Sports

A weekend of high school football playoffs is on tap and six area teams will be in action. Four games take place at 7 o’clock tonight: Sturgis, with a 5-and-4 record, is at 8-and-1 St. Joseph; 8-and-1 Schoolcraft takes on 8-and-1 Niles Brandywine in Niles; six-win St. Joseph Lake Michigan Catholic is at Cassopolis to face the 6-and-3 Rangers; and …

The Sturgis varsity soccer team saw its best season ever come to an end Wednesday in Plainwell. The Trojans, who were making their first-ever appearance in the Class B Final Four of the state tournament, bowed out to Spring Lake, 2-to-1. The game was tied at1 going into the final minute of play before the Lakers sealed the win on …

Six area football teams, including four from St. Joseph County, qualified for the 2013 state playoffs. Pairings were announced Sunday and starting with Division 3, Sturgis managed to make the cut despite not reaching the six-win level. The 5-and-4 Trojans will play at 8-and-1 St. Joseph. In Division 6, Constantine kept its playoff streak alive, as the 5-and-4 Falcons travel …

The 2013 deer season is expected to be a successful one for many hunters in Michigan. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources says some areas in the state may see lower numbers of deer following severe winter weather, which included heavy snowfall and a late thaw. Those are mostly in the Upper Peninsula while the affects in the Northern Lower …

Mendon High School’s John Schwartz is one of eight football coaches representing Michigan in a nationwide contest by the publication USA Today. The “Best Of” contest, which started Monday, is an online-voting event to select the best high school football coach in the country. Every state is represented by a pool of eight coaches, and the field will be narrowed …

Tickets for the Oct. 5 Sturgis High School Athletic Hall of Fame banquet are now on sale at the school’s athletic office. The program will honor inductees Chuck Darby, Patty Griffith Langanis, Erika Melchi Rozema, Marcia Dresser Inman and Teresa Wood Horn. The event starts at 6 p.m. at Sturgis High School. More details are available at 659-1536.

Four entrants into the White Pigeon High School Athletic Department 2013 Hall of Fame will be at the center of festivities next week. The four incoming members will be recognized prior to the start of next week’s homecoming varsity football game against Centreville. The following day, the members will be honored during a formal induction ceremony at the Klinger Lake …

School athletic programs and other youth athletics in Michigan are now under strict new rules regarding concussions. The new state law requires youth athletes to be removed from games if a concussion is even suspected, and they cannot return until there is clearance from a health professional. The new rules follow recent news about the increasing number of concussions in …

The Sturgis Public Schools Board of Education voted this week to endorse the district’s move to the Wolverine Conference. The decision means Sturgis High School will join Three Rivers and 10 other schools in the 12-member league starting in the 2014-15 academic year. With about 3,300 students, Sturgis Public Schools will be the largest in the all-Class-B conference.

A Three Rivers man will serve more than four months in jail after he was sentenced for embezzling funds from the Three Rivers Little League. Clint Roberts, who was found to have taken more than $14,000 from the league’s account while managing its finances, was sentenced earlier this month by Circuit Court Judge Paul Stutesman to serve 4 1/2 months …