Breaking News

Sport columns

Penguins begin Horizon schedule

Assistant coach Jason Slay is sitting near the front of the team’s bus. His AirPods are in, black ballcap is on his head and his focus is straight ahead as the vehicle starts motoring down I-71 Friday afternoon toward its final destination in Indianapolis. The attention of the Youngstown State University men’s basketball associate coach is on a video of the team’s opponents the next two days — IUPUI and UIC, the alphabet soup teams of the Horizon League — which is playing on his laptop. Today at noon the Penguins begin league play against IUPUI in Indianapolis. YSU coach ...

Who will be watching the Penguins?

YOUNGSTOWN — The echos are almost deafening with every bounce of the air-filled, leather ball. Shoes are squeaking with the sounds ringing in the ears of dozens of fans occupying the red chairback seats and bleachers in the upper part of the Beeghly Center, built in the early 1970s. Most are familiar faces, season-ticket holders. The famous George Junior and St. Vincent-St. Mary game featuring a young LeBron James, when people had to sit on cold, concrete steps because there were no seats available. That was me and my wife, watching that Sunday afternoon contest. Five Youngstown ...

Can’t we all just get along with leagues?

Boardman football coach Joe Ignazio began explaining how his team was preparing for the 2019 season in his warm office with a fan circulating the humidity — an office parallel from the team’s practice field. Sweat occasionally dripped down from this reporter’s brow. Good, warm times. After the preview, I asked Ignazio about the current state of the All-American Conference, Red Tier, which was an Independent Tier this past fall for football. Canfield, Howland, Warren G. Harding, Austintown Fitch, Boardman don’t have a unified home for the 2020-21 season. Ignazio told me his ...

A quick look back at football season

The Ohio high school football season came to an official end this past weekend with the crowning of seven state champions. The season didn’t end on a winning note for the Mahoning Valley, as Springfield’s historic run was halted in a 48-14 loss to Anna in the Division VI state title game. After winning 14 consecutive games — most in convincing fashion — the Tigers’ storybook season ended at the hands of the powerful Midwest Athletic Conference. Nonetheless, Springfield became the 15th area school to reach a state title game, and in the process the players and coaches ...

Listen up, Pelini coming back for YSU

YOUNGSTOWN TELLING people what they don’t want to hear is never an easy thing to do — for anyone. Doctors have to do it. Families have to do it. Friends, bosses, co-workers — and journalists. We all do. It’s part of life, whether we like it or not. So, while some people don’t want to hear that Youngstown State football coach Bo Pelini will be returning next season, he will, indeed, be back on the sidelines. He’s not quitting, and YSU isn’t firing him. Pelini and the Penguins agreed on a three-year extension in February of 2019, and YSU isn’t the type of ...

Fishing quells sports-induced anxiety

I am an anxious football fan. Game day stirs a churn of anxiety in me as the hours and minutes tick down to kickoff. Perhaps you are like me and were seeking distractions as The Ohio State Buckeyes prepared to square off against Wisconsin on Saturday evening. I was confident of the outcome, but no football game is a sure bet, especially the Big Ten championship. I had nervous energy to burn Saturday morning and afternoon. To calm my pre-game-jitters, I needed something other than the endless pre-game TV shows featuring talking heads blathering on about who will win and why. Enough ...