| Briefly Craig takes over
Ripley football Carey Craig has been named the new head football coach at Ripley.
Craig, who has previous head coaching experience at both Humboldt and Jackson South Side, replaces Al Pellegrino, who will not return after going 2-8 last season at the Tiger helm.
Craig has a cumulative 53-45 record during his time at H’boldt (six seasons) and JSS (three years).
He was fired following the 2010 season, paving the way for the return to South Side of longtime coach Jerry Hayes who’d been Craig’s boss for several years when he was an assistant at the Madison County school.
Craig served as the defensive coordinator on Steve Hookfin’s Liberty staff last season. Titans on the ‘Ball’
by keeping DE NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans re-signed defensive end Dave Ball on Friday.
A seven-year veteran of the league, Ball has spent the past four seasons with the Titans, totaling 51 games played, 15.5 sacks, 203 tackles and 43 quarterback pressures during his tenure with the club.
Last season, Ball registered 55 tackles, four sacks, 15 quarterback pressures and two forced fumbles in 14 games, including eight starts. His sack and quarterback pressure totals were second best on the team. Ball’s 2010 season was the finest of his career as he posted career highs in starts (11), sacks (7) and tackles (59).
Ball entered the NFL as a fourth-round pick in the 2004 Draft by the San Diego Chargers from UCLA.
He spent time with the Chargers and New York Jets before coming to the Titans in 2008. Williams steps up
as TSU head coach NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee State has promoted assistant Travis Williams to head coach as the Tigers’ 16th head coach, replacing John Cooper who left for Miami (Ohio).
Athletic director Teresa Williams announced the promotion Friday.
The native of Tifton, Ga., was Cooper’s assistant the past three seasons.
That included going from just nine wins in the 2009-10 season to a 20-13 record this season, the best by any Tennessee State program since 1978-79 as the team’s first winning season in 16 years.
That got the Tigers their third postseason appearance in Division I with a trip to the CollegeInsider.com tournament.
Williams’ top priority had been recruiting, and Phillips says they are happy to keep Williams as their new head coach. Preds’ Weber quiets
Red Wings’ crowd DETROIT (AP) — Shea Weber knew he wouldn’t be popular in the Motor City.
The star defenseman didn’t really care, he just wanted to win.
Weber turned boos into silence with a goal early in the first period and the Nashville Predators held on to beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 Sunday to take a 2-1 lead in the first-round series.
Weber was jeered every time he touched the puck for smashing Henrik Zetterberg’s face into glass at the end of Game 1.
Weber’s goal snapped Nashville’s 0-for-12 streak on the power play against the Red Wings in the series and helped the franchise end its 0-for-6 skid in playoff games against them on the road.
The Predators, who are in their 13th NHL season, advanced in the playoffs last year for the first time and are trying to get past the Red Wings after being eliminated by them in 2008 and 2004.
Detroit will need to win Tuesday night at home to avoid facing elimination in Game 5 at Nashville. Published in The Messenger 4.16.12 | 
