Sports shorts
Basketball Vulcans open season
California University of Pennsylvania is set to open its men’s and women’s basketball seasons by hosting the eight-team Holiday Inn Classic this weekend at Hamer Hall.
Coach Darcy Vincent’s women’s team will unveil its National Championship banner prior to a 6 p.m. Friday tip-off against Lees-McRae of North Carolina. In the nightcap of a quadruple-header, coach Bill Brown’s men’s team takes on Ohio Valley, with tip-off set for 8 p.m.
Earlier Friday, Hillsdale meets West Virginia Wesleyan in a 2 p.m. women’s game before Edinboro takes on Virginia Union in a men’s game at 4 p.m.
Tickets will be available at the door at a cost of $6 for adults and $5 for students.
Football
Waynesburg in playoffs
Waynesburg College makes its second consecutive trip to the ECAC football playoffs when the Yellow Jackets travel to Johns Hopkins for a noon Saturday kickoff.
Quarterback Jeff Dumm leads the Yellow Jackets (7-3). He passed for 2,271 yards so far this season and is within range of his school record of 2,493 passing yards. Dumm set that record last year, while leading Waynesburg College to a No. 21 national Division III ranking.
Running back Ryan Abels needs 43 yards to get to the 1,000-yard plateau for the Yellow Jackets.
Pitt’s Gill honored
Pitt junior tight end Erik Gill of Belle Vernon has been named the John Mackey Tight End of the Week by the Nassau County Sports Commission for his performance against Notre Dame last Saturday.
Gill has six receptions for 89 yards and a touchdown that gave the Panthers a 38-35 lead with 2:24 remaining. After Notre Dame tied the score, Gill caught three crucial passes to set up the Panthers’ game-winning field goal.
Culpepper leads voting
NEW YORK (AP) – Daunte Culpepper was leading Pro Bowl fan balloting through Wednesday with 325,383 votes.
The Vikings quarterback outdistanced Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning (310,236) in voting that will continue through Dec. 19.
Leading among receivers was Philadelphia’s Terrrell Owens with 272,759. The top running back was the Giants’ Tiki Barber (260,568).
The teams will be announced Dec. 22. The Pro Bowl will be played in Hawaii on Feb. 13. The AFC and NFC squads will be made up of the consensus votes of fans, players and coaches. Each groups vote counts one-third toward determining the 43-man rosters.
Heinz Field ticket suit
PITTSBURGH (AP) – An attorney filed a second lawsuit on behalf of Steelers season-ticket holders over the location of seats in Heinz Field.
William J. Helzlsouer, an attorney from Dravosburg, filed the lawsuit in Allegheny County court last week against the Pittsburgh Steelers on behalf of nine season ticket holders.
The fans paid to be in the first dozen rows of the upper deck of Heinz Field but ended up on a higher level and got no discount, Helzlsouer said.
“It’s clear (the Steelers) still didn’t do what they said they were going to do,” Helzlsouer said.
The lawsuit is similar to one the state Supreme Court dismissed in July.
In that lawsuit, filed in 2001, four season-ticket holders claimed they were misled in October 1998 by a sales brochure for season tickets at the stadium, which hadn’t yet been built.
The Supreme Court ruled that the brochure was just an offer to sell the right to be assigned an unspecified seat at the new stadium.
“(The Steelers’) expectations are that this will have no more merit than the previous one,” said team spokesman Ron Wahl.
Hockey
Half of Canucks sold
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) – Local businessman Francesco Aquilini bought half of the Vancouver Canucks from American John McCaw.
The purchase price was not immediately disclosed. The surprise sale came during the NHL lockout, which has wiped out the season so far.
“We got a fair deal. We’re very happy,” Aquilini said Wednesday. “Local ownership adds value, it puts deeper roots in the community. I think it’s a good thing. People have been wanting that for a long time.”
Golf
Lizza gets ace at Toftrees