LOCAL

LOCAL

Frimpong takes fourth
at national meet

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Audra Frimpong, a senior at Canfield High School, placed fourth in the long jump with a distance of 18 feet, 93⁄4 inches Saturday at the Nike National High School track and field meet.

Hardhats win opener
in overtime, 14-8

YOUNGSTOWN — Nate Logan connected on a 6-yard touchdown pass to Devon Brown in overtime, to lift the Steel Valley Hardhats to a 14-8 win over the Cleveland Cardinals Saturday in the season opener for both semi-professional football teams at South Field.

Calvin Spence’s 6-yard scoring dash and conversion run in the first quarter gave the Cardinals an 8-0 lead. But the Hardhats retaliated later in the opening frame on Logan’s 47-yard TD strike to Twon Ahart and Keith Ratliff’s conversion scamper.

Logan completed nine of 17 passes for 178 yards while Walt Wright rushed for 80 yards in seven carries and Antonio Owens 96 yards in 13 attempts to lead the Hardhats.

The Hardhats, guided by owner-coach Mark Greene, will play their next game Saturday against the Mansfield Marauders at South Field.

Thunder rally for
win over Invaders

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. — Steve Cupec scored two touchdowns as the New Castle Thunder defeated the Ohio Invaders 23-12 in an NAFL football game Saturday.

Cupec hauled in a 10-yard pass from Brandon Dando to open the scoring then he ran for a 6-yard fourth-quarter TD with the Thunder leading just 16-12.

Also getting into the endzone for the Thunder was Jonathan Fauzey on a 6-yard run and Kyle Snoke had a 27-yard field goal.

The Invaders led 12-7 after one quarter. It was the opener for each team.

REGION

Cavs owner thanks
fans in full-page ad

CLEVELAND — Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, whose team made the NBA finals for the first time in its 37-year history but was swept by San Antonio, thanked fans and promised “our time is coming soon” in a full-page newspaper ad Sunday.

“We came a lot closer than the pundits, the naysayers and the muckrakers want to give us credit for,” the ad in The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer said.

“Your enthusiastic and overwhelming support during the regular season and all the way through the finals was exhilarating,” the ad said. “I have zero doubt our time is coming soon. Together we will make it so.”

The Cavs beat the Washington Wizards, New Jersey Nets and Detroit Pistons en route to their first finals since the team began play in 1970.

NATION

Leicht posts win
in Meijer 300 race

SPARTA, Ky. — Stephen Leicht took advantage of Carl Edwards’ late wreck to win for the first time in the Busch Series, passing rookie Brad Coleman with 13 laps left and holding on Saturday night in the Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway. Leicht, whose best finish previous was eighth in the Pepsi 300 in April, beat Coleman by 1.851 seconds.

WORLD

Toronto FC blanks
FC Dallas, 4-0

TORONTO — Maurice Edu scored his second goal of the season and Toronto FC rolled to a 4-0 soccer victory Sunday over Western Conference leader FC Dallas.

Danny Dichio, Carl Robinson and Jeff Cunningham also scored for Toronto (4-6-1), which plays its next six games on the road.

After early pressure from Dallas (7-6-1), Toronto took the lead in the 22nd minute when Edu scored in front of franchise-record crowd of 20,156 fans at BMO Field.

Jankovic beats
Sharapova in final

BIRMINGHAM, England — Jelena Jankovic won her fourth title of the year Sunday, beating Maria Sharapova 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 to capture the grass-court DFS Classic.

Both players had to win semifinal matches earlier in the day at the rain-affected tournament. Sharapova also had two matches Saturday.

“I can’t complain. I came for five warm-up matches and I got them,” Sharapova said. “I felt I would find a little more energy, but I wasn’t able to do it on a consistent basis.”

Roddick wins 4th
Queen’s Club title

LONDON — Andy Roddick won his fourth Queen’s Club title Sunday, saving match point in the second set before beating France’s Nicolas Mahut 4-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (2) in the final of the grass-court tuneup for Wimbledon.

Vindicator staff⁄wire reports