CBS21 Sports

Mennonite's state soccer champs honored by Lancaster County

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:17:53 -0500

LANCASTER -- The champs added one more honor on Wednesday.

Members of the Lancaster Mennonite's boys soccer team were recognized by the Lancaster County Board of Commissioners with a letter of commendation for winning the PIAA-AA championship.

"(It was) an unbelievable experience to be a part of, not just for me, but the entire team as a whole," said senior midfielder Keegan Rosenberry of winning the school's first state title.

The Blazers finished the season with a record of 25-3.

Stampede releases 2012 season schedule

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:18:54 -0500

HARRISBURG -- The Harrisburg Stampede will open the inaugural season of American Indoor Football (AIF) on Saturday, April 7 at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center, the team announced Wednesday.

The Stampede will play seven regular season games in 2012, including one in York at the York City Ice Arena. All games will be held on Saturday nights and begin at 7:05 p.m.

Harrisburg will meet the Maryland Reapers in its first game of the season. The club's other opponents include the Virginia Badgers, Concord Force, Tri-States Red Hawks and the Cape Fear Heros.

AIF will hold two rounds of playoffs; followed by a league championship game on June 16.

Cardinals hire Frank Reich, shift McNulty to QB coach

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:14:41 -0500

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - The Arizona Cardinals have moved Mike McNulty to quarterbacks coach and hired longtime NFL quarterback Frank Reich to coach wide receivers.

McNulty replaces Chris Miller, who was fired after last season. McNulty had been Arizona's wide receivers coach the past three seasons.

Reich spent the last six seasons on the staff of the Indianapolis Colts, the last one as wide receivers coach.

Reich spent 14 years in the NFL as a quarterback, nine of them with the Buffalo Bills. He was quarterbacks coach for the Colts in 2009-10 before switching to the wide receiver responsibilities last season.

York Catholic girls, York High boys win division titles

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:14:34 -0500

YORK -- Morgan Klunk scored 18 points and Rachel Forjan added 15 as York Catholic won the YAIAA Division IV title Tuesday with a 57-46 win over Delone Catholic.

Sierra Moore had a game-high 21 points for the Squirettes, who led at halftime 20-16.

The York High boys' team earned the Division I championship by defeating Red Lion, 64-53.

Other scores reported to the CBS 21 News newsroom for Tuesday, February 7, 2012:

Boys

CD East 52 Bishop McDevitt 42 F
West Perry 56 Boiling Springs 53 F/OT
Steelton-Highspire 59 Chambersburg 63 F
York Christian 49 Covenant Christian 62 F
Harrisburg 56 Cumberland Valley 42 F
Northern 58 Gettysburg 57 F
Waynesboro 50 Greencastle-Antrim 64 F
Big Spring 49 James Buchanan 46 F
Palmyra 34 Mechanicsburg 42 F
Trinity 63 Milton Hershey 57 F
Middletown 58 Susquenita 30 F

Girls

Newport 33 Millersburg 54 F
Mechanicsburg 20 Palmyra 39 F

Chaz Powell, six other Penn State players invited to NFL combine

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:33:27 -0500

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Susquehannock's Chaz Powell is one of seven Penn State football players invited to the National Football League’s 2012 Scouting Combine, among the nation’s highest totals.

Joining Powell, a cornerback, at the combine: defensive end Jack Crawford, cornerback D’Anton Lynn, wide receiver Derek Moye, defensive tackle Devon Still, linebacker Nate Stupar, and guard Johnnie Troutman.

The combine will be held February 22-28 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Penn State’s seven invitees are tied for fourth-highest in the nation, surpassed only by Alabama (9), LSU (8) and Wisconsin (8). Oklahoma, Oregon, USC, and Iowa also will have seven participants.

Powell made the successful transition from wide receiver to cornerback during the 2010 season and became a mainstay in the defensive backfield for the remainder of his Penn State career. An honorable mention All-Big Ten selection as a senior, he started 12 games, recording 41 tackles and two interceptions.

He was also a valued contributor on special teams; Powell ranked third in the Big Ten in kick return average (27.1), taking the opening kick of the 2011 season back for a 95-yard score.

Crawford, Lynn, Powell, Still, and Stupar were major contributors to a Penn State defense that ranked No. 1 in the Big Ten and fifth nationally in scoring defense and 20th in the NCAA in total defense.

Some information used in this story was provided by Penn State University.

Steelton's Hill pointing Bucknell in good direction

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:46:54 -0500

LEWISBURG -- If Coach Dave Paulsen is Bucknell basketball’s Commander and Chief, then Ryan Hill is his new floor general. The Steel-High product garnered plenty of attention as one of the more dominant players in Central Pennsylvania in high school. But since moving in to the college ranks, it took the soft spoken sophomore a little more time to find his niche on the hardwood.

In the early part of the season Hill didn’t even see the floor in some contests.

“It would have been really easy for him to get discouraged or hang his head, but he’s not that type of player, it just made him work harder in practice,” said Paulsen.

After watching two other underclassman get starts ahead of him at point guard, Hill’s opportunity to start came when the calendar hit January.

"I had to work as hard as I could you to be in that position and in the beginning of the year I wasn't where I wanted to be personally, but it was working out for the team for the better and that's all that mattered,” said Hill.

Since Hill moved into the starting five, Bucknell has rattled off 10 straight wins en route to an undefeated run in the Patriot League. Hill’s “action’s speaks louder than words” demeanor has the Bison in the midst of the nation’s longest conference winning streak at 18 games.

"He's a real calm and laid back guy and it makes it really easy for us to focus on a game by a game kind of thing," said Junior Shooting Guard Bryson Johnson.

Paulsen’s motto carried out by Hill, of “taking each possession one at a time and one game at a time” has the Bison as the favorite to win the conference regular season championship. But it would it take another Patriot League conference tournament championship to experience the NCAA tournament for the second straight season.

Big Ten exploring 4-team playoff

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:52:46 -0500

Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis says his peers in the Big Ten are comfortable exploring the possibility of a four-team playoff for the national championship.

Hollis says keeping ties to the Rose Bowl is extremely important to athletic directors in the Big Ten and Pac-12.

The Chicago Tribune reported Monday that one of the ideas before the Big Ten would put the two semifinal games on the campuses of the higher seeded teams. The national championship game would be awarded to cities that bid for it.

The BCS title game pits the nation's top two teams based on poll and computer rankings.

The plus-one format -- two semifinals plus the title game -- was proposed in 2008 by the commissioners of the Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference. It was shot down by the leaders of the Big Ten, Pac-10, Big East, Big 12 and Notre Dame.

Todd Haley named Steelers offensive coordinator

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:30:42 -0500

PITTSBURGH (AP) - The Steelers have named Todd Haley their new offensive coordinator.

Haley, 45, will replace Bruce Arians, now with the Indianapolis Colts, and will inherit an offense that scored 325 points last season en route to finishing 12-4.

Haley was fired by Kansas City on Dec. 13, after going 19-26 in two-plus seasons with the Chiefs, leading them to the 2010 AFC West title.

He spent 10 seasons as an assistant before being hired by Kansas City. He was offensive coordinator for Arizona in 2007-08, helping lead the Cardinals to their only Super Bowl appearance.

The Steelers lost the AFC North title to Baltimore on a tiebreaker, and were eliminated from the postseason by Denver.

Barnstormers sign batting champ, ERA-title winner

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:56:49 -0500

Two of the the top players last season in all of independent league baseball are joining the Lancaster Barnstormers.

The team has signed outfielder Blake Gailen, the 2011 American Association batting champion, and right-hander Mark Brackman, the pitcher with the best ERA in the Frontier League in 2011, to contracts for the 2012 season.

Gailen, 26, captured the American Association batting title with a .406 mark in 69 games before being signed by the Los Angeles Angels organization in late July. His season included a 12-game hitting streak from May 22-June 10, during which he batted .538 (28-for-52). The left-handed hitter from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas added eight home runs, stole 14 bases and walked times more than he struck out (40 to 35).

Gailen’s .406 average followed seasons of .355 and .387 with Chico of the Golden League in 2009 and 2010. He signed originally with Anderson (SC) of the South Coast League in 2007.

“(Gailen) is a really good outfielder who can run,” said manager Butch Hobson in a statement. “And he hit well enough last year to get signed. I really look forward to having him out there.”

Brackman, 26, is coming off back-to-back stellar years with the Gateway Grizzlies of the Frontier League, the same franchise that produced former Barnstormers’ right-hander Scott Patterson. Brackman was 13-4 with a 3.16 ERA in 2010 and last year dropped the ERA to 2.15 despite winning only seven games.

“(Brackman) is a sinkerballer that everyone says is a bulldog,” said Hobson. “He’s been really good at keeping the ball down in the zone.”

The 6’7” native of Missouri has thrown eight complete games over the past two seasons and has a career strikeout to walk ratio of 2.91. His 2010 season included a one-hit shutout against Kalamazoo and three-hitters against Southern Illinois and Traverse City.

Overall, he tossed 24 quality starts in his 35 game-opening performances over the last two seasons and averaged better than seven innings per appearance during that time.

Brackman was signed originally by the Detroit Tigers as their 16th round draft choice in 2007 out of William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri.

Information used in this story was provided by the Lancaster Barnstomers.

Post-Patriots, O'Brien set to tackle PSU full-time

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:18:24 -0500

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) - The first rule on a sign affixed to the players' entrance at the Penn State football building reads "Know Your Role/Do Your Job."

Come Tuesday, new Nittany Lions coach Bill O'Brien should be doing just that, full time, in Happy Valley.

O'Brien had planned to return to State College by Tuesday, win or lose, after the Super Bowl. Since replacing the late Joe Paterno in January, O'Brien has also been finishing up as offensive coordinator for the Patriots and position coach for star quarterback Tom Brady.

New England lost the Super Bowl 21-17 on Sunday to the New York Giants.

O'Brien has already installed some new guidelines in his short time at Penn State, including relaxing limits on facial hair and allowing hats to be worn inside the football building.