Williams scores for Toledo football

TOLEDO — Toledo sophomore safety Eric Williams from East Liverpool made a special play Saturday.

Williams blocked a punt by Kent State’s Charlie Durkin and returned it 19 yards for his first collegiate touchdown during the Rockets’ 45-10 win at the Glass Bowl.

He took the ball off Durkins’ foot and his score gave the Rockets a 38-10 lead with 4:25 to play in the third quarter.

The 5-foot-11, 193-pound Williams plays on the scout team and is listed as a fifth-team safety on the depth chart.

“He plays and travels and goes to games because he’s going to play a couple roles in the kicking game,” Toledo head coach Jason Candle said. “He’s a guy who shuts up and doesn’t say a word. Never makes it about him. He just goes to work and does what he’s supposed to do. That’s one of the main reasons I love coaching. It’s the guys who do what they’re supposed to over and over and over, and somehow, always, the football gods repay those guys. A really special moment for the guys in our locker room.”

It was Toledo’s first blocked punt returned for a touchdown since Reggie Gilliam did it against Nevada in 2018.

Toledo (4-3, 2-2 MAC) will play at Washington State at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

Greenlief is PAC Defensive Player of the Week

WAYNESBURG, Pa. — Waynesburg University junior goalkeper Lex Greenlief is the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Women’s Soccer Defensive Player of the Week.

The former Oak Glen High School standout tallied 12 saves and allowed one goal in the Yellow Jackets’ two wins last week.

Greenlief made nine saves, including seven in the first half, in a 2-1 win over Chatham last Wednesday. Then she posted her sixth shutout of the season Saturday with three saves in a 1-0 win over Franscican.

Greenlief currently leads the PAC in goals against average (.462) and save percentage (.905), while her half-dozen shutouts puts her in a tie for second.

The Yellow Jackets are 12-1-2 and will play at Hiram at 6 p.m. today.

Thomas is PAC Offensive Player of the Week

GROVE CITY, Pa. — Grove City College senior midfielder Camden Thomas has been named the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Men’s Soccer Offensive Player of the Week.

The former South Range High School standout struck for three goals in a pair of Grove City wins that lifted the Wolverines to first place in the PAC

He scored twice last Wednesday, including the opening goal of the match in the fourth minute, as Grove City downed Franciscan, 4-2, in a matchup of conference unbeatens, 4-2. On Saturday, Thomas scored on a penalty kick for an insurance goal in the 75th minute of Grove City’s 2-0 win at Chatham.

Thomas has started all 14 matches this season, collecting four goals and one assist.

He has led the Wolverines to a 10-2-2 record heading into today’s home match against Saint Francis.

An unbeaten cross country season

DUBLIN — Salem eighth-grader Taven Tice completed an unbeaten cross country season.

Tice won the Division 2 boys race at the 19th annual Ohio Cross Country Middle School and Elementary State Championships on Sunday.

He topped the 139-runner field with a winning time of 11 minutes, 2.34 seconds at Dublin Jerome High School.

The Eastern Buckeye Conference featured three of the top five finishers — Richfield Revere eighth-grader John Long was second (11:23.10), Carrollton seventh-grader Henry Roudebush was third (11:27.13), Bellfontaine eighth-grader Jackson Maus was fourth (11:28.71) and Marlington eighth-grader Mason Lovejoy was fifth (11:29.91).

The meet is sponsored by Ohiocrosscountry.org.

Tice won every race he ran this season, highlighted by victories at the Salem Early Bird Invitational, Walsh Jesuit Pat Ritchie XC Invitational, Legends Meet, Columbiana County Meet and the Eastern Buckeye Conference Meet.

Rebels win another district match

COLUMBIANA — Crestview’s volleyball team entered Tuesday’s Div. V district semifinal with Doylestown Chippewa having won 12 straight district matches.

The Rebels left after a 25-17, 25-22, 18-25, 25-20 victory knowing that to continue this streak of making regional tournaments that they will have to be much better going forward.

Crestview, the No. 1 seed, had usually breezed through its district semifinal matches in year’s past but the Chipps, the 14th seed, made sure the home team worked for it. The Chipps (13-11) came from the Wayne County Athletic League where they finished sixth this season.

“I knew this was going to be a good match,” Crestview coach Alisha Auer said. “We watched them play and they’re in a really tough league and play a really tough schedule. We knew that the 14th seed meant nothing.”

Crestview will play No. 5 seed Chagrin Falls at 5 p.m. on Thursday at Streetsboro High School in the district final. Falls beat No. 12 seed Canton Central 21-25, 25-11, 25-20, 25-20 in the night’s second match.

“It’s just going to keep getting harder,” Auer said.

Former starting WR Ray-Ray McCloud’s fall from grace is complete following release by Falcons

Falcons release McCloud

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) — The Atlanta Falcons released wide receiver Ray-Ray McCloud on Tuesday after the veteran opened the season as a starter but was inactive the last two games despite being healthy.

McCloud, 29, set a career high with 62 catches for 686 yards in 2024, his first season in Atlanta. After opening the season with Drake London and Darnell Mooney as the Falcons’ top three receivers, McCloud had only six catches for 64 yards through four games and then was a healthy scratch against Buffalo and San Francisco.

Coach Raheem Morris gave no details on McCloud’s fall from grace, saying only it was a coach’s decision. On Friday, Morris announced McCloud would miss Sunday night’s 20-10 loss at San Francisco. McCloud did not accompany the team to San Francisco but instead was sent home for what the coach described as a personal matter.

“Working through some things right now that are private with my young man, and we’ll figure those things out as we go,” Morris said on Friday.

When asked Monday about an update on McCloud’s status, Morris said he was “going through that process right now” and would “talk with him. But that’s the distraction that I’m dealing with, no one else.”

The Falcons, who play at home on Sunday against Miami, also signed offensive lineman Raiqwon O’Neal to the practice squad on Tuesday and placed tackle Ryan Hayes on the practice squad reserve/injured list.

McLeod played with Buffalo, Carolina, Pittsburgh and San Francisco before joining the Falcons. McCloud’s release opens the path for Casey Washington, David Sills V and KhaDarel Hodge at wide receiver.