LOCAL

LOCAL
Poland-Canfieldrescheduled
POLAND -- The Canfield-Poland high school girls basketball game scheduled for Saturday afternoon at Poland has been postponed because of illness on the Canfield team.
The contest has been reset for the following Saturday, Dec. 29, with the junior varsity game starting at noon, followed by the varsity game.
Wrestling tourneyslated at J-M
NORTH JACKSON -- The annual Leonard Truck and Trailer wrestling tournament will be held Jan. 5, 2002, at Jackson-Milton High School.
Wrestling will start at 11 a.m., with Alliance, Berton Berkshire, Cardinal, Garfield, Girard, Jackson-Milton, Liberty, South Range, Warren JFK and Waterloo participating.
Fitch's Casehonored at Akron
AKRON -- Ashley Case, a senior on the University of Akron volleyball team from Austintown Fitch High, has been named the Zips' Co-Most Valuable Player for this season.
Case shared the honor with Katie Cozier, a junior from Tallmadge High.
The awards were presented by coach Mike Sweitzer and assistant John Napier during a post-season luncheon held at the Martin University Center.
Case had 1,000 career kills in three seasons with the Zips.
This year, she helped Akron to a 17-9 record, including 11-7 in the Mid-American Conference, to earn the Zips their fourth straight MAC tournament berth.
Liberty's Cohenleads Bethany
BETHANY, W.Va. -- Kiki Cohen. a junior member of the Bethany College women's basketball team from Liberty High, has been selected as the Presidents' Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Week for Dec. 16.
In Bethany' 65-62 win over Muskingum Dec. 12, Cohen scored 20 points to equal her career high, including 7-for-9 from the field and 6-for-9 from 3-point range.
Her six 3-point goals missed tying the school record by just one basket. Jen Rodkey set the mark of seven in 1994.
Cohen also got five rebounds and three assists, helping the Bison to improve to a 6-2 record.
Through eight games, Cohen is ranked No. 3 on the team and No. 10 in the PAC in scoring with an 8.9-point average.
She also is rated among the top five players in assists (fourth with 2.62 per game), 3-point percentage (third with 38.5) and 3-point goals per game (second with 1.88).
The daughter of Katie Cohen of Youngstown and Randy Cohen of Girard, Kiki is majoring in communications.
Correction
Two players were misidentified in the Fitch-Wilson boys basketball game story on Dec. 15. Rob Patzak had 15 points, five rebounds and six assists and Shawn Barber had eight points and a steal.
REGION
Browns' Jacksonplaced on IR
BEREA -- The Cleveland Browns, who already have one of the weakest rushing attacks in the NFL, on Thursday put their top running back, James Jackson, on injured reserve for the year.
Jackson, a rookie, who leads the team with 554 yards rushing, will miss the rest of the season with an ankle injury, the team said.
Jackson aggravated a left ankle sprain in the first quarter of Sunday's defeat against the Jacksonville Jaguars and left the game with two carries for six yards.
The Browns' rushing offense ranks 29th in the league -- ahead of only the Carolina Panthers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- with an average of 79.1 yards per game.
The Browns also activated running back Carl Fair off the practice squad and signed defensive lineman Derrick Ham to the practice squad.
Pirates openagainst Tigers
PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Pirates begin their exhibition schedule Feb. 28 against the Detroit Tigers in Lakeland, Fla., and will play the Tigers the next day at their spring home in Bradenton, Fla.
The Pirates are scheduled for 31 exhibition games, 15 in Bradenton. They will play a day-night doubleheader March 4, meeting the Cleveland Indians in Bradenton in the afternoon and the Cincinnati Reds in Sarasota that night.
The Pirates will play their entire spring schedule in Florida. A year ago, they closed out exhibition play with two games in PNC Park against the New York Mets,
Lakeland QB issmall school best
Evan Kraky is Pennsylvania's career passing yardage leader. He has thrown more touchdown passes than any quarterback in state history.
Not surprisingly, the Lakeland quarterback has something else to go with his two new state records: The Associated Press Small School player of the year award.
Vindicator staff/wire reports