Sports: Lions get another kicker!

Lions

The Detroit Lions have signed former Pro Bowl kicker Matt Prater to a one-year deal.  Prater made 25-of-26 attempts last year for the Denver Broncos, but the 8-year veteran was released by the team last week just before he came off his suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy.

Lions wide receiver Golden Tate is voicing his displeasure after the Buffalo Bills carried defensive coordinator and former Lions head coach Jim Schwartz off the field following Sunday's victory at Ford Field. Tate says he heard the move was planned ahead of time at the request of Schwartz if the Bills won. Tate called it a terrible, disrespectful gesture, saying he would have snatched Schwartz off the players' shoulders and thrown him to the ground if he knew he wouldn't get fined.

The Lions play in Minnesota Sunday.  12 noon on WBCK.

Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings have made the final cuts to trim their roster to the league limit of 23 players ahead of the regular season.  Yesterday, Detroit assigned defenseman Xavier Ouellet and goalie Petr Mrazek to the Grand Rapids Griffins. The Wings begin the regular season at Joe Louis Arena tomorrow night against the Boston Bruins.

The New Jersey Devils have signed former Wings forward Jordin Tootoo to a one-year, 550-thousand-dollar contract.

Pistons

The Pistons opened their preseason schedule with a 111-109 overtime win over the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night.  Greg Monroe had 24 points and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 18. Jonas Jerebko scored 14 and Brandon Jennings had 10 assists and 10 points, including a 60-foot shot he knocked down at the halftime buzzer.  The Pistons continue exhibition play as they host the Milwaukee Bucks tomorrow night.

College Football

Michigan State has lost fifth-year senior linebacker Mylan Hicks for at least five weeks with a broken arm.

The Spartans are 4-1 overall and 1-0 in Big Ten play.   MSU is at Purdue this Saturday….2pm on WBCK.

It’s the Mark Dantanio Show, Thursday nights at 7 on WBCK.

Michigan hosts Penn State on Saturday night….6pm on Mix 104.9 WBXX.

MLB Playoffs

The Cardinals are moving on….the Dodgers are going home.   Dodgers’ ace Clayton Kershaw was cruising along with a 2-0 lead, when Matt Adams came up and crushed a 3-run homer to give the Cards a 3-2 win.    The Giants won 3-2 to send the Washington Nationals packing.

The Cardinals will play in their fourth straight National League Championship Series and host Game One on Saturday against the San Francisco Giants. The American League Championship Series will begin Friday night with the Baltimore Orioles hosting the Kansas City Royals.

Soccer

Battle Creek Central’s boys soccer team beat Niles 4-1.   Eden Mawitea had a hat trick and Isaac Engelhardt made 11 saves for the Bearcats.

Volleyball

KCC lost to KVCC 3-1.

Olivet 3, Leslie 0.  Aleena Janousek had 12 kills, nine digs and eight aces.

St. Phillip rolled to easy wins over Climax-Scotts, Colon, and Bellevue in a quad match at Climax. Abby McKinzie had 39 kills and 21 digs on the day.

Quincy 3, Union City 0

Athens beat Springport in 3.

Cross Country

Lakeview’s boys' and girls' teams won the Calhoun County cross country invitational on Tuesday at Cornwell's Turkeyville in Marshall

Girls’ Swimming

Harper Creek 137, South Haven 48.

Laser Pointer at Lions Game

The NFL is attempting to shed light on who allegedly shined a laser pointer at Buffalo Bills players at Detroit's Ford Field last weekend. League spokesman Michael Signora says the NFL is investigating the Bills' complaint and attempting to identify the person responsible. Quarterback Kyle Orton and holder Colton Schmidt said they had a laser directed at them during Buffalo's 17-14 win over the Lions on Sunday.  Signora says the league will share the results of its investigation with police. Laser pointers are barred at many professional sports venues. Bills fans believe they have identified the person responsible after sharing screen shots of purported tweets bragging about what happened. The account has been deactivated.

Athlete of the Week

Congratulations to our WBCK/Meijer Athlete of the Week, Aleena Janousek who plays on the Olivet Girls Volleyball team. Aleena is a four-year member of the Olivet Eagles' volleyball varsity squad, and also a member of the girls' basketball and track squads. She was named to the All-Tournament team at the Mason Invitational earlier this season and led the Eagles to a runner-up finish at the Concord Invitational, with 51 kills, 20 aces, 49 digs and eight solo blocks throughout the whole tournament. On the season, Aleena has 305 kills, 94 aces, 278 digs and 34 solo blocks. She is a National Honor Society and Student Council Member and holds a 3.80 GPA. She is looking to pursue a business degree while playing volleyball in college, but hasn’t decided on a school yet.

Go on line today to nominate our WBCK/Meijer Athlete of the Week!  We want to salute local kids who are working hard both on and off the field, and it’s easy to nominate someone you think is deserving of an award.  The winner will get mentioned on WBCK and at wbckfm.com and also get a trophy from Recognition Inc. in Battle Creek. We’ll announce a new WBCK/Meijer Athlete of the Week each Wednesday.