LOCAL

LOCAL
Curbstoners
BOARDMAN -- Warren JFK football coach Tony Napolet will be the guest speaker at the Curbstone Coaches noon luncheon at Lockwood House.
Correction
CANFIELD -- The names of three Canfield High School students were misspelled in the listing of Metro Athletic Conference girls tennis all-stars in Saturday's edition.
Krystle Hively was selected to the first team while Nikki Camardo and Jillian Nard and were selected to the MAC second team. The misspellings were submitted by the league to The Vindicator.
NATION
Sioux Falls winsin NAIA quarterfinal
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Jon Burckhardt passed for 189 yards and two touchdowns as the University of Sioux Falls defeated Northwestern of Iowa 33-7 in the NAIA quarterfinals on Saturday.
Burckhardt completed 12 of 21 passes including a 25-yard scoring pass to Grant Brecher and a 39-yard TD pass to Charles Johnson. Both came in the second quarter.
The second-ranked Cougars (12-0) jumped out to a 7-0 lead when Ryan Simmons rushed 9 yards for a touchdown. Simmons also rushed 1 yard for another touchdown in the second quarter.
T.C. Fraser added two field goals for Sioux Falls.
Eighth-ranked Northwestern (10-2) remained scoreless until the end of the game when Karlton Hector threw a 6-yard scoring pass to Jer Vansoelen in the fourth period.
Sioux Falls beat the Red Raiders 30-17 on Oct. 11 en route to the Cougars' third consecutive Great Plains Athletic Conference title.
The win gives the Cougars their third consecutive trip to the national semifinals.
St. Francis (Ind.)drops St. Ambrose
FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- Chris Bramell threw one touchdown pass and ran for two more TDs to lead St. Francis, Ind., to a 41-14 NAIA quarterfinal victory over St. Ambrose on Saturday.
St. Francis (12-0, 6-0) outgained the Fighting Bees on the ground, 327-47 yards, as St. Ambrose (8-4, 5-2) dominated in the air with 211 passing yards to the Cougars' 118.
The Fighting Bees opened scoring in the first quarter off Jeff Kietzman's 3-yard pass to Steve Clary, but then gave up 41 unanswered points off six touchdowns, five of them on the ground. St. Ambrose's final touchdown came in the fourth quarter, when Kietzman threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Andy Ford.
The Cougars' Cory Jacquay rushed for 122 yards, including two TD runs of seven and 64 yards. Mike Ledo ran 42 yards for a touchdown and scored a second TD off a 49-yard pass from Bramell.
McNair tests calf,may play Monday
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee quarterback Steve McNair threw a few passes Saturday and tested his strained right calf by moving around a little.
He said he was trying to be optimistic but doesn't want to set himself up for a letdown.
"I'm just going to keep an open mind right now to where I can improve even more in the next two days," said McNair, who watched most of the nearly two-hour practice with his right calf on ice. "I'm just staying positive that I am going to play."
Coach Jeff Fisher said the decision won't be made until Monday night before kickoff against the New York Jets (4-7).
"The risk is obvious," Fisher said. "If you subject him to further injury, then you'll lose him for a number of weeks."
McNair strained his calf in the Atlanta game on Nov. 23.
Defensive end Jevon Kearse, who sprained his left ankle two weeks ago, will be a game-time decision after having his best day since the injury.
Bears' Johnson on IR
LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Chicago Bears tight end Robert Johnson went on injured reserve Saturday with a broken foot.
Johnson, a rookie out of Auburn, joined the Bears in the spring after Atlanta waived him.
The team also signed tight end Gabe Reid, a rookie from Brigham Young who had been on the Tennessee Titans' practice squad.
Stars' Boucherundergoes surgery
DALLAS -- Dallas Stars defenseman Philippe Boucher had surgery Saturday to repair his left eye socket, which was broken when he was hit by a puck.
The Stars said Boucher is out indefinitely. He will be re-evaluated in two weeks.
Boucher was hurt with 2:37 left in the Stars' 2-0 win over New Jersey on Friday night when a deflected puck struck him in the face.
During the surgery at Baylor Medical Center, doctors placed five plates and screws around Boucher's left orbital bone to help it heal. He is expected to make a full recovery.
Boucher signed with the Stars before the 2002-03 season, then missed much of the season because of a foot injury.
Paerson sweepsat Park City
PARK CITY, Utah -- Anja Paerson of Sweden completed a weekend sweep Saturday by winning the opening World Cup slalom for her third podium finish in as many races this season.
Paerson, who won Friday's giant slalom by 1.42 seconds, had another big margin Saturday with a combined time of 1:33.74 -- 1.14 seconds better than Sonja Nef of Switzerland.
Marlies Schild of Austria was third (1:35.15) and Kristina Koznick was the top American, falling from third after the opening run to tenth after slipping near the bottom of the second run.
Paerson, who was second in the opening giant slalom last month in Soelden, Austria, won her 13th overall World Cup race and ninth in slalom. She also won Olympic silver in the giant slalom and bronze in the slalom at the same site in 2002.
Temperatures pushing 40 softened the course on C.B.'s Run and nobody came close to catching Paerson, who made the first run of the day and held an .86 second lead entering the afternoon.
WORLD
U.S. youth teamrallies past Paraguay
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates -- The United States rallied to beat Paraguay 3-1 with three second-half goals Saturday in a FIFA World Youth Championship opener.
Ed Johnson tied the score eight minutes after halftime, Mike Magee put the Americans ahead in the 67th minute, and captain Bobby Convey sealed the victory in the 81st.
Julio Dos Santos scored for Paraguay in the sixth minute.
Freddy Adu, the 14-year-old who recently joined Major League Soccer, did not get in the game for the United States.
In the day's other Group F game, South Korea defeated Germany 2-0.
In other tournament games Saturday, Japan beat England 1-0, Ivory Coast topped Mexico 2-1, Colombia tied Egypt 0-0, and Ireland edged Saudi Arabia 2-1.
Ex-boxer convictedfor threatening police
COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- Retired boxer Brian Nielsen was sentenced Saturday to 40 days in jail after a court found him guilty of pushing and threatening police officers during a brawl.
Nielsen won a silver medal at the 1992 Olympics and lost to Mike Tyson in 2001. He retired last month because of a knee injury with a pro record of 64-2, including 43 knockouts.
Vindicator staff/wire reports