LOCAL

LOCAL
Curbstoners
BOARDMAN -- Dr. Ray Duffett will speak on athletes and steroids at Monday's noon luncheon for the Curbstone Coaches at the Lockwood House.
All luncheons are open to the public. For details, visit www.curbstonecoaches.org.
Bowling
AUSTINTOWN -- The 3rd annual Joshua Walker sweeper benefit was won by Ed Carter at Wedgewood Lanes recently.
Joshua is an 8-year old Austintown resident, who, at age 2, was diagnosed with a rare disease known as Metachromatic Leukodystrophy, was present with his parents for the event.
The Youngstown State University bowling team members lent a helping hand in the sweeper's success.
OHSAA meetingfor baseball, softball
AUSTINTOWN -- The OHSAA's mandatory state rules meeting for all coaches and umpires for high school baseball and softball will be held at Fitch High Thursday.
The softball meeting will begin at 6 p.m. and the baseball meeting at 7:15 p.m.
Call coordinator John Mang (330-502-6665) for details.
Boxing roundup
*PIKESVILLE, Md. -- Niles middleweight Billy Lyell proved Friday night that fighting on the road is not a barrier.
Lyell (10-2) won a unanimous decision over hometown product Tony Cygan in an eight-round main event of a six-bout card Friday night in the Pikesville National Guard Armory, promoted by Jake Smith and Baltimore Boxing.
Lyell moved from the opening bell with a popping left jab that led to ripping combinations.
He showed great hand speed and worked inside and outside against the previously unbeaten Cygan (9-1).
Two judges voted 80-72 for Lyell and the third voted 79-73.
"My speed and boxing ability was too much for Cygan who is a tough fighter and very strong," said Lyell.
"It is always tough to be on the road but I believed I could come in here and [win]."
Lyell is co-managed by Tank DiCioccio, Pat Nelson and Jack Loew.
*MIAMI -- The 12-round bout for the USBA and NABA heavyweight titles, which had Shannon "The Cannon" Briggs from West Orange, N.J., fighting Chris Koval from Austintown Jan. 27 on the Miccosukee Gaming Land Indian Resort has been postponed because of a training injury to Briggs.
Briggs (45-4-1, 39 knockouts) sprained his ankle last Tuesday.
His camp felt the injury wasn't that serious but a day later the ankle became more swollen.
The bout will be rescheduled for either February or March with an announcement to be made next week.
Koval has been in Fort Myers, Fla., training for more than a week. He'll enter the ring with a 23-2 record.
Boardman swimmerswin Federal League
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Boardman High boys swimming team handed Canton GlenOak is first loss of the season, 94-89, Saturday at the YSU Natatorium.
In doing so, the Spartans, North Canton Hoover and GlenOak shared the Federal League championship with a 4-1 records.
Boardman's Mike Barringer helped the Spartans to the victory.
He took first place in the 200 individual medley, 2:08.28 and the 100 freestyle, 50.94 and was a member of the winning 200 medley relay, 1:42.52.
Mount Union football
ALLIANCE -- The Mount Union Raider Recognition Rally will be Tuesday at the Hoover-Price Campus Center.
Presented by the Alliance Area Chamber of Commerce and Mount Union College, the rally will honor the Purple Raiders as the NCAA Division III Football national champions.
Player autographs and giveaways will be at 6 p.m. to be followed by remarks from coaches, players and community members and a 2005 highlight video, "We're Back".
REGION
Browns promoteassistant Davidson
CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Browns promoted offensive line coach Jeff Davidson to assistant head coach, the team said Saturday.
Davidson, a former guard at Ohio State, will retain the job of coaching the offensive line.
Davidson has been an assistant coach for 12 seasons. He joined the Browns after working as an assistant in New England for eight seasons.
The Akron native was a four-year letterman at Ohio State and earned All-Big Ten honors before being drafted by the Denver Broncos in 1990. He played four seasons in the NFL with Denver and New Orleans.
Golf roundup
*PALM DESERT, Calif. -- Chad Campbell's 5-under 67 was barely enough to keep him in front Saturday in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, with Scott Verplank's 64 moving him within one shot of the lead.
Campbell kept up his steady play, with six birdies and a lone bogey at the new Classic Club at Northstar to go to 24-under 264 through four days of the 90-hole tournament.
Verplank crafted his 8-under round at Bermuda Dunes Country Club, one of four courses used for the first four days of the tournament.
A pro-am for the first 72 holes, the 70 low-scoring pros and ties play the final round at the Classic Club.
John Senden was alone in third after a 67 at Bermuda Dunes left him at 20 under. Lurking another two shots back was two-time Hope champion Phil Mickelson.
Mickelson, the winner in 2002 and 2004, shot a 67 at Bermuda Dunes to go to 18 under, six strokes off the pace. Making his season debut in the Hope, Mickelson was tied for fourth with Justin Rose, who had a 66.
*SUN CITY, South Africa -- Annika Sorenstam and Liselotte Neumann shot a 3-under 69 in alternate-shot play to give the Swedish duo a three-stroke lead over South Korea's Meena Lee and Bo Bae Song after the second round of the Women's World Cup.
The Swedes had a 10-under 134 total on the Gary Player Country Club course.
Colombia's Marisa and Cristian Baena (69) and Finland's Minea Blomqvist and Riika Hakkarainen (69) were tied for third at 6 under. Americans Paula Creamer and Natalie Gulbis (75) were tied for seventh at 1 under.
The tournament will conclude Sunday with stroke-play rounds.
*ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates -- Sweden's Henrik Stenson shot a course-record 10-under 62 to take a one-stroke lead over Chris DiMarco (63) after the third round of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship.
Stenson had a 16-under 200 total. Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez (64) was two strokes back, Argentina's Ricardo Gonzalez (67) and South Africa's Charl Schwartzel (68) were 13 under, and Spain's Sergio Garcia (65) was 12 under.
Vindicator staff/wire reports