Sports Digest

YSU
Football
YOUNGSTOWN -- Senior tailback Marcus Mason is one of 16 finalists for the Walter Payton Award.
If Mason is among the top three vote-getters, he will be invited to attend the I-AA college football awards banquet Dec. 14 in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Jon Heacock was also listed as a candidate for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award.
LOCAL
Thunder to havenight to select seats
BOARDMAN -- The Mahoning Valley Thunder will unveil their field, and allow fans to select their seats at an event Dec. 5 at the Chevrolet Centre.
A ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled for 4:30 p.m., followed by the field unveiling and "Pick Your Seat" event from 5-7 p.m.
Arndt joins Akron
AKRON -- Former West Branch High basketball standout Tori Arndt has transferred to the University of Akron from Illinois.
Arndt will enroll at Akron in January and will be eligible to play in January 2008 where she will have sophomore standing. Arndt signed with Illinois out of high school in 2005 and redshirted during the 2005-06 season. The 6-foot-1 forward led West Branch to the Division II state title in 2004 and is the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,299 points. She averaged 14.5 points and 8.1 rebounds per game and was named MVP of the state tournament.
Harris wins by TKO
CLEVELAND -- Joshua Harris of Youngstown, a 198-pound cruiserweight ranked No. 4 in the nation as an amateur, defeated Anthony Tiettis of Pittsburgh by TKO at an event Saturday.
Harris (21-11, 14 KOs), who fights out of the Buckeye Elks Youth Center, is trained by Frank West.
Bowling leaders
BOARDMAN -- West Side Bus of Bob Balog, George Knapic, Don Styka and Rich Belcik are the leaders of the Youngstown Senior team tournament at Boardman Lanes.
West Side Bus rolled 2,559. In second place is the MJJG, Inc. team of Mike Yurco, Joe Haus, John Beene and Ted Bundy with 2,459, followed by Taxi Carl of Fred Druschel, Carol Pasternack, Ron Jones Sr. and Carl Pasternack with 2,433.
The fourth-place team is Joe's Team of Frank Mediate, Joe Pollifrone, Joe Canatelli and Patsy Valentino with 2,421.
Entries are still open for Nov. 25-26 at 64 per team.
Slippery Rock gets Frontier League team
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- Minor league baseball will return to Butler County for the first time in 55 years as the Frontier League is bringing an expansion team to Jack Critchfield Park on the campus of Slippery Rock University for the 2007 season.
The association between the Slippery Rock University and the Frontier League will be unique in that it will allow the students of Slippery Rock University to receive hands-on experience in all aspects of setting up and running a professional baseball team.
Slippery Rock Professional Baseball will be overseen by Steve Tahsler, who is entering his 11th season in the Frontier League. Tahsler was most recently the vice president/general manager for the Evansville Otters, and was voted the Frontier League's Executive of the Year in 2005 and 2006.
The Frontier League is an independent professional baseball league featuring 12 teams in seven Midwestern states.
Flag champions
The YFFA.net Devils defeated Crown Limo 38-0 in the championship game of the Youngstown Flag Football Associations 8-man league to finish the season with a 13-0 record.
The Devils are only the second team in league history to finish undefeated. The victory made it their sixth straight Youngstown league title.
Last weekend the Devils traveled to Detroit to play in the Michigan State Championships where they took first place in both the 4-man and 8-man tournaments, and finished the weekend undefeated with an overall record of 11-0. The Devils will travel to Orlando, Fla., to participate in the United State Flag and Touch Football League National Championships Jan. 12-14, 2007.
REGION
Colleges, conferences back Ohio State
COLUMBUS -- Eighteen universities and the Big Ten, Pacific-10 and Big 12 conferences filed a brief Monday in state appeals court supporting Ohio State in its bid to overturn a 2.4 million award to former men's basketball coach Jim O'Brien.
The universities and conferences argue the Ohio Court of Claims' ruling earlier this year that Ohio State improperly fired O'Brien limits their ability to comply with NCAA rules and discipline employees who violate them. Judge Joseph Clark said the university had to pay O'Brien -- even though he broke NCAA bylaws by giving 6,000 to a recruit -- because it did not follow the terms of O'Brien's contract when firing him in 2004.
Vindicator staff/wire reports