Sports briefs
NMU dominates CCSA skiing
HOUGHTON – Led by victories from Ian Torchia and Felicia Gesior, Northern Michigan University had a wildly successful day at the Central Collegiate Ski Association invitational held at Michigan Tech on Saturday.
Torchia won the men’s 10-kilometer freestyle collegiately and overall and Gesior did the same in the women’s 5K as the Wildcats swept the top three scoring places in the collegiate competition.
NMU also had every racer entered place in the top 15 overall, and just among collegiate teams, every Wildcat skier but one placed in the top 10.
Northern scored a perfect 51 points in each meet, where first place is worth 18, second place 17 and third 16. MTU was runner-up in each, scoring 37 in the men’s and 39 in the women’s. Other schools competing included St. Olaf and St. Scholastica from Minnesota and Wisconsin-Green Bay.
Torchia clocked 25 minutes, 50.8 seconds, beating former NMU racer Kyle Bratrud, who was representing the CXC team, by about 11 seconds. NMU’s Adam Martin was third overall in 26:18.9 and teammate Jake Brown fourth in 26:19.6. They were 1-2-3, though, in collegiate scoring.
In addition for the Wildcats, Fredrik Schwencke was sixth overall in 26:41.5, Leo Hipp seventh in 27:00.0, Krystof Kopal ninth in 27:26.6 and Samuel Elfstrom 12th in 27:53.3.
Gesior won her race in 14:32.3, about 17 1/2 seconds ahead of teammate Vivian Hett, who came in at 14:49.9. Alice Flanders of the CXC team was third in 14:52.6.
Also for Northern, Sophie Schimpl was fourth overall in 14:58.4, Sophie McDonald fifth in 15:00.6, Nicole Schneider sixth in 15:02.6, Sarah Bezdicek ninth in 15:24.1, Caroline Brisbois 11th in 15:29.7 and Lea Buenter 15th in 16:08.5.
This CCSA meet concludes today with the women’s 15K classic at 10 a.m. and men’s 20K classic at 12:30 p.m.
Iron Rangers fall to Eagle River
MARQUETTE – The Eagle River, Wisconsin, Falcons outscored the Marquette Iron Rangers adult hockey team 8-5 at Lakeview Arena on Friday night.
Austin Cline and Dallas McLaughlin got the Iron Rangers off to a fast start with goals in the game’s first five minutes. Assists went to Austin Lawless on the first and Chris Freeborn on the second, which was shorthanded.
But Eagle River scored the next four off the sticks of Derek Tijan, Luke Nesper, Tanner Litvinoff and Crae Riese, who also had two assists in that span, to go up 4-2 during the second period.
The home team came back late in the period with two goals by Craig Hartz to tie it 4-4. McLaughlin assisted on the first during a 2-on-1 breakaway, while McLaughlin and Ben Wheeler assisted on the second during a power play.
Though Nate Taurence scored with assists going to Wheeler and Ryan Daust to put Marquette ahead 5-4 early in the third, Eagle River finished with four unanswered goals by Nesper, Tijan, Jim Randall, Neil Wallace and to net the win.
Iron Rangers goalie Tony Kyto made 30 saves and Eagle River’s Jack Gosselin made 32 stops.
The teams played again at Lakeview Saturday night.
Cougars can’t stop hot shooter
EBEN – The Superior Central boys couldn’t slow down the shooting of Rapid River’s Mason Berglund on Friday night as the Rockets won 57-42 in a high school basketball game.
Berglund hit 5 of 7 triples to account for all of his game-high 15 points, while Greg Seppanen scored 12 and Levi Charlebois 10 for the Cougars, who fell to 2-8 overall and 0-6 in the East Division of the Skyline Central Conference.
RR (5-7, 2-4 SCC East) led 33-17 at halftime.
“Mason Berglund had the best shooting night he’s ever had,” Rockets coach Rich Poma said. “He handled the ball well, and handled pressure well. When Mason plays well, we play well.
“(RR’s) Craig Martin did an outstanding job on Greg Seppanen, keeping him in front and making him work, not letting any cuts go through.”
Superior Central hosts another SCC East leader Mid Peninsula on Tuesday.
Sports briefs
NMU dominates CCSA skiing
HOUGHTON – Led by victories from Ian Torchia and Felicia Gesior, Northern Michigan University had a wildly successful day at the Central Collegiate Ski Association invitational held at Michigan Tech on Saturday.
Torchia won the men’s 10-kilometer freestyle collegiately and overall and Gesior did the same in the women’s 5K as the Wildcats swept the top three scoring places in the collegiate competition.
NMU also had every racer entered place in the top 15 overall, and just among collegiate teams, every Wildcat skier but one placed in the top 10.
Northern scored a perfect 51 points in each meet, where first place is worth 18, second place 17 and third 16. MTU was runner-up in each, scoring 37 in the men’s and 39 in the women’s. Other schools competing included St. Olaf and St. Scholastica from Minnesota and Wisconsin-Green Bay.
Torchia clocked 25 minutes, 50.8 seconds, beating former NMU racer Kyle Bratrud, who was representing the CXC team, by about 11 seconds. NMU’s Adam Martin was third overall in 26:18.9 and teammate Jake Brown fourth in 26:19.6. They were 1-2-3, though, in collegiate scoring.
In addition for the Wildcats, Fredrik Schwencke was sixth overall in 26:41.5, Leo Hipp seventh in 27:00.0, Krystof Kopal ninth in 27:26.6 and Samuel Elfstrom 12th in 27:53.3.
Gesior won her race in 14:32.3, about 17 1/2 seconds ahead of teammate Vivian Hett, who came in at 14:49.9. Alice Flanders of the CXC team was third in 14:52.6.
Also for Northern, Sophie Schimpl was fourth overall in 14:58.4, Sophie McDonald fifth in 15:00.6, Nicole Schneider sixth in 15:02.6, Sarah Bezdicek ninth in 15:24.1, Caroline Brisbois 11th in 15:29.7 and Lea Buenter 15th in 16:08.5.
This CCSA meet concludes today with the women’s 15K classic at 10 a.m. and men’s 20K classic at 12:30 p.m.
Iron Rangers fall to Eagle River
MARQUETTE – The Eagle River, Wisconsin, Falcons outscored the Marquette Iron Rangers adult hockey team 8-5 at Lakeview Arena on Friday night.
Austin Cline and Dallas McLaughlin got the Iron Rangers off to a fast start with goals in the game’s first five minutes. Assists went to Austin Lawless on the first and Chris Freeborn on the second, which was shorthanded.
But Eagle River scored the next four off the sticks of Derek Tijan, Luke Nesper, Tanner Litvinoff and Crae Riese, who also had two assists in that span, to go up 4-2 during the second period.
The home team came back late in the period with two goals by Craig Hartz to tie it 4-4. McLaughlin assisted on the first during a 2-on-1 breakaway, while McLaughlin and Ben Wheeler assisted on the second during a power play.
Though Nate Taurence scored with assists going to Wheeler and Ryan Daust to put Marquette ahead 5-4 early in the third, Eagle River finished with four unanswered goals by Nesper, Tijan, Jim Randall, Neil Wallace and to net the win.
Iron Rangers goalie Tony Kyto made 30 saves and Eagle River’s Jack Gosselin made 32 stops.
The teams played again at Lakeview Saturday night.
Cougars can’t stop hot shooter
EBEN – The Superior Central boys couldn’t slow down the shooting of Rapid River’s Mason Berglund on Friday night as the Rockets won 57-42 in a high school basketball game.
Berglund hit 5 of 7 triples to account for all of his game-high 15 points, while Greg Seppanen scored 12 and Levi Charlebois 10 for the Cougars, who fell to 2-8 overall and 0-6 in the East Division of the Skyline Central Conference.
RR (5-7, 2-4 SCC East) led 33-17 at halftime.
“Mason Berglund had the best shooting night he’s ever had,” Rockets coach Rich Poma said. “He handled the ball well, and handled pressure well. When Mason plays well, we play well.
“(RR’s) Craig Martin did an outstanding job on Greg Seppanen, keeping him in front and making him work, not letting any cuts go through.”
Superior Central hosts another SCC East leader Mid Peninsula on Tuesday.
Sports briefs
Iron Rangers playing tonight
MARQUETTE – Completing a weekend series, the Marquette Iron Rangers hockey team will host the Eagle River (Wisconsin) Falcons at 8 tonight in Lakeview Arena.
Entering Friday night’s game between the two, the Falcons were 3-9 in the North Division, with the Iron Rangers 5-9-0.
Marquette is led offensively by Dallas McLaughlin with 30 goals and seven assists for 37 points. Ryan Daust is second at 5-15-20.
Derek Tijan tops the Falcons in scoring with 16-16-32 totals.
Proceeds from the game’s 50-50 raffle, Chuck-A-Puck and can returnables will be donated to the Beacon House in Marquette.
Lions hire team exec
ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) – The Detroit Lions have hired Matt Harriss as vice president for football administration.
Harriss joins the Lions after spending 10 seasons with the New York Giants’ football operations department. In his first year with the Giants, Harriss assisted Ernie Accorsi, who then was in his final season with the team.
Accorsi, a former GM of the Giants, is now a special adviser to Lions team president Rod Wood.
The Lions also announced Friday that they have hired Harold Nash Jr. as the team’s strength and conditioning coach and Michael McCarthy as quality control-offensive line coach.
Sports briefs
Cougars lose at North Central
POWERS – Jaycee Faccio scored 20 points, pulled down 22 rebounds and made seven steals to lead North Central to a 67-43 victory over Superior Central in a high school girls basketball game on Friday night.
Though both are members of the Skyline Central Conference, this was considered a nonconference game.
Freshman Jada Johnson led SC with 12 points, while teammate Emma Rondeau had 11 rebounds.
NC also got 21 points from Mady Wells, 16 coming in the first half, while Natalie Dombrowski added 10 points.
“We fell behind in the first quarter, with Mady Wells and Dombrowski each hitting 3s,” SC head coach Greg Trowbridge said. “We went man-to-man and did a little better, but we just couldn’t cut back on the lead.
“Their zone did a good job. We weren’t shooting very well, and they didn’t give us much inside. They got lots of points off the fast break. We didn’t do a good job of stopping that.”
The Jets jumped out to a 17-8 lead after one quarter, extending it to 28-18 by halftime. SC got within 40-32 by the end of the third quarter.
The Cougars return to action Tuesday at Stephenson.
Pickleball clinic Wednesday
SANDS – An introductory pickleball clinic will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Sands Township gym.
Pickleball, touted as one of the nation’s fastest growing sports, is a lifetime sport is for all ages and abilities, encouraging fun, social interaction while good exercise, too.
Cost to attend is $12 per participant and paddles will be provided. Preregistration is required.
For more information or to register, call Josh Kitto at 250-0669 or email him at crossbone1976@gmail.
Angels sign ex-Tiger Alburquerque
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) – The Los Angeles Angels have signed veteran reliever Al Alburquerque to a one-year, $1.1 million contract.
The Angels confirmed the signing Friday night.
Alburquerque went 4-1 with a 4.21 ERA in a career-high 62 innings of relief for Detroit last season.
He had spent his entire five-year big-league career with the Tigers, going 17-6 with a 3.20 ERA and 276 strikeouts. Detroit elected not to tender a contract to him this winter.
The Dominican right-hander’s powerful fastball has declined in recent seasons, but he still has strikeout abilities and a high swing-and-miss ratio.
Alburquerque could fill a key role for the Angels, who traded hard-throwing young reliever Trevor Gott to Washington in a deal for veteran third baseman Yunel Escobar. Gott was manager Mike Scioscia’s seventh-inning specialist last season.
Ex-U of M?coach Hoke joins Ducks
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) – Former Michigan head coach Brady Hoke joined Oregon’s staff Saturday as defensive coordinator.
Hoke replaces Don Pellum, who was defensive coordinator for two seasons and has returned to coaching linebackers for the Ducks.
Hoke coached the Wolverines for four seasons from 2011-14, going 31-20. He was the Maxwell Football Club national coach of the year in 2011.
“He’s passionate, knowledgeable and tough, and has an outstanding track record of success from a defensive standpoint,” Ducks coach Mark Helfrich said in a statement.
Under Hoke, Michigan’s defense went from 110th in the nation to ranking within the top 17 in three of his four seasons. For his final season, the Wolverines were ranked seventh nationally, allowing 311.3 yards a game.
In addition to Michigan, Hoke also had stints as head coach at Ball State and San Diego State. He was an assistant at Oregon State from 1989-94.
Oregon went 9-4 this past season, the first time since 2007 that the Ducks have finished with fewer than 10 wins. The season was capped by a stunning triple-overtime loss to TCU in the Alamo Bowl. The Ducks were up 31-0 at halftime, but the Horned Frogs rallied to win 47-41.
Oregon allowed a school-record 37.5 points per game.
Sports briefs
Redmen icers beat Portage, 8-3
TRAVERSE CITY – The Marquette Redmen jumped out to a fast start to defeat Portage Central 8-3 at the Traverse City Showcase on Friday.
Jake Phillips had two goals and two assists, while Joe Phillips had a goal and two assists as the Redmen scored four times in the first period.
“It was a good team effort,” Marquette head coach Doug Garrow said. “All of our lines were clicking and we held them to only 13 shots. We also kept control of the puck in the offensive zone and didn’t give them a lot of scoring chances. We made very few mistakes.”
Kristian Jackson got things going for the Redmen just 1:05 into the game, but Portage Central tied it about six minutes later.
Marquette then rattled off three goals in a row to finish the period. The first came from Donny Schultz at 10:36 and that was followed by one from Joe Phillips at 14:09. Jake Patterson capped off the surge with a shorthanded goal at the 15:37 mark.
Marquette added another tally in the second period from Tony Fedrizzi and three more in the third.
Austin Wachnicki scored on the power play early in the third before Portage Central bounced back with two straight power-play goals.
The Redmen wouldn’t be denied, though, as Jake Phillips scored both of his goals about nine minutes apart to complete the scoring.
The Redmen (9-4) play Bay City Central-Western at 10:15 this morning to wrap up the TC Showcase.
Ex-Packer Kramer to auction ring
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) – Former Packers offensive lineman Jerry Kramer is putting his ring from the first Super Bowl up for auction.
Green Bay Press Gazette Media reports (gbpg.net/1Khl5Lm ) the ring is one of 60 items Kramer is selling through Heritage Auctions. The other items include Kramer’s game-used jersey from Super Bowl I and his Packers Hall of Fame ring.
Kramer, who will be 80 this month, played with Green Bay in the 1960s. He said he’s selling the items to clear his house of things he doesn’t need and plans to use the money to create a college fund for his five grandchildren.
The newspaper reports a conservative estimate has the ring selling for $100,000.
Kramer declined to sell his Super Bowl II ring, saying it means too much to him.
Tigers make deal with Iglesias
DETROIT (AP) – The Detroit Tigers have agreed on a one-year, $2.1 million contract with All-Star shortstop Jose Iglesias, averting arbitration.
Iglesias hit .300 last season with two home runs, 23 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. It was a successful return for the smooth-fielding infielder after he missed all of 2014 with stress fractures in both shins.
Iglesias turned 26 earlier this month.
The Tigers have only one unsigned player left who filed for arbitration, and that’s slugging outfielder J.D. Martinez. He asked for $8 million and was offered $6 million.
Iglesias, reliever Justin Wilson and infielder Andrew Romine agreed to deals. Iglesias’ deal was made Friday.
Sports briefs
Skating classes set
MARQUETTE – A five-week term of Learn to Skate Classes offered by the Marquette Figure Skating Club will begin Tuesday and Thursday at Marquette’s Lakeview Arena.
The classes, open to ages 4 and older, will be held from 6-6:50 p.m.. No experience is necessary.
For more information, visit the club’s website at www.marquettefigureskating.org, or contact Jamie at 226-6372 or Chris at 249-9243.
NMU’s Shine on all-GLI team
DETROIT – Dominik Shine of Northern Michigan University was among the six players named to the 2015 Great Lakes Invitational all-tournament team.
Shine became the third Wildcat to earn this honor, joining Dan Ruoho in 1992 and Roger Trudeau in 1998.
The Ann Arbor-area native netted a goal in each of NMU’s GLI games, including the game-tying tally with less than five minutes remaining in regulation against Michigan State in the third-place 3-2 overtime victory on Wednesday.
The Wildcats’ appearance in the GLI was their first since 1998.
The rest of the all-tourney team included forwards Brent Baltus of Michigan Tech and Kyle Connor of Michigan, defensemen Mark Auk of Tech and Sam Piazza of Michigan, and goalie Steve Racine of Michigan.
Lions sign DT Hyder
ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) – The Detroit Lions have signed defensive tackle Kerry Hyder off the practice squad for the team’s final game Sunday at Chicago.
Detroit announced the move Saturday. The Lions put center Travis Swanson on injured reserve.
Detroit had already ruled Swanson out for Sunday’s game because of a shoulder injury. Swanson started 14 games this season.
Hyder played at Texas Tech from 2010-13, but has yet to appear in an NFL game.
Sports briefs
Vols rout Northwestern
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Joshua Dobbs threw for 166 yards and ran for two touchdowns Friday, helping Tennessee cap its best season in eight years with a 45-6 rout of No. 12 Northwestern in the Outback Bowl.
Dobbs scored on runs 14 and 18 yards, while Jalen Hurd ran for 130 yards and one TD for the Volunteers (9-4), who finished with at least nine wins for the first time since 2007.
Northwestern (10-3) sputtered offensively and was unable to keep up with the stronger, faster Vols defensively in falling short on a bid to finish with a school-record 11 victories.
Dobbs completed 14 of 25 passes. The dual-threat quarterback ran 12 times for 48 yards, including a highlight-reel burst around right end in which he dove for his second TD after picking up a bobbled snap and tight-roping his way up the sideline to make it 31-6 early in the fourth quarter.
Playoff TV ratings down
DALLAS (AP) – Television ratings for the College Football Playoff semifinals dropped approximately 36 percent from last season when they were played on New Year’s Day instead of New Year’s Eve.
ESPN announced the overnight ratings Friday.
The Orange Bowl between Clemson and Oklahoma, which kicked off about 4:10 p.m. ET on ESPN, drew a 9.7 rating. The first semifinal last season, the Rose Bowl with Oregon and Florida State on New Year’s Day, earned a 15.5.
The Michigan State-Alabama Cotton Bowl drew a 9.9 rating for ESPN compared to 15.3 for Ohio State-Alabama in the Sugar Bowl last Jan. 1.