UMass football holds off Northeastern

BROOKLINE - The University of Massachusetts football team had seemingly countless opportunities to finish off Northeastern earlier in Saturday's game, but could not deliver the knockout blow until junior safety Jeromy Miles recovered a fumbled snap with 1½ minutes to play.

Minutemen skate past North Dakota

BOSTON - The University of Massachusetts ice hockey team put the first-game jitters behind it and upset No. 5 North Dakota Saturday.

James Marcou scored two power-play goals and goaltender Dan Meyers made a career-high 40 saves as the Minutemen (1-1) held on to beat the Fighting Sioux 3-2 in the Ice Breaker Invitational at Agganis Arena.

Red Sox absorb brutal loss to Rays in<br>5&#189;-hour marathon; ALCS even at 1-1

B.J. Upton and the Tampa Bay Rays won a game of home run derby with a shallow fly ball. Pinch-runner Fernando Perez dashed home on Upton's sacrifice fly in the 11th inning and the Rays outlasted the Boston Red Sox 9-8 early Sunday, evening the AL championship series at one game each.

Red Sox pitching too tough for Rays; shutout gives Boston 1-0 series lead

Unhittable most of the game, Daisuke Matsuzaka and the Boston Red Sox taught Tampa Bay all about dominant postseason pitching. Matsuzaka took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning, and the defending World Series champions played a little better in every way, beating the Rays 2-0 Friday night in the opener of the AL championship series.

Beckett, Kazmir look to Game 2

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Josh Beckett is bracing for a stiff challenge from the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 2 of the AL championship series Saturday night.

Beckett is undefeated in two ALCS starts for the Red Sox and posted solid numbers against Tampa Bay this year, but the hard-throwing right-hander said the Rays have a difficult lineup.

Minutemen travel to NU; Coach Brown knows the way

BROOKLINE - The connections between University of Massachusetts coach Don Brown and Northeastern are fading.

UMass can't solve Michigan State goalie

BOSTON - At 5-foot-6, Michigan State goalie Jeff Lerg does not look like much on the ice, but the University of Massachusetts hockey team found out Friday why he's one of the biggest names in college hockey.

Central offense clicks against Blue Devils

NORTHAMPTON - Northampton coach Ken O'Brien knew Central would eventually get Valdamar Brower's new offense.

He just hoped that the Golden Eagles would figure it out after they played the Blue Devils Friday night.

Brownies' coach gets big win on return to Amherst

AMHERST - Agawam football coach Mike Peterson returned to Community Field with butterflies in his stomach and left Friday night with a big 35-0 win over Amherst Regional, his former team.

Peterson, the Brownies' first-year head coach, was the Amherst Regional defensive coordinator under coach Ken Jacque from 2004 to 2006.

Frontier runs past Belchertown

BELCHERTOWN - It seemed as though the Belchertown football team might have a shot at breaking out of its slump and finding a way back into the win column Friday night, but Frontier Regional's rushing attack was too much in the second half.

Tigers drub Spartans

The South Hadley football team forced six East Longmeadow turnovers in its 47-6 drubbing of the visiting Spartans Friday night.

The Tigers (3-2, 2-0 Suburban) began their scoring onslaught just 3 minutes, 33 seconds into the game as Brad Bell swept left from 12 yards out.

Blue Devils boys qualify for soccer tourney

The Northampton boys soccer team qualified for the postseason for the first time in six years with a 7-1 victory over Cathedral at home Friday.

Josh Collins had two goals and an assist to help give the Blue Devils their second win in as many days and clinch their first playoff berth since 2002.