung. For Rodriguez,the frustration was still evi-dent.

“I’m not used to this

either,” he said. “Thesecoaches aren’t used to this.They’re used to playing inchampionships and bowls,and it’s as frustrating asheck.

“But I’m not deterred,because I know where we’reat,” he said. “I’ll evaluateeverything again tonight,tomorrow and we’ll startgetting better next week,next months and next year,and we will be better.”

From B1 — U-M Rodriguez worries about his future

GENE J. PUSKAR | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Michigan State fans celebrate after a 28-22 win over Penn State on Saturday at BeaverStadium in State College, Pa. The win clinched a share of the Big Ten title for the Spartans.

AMY SANCETTA | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez watches from the sidelines ashis team takes on Ohio State on Saturday in Columbus, Ohio.

GREG JOHNSONFOR THE SAGINAW NEWS

COLLEGE, Pa. — Michigan State’sseason will be remembered for achampionship but also for sometricks.

The team that gave their fans a fakefield goal pass to beat Notre Damein overtime called “Little Giants” andused a fake punt pass play dubbed“Mouse Trap” to rally against North-western pulled out four more tricks ofsorts in a 28-22 win Saturday at PennState to clinch a share of the Big TenConference title.

The most critical play — a 3-yardtouchdown pass by wide receiver andformer quarterback Keith Nichol toCharlie Gantt with 8:31 remaining— proved to be the winning points.

Nichol came out of the huddle andlined up under center instead at widereceiver. He took the snap, ran a boot-leg with a run/pass option and optedto throw to Gantt in the back of theend zone.

“It was kind of like old times there.It brought back flashbacks,” saidNichol, a junior. “That drive wasimportant. We needed points out ofthat. I think a lot of people thoughtthe game was over, but Penn State dida great job of coming back.”

Nichol, a transfer from Oklahomaafter originally being an MSU recruitfor former coach John L. Smith, wasbeat by Kirk Cousins for the quarter-back job last season.

He switched to receiver to helpa suspension-depleted roster forthe Alamo Bowl a year ago and hasplayed wide receiver this season.

He said he was overwhelmed bywinning a championship.

“It all came full circle today — to bea Big Ten champion,” he said. “I knowthere’s going to be a ring on my fingerthe rest of my life.”

Nichol said the play as well as theSpartans’ other trick plays are prac-ticed and that the team believes inthem. His one reception was on anoth-er trick play.

“We have a lot of guys who canmake plays, run, catch, throw,” hesaid. “I rolled out there, and that isjust something I did my whole life. Itfelt natural for me for a second there.”

Cousins said the play was amongthe reasons the team won a champi-onship.

“Everybody contributes, everybodyis part of the team,” he said.

Cousins: Work paid offCousins said being Big Ten cham-

pions meant more to his teammates

than they can bring to words and isthe result of work on their own, withthe team and before coming to MSU.

“It’s special,” he said. “Nobody real-ly knows all the work that goes intowhat we do, from early in the morninguntil late at night when nobody elseis there. Champions are built in 1,000invisible mornings.”

Baker relieved after late fumbleEdwin Baker rushed for 118 yards

and a touchdown for the Spartans andespecially was happy a fumble he lostin the final five minutes didn’t resultin a loss.

“I’ll get over that and get betterfrom it,” he said. “I was running ashard as I could for my team. It’s greatthat my teammates made plays andwe won. The offensive line blockedgreat. We played hard all year. Wedeserve to be champions.”

Spartans celebrate with fansThe Spartans put on Big Ten cham-

pion hats and celebrated with MSUfans who packed the northeast cornerof the end zone.

“Amazing,” linebacker Eric Gordonsaid of winning a share of the confer-ence title.

“Awesome,” linebacker Greg Jonessaid.

Gambles pay off with championshipTrick plays at key moments proved to be the difference this season

mlive.com SUNDAY,NOVEMBER 28,2010 B5THE SAGINAW NEWSSPORTS

JAY LAPRETE | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Detroit Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard makes a save as teammate Danny Cleary, left, and theColumbus Blue Jackets’ Chris Clark wait for a rebound during the third period Friday in Columbus,Ohio.

Chicago Bearsat Detroit Lions

Next: 1 p.m. Dec. 5,FOX (if not blackedout)• For more coverage, goto mlive.com/lions

ANSAR KHANFOR THE SAGINAW NEWS

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Detroit Red Wingswere too loose defensively in recent games andneeded to tighten it up Friday against the much-improved Columbus Blue Jackets.

It was a good time for goaltender Jimmy How-ard to turn in perhaps his best performance of theseason.

Howard made 34 saves to lead the Red Wingspast Columbus 2-1 at Nationwide Arena, movingthem two points ahead of the Blue Jackets in theCentral Division.

“Just going out there and being on top of thecrease and lettingpucks come to me,”Howard said. “Thelast three gamesdidn’t go my way,but it’s one of thosethings that (during)the season pucks goin. You don’t knowwhy, it just hap-

pens. It’s important you don’t change anything.”Howard, 6-0-1 lifetime against Columbus, out-

dueled Steve Mason, who was strong as well,stopping 30 shots.

Valtteri Filppula snapped out of his slump witha power-play goal and an assist. Johan Franzenalso scored a goal.

Red Wings center Mike Modano was cut in theright wrist with a skate blade with six minutesremaining in the second period and did not return.

He had surgery Saturday to repair a slicedtendon and nerve damage, and will be out indefi-nitely, the team announced.

The Red Wings had allowed four or moregoals in three consecutive games and 16 goalsin their last four games. They knew their marginfor error would be slim against the Blue Jackets,who were third in the league in goals-againstaverage and were riding a five-game winningstreak.

Detroit killed all five Columbus power plays,which came during the first two periods.

Howard regains his touchGoaltender makes 34 saves in Friday victory over Columbus Blue Jackets

Blue Jacketsat Red Wings

Next: 5 p.m.,Sunday, FSD• For more coverage, goto mlive.com/redwings

ALLEN PARK — DetroitLions tackle Corey Wil-liams is upset with some ofhis teammates and, afterDetroit’s 45-24 loss to theNew England Patriots onThanksgiving, Williams saidhe planned to talk to theteam about it on Friday.

My guess is that headcoach Jim Schwartz beathim to the punch. At least,he better have.

I don’t think this team ison the vergeof total col-lapse butthere’s noquestion thatsome play-ers are get-ting prettyfed up withwhat’s goingon and getting embarrassedon national television sent afew of them over the edge.

“There’s a bunch of guysthat need to be called out,”Williams said. “A bunch ofguys need to look in themirror, realize that there’smore to it than just playingin the NFL. There’s more toit than getting paid.’’

Cornerback Chris Hous-ton has an issue with theteam leadership.

“We’ve got good lead-ers on this team, and theleaders need to lead,’’said Houston, who doesn’tbelieve those leaders arebeing vocal enough.

Here’s the problem: Whatthose guys are doing isblaming everybody else butthemselves. When you comeout and indicate that a fewguys aren’t doing their job— but you fail to identifywho those guys are — youare indicting the entire team.Except yourself, of course.

This is getting danger-ously close to “players-onlymeeting” time. When thatstarts happening, you canforget it. When the playersstart to get more comfort-able with talking than work-ing, you’ve pretty much hitthe end of the road.

There’s been a lot of talklately about vocal leader-ship, especially since Patriotsquarterback Tom Brady hasdrawn so much attention infor his sideline outbursts.Let me clue you in on some-thing — the reason Brady’sscreaming and yelling onthe sideline is so effectiveis because, when he’s donescreaming and yelling, hesteps on to the field and actu-ally does something about it.

The Lions want the yell-ing and screaming, but theydon’t have enough guyswho are going to actually dosomething about it.

Here’s where Schwartzhas to step in and asserthimself as a leader. He hasto lay down the law and letthem know that the finger-pointing has to stop andthat they’ve got to standunited in these dark times.

Lions reachnew peak

in frustration

TOMKowalski

CHRIS IOTTFOR THE SAGINAW NEWS

AUBURN HILLS — BenWallace showed off astrong arm and a nicetouch Saturday afternoonwhen he threw a footballaround the practice facility.

But he said there was agood reason why he didn’tstart at quarterback duringhis football days.

“I played tight end, Wal-lace said. I played quarter-back a little bit. Our offen-

sive line wasn’t that good,so I figured there was areason I didn’t really wantto play quarterback.”

Someone pointed outthat being a 6-foot-9 quar-terback would have itsadvantages.

“It doesn’t matter howgood your arm is or howgood you can see the field,”Wallace said. “If you don’thave anybody to block foryou, you’re going to have along night back there.”

Wallace and his team-

mates seemed to be in alight mood Saturday, aday after their 103-89 winagainst the MilwaukeeBucks in which they ledfrom beginning to end.

A handful of Pistons

tossed the football around,and a few of them chattedabout the recent UFC 123mixed martial arts event atThe Palace. Several Pistonsattended the event.

Forward Charlie Villan-ueva smiled when askedwho would be the bestMMA fighter among Pis-tons players.

“You’re looking right athim,” he said.

A media member ques-tioned whether Villanuevareally would be willing to

set foot in the cage withWallace, who is among thestrongest and most intimi-dating players in the NBA.

“Man,” Villanueva said,grinning. “I’d hit and runreal quick.”

Wallace, who attendedUFC 123, was informed ofVillanueva’s comments.

“You can have that, Wal-lace said. I’m not an MMAguy. I mean, I can fight,but I’m not going to step inthat ring and get hit in thehead for a living.”

Pistons toss the football around after solid performance against BucksN.Y. Knicks atDetroit Pistons

Next: 1:30 p.m.today, FSD• More coverage, goto mlive.com/pistons

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

EAST LANSING— Michigan State cen-ter Derrick Nix hasrejoined the team in amutual decision afterhe met with teammatesand coaches.

Nix practiced withthe second-ranked Spartans on Fridayand Saturday.

He will be available to play todayagainst Tennessee Tech.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzosaid last week Nix wouldn’t be withthe team during the Maui Invitational.The Spartans missed his presenceinside in a semifinal loss to Connecti-cut.

The 6-foot-9,270-pound Nix started16 games as a fresh-man last season, thenlost almost 20 poundsin the offseason.

He was Michigan’sMr. Basketball twoyears ago at DetroitPershing High School.

Nix was sparingly used in the firsttwo games of the season.

Kalin Lucas scored 29 points andkeyed a second-half rally, helpingMichigan State salvage a 76-71 winover No. 13 Washington in the thirdplace game of the Maui Invitationalon Wednesday.

Michigan State raised its record to4-1.

Nix rejoins No. 2-ranked SpartansTennessee Tech at

Michigan StateNext: 1 p.m. today,Big Ten Network• For more coverage, goto mlive.com/spartans

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J — Randy Culpepper respondedto his demotion to thebench with 24 points tolead UTEP to a 65-56 winover Michigan on Satur-day night in the consola-tion game of the LegendsClassic.

Culpepper made 10 of16 shots and ignited a13-0 run to start the sec-ond half that won the

game for the Miners, now 4-2.Darius Morris scored 20 points to lead Michigan,

which is 3-2. The Wolverines did not score a field goalin the second half until there was 8:35 left. By then, theMiners had pulled out to a 15-point lead to put the winaway.

UTEP defeats Michigan, 65-56

UTEP 65,Michigan 56

Next: Michigan atClemson, 9 p.m.Tuesday, ESPN2• For more coverage goto mlive.com/wolverines

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DETROIT — Lowell appearedon its way to winning Michigan’shigh school Division 2 champion-ship through two quarters againstFarmington Hills Harrison at FordField in Detroit.

That was until the Red Arrows(11-3) started giving the footballaway Friday afternoon.

Lowell turned the ball over onfour straight second-half posses-sions, and the Hawks convertedall of them into touchdowns. Thatturned Lowell’s 21-10 lead into a38-21 deficit. Harrison (14-0) hungto win its 13th state champion-ship, 38-28.

“You can’t play a team as talent-ed as Farmington Hills Harrisonand expect to get away with thatmany turnovers,” Lowell coachNoel Dean said. “It was a greatgame, but we let it get away fromus.”

Tommy Vento threw for threetouchdowns and ran for anotheras Harrison won its first title since2001.

“Everyone has been askingme about going so long betweenchampionships, but that’s not howI look at it,” said coach John Her-rington, who has won all of Harri-son’s titles. “OK, so we went nineyears between championships, buthow bad is that?”

Lowell quarterback Gabe Dean’sthree rushing touchdowns gave theRed Arrows their 11-point third-quarter lead, but Harrison’s come-back started with a controversialinterception by Lamarr Marshall.

Marshall picked off Dean’spass, but lost the ball as he fell tothe ground.

The officials ruled it an intercep-tion, baffling the Lowell sidelines.

Harrison drove for a touch-down, and then scored again afterGabe Dean fumbled. That gave

the Hawks a 24-21 lead at quar-ter’s end, and they got anotherbreak when the Red Arrows fum-bled the ensuing kickoff.

Tommy Vento hit his brother,Jake, for a 56-yard touchdown tomake it 31-21. Gabe Dean’s sec-ond interception led to an AustinHunter score, putting Harrison upby 17 points.

Tommy Vento finished with 310yards passing, the second-highesttotal in championship game his-tory, and three touchdown passes.He also rushed for a fourth score.

Division 1Marques Stevenson ran for two

touchdowns as Lake Orion beat Plym-outh 21-13 to win the Division 1 statechampionship.

The Dragons (13-1) picked up thefirst title in school history with Satur-day’s victory.

Their only loss this season came toDivision 2 champion Farmington HillsHarrison.

Lake Orion led 7-0 after one quar-ter, thanks to Cole Schaenzer’s 23-yard run. Plymouth (11-3) got on theboard on Kyle Brindza’s 43-yard fieldgoal — the second longest in finalshistory.

Division 4Miles Morrissey threw two touch-

down passes to Kevin Vicari in thefinal minutes of the Division 4 statechampionship, allowing Grand RapidsCatholic Central to rally for a 27-23win over Williamston at Ford Field.

The Hornets led 17-13 into the fourthquarter, and quarterback Dylan Schultzexpanded the lead with a touchdown.But Williamston missed the extra point.

Catholic Central countered with aMorrissey 6-yard touchdown pass toVicari with 3:30 left. The two connect-ed again on a 5-yard touchdown with56 seconds left.

Division 5Dan Pittman scored three touch-

downs as Grand Rapids West Catholicbeat Olivet 42-26 in the Division 5

championship game.Pittman had two rushing touchdowns

Saturday and also returned an intercep-tion for a score as the Falcons (13-1)won the first title in school history.

Olivet (11-3) led 7-0, but was donein by a series of big plays.

A bad punt snap set up Pittman’sfirst touchdown, and Lance Buitendykhit Steven O’Rourke for a 72-yardscore. Pittman’s 65-yard interceptionreturn gave West Catholic a 21-7 lead,and he added another short run in thefourth quarter.

Tanner McCarn caught two touch-down passes for Olivet.

Division 7Drew Milligan scored one touch-

down and kicked four extra points asHudson edged Ishpeming 28-26 in theDivision 7 championship at Ford Field.

Hudson’s Milligan was perfecton the conversions. The Hematites(12-1) went just 1-for-4 on two-pointattempts, including one that wouldhave tied the game in the finalminute.

Farmington Hills Harrison rallies to capture 13th state football crown

B6 SUNDAY,NOVEMBER 28,2010 mlive.comTHE SAGINAW NEWSSPORTS

SUNDAYCollege Basketball

• 1 p.m. (BIGTEN) TennesseeTech at MICHIGAN STATE.• 3:30 p.m. (BIGTEN) Furman atPenn State.• 7 p.m. (ESPN2) Old SpiceClassic, Final.• 8 p.m. (FSD) Florida at FloridaState. (Joined in Progress)• 8:30 p.m. (BIGTEN) Creightonat Northwestern.• 9 p.m. (ESPN2) 76 Classic,Final.

NBA Basketball• 1:30 p.m. (FSD) New York atDETROIT.

NFL Football• 1 p.m. (5) Jacksonville at NewYork Giants.• 1 p.m. (66) Green Bay atAtlanta.• 4 p.m. (66) Philadelphia atChicago.• 8:15 p.m. (25) San Diego atIndianapolis.

Golf• 6 a.m. (GOLF) EuropeanPGA Tour Golf Dubai WorldChampionship.

College Hockey• 5:30 p.m. (BIGTEN) MICHIGANat Minnesota.

NHL Hockey• 5 p.m. (FSD) Columbus atDETROIT.

Tennis• 7 a.m. (ESPN2) ATP TennisBarclays World Tour Finals.

(Same-day Tape)• 12:30 p.m. (ESPN2) ATPTennis Barclays World TourFinals.

Volleyball• 11 a.m. (BIGTEN) Women’sCollege Illinois at Purdue. (Taped)

MONDAYCollege Basketball

• 7 p.m. (ESPN2) Virginia atMinnesota.

NFL Football• 8:30 p.m. (ESPN) SanFrancisco at Arizona.

NHL Hockey• 7:30 p.m. (VS) Dallas atCarolina.

Soccer• 2 p.m. (FSD) English PremierLeague. (Taped)

TUESDAYCollege Basketball

• 7 p.m. (ESPN2) Georgia Techat Northwestern.• 7:30 p.m. (ESPN) Ohio State atFlorida State.• 9 p.m. (ESPN2) MICHIGAN atClemson.• 9:30 p.m. (ESPN) NorthCarolina at Illinois.

NBA Basketball7 p.m. (FSD) DETROIT atOrlando.

NHL Hockey• 10:30 p.m. (FSD) DETROIT atSan Jose.

at CLE9 pm

ESPN2

HAR1 pmBTN

T-TEC1 pmBTN

at Duke9:30 pmESPN

BG1:30 pm

NY1:30 pm

FSD

at ORL7 pmFSD

at MIA7:30 pm

FSD

ORL7:30 pm

FSD

COL5 pmFSD

at SJ10:30pm

FSD

at ANA10 pmFSD

at LA10:30pm

FSD

Sports Briefs

FOOTBALLNFL AMERICAN CONFERENCE

EastW L T Pct PF PA

New England 9 2 0 .818 334 266N.Y. Jets 9 2 0 .818 264 187Miami 5 5 0 .500 172 208Buffalo 2 8 0 .200 213 276

SouthW L T Pct PF PA

Indianapolis 6 4 0 .600 268 216Jacksonville 6 4 0 .600 220 270Tennessee 5 5 0 .500 257 198Houston 4 6 0 .400 244 287

NorthW L T Pct PF PA

Baltimore 7 3 0 .700 233 178Pittsburgh 7 3 0 .700 235 165Cleveland 3 7 0 .300 192 206Cincinnati 2 9 0 .182 225 288

WestW L T Pct PF PA

Kansas City 6 4 0 .600 243 207Oakland 5 5 0 .500 238 223San Diego 5 5 0 .500 274 211Denver 3 7 0 .300 217 287

NFL NATIONAL CONFERENCEEast

W L T Pct PF PAPhiladelphia 7 3 0 .700 284 226N.Y. Giants 6 4 0 .600 253 220Washington 5 5 0 .500 202 245Dallas 3 8 0 .273 256 301

SouthW L T Pct PF PA

Atlanta 8 2 0 .800 256 192New Orleans 8 3 0 .727 265 197Tampa Bay 7 3 0 .700 209 206Carolina 1 9 0 .100 117 252

NorthW L T Pct PF PA

Chicago 7 3 0 .700 191 146Green Bay 7 3 0 .700 252 146Minnesota 3 7 0 .300 172 226Detroit 2 9 0 .182 258 282

WestW L T Pct PF PA

Seattle 5 5 0 .500 185 233St. Louis 4 6 0 .400 177 198Arizona 3 7 0 .300 188 292San Francisco 3 7 0 .300 160 219

Thursday’s GamesNew England 45, Detroit 24New Orleans 30, Dallas 27N.Y. Jets 26, Cincinnati 10

Sunday’s GamesTennessee at Houston, 1 p.m.Green Bay at Atlanta, 1 p.m.Minnesota at Washington, 1 p.m.Jacksonville at N.Y. Giants, 1 p.m.Pittsburgh at Buffalo, 1 p.m.Carolina at Cleveland, 1 p.m.Kansas City at Seattle, 4:05 p.m.Miami at Oakland, 4:05 p.m.St. Louis at Denver, 4:15 p.m.Philadelphia at Chicago, 4:15 p.m.Tampa Bay at Baltimore, 4:15 p.m.San Diego at Indianapolis, 8:20 p.m.

Monday’s GameSan Francisco at Arizona, 8:30 p.m.

NFL ODDSFavorite Points Underdog

Open Current O/USunday

REDSKINS 3 1 (43) VikingsSteelers 6.5 6.5 (43) BILLSTEXANS 6.5 6.5 (45.5) TitansGIANTS 8.5 7 (44.5) JaguarsBROWNS 10.5 10 (37.5) PanthersRAVENS 8.5 8 (41) BucsEagles 3.5 3.5 (42) BEARSFALCONS 1.5 2 (47.5) PackersRAIDERS 2 3 (38.5) DolphinsChiefs 1 1.5 (44.5)SEAHAWKSBRONCOS 4 4 (44.5) RamsCOLTS 3 3 (51.5) Chargers

Monday49ers 1.5 1 (40) CARDS

COLLEGE SCORESFriday, November 26

EASTLouisville 40, Rutgers 13West Virginia 35, Pittsburgh 10

SOUTHAuburn 28, Alabama 27SMU 45, East Carolina 38, OT

MIDWESTAkron 22, Buffalo 14Kent St. 28, Ohio 6N. Illinois 71, E. Michigan 3Nebraska 45, Colorado 17Toledo 42, Cent. Michigan 31W. Michigan 41, Bowling Green 7

SOUTHWESTTulsa 56, Southern Miss. 50

FAR WESTArizona St. 55, UCLA 34Nevada 34, Boise St. 31, OTOregon 48, Arizona 29

Saturday, November 27EAST

Alfred 34, Cortland St. 20Boston College 16, Syracuse 7Connecticut 38, Cincinnati 17

Mercyhurst 28, Bloomsburg 14Michigan St. 28, Penn St. 22Shepherd 41, Kutztown 34Wesley 44, Montclair St. 7

SOUTHAlbany St., Ga. 30, Wingate 28Delta St. 47, North Alabama 24Fla. International 31, Arkansas St. 24Florida St. 31, Florida 7Georgia Southern 41, S. Carolina St. 16Grambling St. 38, Southern U. 17La.-Lafayette 23, Louisiana-Monroe 22Marshall 38, Tulane 23Maryland 38, N.C. State 31Middle Tennessee 38, Florida Atlantic 14North Carolina 24, Duke 19South Florida 23, Miami 20, OTTennessee 24, Kentucky 14Troy 28, W. Kentucky 14UCF 37, Memphis 17Virginia Tech 37, Virginia 7W. Illinois 17, Coastal Carolina 10

MIDWESTAugustana, S.D. 38, Grand Valley St. 6Bethel, Minn. 15, Wheaton, Ill. 10Carroll, Mont. 38, Marian, Ind. 6Indiana 34, Purdue 31, OTLehigh 14, N. Iowa 7Minn. Duluth 20, St. Cloud St. 17, OTMinnesota 27, Iowa 24Missouri 35, Kansas 7Mount Union 31, Delaware Valley 3North Central 28, Ohio Northern 9Ohio St. 37, Michigan 7Sioux Falls 27, McKendree 7St. Thomas, Minn. 24, Linfield 17, 2OTSt. Xavier 40, St. Francis, Ind. 21Wis.-Whitewater 45, Trine 31Wisconsin 70, Northwestern 23

SOUTHWESTArkansas 31, LSU 23Cent. Missouri 55, Abilene Christian 41Kansas St. 49, North Texas 41Mary Hardin-Baylor 69, Thomas More 7NW Missouri St. 35, Texas A&M-Kingsville 31Rice 28, UAB 23

FAR WESTHawaii 59, New Mexico St. 24TCU 66, New Mexico 17Utah 17, BYU 16Washington 16, California 13

COLLEGE SCHEDULEThursday, Dec. 2

FAR WESTArizona St. at Arizona, 8

Friday, Dec. 3MIDWEST

MAC Championship, N. Illinois vs. Ohio orMiami (Ohio), at Detroit, 7

FAR WESTIllinois at Fresno St., 10:15

Saturday, Dec. 4EAST

Rutgers at West Virginia, TBASOUTH

New Hampshire at Bethune-Cookman, TBAMiddle Tennessee at Fla. International, TBAConnecticut at South Florida, TBAWofford at Jacksonville St., NoonTroy at Florida Atlantic, 2Nevada at Louisiana Tech, 3SEC Championship, Auburn vs. South

Carolina, at Atlanta, 4ACC Championship, Virginia Tech vs.

Florida St. or N.C. State, at Charlotte,N.C., 7:45

CUSA Championship at TBD, TBAMIDWEST

Pittsburgh at Cincinnati, TBASOUTHWEST

Villanova at Stephen F.Austin, 3:30Big 12 Championship at Arlington,

Texas, 8FAR WEST

Utah St. at Boise St., 3Oregon at Oregon St., 3:30SE Missouri at E. Washington, 4:05San Jose St. at Idaho, 5Washington at Washington St., 7UNLV at Hawaii, 10:30Southern Cal at UCLA, 10:30

FCS PlayoffsSecond Round

Western Illinois-Coastal Carolina winnerat Appalachian State, Noon

Wofford at Jacksonville State, NoonRobert Morris-North Dakota State winner

at Montana State, 2Villanova at Stephen F. Austin, 3:30Southeast Missouri State at Eastern

Washington (9-2), 4Lehigh-Northern Iowa winner at

Delaware, TBASouth Carolina St.-Georgia Southern win-

ner at William & Mary, TBANew Hampshire at Bethune-Cookman, TBA

Friday, Dec. 10FCS Quarterfinals, TBA

Saturday, Dec. 11EAST

Army vs. Navy at Philadelphia, 2:30SOUTH

SWAC Championship, Alabama St. vs.Texas Southern, at Birmingham, Ala., 2

FCS Quarterfinals, TBAFriday, Dec. 17

FCS Semifinal, TBASaturday, Dec. 18

FCS Semifinal, TBA

BIG TEN CONFERENCEConf All Games

W L W L PF PAMichigan St. 7 1 11 1 376 241Ohio St. 7 1 11 1 473 160Wisconsin 7 1 11 1 520 246Iowa 4 4 7 5 349 197Penn St. 4 4 7 5 295 271Illinois 4 4 6 5 362 266Northwestern 3 5 7 5 305 332Michigan 3 5 7 5 412 406Purdue 2 6 4 8 236 345Minnesota 2 6 3 9 278 396Indiana 1 7 5 7 326 408

Saturday’s GamesIndiana 34, Purdue 31, OTOhio St. 37, Michigan 7Michigan St. 28, Penn St. 22Minnesota 27, Iowa 24Wisconsin 70, Northwestern 23

SATURDAY’S GAMESNo. 8 OHIO ST. 37, MICHIGAN 7

Michigan 0 7 0 0 — 7Ohio St. 0 24 13 0 — 37

Second QuarterOSU—FG Barclay 33, 14:52.OSU—Sanzenbacher 7 pass from Pryor

(Barclay kick), 12:29.Mich—Shaw 1 run (Gibbons kick), 8:02.OSU—J.Hall 85 kickoff return (Barclay

kick), 7:50.OSU—Posey 33 pass from Pryor (Barclay

kick), 3:06.Third Quarter

OSU—Herron 32 run (Barclay kick),12:25.

OSU—FG Barclay 36, 9:12.OSU—FG Barclay 23, 1:08.A—105,491.

Mich OSUFirst downs 19 19Rushes-yards 41-182 45-258Passing 169 220Comp-Att-Int 16-33-1 18-27-1Return Yards 39 0Punts-Avg. 4-34.5 4-44.5Fumbles-Lost 3-2 1-0Penalties-Yards 4-35 7-81Time of Possession 25:44 34:16

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRUSHING—Michigan, D.Robinson 18-

105, Shaw 8-52, Smith 8-17, Toussaint4-16, Forcier 3-(minus 8). Ohio St., Herron22-175, Pryor 12-49, J.Hall 3-17, Saine 3-8,Berry 2-5, Hyde 1-4, Z.Boren 1-2, Team1-(minus 2).

PASSING—Michigan, D.Robinson 8-18-0-87, Forcier 8-15-1-82. Ohio St., Pryor18-27-1-220.

RECEIVING—Michigan, Stonum 7-81,Roundtree 5-43, Jackson 2-31, Grady 1-11,Koger 1-3. Ohio St., Posey 5-82, Saine 4-11, Sanzenbacher 3-71, Stoneburner 3-33,Z.Boren 2-10, Washington 1-13.

No. 11 MICHIGAN ST. 28, PENN ST. 22

Michigan St. 7 7 7 7 — 28Penn St. 3 0 0 19 — 22

First QuarterMSU—Baker 7 run (Conroy kick), 10:10.PSU—FG Wagner 34, 5:57.

Second QuarterMSU—Cunningham 8 pass from Cousins

(Conroy kick), 10:29.Third Quarter

MSU—Cunningham 24 pass fromCousins (Conroy kick), 1:43.

Fourth QuarterPSU—Suhey 25 pass from McGloin

(Wagner kick), 13:58.MSU—Gantt 3 pass from Ke.Nichol

(Conroy kick), 8:31.PSU—Royster 10 run (pass failed), 5:51.PSU—Moye 4 pass from McGloin (pass

failed), :56.A—102,649.

MSU PSUFirst downs 21 20Rushes-yards 39-163 21-84Passing 168 312Comp-Att-Int 19-24-0 23-44-1Return Yards 4 20Punts-Avg. 4-46.5 6-34.5Fumbles-Lost 3-2 2-0Penalties-Yards 3-24 8-67Time of Possession 34:03 25:57

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRUSHING—Michigan St., Baker 28-118,

K.Martin 2-41, Caper 3-14, Cousins 1-1,Ke.Nichol 1-(minus 5), Team 4-(minus6). Penn St., Royster 14-85, Redd 3-7,Zordich 1-2, McGloin 1-(minus 4), Smith2-(minus 6).

PASSING—Michigan St., Cousins 17-22-0-152, K.Martin 1-1-0-13, Ke.Nichol1-1-0-3. Penn St., McGloin 23-43-1-312,Team 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING—Michigan St., Linthicum4-42, Gantt 4-38, Cunningham 3-33, Caper2-17, Fowler 2-13, Bell 2-6, Ke.Nichol 1-13, K.Martin 1-6. Penn St., Brown 6-106,Moye 5-65, Zug 5-55, Smith 2-26, Brackett2-23, Suhey 1-25, Haplea 1-14, Green1-(minus 2).

MHSAA FINALSDivision 1

Lake Orion 21, Plymouth 13Division 2

Farmington Hills Harrison 38, Lowell 28Division 4

G.R. Catholic Central 27, Williamston 23Division 6

Ithaca 45, Monroe St. Mary Catholic 35Division 7

Hudson 28, Ishpeming 26Division 8

M.P. Sacred Heart 42, Saugatuck 21

HOCKEYNHL EASTERN CONFERENCE

Atlantic DivisionGP W L OT Pt GF GA

Phila. 25 15 6 4 34 87 61Pittsburgh 25 15 8 2 32 76 61NY Rngrs 24 13 10 1 27 71 65New Jersey 24 8 14 2 18 45 69NY Islndrs 22 5 12 5 15 46 72

Northeast DivisionGP W L OT Pt GF GA

Montreal 23 14 8 1 29 57 46Boston 21 12 7 2 26 58 42Ottawa 23 10 12 1 21 54 71Buffalo 24 9 12 3 21 61 70Toronto 21 8 10 3 19 48 58

Southeast DivisionGP W L OT Pt GF GA

Wash. 24 16 6 2 34 83 66Tampa By 23 13 8 2 28 70 74Atlanta 23 11 9 3 25 73 71Carolina 22 10 10 2 22 68 71Florida 21 9 12 0 18 53 54

NHL WESTERN CONFERENCECentral Division

GP W L OT Pt GF GADetroit 20 14 4 2 30 69 54Columbus 21 14 7 0 28 60 49St. Louis 21 12 6 3 27 56 55Chicago 25 12 11 2 26 77 73Nashville 21 9 8 4 22 50 58

Northwest DivisionGP W L OT Pt GF GA

Vancouver 22 12 7 3 27 68 59Colorado 22 12 9 1 25 76 67Minnesota 21 11 8 2 24 52 55Calgary 23 9 12 2 20 64 69Edmonton 21 6 11 4 16 52 84

Pacific DivisionGP W L OT Pt GF GA

Phoenix 21 11 5 5 27 62 59LA 21 13 8 0 26 62 53Dallas 21 12 8 1 25 62 60San Jose 21 10 7 4 24 61 60Anaheim 24 10 11 3 23 58 73

Friday’s GamesCalgary 3, Philadelphia 2, SOCarolina 3, Boston 0N.Y. Islanders 2, New Jersey 0Pittsburgh 2, Ottawa 1Minnesota 5, Nashville 2Chicago 4, Anaheim 1Washington 6, Tampa Bay 0Detroit 2, Columbus 1Buffalo 3, Toronto 1Atlanta 3, Montreal 0N.Y. Rangers 3, Florida 0Dallas 3, St. Louis 2Vancouver 6, San Jose 1

Saturday’s GamesNew Jersey 2, Philadelphia 1, SOPittsburgh 4, Calgary 1Buffalo at Montreal, 7 p.m.Toronto at Ottawa, 7 p.m.Florida at Tampa Bay, 7:30 p.m.Dallas at St. Louis, 8 p.m.N.Y. Rangers at Nashville, 8 p.m.Anaheim at Phoenix, 8 p.m.Minnesota at Colorado, 9 p.m.San Jose at Edmonton, 10 p.m.Chicago at Los Angeles, 10:30 p.m.

Sunday’s GamesCarolina at Washington, 5 p.m.Boston at Atlanta, 5 p.m.Columbus at Detroit, 5 p.m.

Monday’s GamesPittsburgh at N.Y. Rangers, 7 p.m.Dallas at Carolina, 7:30 p.m.Edmonton at Ottawa, 7:30 p.m.Minnesota at Calgary, 9 p.m.Los Angeles at Anaheim, 10 p.m.

FRIDAY’S GAMERED WINGS 2, BLUE JACKETS 1

Detroit 0 1 1 — 2Columbus 0 0 1 — 1

First Period—None. Penalties—Salei, Det(slashing), 1:15; Bertuzzi, Det (tripping),9:39; Detroit bench, served by Hudler (toomany men), 17:02.

Second Period—1, Detroit, Franzen 10(Bertuzzi, V.Filppula), 7:04. Penalties—V.Filppula, Det (hooking), 10:38; Zetterberg,Det (tripping), 14:22; Commodore, Clm(hooking), 20:00.

Third Period—2, Detroit, V.Filppula 5(Stuart, Hudler), 8:06 (pp). 3, Columbus,Vermette 5 (Boll, Umberger), 9:05.Penalties—Tyutin, Clm (cross-checking),6:11; Commodore, Clm (holding), 9:39.

Missed Penalty Shot—Boll, Clm, 8:53second.

Shots on Goal—Detroit 12-8-12—32.Columbus 13-12-10—35.

Power-play opportunities—Detroit 1 of 3;Columbus 0 of 5.

Goalies—Detroit, Howard 12-2-2 (35shots-34 saves). Columbus, Mason 8-6-0(32-30).

A—18,391 (18,144). T—2:23.

OHL EASTERN CONFERENCEEast Division

W L OTL SOL GF GA PtOttawa 17 9 0 0 104 81 34Kingston 15 7 1 1 90 82 32Oshawa 13 6 2 2 97 77 30Belleville 8 16 0 2 65 103 18Peterbrgh 5 16 1 1 64 104 12

Central DivisionW L OTL SOL GF GA Pt

Mississauga21 2 0 1 104 55 43Niagara 14 7 2 1 81 73 31Brampton 8 11 0 4 72 85 20Sudbury 7 16 1 0 65 100 15Barrie 4 18 1 0 78 118 9

OHL WESTERN CONFERENCEMidwest DivisionW L OTL SOL GF GA Pt

Kitchener 17 5 0 1 101 72 35Owen Sound16 5 0 2 101 71 34London 11 9 2 1 80 82 25Guelph 10 10 2 1 65 85 23Erie 11 14 1 0 86 89 23

West DivisionW L OTL SOL GF GA Pt

Saginaw 18 5 3 1 100 74 40Windsor 14 10 0 1 90 90 29Plymouth 13 9 1 1 86 76 28Sarnia 11 11 3 0 95 92 25Sault 9 12 4 0 85 100 22

Thursday ResultErie 6, Belleville 0

Friday ResultsBelleville 4, Guelph 1Kingston 9, Brampton 3Kitchener 1, Sarnia 0Mississauga 7, Barrie 4Ottawa 3, Niagara 2 (OT)Peterbrgh 4, Saginaw 3 (OT)Plymouth 4, London 2Sault 3, Sudbury 1Windsor 5, Oshawa 2

Saturday GamesOshawa at Sarnia, 7 p.m.Peterbrgh at Plymouth, 7:05 p.m.Kitchener at Erie, 7 p.m.Saginaw 5, Windsor 2London at Guelph, 7:30 p.m.Sudbury at Owen Sound, 7:30 p.m.Sault at Barrie, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 28Peterbrgh at Windsor, 2 p.m.Sudbury at London, 2 p.m.Barrie at Brampton, 2 p.m.Owen Sound at Mississauga, 2 p.m.Ottawa at Kingston, 2 p.m.Niagara at Belleville, 2:05 p.m.Guelph at Erie, 4:30 p.m.

BASKETBALLNBA EASTERN CONFERENCE

Atlantic DivisionW L Pct GB

Boston 12 4 .750 —New York 8 9 .471 41/2Toronto 6 10 .375 6New Jersey 5 10 .333 61/2Philadelphia 3 13 .188 9

Southeast DivisionW L Pct GB

Orlando 11 4 .733 —Atlanta 10 7 .588 2Miami 9 7 .563 21/2Charlotte 6 10 .375 51/2Washington 5 9 .357 51/2

Central DivisionW L Pct GB

Chicago 8 6 .571 —Indiana 7 7 .500 1Cleveland 6 9 .400 21/2Detroit 6 10 .375 3Milwaukee 5 10 .333 31/2

NBAWESTERN CONFERENCESouthwest Division

W L Pct GBSan Antonio 13 2 .867 —New Orleans 12 3 .800 1Dallas 11 4 .733 2Memphis 7 9 .438 61/2Houston 4 11 .267 9

Northwest DivisionW L Pct GB

Utah 12 5 .706 —Oklahoma City 11 5 .688 1/2Denver 9 6 .600 2Portland 8 7 .533 3Minnesota 4 12 .250 71/2

Pacific DivisionW L Pct GB

L.A. Lakers 13 3 .813 —Phoenix 8 8 .500 5Golden State 7 9 .438 6Sacramento 4 10 .286 8L.A. Clippers 3 14 .176 101/2

Friday’s GamesCharlotte 99, Houston 89Orlando 111, Cleveland 100Boston 110, Toronto 101Detroit 103, Milwaukee 89Miami 99, Philadelphia 90Oklahoma City 110, Indiana 106, OTDallas 103, San Antonio 94Denver 98, Chicago 97Phoenix 116, L.A. Clippers 108Utah 102, L.A. Lakers 96Memphis 116, Golden State 111New Orleans 97, Portland 78

Saturday’s GamesAtlanta 99, New York 90Orlando at Washington, 7 p.m.Memphis at Cleveland, 7:30 p.m.New Jersey at Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m.Golden State at Minnesota, 8 p.m.Miami at Dallas, 8:30 p.m.Charlotte at Milwaukee, 9 p.m.Chicago at Sacramento, 10 p.m.

Sunday’s GamesAtlanta at Toronto, 1 p.m.New York at Detroit, 1:30 p.m.San Antonio at New Orleans, 3 p.m.Utah at L.A. Clippers, 3:30 p.m.Oklahoma City at Houston, 7 p.m.Portland at New Jersey, 7 p.m.Phoenix at Denver, 8 p.m.Indiana at L.A. Lakers, 9:30 p.m.

Monday’s GamesWashington at Miami, 7:30 p.m.New Orleans at Oklahoma City, 8 p.m.Houston at Dallas, 8:30 p.m.Milwaukee at Utah, 9 p.m.

FRIDAY’S GAMEPISTONS 103, BUCKS 89

MILWAUKEE (89): Mbah a Moute 2-2 0-04, Brockman 1-1 2-2 4, Gooden 4-14 0-0 8,Jennings 9-22 7-11 25, Salmons 4-10 3-511, Maggette 3-11 4-4 10, Sanders 4-7 0-08, Ilyasova 5-11 3-4 14, Dooling 1-7 0-0 2,Boykins 1-3 0-0 3. Totals 34-88 19-26 89.

DETROIT (103): Prince 7-11 0-0 14,Maxiell 5-7 0-2 10, Wallace 1-2 0-0 2,Stuckey 8-12 2-3 18, Hamilton 5-9 4-4 15,Bynum 4-8 4-4 13, Villanueva 6-13 0-015, Gordon 3-5 4-4 11, Monroe 1-3 0-0 2,McGrady 0-1 0-0 0, Daye 1-2 0-0 3. Totals41-73 14-17 103.

Milwaukee 18 25 21 25 — 89Detroit 29 26 20 28 — 103

3-Point Goals—Milwaukee 2-14 (Boykins1-2, Ilyasova 1-3, Salmons 0-2, Jennings0-3, Dooling 0-4), Detroit 7-14 (Villanueva3-7, Bynum 1-1, Hamilton 1-1, Daye1-2, Gordon 1-2, Prince 0-1). FouledOut—None. Rebounds—Milwaukee52 (Ilyasova 11), Detroit 44 (Villanueva,Wallace 8). Assists—Milwaukee 18(Jennings 6), Detroit 28 (Hamilton 9).Total Fouls—Milwaukee 13, Detroit 22.Technicals—Salmons. A—17,133 (22,076).

COLLEGE SCORESFriday, November 26

EASTFairfield 91, Norfolk St. 56Hofstra 67, Wagner 63Saint Joseph’s 76, Rutgers 70Siena 73, Rider 60

SOUTHClemson 69, S. Carolina St. 54Delaware St. 103, Phila. Biblical 41Louisiana-Monroe 57, Jacksonville St. 50Maryland 76, Elon 57Mercer 71, W. Carolina 66Mississippi 84, Penn St. 71Mississippi St. 92, Troy 83, OTN. Carolina A&T 79, Greensboro 58Nicholls St. 66, Tulane 52Palm Beach Atlantic 61, Stetson 55William & Mary 56, Gardner-Webb 55

MIDWESTAustin Peay 70, Charleston Southern 64Creighton 75, Kennesaw St. 57Detroit 84, Albany, N.Y. 82, 2OTIllinois St. 81, South Dakota 63Indiana 100, Northwestern St. 66Iowa 111, SIU-Edwardsville 50Kansas St. 84, Texas Southern 60Kent St. 80, Lehigh 75Niagara 65, Bowling Green 61Oakland, Mich. 105, Southern U. 53Ohio St. 66, Miami (Ohio) 45Purdue 79, S. Illinois 60Richmond 71, Wright St. 61

SOUTHWESTArk.-Little Rock 74, Louisiana Tech 65BYU 77, South Florida 75, 2OTChicago St. 64, Georgia Southern 59Liberty 64, MVSU 58Saint Mary’s, Calif. 88, Texas Tech 68A&M-Corpus Christi 69, Bethune-Cookman 65UAB 70, Arkansas 65, OT

FAR WESTArizona 82, Santa Clara 59Kansas 98, Ohio 41Utah Valley 93, La Sierra 46Valparaiso 76, N. Colorado 61Washington St. 66, Fresno St. 55

TOURNAMENT76 ClassicSemifinals

UNLV 69, Murray St. 55Virginia Tech 56, Oklahoma St. 51

Consolation BracketCS Northridge 88, DePaul 66Tulsa 65, Stanford 53

Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska ShootoutSemifinals

Arizona St. 59, Weber St. 58St. John’s 82, Drake 39

Consolation BracketAlaska-Anchorage 74, Houston Baptist 67Ball St. 73, S. Utah 54

Legends ClassicFirst Round

Georgia Tech 71, UTEP 61Syracuse 53, Michigan 50

NIT Season Tip-offChampionship

Tennessee 78, Villanova 68Third Place

Va. Commonwealth 89, UCLA 85Old Spice Classic

SemifinalsNotre Dame 57, California 44Wisconsin 65, Boston College 55Consolation BracketTemple 65, Georgia 58Texas A&M 74, Manhattan 45

Satuday, November 27EAST

Boston U. 66, Cornell 61Cent. Conn. St. 54, Monmouth, N.J. 50, OTDartmouth 80, Colgate 63Delaware 67, Lafayette 64Fordham 61, Hartford 57Georgetown 87, UNC Asheville 72Massachusetts 83, Holy Cross 76Mount St. Mary’s, Md. 70, Florida A&M 61New Hampshire 70, Brown 66Pittsburgh 82, Penn 58Rhode Island 71, Davidson 58St. Peter’s 65, Long Island U. 62Vermont 69, N.J. Tech 50Yale 87, Army 79

SOUTHAlabama 76, Alabama A&M 50Campbell 93, Longwood 77Coastal Carolina 72, The Citadel 64ETSU 103, Milligan 55East Carolina 81, UNC Greensboro 53Gardner-Webb 71, W. Carolina 65George Mason 66, Florida Atlantic 51James Madison 74, E. Michigan 68Lipscomb 90, Tenn.-Martin 71Louisville 80, Marshall 66Miami 87, Florida Gulf Coast 75N.C. Central 96, Allen 81N.C. State 77, Fairleigh Dickinson 67Oregon St. 84, Howard 74SE Louisiana 99, Loyola, N.O. 69UCF 84, Alabama St. 48Vanderbilt 86, Appalachian St. 73William & Mary 57, Mercer 52Winthrop 65, Lander 46

MIDWESTAlbany, N.Y. 75, Niagara 65Arkansas St. 56, SE Missouri 50Charleston Southern 89, Southern U. 54Cincinnati 68, Dayton 34Cleveland St. 69, St. Bonaventure 51Evansville 71, Butler 68, OTIPFW 105, Judson 65Illinois 78, W. Michigan 63Indiana St. 58, Buffalo 54Iowa St. 81, Montana St. 59Nebraska 60, Southern Cal 58Oakland, Mich. 78, Austin Peay 70, OTS. Illinois 56, Wright St. 50Saint Louis 58, IUPUI 55Youngstown St. 91, St. Francis, Pa. 63

SOUTHWESTLiberty 67, Chicago St. 65, OTMVSU 75, Georgia Southern 64North Texas 81, Texas St. 77South Florida 64, Texas Tech 61Stephen F.Austin 86, Sciences & Arts, Okla. 47TCU 79, Houston 63Texas 62, Rice 59

FAR WESTDuke 98, Oregon 71Idaho 70, E. Washington 60Loyola of Chicago 63, San Francisco 62N. Colorado 69, Bethune-Cookman 45UC Davis 80, Seattle 58Valparaiso 68, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 62

SATURDAY’S GAMEUTEP 65, MICHIGAN 56

MICHIGAN (3-2): Smotrycz 1-4 1-24, Morgan 2-5 2-3 6, Novak 1-5 7-8 10,Morris 8-11 3-5 20, Hardaway Jr. 1-8 4-66, Douglass 2-8 0-0 6, Akunne 0-0 0-00, Vogrich 0-3 0-0 0, Horford 0-3 2-2 2,McLimans 1-5 0-0 2, Christian 0-1 0-0 0.Totals 16-53 19-26 56.

UTEP (4-2): McCulley 2-4 0-0 4, Williams3-10 2-3 8, Britten 0-3 0-0 0, Stone 5-5 0-010, Polk 1-8 0-0 2, Culpepper 10-16 1-124, Portalatin 2-2 1-2 5, Gordon 1-1 0-02, Bohannon 4-5 2-3 10, Perez 0-1 0-0 0.Totals 28-55 6-9 65.

Halftime—Tied 29-29. 3-Point Goals—Michigan 5-29 (Douglass 2-7, Morris 1-2,Smotrycz 1-3, Novak 1-4, Vogrich 0-2,Horford 0-2, McLimans 0-4, Hardaway Jr.0-5), UTEP 3-14 (Culpepper 3-7, Williams0-2, Polk 0-5). Fouled Out—Portalatin.Rebounds—Michigan 31 (Morris 7), UTEP40 (Williams 10). Assists—Michigan 5(Morris 4), UTEP 20 (Polk 7). Total Fouls—Michigan 15, UTEP 23. A—NA.

On Television

TEAM SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT

Looking Forward

Too bad the Lions can’t returnüber-fragilequarterbackMattStafford— citing“lemonlaws”.Stafford’s$42 millionguaranteedcontractcould turn out to be the Fordfamily’s costliest mistake sincethe Edsel.

BillPetzold

FootballLas Vegas repeats as UFL champion

Alfred Malone blocked Nick Novak’s45-yard field-goal attempt on the game’sfinal play, preserving the defending cham-pion Las Vegas Locomotives’ 23-20 victoryover the Florida Tuskers in the UnitedFootball League title game Saturday.

Chase Clement, the game’s MVP, threwfor 237 yards and a pair of touchdownpasses as the Locos came from behindthree times to win a rematch of the 2009championship game.

Broncos, coach fined for tapingNFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has

fined the Denver Broncos and coach JoshMcDaniels $50,000 each because theteam’s video operations director brokeleague rules by filming a San Francisco49ers practice in London last month.

The NFL investigation determined thatSteve Scarnecchia took the six-minutevideo of the walkthrough and presented itthat day to McDaniels. The coach declinedto view it. But the NFL fined the coach andteam because the matter was not reported,as required by league policy. Scarnecchiawas fired by the Broncos.

Saints defender charged with abuseNew Orleans Saints defensive end Will

Smith was arrested in Louisiana after hewas accused of grabbing his wife’s hairand pulling her down the street.

Police in Lafayette, which is about 50miles west of Baton Rouge, say Smithand his wife had gotten into an argumentjust after 2 a.m. Saturday while leaving anightclub. Police Cpl. Paul Mouton said ina press release that officers on patrol sawthe argument escalate and then saw Smithgrab the woman’s hair.

Alouettes, Riders in Grey Cup rematchThe Montreal Alouettes say the butterflies

will still be there, but the nagging doubtswill be gone when they play the Saskatch-ewan Roughriders today in the Grey Cup.

Last year, the Roughriders thought theyhad the game won when Montreal kickerDamon Duval missed a 43-yard field goalwith no time on the clock. Saskatchewan,however, was called for too many men onthe field. The ball was moved up 10 yards,and Duval made the kick to seal a 28-27 win.

CMU falls in season finaleToledo scored four times in the first half

and Rockets wideout Eric Page had a handin five touchdowns as Central Michigandropped the last game of its season to theRockets, 42-31, on Friday.

Page scored on kickoff returns of 99 and95 yards for the Rockets (8-4, 7-1 MAC). Healso hauled in two touchdown passes andthrew for one.

Ryan Radcliff led Central Michigan with322 yards passing. Zurlon Tipton scoredtwice on the ground for the Chippewas, whoend their season at 3-9 (2-6 MAC). LorenzoWhite scored on a blocked punt for CentralMichigan and Carl Volny also added a touch-down for CMU.

SoccerU.S. beats Italy, earns spot at World Cup

The U.S. is on its way to the Women’sWorld Cup after beating Italy 1-0 Saturdayon a first-half goal by Amy Rodriguez.

The Americans won the home-and-homeplayoff on 2-0 aggregate to clinch the lastspot in next summer’s 16-nation WorldCup, which will be played June 26 toJuly 17 in Germany. The draw is Mondayin Frankfurt.

TennisFederer, Nadal into final of ATP finals

Roger Federer joined Rafael Nadal inthe final of the ATP World Tour Finals bybeating Novak Djokovic 6-1, 6-4 Saturday.

Federer picked his shots throughout thematch, keeping Djokovic on the run andforcing the third-ranked Serb into errorsduring the long rallies. The 16-time GrandSlam champion will face the top-rankedNadal in today’s final at the O2 Arena.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES — TheLos Angeles Dodgers andfree agent pitcher Jon Gar-land have agreed to a $5million, one-year contractthat includes a club optionand could be worth $16 mil-lion over two seasons.

The right-hander went 14-12 with a 3.47 ERA in 200innings for the San DiegoPadres last year.

In 2009, Garland playedfor Arizona and Los Ange-les and went 11-12 with a4.01 ERA. He was acquiredby Los Angeles on Aug.31, 2009, for infielder TonyAbreu and went 3-2 with a2.72 ERA in six starts forthe Dodgers.

Dodgers signstarting pitcher

Garland