Beaver Local site changed

ZANESVILLE — Beaver Local’s girls soccer team will take on Albany Alexander at noon Saturday at West Muskingum High School in a Div. IV regional final.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association changed the site from Logan High School on Wednesday morning since it will be a more equitable trip distance for both teams.

Beaver Local (18-2-0) beat Tuscarawas Valley 3-2 on Tuesday in the regional semifinal at Cambridge High School, while Alexander (16-3-1) was a 2-1 winner over McClain in its regional semifinal.

Beaver Local is 10-1 against Div. IV opponents this season with its only loss coming at Salem on Oct. 7.

The Spartans have scored 77 goals this season and have given up 13. Beaver Local has produced 115 goals and has given up 20.

Super sophomore Peyton Dunn leads the Beavers with 44 goals and eight assists, while freshman Leah Stewart had 24 goals and 29 assists.

Senior Karah Allison leads the Spartans with 26 goals and 14 assists.

Beaver Local is ranked 12th in Div. IV by Maxpreps while the Spartans are 15th. Beaver Local’s strength of schedule is ranked the worst out of the eight remaining teams, while Alexander’s is third worst behind Niles.

Tickets are $12 for adults and $5 for students.

Time to take a break

COLUMBUS — The three highest ranked area football teams in the final 2025 Associated Press Ohio high school state poll have the weekend off.

Crestview, West Branch and United all got first-round byes and will host second-round games on Nov. 7.

Crestview finished third in Division VI after completed the second 10-0 regular-season in school history, matching the 2012 team.

The Rebels, who are averaging 40.6 points a game on the way to the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Gray Tier title, are led by senior quarterback Jake Noling. Noling has passed for 1,604 yards and 17 touchdowns and rushed for 1,058 yards and 17 touchdowns.

West Branch (9-1) is ranked 17th in Division VI after wrapping up its sixth straight Eastern Buckeye Conference title after averaging 39.9 points a game.

The Warriors have a potent one-two punch with quarterback Grady Hirst and receiver Jeremiah Thomas. Hirst has passed for 2,256 yards and 24 touchdowns as well as running for a team-high 532 yards. Thomas has scored a team-high 134 points with 1,522 all-purpose yards.

United (9-1), ranked 18th in Division VI, has scored more than 40 points in five straight games as the Eagles clinched their third Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference title.

East Palestine (6-4) is ranked 20th in Division VII after losing three of its last four games. The Bulldogs still earned a home playoff game as they host Western Reserve in the first round at 7 p.m. Friday.

Get your playoff tickets

Tickets for the first round high school football games on Friday will be available at the gate and online. Tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for students.

First-round matchups include Western Reserve at East Palestine and Lisbon at East Canton in Division VII, Columbiana at Dalton in Division VI, Burton Berkshire at South Range in Division V and Salem at Canal Fulton Northwest in Division IV.

All games will kick off at 7 p.m. Friday.

Cavaliers fall in Boston

BOSTON (AP) — Jaylen Brown scored 30 points, including 13 during a 20-3 run to end the first half that helped the Boston Celtics pull away from Cleveland to win 125-105 on Wednesday night and snap the Cavaliers’ three-game winning streak.

Sam Hauser scored 21 points off the bench for Boston, which has won two straight since opening the season with three losses in a row. Josh Minott had 14 rebounds, Neemias Queta had 13 and Payton Pritchard had 10 assists for the Celtics.

Evan Mobley scored 19 points with 11 rebounds and Jaylon Tyson also scored 19 for the Cavaliers. Donovan Mitchell made all four 3-point attempts for 12 points in the first quarter, when the Cavaliers led 42-40, but made just one of his last eight shots and finished with 15 points.

Boston led by 19 points midway through the third quarter and had a 98-80 advantage in the final two minutes of the third before Cleveland scored the next eight points. The Cavs never got closer than nine points from there, shooting 33% (8 for 24) in the fourth quarter as they failed to chip into Boston’s lead.

Boston’s only previous win this season was on Monday night, when they beat the winless New Orleans Pelicans.

The Cavaliers led by three points early in the second quarter and had a 57-55 lead with four minutes left in the half before Boston ran off 20 of the next 23 points to take a 15-point halftime lead.

Brown hit three 3-pointers down the stretch, making a 31-footer with 17 seconds left and then a step-back 26-footer at the buzzer to give the Celtics a 75-60 lead.

The teams combined for 18 3-pointers in the first quarter, one shy of the NBA record.

The Celtics had 20 assists in the first half.

Up next

Cavaliers: Host Toronto on Friday night for the opener of the in-season tournament.