Football, Baseball & Canning

The fourth weekend of the high school football season is here and for the first time we could be dealing with some wet weather. 

The forecast at kickoff tonight calls for scattered thunder storms and a 50% chance of rain.  The good news is those storms will be scattered. The bad news is we could have some lightning which automatically stops play.  Hopefully that won’t be a problem around Toms River tonight as our Shore Sports Network visits Gernerd Field where the North Mariners will host Jackson Memorial.  The game kicks off at 7pm and can be heard on 105.7FM as well as shoresportsnetwork.com.

Among tonights other key games, Barnegat heads to undefeated Jackson Liberty while Southern looks to bounce back from its first loss at winless Brick.  Saturday’s schedule includes undefeated Point Boro at Asbury Park and 3-0 Lacey hosting Toms River South.  You can find the latest news and predictions by visiting shoresportsnetwork.com.

It’s been a bit of a rough stretch for Cincinnati Reds rookie Todd Frazier, who had gone more than a month without a home run and is no longer playing every day now that veterans Joey Votto and Scott Rolen are healthy.  It was about this time last month when Frazier was the subject of Rookie of the Year talk but as his playing time diminished so did his numbers.

The 26-year old from Toms River came to the plate with two outs the bottom of the 9^th inning yesterday and the Reds trailing Milwaukee 1-0 in the last regular season game at Great American Ball Park.  Frazier, who had just 3 hits in his last 21 at-bats, would not be the final out as he hit a 422-foot blast to centerfield for his 19^th home run.

The Reds added another run in the inning for a dramatic win as they get ready for the playoffs where hopefully Todd will get some opportunities to contribute.

If you are out and about this weekend you might see some students from Penn State University soliciting donations for THON, a dance marathon held in mid-February which has become the largest student-run philanthropy in the world.  Last year’s event along raised $10.6 million and since 1977 Penn State students have contributed more than $89 million in the battle against pediatric cancer.

This is a canning weekend so thousands of students will be out in a 5-state area and my daughter is among a dozen or so who will be around Ocean County.  Sunday morning they will be at the Shop Rite on Route 166 in Toms River and if you seem them toss in some loose change or dollar bills. They deserve you support.