Sembach to speak at Curbstone

Newton Falls high school boys basketball coach Roy Sembach will be the guest speaker at Monday’s luncheon meeting of The Curbstone Coaches at the Avion Banquet Center on Western Reserve Road in Beaver Township.

The event begins at noon and the public is welcome to attend.

For those arriving early, the buffet lines will open at 11:45 a.m.

Also, plans are underway for the annual Curbstone Coaches Hall of Fame Induction ceremony which is set for May 4 at Mr. Anthony’s in Boardman. The keynote speaker will be former Cleveland Browns stand out running back Greg Pruitt.

Tickets are available by contacting Patty Schuley at 3302078157. This year’s event is sponsored by Briarfield Health Care Centers and Ed and Diane Reese.

Catholic conference falls through

The Ohio Catholic Athletic Conference, which would have featured Ursuline and Cardinal Mooney, will not come to fruition.

The league would have brought together several Catholic schools from across the state starting next fall. But the Irish and Cardinals will need to find a new home next season. The league would have only fielded football for the 2025-26 academic year .

According to Ursuline athletic director John DeSantis, the Irish will operate as an independent next year, but they will continue to schedule and maintain connection with the schools that would have made up the league.

The OCAC also forced Chaney and East, the two other members of the Steel Valley Conference alongside the Irish and Cardinals, to find new leagues.

YSU rally comes up short vs. WSU

The Youngstown State baseball team scored five two-out runs during a furious ninth-inning rally but came up short to Wright State 10-9 in the Horizon League series opener on Friday at Nischwitz Stadium in Dayton, Ohio.

The Penguins trailed 4-1 before scoring once in the fourth and twice in the fifth to tie the contest. The Raiders went back in front with a pair of runs in the fifth and added four runs in the sixth to take 10-4 edge into the ninth inning.

Jay Wrona ignited YSU’s five-run ninth inning with a one-out single and advanced to third on Kyle Fossum’s single to center field. Tommy Rover plated Wrona with a two-out RBI single through the right side to prompt a pitching change for Wright State. Nathan Beckley greeted Raider reliever Garrett Peters with a two-run double down the left field line to cut the deficit to 10-7. Cole Smith and Brady Shannon (Ursuline) followed with back-to-back RBI doubles to put the potential tying run into scoring position. Peters was able to strike out pinch hitter Brayden Kuriger to end the game and give the Raiders the series-opening victory.

Youngstown State falls to 4-20 overall and 2-5 in Horizon League play while Wright State improves to 12-11 overall and 6-1 against league opponents.

Shannon went 3-for-5 with an RBI double, two stolen bases and two runs scored while Fossum was 2-for-5 with his 10th home run of the season. Wrona went 2-for-4 with an RBI double while Rover and Jack Johnson each added RBI singles.

YSU starter Jacob Gehring (South Range) suffered the loss after allowing six runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and three walks over 4.2 innings. Braden Gebhardt surrendered four runs on three hits with five strikeouts over 3.1 innings of relief.

The Penguins and Raiders will conclude their three-game Horizon League series on Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at noon.

Jackets beat Canucks in shootout

COLUMBUS — Boone Jenner had two goals, Kent Johnson had the lone score of the shootout and the Columbus Blue Jackets rallied from a pair of multi-goal deficits to beat the Vancouver Canucks 7-6 on Friday night and move into a tie for the final wild card in the Eastern Conference.

The Blue Jackets trailed 3-0 less than 14 minutes into the game, but evened it midway through the second period. Vancouver scored the next two to go up 5-3 before Columbus rallied again.

Jenner, who also had an assist, has scored in three straight games. The Blue Jackets are tied with Montreal for the second wild card with 75 points.

It is the first time since 2016 Columbus has trailed 3-0 after the first period and come back to win.

Columbus’ Dante Fabbro had a goal and two assists while Olivier, Denton Mateychuk and Kirill Marchenko each had a goal and an assist. Elvis Merzlikins made 31 saves.

Aatu Raty had two goals, Brock Boeser scored for the sixth time in six games and Tyler Myers notched his seventh career short-handed goal for Vancouver.

Pius Suter tied a career high with three assists and posted his third straight multi-point game.

Linus Karlsson and Jake DeBrusk also had goals for Vancouver. Kiefer Sherwood also had three assists, and Quinn Hughes and Dakota Joshua had two apiece. Kevin Lankinen stopped 33 shots

Takeaways

Canucks: Myers moved past Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang (6) and Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse for most short-handed goals by an active defenseman.

Blue Jackets: With Fabbro’s score, Columbus has had 44 goals come from defensemen, second in the league to Colorado’s 45.

Key moment

Jenner’s power-play goal with 3:14 remaining in regulation tied it at 5-all and started a wild sequence where the Blue Jackets and Canucks scored three times in 45 seconds. Jenner’s goal also snapped Columbus’ 0-for-25 drought with the man advantage. Olivier gave Columbus their first lead of the night with 2:52 remaining, but Raty evened it at 6-all with his second goal of the third period.

Key stat

The Blue Jackets have eight three-goal comeback wins in franchise history, including two this season. They beat Tampa Bay 7-6 in overtime on Nov. 21.

Up next

Blue Jackets travel to Ottawa on Saturday while the Canucks are at Winnipeg on Sunday.