Ohio
Fresno State grinds down Miami (Ohio) to win Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl
Sun Bowl field gets fresh paint ahead of Duke, Arizona State
The Sun Bowl field is shown fully painted with fresh lines, team colors and logos ahead of the Duke vs. Arizona State matchup in El Paso.
The next episode of the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop was a low-scoring game, but it was a closer contest than the previous year.
Fresno State outlasted Miami (Ohio), 18-3, in a low-scoring game and dethroned the Redhawks as the Arizona Bowl champion on Saturday at Casino Del Sol Stadium.
FSU ended the season winning four of its last five games and the Bulldogs finished their first season under head coach Matt Entz with a 9-4 record.
Miami, which has appeared in the last three MAC championships, finished the season with a 7-7 record.
Fresno State’s postgame celebration included Snoop Dogg delivering the Arizona Bowl trophy in a 1963 Chevy Impala and handing out “Death Row Records” chains to FSU players and coaches.
“A guy from Northeast Ohio probably looks unique with a Death Row necklace on,” Entz joked.
“When you finish with a win in December, that’s a good year,” Entz said. “Period. … When you’re winning a game after Christmas, with these type of young men, that’s a win for the administration, that’s a win for the program, that’s a win for Fresno State, that’s a win for our administration and all of our coaches and support people.”
Added Entz: “For them to walk out being a winner, being a champion of the Arizona Bowl, that’s exciting. I’m excited for them. That’s what it should be about.”
Fresno State, which ranks 14th in college football in total defense, is the first team in Arizona Bowl history to not allow a touchdown. The 21 total points on Saturday marked the lowest-scoring Arizona Bowl in the bowl game’s history.
After Miami kicker Dom Dzioban kicked a 33-yard field goal to grab a 3-0 lead, Fresno State outscored the Redhawks 18-0 to finish the game. Following Miami’s field goal on its opening drive, the Redhawks had drives result in two turnovers, two turnover on downs and five punts.
“Their defense outplayed our offense by a large margin,” said Miami head coach Chuck Martin.
Turning point
Miami was without long snapper Hudson Powell, who is expected to enter the transfer portal on Jan. 2. The Redhawks turned to backup long snapper Gray Maultsby, who sailed a snap over the head of punter Pierse Stainton in the second quarter.
Instead of giving up a potential safety or touchdown, Stainton picked up the dribbled snap in the end zone and attempted a punt that was blocked by Fresno State’s Ethan Thierney and recovered by FSU’s Jonathan Arceneaux at the Fresno State 10-yard line. A stuffed run, an incomplete pass and a short run by Fresno State quarterback and Phoenix native E.J. Warner forced the Bulldogs to settle for a 23-yard field goal to tie the game, 3-3.
Miami’s longest drive of the game, a seven-play, 53-yard possession, was cut short after Fresno State linebacker forced Miami running back Jordan Brunson to fumble, which was recovered by cornerback Jakari Embry at the FSU 22-yard line. Miami only had one trip to the red zone the entire game.
“That definitely shifted momentum and gave them some life,” Martin said of the fumble. “We just weren’t going to get in the plus territory many times against that defense, so we knew we had to cash in. … Big shift right there.”
Fresno State kicker Dylan Lynch made a 25-yard field at the end of the first half and the Bulldogs led 9-3 at halftime. Fresno State out-gained Miami 156-40 in the second quarter.
Even though former Arizona Wildcat and Fresno State running back Rayshon “Speedy” Luke suffered an injury in the first half and was limited throughout the game, FSU out-gained in total offense, 391-192 yards, and controlled time of possession, 38:40-21:20.
Fresno State’s only touchdown of the game was a 2-yard pass from Warner to sophomore tight end Richie Anderson III.
“Maybe we didn’t score touchdowns, but we leaned on people and we imposed on our will,” Entz said. “We got our run game going at different times. The gap-scheme stuff was really good.”
Offensive MVP
Warner, who’s the son of Super Bowl MVP Kurt Warner, was named MVP for the Arizona Bowl after completing 16 of 23 passes for 214 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions.
Warner’s top target was senior wide receiver Josiah Freeman. Fresno State’s leading receiver had seven catches for 143 yards — 109 yards after catch (YAC). Freeman had receptions of 51, 47 and 21 yards.
“Definitely the most (YAC) I’ve had,” Freeman said.
Defensive MVP
Embry entered Saturday with one career interception and he doubled it with an interception on a deep ball near the left sideline in the first quarter.
Embry, who recorded two tackles, had the momentum-shifting fumble recovery.
“The energy from that point went up,” Embry said of the fumble. “Ain’t nothing better on defense than getting a takeaway. That’s the best thing.”
Unsung hero
Lynch was 4-for-5 on field goals on Saturday. Lynch was a combined 8-for-9 in Fresno State’s final two games of the season.
Fresno State was 5-for-7 scoring in the red zone.
Extra points
— Announced attendance for the Arizona Bowl was 37,232. The attendance for the Arizona Bowl last season was 40,076.
— Miami had three players finish with double-digit tackles on Saturday: Safety Eli Blakey and linebacker Malcolm McCain each had 13 tackles and defensive back Silas Walters had 12 tackles.
— Luke, who had four carries for 14 yards, on his return to Tucson: “It felt great, seeing things I haven’t seen in almost a year. It’s a little shocking, because I never thought I’d be back here. It’s amazing.”
— Martin, on the experience at the Arizona Bowl over the last two years: “Amazing. It’s a great bowl. All the bowls are great, I’ve been around all of them, but this is as good as it gets for me, personally. Everybody treats you great, but it is above and beyond here. Everywhere you turn, someone wants to help you if you need something. … The interaction with Snoop, it’s a big deal to a lot of people, not just the players. There’s a lot of adults that are starry-eyed to be close to Snoop. … It’s the funnest football game you’ve ever been a part of.”
GIRARD, Ohio (WKBN) – Over 100 athletes came together for the 5th Annual Trumbull County Special Olympics Invitational Saturday morning in Girard.
These athletes represent five different schools across Trumbull County to compete and spread the message of inclusion, achievement, and sportsmanship.
The Invitational continued its long-standing tradition of honoring the legacy of Randy Suchanek while celebrating the dedication and accomplishments of Special Olympics athletes throughout the region.
“You can hear all the excitement for this, for the athletes that are here today,” said superintendent Bryan O’Hara. “They work hard all year long to participate. We’ve always worked hand in hand with the rotary to get this accomplished is a lot of work behind the scenes.”
Participating schools included Ashtabula, Geauga, Columbiana, Kent-Portage and Trumbull Fairhaven
“There’s a lot of nice participation from girard students as you see behind us, and a lot of participation from the community helping out,” Girard-Liberty Rotary co-president Andy Kish added.
O’Hara added that the event keeps everything in perspective, seeing the athletes compete in the spirit of fun, along with the courage and determination that they show.
Alex Sorrells contributed to this report.
Out of prison, Indiana’s caviar king back on Ohio River to find fishing holes taken
David Cox, of English, Indiana, says once he began setting his nets again after a two-year prison sentence and a three-year ban on commercial fishing, all of his once-secret spots were taken.
Can you eat fish from the Ohio River?
In 1975, future presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, then governor of Massachusetts, bet 20 pounds of New England cod that the Red Sox would defeat the Reds in the World Series. If things went south for Boston, Ohio governor James Rhodes promised to send Dukakis 10 pounds of Lake Erie perch and 10 pounds of Ohio River catfish. The Reds ended up winning and the cod was sent to the Convalescent Home for Children, in Cincinnati.
At the time, people were still eating catfish from the Ohio without too much concern. The fish were also served at several restaurants along the river.
There were warnings in 1977
But two years later, in 1977, The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission released the results of a study of contaminants found in the tissues of Ohio River fish. They warned anglers in cities such as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, Wheeling and Gallipolis that man-made chemicals known as PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, had been discovered in the river fish. Later, high concentrations of mercury were discovered in the fish, too.
Thanks to the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the environmental regulations that followed, the river is now cleaner than it was in the seventies. And it’s still teeming with a variety of fish, including catfish, striped bass, drum and black bass, among other species.
But even though PCBs were banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1979, they are still found in fish, since they remain in the sediment in the bottom of the river. “Organisms live in the sediment and fish feed on them,” Rich Cogen, the executive director of the Ohio River Foundation told The Enquirer. Mercury is also a big problem, according to Cogen.
So the question is: Can you eat fish caught in the Ohio River?
The short answer is yes. But it depends on what species you are eating and where along the river you caught it.
There are also very strict limitations on how frequently you should eat them, according to the web site for the Ohio Sport Fish Consumption Advisory, part of the Ohio Department of Health.
In areas of the river between the Belleville Lock, located 204 miles downstream from the river’s origins in Pittsburgh, to the Indiana border, the advisory agency currently recommends consuming Ohio River fish no more than once a month max. That area includes Adams, Brown, Clermont, Gallia, Hamilton, Lawrence, Meigs and Scioto counties.
Here’s where to check
Recommendations change throughout the year, but you can keep up by visiting the Ohio Department of Health’s Sport Fish Consumption Advisory page, which provides updated information on when certain fish, usually bottom feeders such as carp, are deemed too dangerous to eat at all.
Here’s who should take a pass on Ohio River fish
The agency also warns that people who are more likely to have health effects from eating contaminated fish, includingchildren younger than 15 years old, pregnant women and women who are planning to become pregnant to avoid Ohio River fish altogether.
Just because you have to limit the amount of fish you eat, doesn’t mean the river is a bad place for fishing, as long as you limit your intake or do catch-and-release fishing. Just make sure you have a proper fishing license before casting your line.
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It isn’t over until it’s over. That’s the case for both the UCLA Bruins football program recruiting and for quarterback Brady Edmunds. Edmunds is currently committed to head to Ohio State but he took a visit from UCLA offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy earlier this week.
Kennedy met Edmunds on Thursday despite the fact that the quarterback has been committed to the Buckeyes since December of 2024 but could the UCLA Bruins be making a run at flipping the quarterback?
Edmunds has only had an official visit with Ohio State but could UCLA heave a heat check on the 6’5” quarterback? New UCLA head coach Bob Chesney is off to an unbelievable start to his recruiting with the Bruins and flipping a recruit of Edmunds’ caliber would be his most impressive move yet.
247 Sports has Edmunds as the No. 16 quarterback in the class, which would give UCLA a clear predecessor for Nico Iamaleava whenever the Bruins current starting quarterback decides to head to the professional level.
It’d be a full circle moment for the Bruins, as Edmunds was originally recruited to Ohio State by former UCLA head coach Chip Kelly, who bailed on UCLA to go run the Buckeyes offense. Ohio State is a great spot for a developing quarterback, as the Buckeyes produce tons of NFL talent, especially at the wide receiver position, which would help Edmunds put up some gaudy numbers in Columbus.
Chesney and the Bruins have geography on their side, Edmunds attends Huntington Beach High School in Southern California, which could potentially become a factor if Edmunds views UCLA as a program on the rise that’d be much closer to his friends and family than out in Ohio.
Time will tell if Kennedy’s visit will make a difference but UCLA’s recruiting has made waves in the first offseason under Chesney and the new regime.
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