Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/6835
Sports 1B Weekend February 13-14, 2010 Weekend SAT — EAL Wrestling Championships at Red Bluff, 9 a.m. SAT — NAL Wrestling Championships at Anderson SAT — MVL Wrestling Championships at Los Molinos, noon SUN — Daytona 500, 9 a.m., FOX SUN — NBA All-Star Game, 5:30 p.m., TNT Weekend — Olympics on NBC, USA, MSNBC, CSNBC Schwabauer signs with Southern Oregon By RICH GREENE DN Sports Editor The 164 miles from Red Bluff to Ashland, Ore. continued to shrink this week as Spartan tail- back and safety Zack Schwabauer signed a letter of intent to play college football at Southern Ore- gon University. Schwabauer joined 2009 Red Bluff Union High School graduates Cole McKenzie and Wade Kittle in selecting to further his football career with the NAIA Warriors. "I like the town, the environment, the program they have," Schwabauer said, explaining he was both excited and relieved to have made his deci- sion. A three-year starter for the Spartans, Schwabauer said he still has not made up his mind on a major, but is leaning toward physical therapy. As a junior Schwabauer was named to the All- Eastern Athletic League team as a running back and received an honorable mention as a safety. He was likely headed to those honors again in 2009, before an arm injury against Chico derailed his season. "I thought football was over for me," Schwabauer said about his injury. While he would miss the next three games of the season, Schwabauer gutted out one last effort to take the field at Foothill in the Spartans season finale. Schwabauer was fortunate enough to spend the past three seasons around his father, John, who served as the Spartans coach, but he also heard criticisms about the situation. "I know I had to prove myself, because people thought I was just there because of my dad," Zack said. However, John Schwabauer wasn't the only football coach who saw talent in his son. Red Bluff offensive coordinator and athletic director Rich Hassay relayed a story Friday from Zack's future head coach at Southern Oregon. Coach Helminiak told Hassay that every coach he would visit in Northern California would tell him if there's one player he needed out of the North Section it was Zack Schwabauer. "We recruit Northern California heavily and every time we watched film for recruiting Zack popped off the tape," Helminiak said. "Regardless of the game, he was making plays on offense or defense." The tough-running Schwabauer finished his career at Red Bluff with 2,826 rushing yards and averaging 5.28 yards a carry. He scored 25 touch- downs and made 123 tackles and provided a soft- spoken workmanlike leadership for the Spartans. Among his most memorable moments for the Spartans were his 2008 Homecoming and Tehama County Shootout performances. In his junior year against Corning, Schwabauer rushed for 274 yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries. "Zack is a physically gifted and very intelli- gent football player," Hassay said. "The one thing that stands out the most about Zack to me is his toughness. Playing tail back and safety at the var- sity level means a player is involved in contact every play." Schwabauer said his new coaching staff has not yet made a determination whether he will play offense or defense and reflecting what type of player he is — personally he has no preference, just as long as he's on the field. Courtesy photo Red Bluff Spartan Zack Schwabauer (seated) poses on signing day with his father and high school football coach John Schwabauer, mother Sheryl Schwabauer, his soon to be head coach at Southern Oregon Steve Helminiak and high school offensive coordinator and athletic director Rich Hassay. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Tim Lincecum can f i n a l l y m o v e forward from a contract situation that was unsettled all winter and focus on base- ball again. Same goes for the San Francisco Giants. Lincecum and the Giants reached a preliminary agree- ment Friday on a $23 mil- lion, two-year contract ahead of the scheduled start of an arbitration hearing. The two-time reigning NL Cy Young Award win- ner had been set to ask for an arbitration-record $13 mil- lion salary for 2010 during a hearing Friday in St. Peters- burg, Fla. Lincecum gets a $2 mil- lion signing bonus, $8 mil- lion this year, $13 million in 2011 and the chance to earn performance and award bonuses. The agreement is subject to a physical. The tiny, hard-throwing pitcher his teammates call ''Franchise'' and ''Freak'' is getting a nice raise from his $650,000 salary last year. Things came together Friday morning in a surpris- ing development, Giants vice president of baseball operations Bobby Evans said in a phone interview before leaving Florida. The Giants did offer Lincecum a three-year deal. ''It's a win-win for both sides,'' Evans said, noting nothing will be official until Lincecum passes the physi- cal. ''I had no idea. I was not expecting a settlement at all. I don't know what changed. It's always ideal to have something both agree to as opposed to a third party fig- uring it out. We can focus on baseball from here for- ward.'' In addition to his salary, Lincecum would earn $200,000 for pitching 225 innings, a figure he reached in each of his two full sea- sons. He would get $500,000 for each Cy Young Award, $250,000 for Lincecum agrees to 2-yr deal See DEAL, page 2B Cent. Tehama Little League A makeup tryout will be held today at 4 p.m. for those interested in playing in the Central Tehama Little League. The tryout is manda- tory for major and minor, baseball and soft- ball players and will be held at Mill Creek Park in Tehama. Today will also be the last day of registration for the rest of the league. Rapids tryouts The North Valley Rapids ASA girls' softball club will be holding try- outs for its 10-and-under, 12-and-under, 14-and- under and 18-and-under summer travel teams at Big League Dreams in Redding on Sunday. Tryout times and addi- tional contact information: • 10-and-under, 12:30 p.m., Robert Diaz, 410- 3988 • 12-and-under, 10:30 a.m., Anthony Bertain, 864-0586 • 14-and-under 12:30 p.m. • 16-and-under, 10 a.m., Russ Weatherbee, 605- 8427 • 18-and-under, Tito Cervantes, 526-9343 More information is available at northval- leyrapids.com. Hamelin among Canada's 1st big hopes for gold VANCOUVER, British Colum- bia (AP) — Charles Hamelin is try- ing to win two races Saturday. First and foremost, there's the 1,500 meters in Olympic short-track speedskating. Hamelin finished fourth in the event at the 2006 Games, so he's certainly a contender this time around. And then there's that other race — against his fellow countrymen. Canada has waited years to celebrate a gold medal on home soil, and Hamelin wouldn't mind winning the first. ''It's great because everyone says 'good luck' in the streets and that helps to give you energy,'' Hamelin said. ''It will be the greatest moment of my life if it happens and a great moment for Canada too.'' Saturday is the first day of medals in Vancouver, and NBC will include Hamelin's event as part of its prime time coverage. Also on the schedule are the women's moguls and men's downhill, and Canada should contend in those events as well. The Canadians didn't win a sin- gle gold while hosting the Winter Games in 1988 and the Summer Games in 1976. This year, it's a question of when — not if — the hosts will be able to rejoice. Canada won seven golds in 2006 and the same number in 2002. The men's downhill is scheduled for late Saturday morning, which means Manuel Osborne-Paradis is Canada's first big hope. But he should be challenged in the Alpine race by Michael Walchhofer of Aus- tria, Didier Cuche of Switzerland and even Bode Miller of the U.S. If Osborne-Paradis doesn't come through, Hamelin will try to make up for it on the ice. His main com- petition is from the South Koreans and American Apolo Anton Ohno. And if all else fails, there's Jenn Heil, the defending champion in the moguls — although she isn't partic- ularly focused on the historic impli- cations of being the first Canadian atop a podium. ''I don't see the difference in a medal won on Day 1 or Day 10,'' she said. That might be true in countries like Germany and Norway, tradi- tional powerhouses at the Winter Games, but here, the locals are itch- ing for the chance to hear their national anthem during a medal cer- emony. Heil certainly isn't down- playing the excitement of competing before friendly fans. ''I feel like I've won the lottery, to get to compete at home,'' she said. ''We're so well supported and it gives us a huge boost. We know the whole country is behind us.'' Hamelin might need the boost. His strength is probably the 500 — he was the world champion in that event in 2009 and 2007. In the 1,500, he'll have to contend with South Korea's Lee Ho-Suk, the reigning world champion and silver medalist in 2006. Not to mention Ohno, who is back for his third Olympics. He's won a total of five medals, one shy of Bonnie Blair's mark for most by a U.S. Winter Olympian, and he'll skate just a three-hour drive from his native Seattle. ''I'm very comfortable here. I feel like this is a second home,'' Ohno said. ''I'm in the best physical shape of my life.'' Short-track speedskating won't be the most anticipated event at the 2010 Olympics. Neither will the moguls or even the men's downhill. There are hockey games to be played, after all. But whoever ends Canada's home-turf drought will become quite a celebrity. One thing seems clear: Somebody will break the ice soon enough. Warren Shouldice, a Canadian aerials skier who competes toward the end of the Olympics, can make only one promise about the identity of the first home athlete to win gold. ''I can tell you it is not going to be me,'' he said. ''I know that Jenn runs early, and I hope that she does great.'' MCT photo A snowboarder leaps through the center ring during Friday night's Vancouver Olympic Opening Ceremonies. Lady Cardinals clinch share of NAL DN Staff Report The Corning Lady Cardinals bounced back from a heart- breaking double- overtime defeat at Lassen, to trounce Yreka, Friday night, 47-23. The win guar- anteed the Lady Cardinals a share of the Northern Athletic League regular season title. A win in one of their remaining two games would give Corning their second consecutive league title. It was a bit of a slow first quarter for the Cardinals, but they turned it on the second quarter outscoring 23-6 to take a 21-point lead into halftime. "Our defense was once again great," coach Kurt Eller said. "It got our offense going in the first half." Regan Albee led the way with 13 points, five assists, five steals and four rebounds. Chante Dale also picked up six steals to go along with 12 points and four assists. Brittany Garrett had eight points and eight rebounds. Catherine Kinkle added five points, Amy Cruise four points, Michelle Silva three points and Shayna Fissori two points. Corning improved to 15- 8 on the season and 7-1 in the NAL.