The Montgomery Advertiser from Montgomery, Alabama • 19

Sports JL montgomeryadvertise SECTION TUESDAY NOV. 15, 2011 iser.comsports COLLEGE FOOTBALL MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL Hellickson, Kimbrel top rookies From wire, staff reports 4 V4 i 'ft 0 Mr If II Gregg Baker was 8-23 in three seasons as Faulkner's head football coach. DAVID BUNDYSPECIAL TO THE ADVERTISER ooIlCw Fa srn mm fi I Baker's tenure with Eagles ends after three seasons 1 Paterno's name off trophy The Big Ten has taken Joe Paterno's name off the Big Ten's football championship trophy. League commissioner Jim Del-any said Monday that it is "inappropriate" to keep Paterno's name on the trophy that will be awarded Dec. 3 after the first Big Ten title game.

Penn State fired Paterno, its longtime head coach, last week and investigations are under way into allegations of child sex-abuse involving a former assistant for the Nittany Lions. The trophy had been named the Stagg-Paterno Championship Trophy. Amos Alonzo Stagg won 319 games in 57 years, most at the University of Chicago. Paterno's 409 wins are the most by a major college coach. The trophy will now be called the Stagg Championship Trophy.

More Penn State news on PAGE 3C. Hightower earns SEC honors Alabama linebacker Dont'a Hightower was named the Southeastern Conference's defensive player of the week. Hightower led Alabama with 11 tackles, including Vi sacks and 22 tackles for loss in a win at Mississippi State. The Associated Press inside Tide takes down Oakland Tony Mitchell and the Alabama basketball team take care of Oakland (Mich.) 74-57. PAGE 3C Tigers go 2-0 Rob Chubb and the Auburn defeat Kennesaw State 68-55 to give the Tigers their first 2-0 start since the 2006-07 season.

PAGE 3C PREP FOOTBALL Gueler, Pope recognized Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa kicker Melvin Gueler and Anniston running back Troymaine Pope were the Alabama Sports Writers Association players of the week. Gueler was the defensespecial teams winner after nailing a 44-yard field goal with five seconds to play, lifting the Patriots to a 17-14 win at Vestavia Hills. Pope ran for 200 yards on 18 carries and scored four touchdowns in a 25-20 victory at Dora to take offensive honors. Pope's TD runs covered 66, 54 and 48 yards. He also had a 54-yard touchdown catch.

A. Stacy Long Contact us Brad Zimanek bzimanekgannett.com Sports editor 261-1586 ft -ar3 $esig. Ki "i NEW YORK Former Biscuits pitcher Jeremy Hellickson won the American League rookie of the year award Monday. Atlanta reliever and Huntsville native Craig Kimbrel unanimously won the NL Rookie of the Year voting. Hellickson went 13-10 with a 2.95 ERA in helping the Tampa Bay Rays take the AL' wild-card spot.

He drew 17 of 28 first-place votes and finished well ahead of Los Angeles Angels first baseman Mark Trum-bo. He finished with 102 points. "It's something I really Kimbrel wanted to win," Hellickson said on a conference call from his home in Iowa. He said there were "three or four guys" equally deserving of the award. The 24-year-old Hellickson was a big reason the Rays were able to erase a nine-game deficit against Boston in the last 32 weeks to win the AL wild-card spot.

He was unbeaten in five starts against AL East teams in the final month, and finished 7-3 in games against division rivals. Hellickson is the second former Biscuit to win the rookie award (Evan Longoria in 2008) and just the second AL starting pitcher to win in the last 30 years (Detroit's Justin Verlander in 2006). He was a combined 7-5 with a 3.27 ERA for Montgomery in 2008-09. Hellickson is generously listed at 6-foot-l, but held up extremely well over 29 starts. He led all big league rookies in ERA, innings (189) and opponents' batting average "I've believed in myself and had all the confidence in the world in myself," he said.

Kimbrel set a major league record for saves by a rookie with 46. He earned all 32 first-place votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America and 'outpointed Braves teammate Freddie Freeman. "It definitely did surprise me," KimBrel said on a conference call from his vacation in Hawaii. "I expected it to be close." See ROOKIES, Page 3C ALABAMA VS. GEORGIA SOUTHERN WHEN: 1 p.m.

Saturday WHERE: Bryant-Denny Stadium, Tuscaloosa 'RECORDS: Alabama (9-1); GSU(9-1) ON THE AIR: TV Pay-per-view; Radio WXFX-FM 95.1 ONLINE Daily Bama Blog montgomeryadvertiser.com running style is a product of Monken's time coaching under Paul Johnson at Navy and Georgia Tech. Averaging 320 rushing yards a game, Georgia Southern ranks second nationally in its division. Five players have at least 365 rushing yards using the now-unconventional scheme. Its effectiveness help resurrect the program winners of six then-Division I-AA titles from 1985-2000 back among the elite in the FCS. The Eagles were impressive enough to San Francisco columnist Ray Ratto to earn a vote in the Associated Press poll for Football Bowl Subdivision.

The program became the third FCS team to get a vote since the AP See SABAN, Page SC ii Hellickson Xtrf sive line coach and running game coordinator under Jim Nichols in 2008. Nichols, the school's inaugural coach, was 3-18 in two seasons. In the spring of 2009, well before Baker's first game as a head coach, he and the team mourned the death of two players. Sophomore offensive linemen Teirson Hollis and Ryne Wilhite died in a car accident in Maplesville. Before going to Faulkner, Baker was the head coach at Alabama Christian and was 5-15 in 2006-07.

He previously was an assistant coach at Prattville, Jeff Davis and Trinity. By A. Stacy Long slong 1 6gannett.com Gregg Baker, after eight wins in. three seasons as Faulkner's football coach, has resigned. Baker confirmed his resignation Monday night and declined further comment.

Faulkner president Billy Hilyer also declined comment. Attempts to reach athletic director Brent Barker were unsuccessful Baker, who first joined Faulkner as an assistant coach in 2008 and was promoted to head coach in 2009, had an 8-23 record. -r- Saban wary of Georgia Southern This year, the Eagles were 3-7, which matched their record from 2010, and twice made national news. In September, Faulkner kicker Alan Moore a 61-year-old Vietnam veteran and grandfather became the oldest player to score in a college football game. Moore finished the season with two extra points in two games.

Last weekend, the Eagles ended their season with one of the highest-scoring games in college football history. Faulkner beat Union 95-89 in triple overtime. Baker was Faulkner's offen TROY VS. FLORIDA ATLANTIC WHEN: 2:30 p.m. Saturday WHERE: Veterans Memorial Stadium, Troy RECORDS: FAU (0-9, 0-6 Sun Bert); Troy (2-7.

1-4) ON THE AIR: TV CSS; Radio WMRK- FM 107.9, WTBF-FM 94.7. WHBB-AM 1490 LINE: Troy by lO'i Kenny Edenfield and Shayne Wasden wish Thomas wouldn't show it so much in practice. Both admit they've chided See TROY, Page 5C Troy wide receiver Eric Thomas catches a one-handed touchdown pass over North Texas defensive back Steven Ford on Saturday. THOMAS GRANINGAPTROY MESSENGER Troy WR Thomas touts uncanny ability By Michael Casagrande Special to the Advertiser TUSCALOOSA There's quite a buzz in Statesboro, this week. A conference title for hometown favorite Georgia Southern will do that to the football crazy town of 27,000 residents.

Eagles coach Jeff Monken hears the excitement. Then he turns to the reality of this coming Saturday afternoon. His team steps out of the relative comfort of the Football Championship Subdivision for the occasional trip to the big leagues. That Toad from Statesboro leads to Tuscaloosa, and the No. 3 ranked team it faces isn't preparing for the playoffs.

"Our fans understand football, and they know what good football looks like," Monken said. "The very cream of the crop, the very top of the top is Alabama. Sure, there's a buzz all over town and campus. what a great Sure it is. But there's a reality that we have to take our football team over there and line up against those guys.

But the Eagles (9-1) will bring a variation of the wishbone offense that's initially puzzling to Alabama players and coaches. Straight from another the triple-option ft By A. Stacy Long slong1Sgannett.com TROY Eric Thomas first unveiled a one-handed ability when he was 12 and regularly tries to hone it, many times to the chagrin of his coaches. Troy cheered when Thomas made a juggling, one-handed touchdown catch last weekend against North Texas, but it's something the Trojans have seen before. "When you see Eric out there and he puts one hand out, you expect him to catch the ball," receiver Felton Pay-, ton said.

"That's the athlete we see every day." Oh. but receivers coaches.