YOUNGSTOWN — After spending most of the month of November on the road, Friday night’s return home to the friendly confines of Zidian Family Arena was welcomed with open arms by Youngstown State. The Penguins were coming off three straight tough road losses, before they finally had that ...

On a typical November day, basketball practice at McDonald would be at full throttle. Coach James Franceschelli would be guiding a cast of roughly 18 players through intense drills and weekly scrimmages. This late into November, the team would be finely tuned and ready for the impending tipoff ...

BEREA — Shedeur Sanders isn’t fixated on the attention his relationship with coach Kevin Stefanski is receiving or the applause expected from fans when he takes the field Sunday against San Francisco. Instead, the rookie Cleveland Browns quarterback made it clear Wednesday his only focus ...

COLUMBUS — Ohio State won the national championship last season with the nation’s No. 1 defense. It was full of talented players, but arguably the most important was Caleb Downs, a sophomore safety whose versatility gave then-defensive coordinator Jim Knowles lots of options for stopping ...

CANFIELD — Since moving down from Division I in 2022 , Canfield’s girls basketball program has become accustomed to deep postseason runs. In the three years since, the Cardinals made it to the district championship each year, winning twice, including last season when they went 23-3 en ...

YOUNGSTOWN — The Ursuline boys basketball team came into last season with sky-high expectations after reaching the state final four at the end of the 2023-24 season. The Irish went 15-5 during the regular season, but their overconfidence got the best of them in the playoffs, according to ...