BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) — Chris Fowler is taking over play-by-play responsibilities for the marquee Saturday night college football game on ABC.
ESPN announced Thursday that Fowler had signed a nine-year contract extension through 2023. The network said a day earlier that Brent Musburger was leaving “Saturday Night Football” and doing games for SEC Network.
Fowler will continue to host “College GameDay” on Saturday morning, then travel to the site of the prime-time game if it’s in a different location, as analyst Kirk Herbstreit already does.
Fowler and Herbstreit have worked together on “GameDay” since 1996 and will now team up on the Saturday night games.
Fowler joined ESPN in 1986 and has hosted “GameDay” since 1990.
He called ESPN’s Thursday night college football games from 2006-09. Fowler will continue to host and announce tennis coverage from the Grand Slam tournaments.
KEARNEY, Neb. – The Tri-City Storm are recognizing three forwards, including Brad Schierhorn, Kenny Brooks and Tim Bonner as their alumni of the month in March.
Schierhorn, currently in his sophomore season at Dartmouth College, notched the game-winning goal in last weekend’s ECAC opening round playoff series against Rensselaer in Troy, N.Y.
In the deciding contest of a three-game playoff series, the Big Green entered the third period down 4-2 to RPI on the road. Three goals in the final frame gave Dartmouth the win and advanced the team to the ECAC quarterfinals this weekend, where they’ll play Union.
The final goal the Big Green needed came from Schierhorn with just 2:14 remaining on the clock. The Anchorage, Alaska native wristed a shot into the top right corner of the net for his eighth goal of the season in his 32nd game on the year.
Schierhorn suited up for the Storm in 116 games during two seasons from 2010-12, scoring 18 goals and 37 assists for a total of 55 points while donning a Tri-City sweater.
Brad’s brother Eric is also currently in the USHL, playing goaltender for the Muskegon Lumberjacks.
Brooks, who played three seasons with the Storm from 2009-2012, is playing a key role at Penn State during the inaugural season of the Big Ten hockey conference.
The sophomore has four goals and five assists in 32 games. In Saturday’s game with the No. 5 ranked Wisconsin Badgers, Brooks scored with 2:44 left to force overtime. The Las Vegas, Nev. native was in the right place at the right time, picking up the puck behind the Badger net and banking it into the goal off a Wisconsin defenseman.
Penn State is a few weeks away from concluding their second season, starting their Division 1 hockey program in 2012. Despite the youth of the program, the Nittany Lions have two wins over Michigan, and have pushed many other well-established teams to the brink, with one-goal losses to UMass-Lowell, Union, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan State and Boston College.
In 165 games with Tri-City, the forward scored 31 goals and 55 assists. Brooks is sixth all-time in games played for the Storm, 17th in goals, sixth in assists, and 10th in points scored.
Bonner, a freshman at Yale University, is back on the ice after a concussion kept him out of game action for over a calendar year.
The Maple Grove, Minn. native played his last game for Tri-City on Feb. 23, 2013 before going down with the injury. When Bonner arrived at Yale in the fall, he still wasn’t ready to suit up.
The 21-year old was able to return to action on Mar. 1, as the Bulldogs blanked RPI 5-0. Bonner was a +3 in the win.
Bonner was also in the lineup for both games last weekend that saw Yale sweep Harvard in the first round of the ECAC playoffs. The Bulldogs will battle in-state rival and defending national champion Quinnipiac in the quarterfinal round this weekend.
The forward played 105 games with the Storm from 2011-13, scoring 39 goals and 33 assists. Bonner’s goal total is 7th best in Tri-City history, while his point total is 19th.
The Storm are back in action this weekend when they host the Sioux City Musketeers on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m.at the Viaero Event Center.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission plans to stock catchable-size rainbow trout in several lakes and city ponds across the state this month.
Stocking is scheduled to begin Thursday at Fremont State Recreation Area No. 2 and CenturyLink Lake at Eugene T. Mahoney State Park.
There will be stocking at Weeping Water Pond, Humboldt City Park Lake, Auburn Rotary Club Lake, Fort Kearny State Recreation Area, Holdrege City Park, Auble Pond in Ord and Ponca State Park on Friday.
Other lakes and city parks scheduled to be stocked this month include Lake Halleck in Papillion, Steinhart Park in Nebraska City, Holmes Lake in Lincoln, Pawnee Park West in Columbus, Heartwell Park in Hastings, Scottsbluff Zoo Pond, Lake Ogallala and Niobrara State Park.
NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Jets have agreed to terms with former Denver Broncos wide receiver Eric Decker, considered by many the top free agent at his position.
Decker spent all day Wednesday at the Jets’ facility and had dinner with a contingent of team officials, including coach Rex Ryan. He gives quarterback Geno Smith and the offense a sorely needed playmaker and No. 1-type wide receiver.
The 6-foot-3, 214-pound Decker, who’ll be 27 on Saturday, set career highs last season catching passes from Peyton Manning with 87 catches and 1,288 yards receiving to go along with 11 touchdowns. He had 85 receptions for 1,064 yards and a career-best 13 TDs in 2012.
Getting a top receiver was a priority as the Jets headed into free agency.
Las Vegas, NV – The North Platte Community College softball team (2-7) continued their road trip over spring break in Las Vegas, Nev. against the College of Southern Nevada on Tuesday 0-13 and 0-8.
“Their pitchers were very strong with a solid fielding squad behind her and our defense struggled,” said head coach Janelle Higgins. “Our bats have not warmed up on the trip. Our pitchers are throwing very well but our defense is not backing them up. I am very proud of our pitchers for stepping up and not giving in.”
In the first game Siarra Velazquez, Shannon Lieber and Brooke Wakefield each had a hit for the Knights. Velasquez also drew a walk while Sydney Standage and Jazmin Chang were hit by a pitch. The Knights gave up 10 unearned runs, had six errors in the game and left four runners stranded. Lieber took the loss on the mound for the Knights.
“As a whole we cannot give up that many unearned runs especially when our offense is not producing,” said Higgins. “Even if we had more offense it would still be hard to win games when giving up that many free runs.”
In game number two, Soliel Atenza, Lexi Bryant and Rylee Murphy each had a hit for the Knights. Wakefield, Lieber and Murphy all drew walks. The Knights gave up six unearned runs and left four runners stranded.
“College of Southern Nevada has a very talented and sophomore based team,” said Higgins. “Even with the losses we are jellying as a team. Going into the week we knew it was going to be tough and we are still very early in the season as we still have 30 games to play over the next five weeks. We are young and still learning to play together. This is a tough trip and we are still fighting in games and team morale is very high after two tough days at the ball field which is a positive for all.”
The Knights remain on the road the rest of the week for two more double-headers before returning home for their first home game against Western Nebraska Community College on March 18 at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. The Knights next face Adams State University JV on Friday March 14 at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Kenneth Faried scored 26 points and Wilson Chandler added 21 points and 10 rebounds to rally the Denver Nuggets to a 120-112 win over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night.
JJ Hickson had 20 points and nine rebounds, and Ty Lawson added 17 points and 12 assists for the Nuggets, who ended a two-game losing streak.
Arron Afflalo led Orlando with 24 points. Nikola Vucevic added 20, but had only four points in the second half. Jameer Nelson scored 19 points and had nine assists in Orlando’s fifth loss in six games.
After trailing by as many as 13 points in the first half, Denver took an 85-74 lead into the fourth quarter. A fast-break layup by JJ Hickson gave the Nuggets a 105-92 lead with 4:49 to play.
The Magic trimmed the deficit to five on two occasions, but got no closer.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Chiefs signed linebacker Joe Mays and offensive lineman Joe Linkenbach on Wednesday, while also confirming the signing of defensive back and special teams standout Husain Abdullah.
Linkenbach joined the Colts as an undrafted free agent in 2010, and started all 16 games the following season. He only started eight games in 2012 and five last season.
His ability to play tackle and guard on both sides of the line made him appealing to the Chiefs, who lost left tackle Branden Albert and guards Jon Asamoah and Geoff Schwartz on Tuesday.
Mays could take the place of Akeem Jordan, who also became a free agent. He was drafted by current Chiefs coach Andy Reid when he was in Philadelphia in 2008.
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — The Denver Broncos kept their free agency focus on defense as they agreed to a three-year, $30 million deal with pass rusher DeMarcus Ware.
Ware didn’t fully intend to agree to a deal right away with Denver when he flew into town Wednesday morning, but was persuaded by Broncos boss John Elway. The Hall of Fame quarterback turned executive stressed to Ware the Broncos’ commitment to defense even with a prolific offense led by Peyton Manning.
It was backed up by agreements with defensive backs T.J. Ward and Aqib Talib to open free agency on Tuesday. The 31-year-old Ware says the Broncos are “trying to make a statement — a statement we’re a team to be reckoned with.”
Ware was let go Tuesday by Dallas in a salary-cap move.
NEW YORK (AP) — Doug McDermott, the nation’s leading scorer who led Creighton to a second-place finish in its first year in the Big East, is the unanimous choice as the conference’s player of the year.
Jay Wright, who led Villanova to its first outright Big East title since 1982, is the coach of the year and DePaul freshman guard Billy Garrett, Jr., is the rookie of the year in a vote of the conference coaches released Wednesday.
McDermott is looking to become the 11th three-time All-America and first since 1985. He is the seventh-leading scorer in NCAA history with 3,011 points and is averaging 26.5 points per game this season. He is believed to be the first player to win player of the year honors in two conferences. He was Missouri Valley Conference player of the year last season.
BOSTON (AP) — NBA commissioner Adam Silver says he doesn’t see tanking going on in the league.
Silver said at a Boston College event on Wednesday that he thinks of tanking as players and coaches trying to lose on purpose. But he believes players and coaches are trying to win. Instead, teams are trying to rebuild through the draft, and that’s OK.
Silver was the guest of the Chief Executives’ Club of Boston.
This year’s college draft class is expected to be one of the best in memory. That has encouraged teams to trade away talent to improve their draft position. But that’s different from tanking.
Silver said teams are responding to the incentives set up by the league. If the incentives are wrong, that’s something the NBA needs to change, he said.
BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) — Chris Fowler is taking over play-by-play responsibilities for the marquee Saturday night college football game on ABC.
