SPORTS DIGEST || Weymer replaces Durkin as coach

Weymer replaces Durkin as coach

YOUNGSTOWN

Matt Weymer, the head baseball coach at Springfield High School for five seasons, has been named the new head baseball coach at Ursuline High School, replacing Sean Durkin.

Weymer is the fifth baseball coach in Irish history. Durkin served for 18 seasons and is the Ursuline athletic director.

Weymer compiled a 101-38 record for the Tigers, twice finishing state runner-up in Division IV. Springfield won three district and two regional titles under Weymer. He will continue to teach at Springfield.

“Matt was the guy we had targeted from the beginning,” Durkin said. “We are fortunate to have him taking over the program.

“His head coaching experience at the varsity level along with the success of his teams made him an obvious choice.”

Salinas to fight Duarte on Friday

LOS ANGELES

Local boxer Alejandro “Popo” Salinas will be fighting Friday at the Belasco Theater on a Oscar De La Hoya promoted show.

Salinas’ oppoent will be Oscar Duarte (2-0-1) of Mexico.

Football stats requested

YOUNGSTOWN

Area high school football coaches and statisticians are encouraged to send weekly statistics to The Vindicator by emailing them to sports@vindy.com.

Favre leads nominees for Hall of Fame

CANTON

Brett Favre is back in the news — no, he’s not attempting another comeback.

Favre was among the 108 modern-day nominees for the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2016 announced Wednesday night. The NFL’s career leader in nearly every passing category when he retired after the 2010 season and winner of the 1997 Super Bowl with Green Bay, Favre leads a strong list of first-time nominees.

That group includes Terrell Owens, one of the league’s most prolific and dynamic receivers for most of his 15 pro seasons, and former Pittsburgh Steeler Alan Faneca, an elite blocker who made six All-Pro teams at guard in his 13 seasons.

Other first-year-eligible nominees are safety Lawyer Milloy; running backs Brian Westbrook and Clinton Portis; place-kicker John Carney; and linebackers Keith Bulluck and Mike Vrabel.

Already nominated by the seniors committee are Ken Stabler and Dick Stanfel. The 2016 contributor candidate is former 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo, Jr.

The nominees consist of 93 players (51 on offense, 33 on defense, 9 from special teams) and 15 coaches. They will be trimmed to 25 semifinalists in November and, from there, to 15 finalists in January.

Voting will culminate Feb. 6, the night before the Super Bowl. While there is no set number for any class of enshrinees, the selection process bylaws provide that between four and eight new members will be selected.

Patriots’ Brady endorses Trump

FOXBOROUGH, Mass.

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said Wednesday that he hopes Donald Trump can win the presidency, hours before Trump was set to participate in the second Republican debate.

The Super Bowl MVP, whose four-game suspension for using deflated footballs was recently overturned by a judge, grinned broadly as he talked about his golf partner.

“I hope so,” he said. “It would be great. There would be a putting green on the White House lawn, I’m sure of that.”

Brady’s locker sported a “Make America Great Again” red hat sent to him by Trump.

“It was a nice keepsake,” he said. “It could be a — yeah, a nice piece of memorabilia he sent me.”

Brady doesn’t appear to have given to federal politicians, a review of Federal Election Commission records shows.

Staff/wire report