Allgemeines » didate for the courts diversion program.

(STATS) -- The MEAC-SWAC Challenge has a national spotlight each season, but the season-opening matchup hasnt necessarily lived up to it.So Sundays matchup of SWAC champion Alcorn State at MEAC power Bethune-Cookman has the potential to be the most competitive MEAC-SWAC Challenge in recent years.The MEAC has dominated the series with a 9-2 record, including five straight wins. In the series between the two FCS conferences of historically black colleges, four of the first five matchups were decided by six points or less, but each of the last six has been decided by double digits.Bethune, located in Daytona Beach, Florida, won its two previous appearances in the Challenge (2011 and 12) and has captured at least a share of five of the last six MEAC titles. A year ago, the Wildcats finished 9-2 and were part of a three-way tie for the conference title in coach Terry Sims first season.This year, the Wildcats placed a conference-high 15 selections on the MEAC preseason team. The rushing of quarterback Larry Brihm Jr. and running back Michael Jones trigger their offense, while safety Diquan Richardson fuels the defense.Number one, we have to go out offensively and protect the football, Sims said. And defensively we have to make sure that were running to the ball and securing tackles. And I think limiting our mistakes will help us be successful on Sunday.Alcorn has undergone a coaching change after winning two straight SWAC championship games, with assistant Fred McNair succeeding Jay Hopson, who left for Southern Miss. The Braves should have a potent offense behind quarterback Lenorris Footman and all-purpose threat Marquis Warford, but their defense, now anchored by defensive end Stacey Garner, helped set the Braves apart last season.Of course, losing in the inaugural Celebration Bowl last December -- 41-34 to North Carolina A&T of the MEAC -- has motivated Alcorn leading into this years opener.Its always bitter when you lose a tough one like that, McNair said. The way they fought back the second half and just didnt get the (win), but played hard throughout the whole second half. Now well get a chance to play a MEAC school on the front end of things. Theyre kind of looking forward to playing Bethune this coming Sunday. The guys are up for the challenge; they know they left a lot on the table in the Celebration Bowl.Previously played at a neutral site, the MEAC-SWAC Challenge has moved to campus sites for at least the next two seasons. Next years matchup is South Carolina State at Southern. Kyle Hendricks Jersey . The mixed zone is not a place to make friends. Ian Happ Cubs Jersey . Anthony Calvillo, through 20 CFL seasons, was frequently invincible and largely stoic in the heat of competition. But underneath the professional exterior he was, and is, compellingly human. http://www.cubsauthentic.com/cubs-kris-bryant-jersey/ . 10 Texas Rangers jersey for one last time. Young formally announced his retirement Friday after returning to Rangers Ballpark, his baseball home for all but the last of his 13 major league seasons. Sammy Sosa Cubs Jersey . With Parker having a quiet game for once, Nicolas Batum and Boris Diaw provided the scoring as France won its first major basketball title by beating Lithuania 80-66 on Sunday. It was a victory that ended a decade of frustration for Parker and a talented French generation, which lost the final against Spain two years ago and took bronze in 2005. Kyle Schwarber Jersey .J. -- Seven games into a disappointing season, New York Giants defensive catalyst Jason Pierre-Paul is getting the feeling hes back. LUBBOCK, Texas -- Prosecutors recently dropped burglary charges against three former Texas Tech football players in exchange for the players agreeing to perform community service and meet other requirements.Under terms of the agreement, a felony charge of burglary of a habitation against each of the ex-players was dismissed and they will enter a pretrial diversion program that includes a number of provisions, including mandatory drug testing.Dakota Devon Allen and Robert James Castaneda, both 20, and Trace Keaton Ellison, 18, were kicked off the team in May for failure to uphold student-athlete expectations. A grand jury indicted them in June and theyre no longer enrolled at the university.Allens attorney, Guy Womack, said the Lubbock County district attorneys office signed the agreement Friday and state District Judge Jim Bob Darnell approved it this week.Allen had never before run afoul of the law and earned Big 12 academic honors in 2015, Womack said, and was an ideal candidate for the courts diversion program.This is reserved for individuals who the district attorney believes warrant a resolution of their case without criminal consequences, Womack said Tuesday.Authorities said the three men broke into a Lubbock home at some point between Dec. 20 and Jan. 9 and stole a gun safe containing seven handguns and rifles worth $14,000, two digital cameras and aa TV, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.ddddddddddddnvestigators said the owner of the stolen rifles was in a pawnshop in March looking for a new gun and found one of the weapons there, the affidavit said. That led investigators to a man who told police he had paid Castaneda for several weapons. Castaneda was reluctant to name the two other individuals but eventually told investigators their jersey numbers, according to the affidavit.Allen would have been a sophomore linebacker and one of the teams top defenders. Castaneda would have been a sophomore offensive lineman, and Ellison, as a redshirt freshman, was expected to be a backup offensive lineman.Womack said Allen is enrolling at East Mississippi Community College, a junior college national powerhouse.Womack downplayed Allens role in the theft and sale of the weapons and said although the felony charge was dropped, Allen suffered humiliation and lost a scholarship at Tech worth $100,000.Castaneda is enrolling at a community college in Iowa and hopes to restart his football career, his attorney, Chuck Lanehart, said.An attorney for Ellison did not return a call for comment, and the district attorneys office didnt return a message seeking an explanation of the agreement. ' ' '