The 24th annual Stamford St. Patrick’s Day Parade will step off Saturday, March 2, at noon.,Billed as the largest St. Patrick’s Day parade in Fairfield County, this year’s parade will consist of nearly 80 separate organizations, including approximately 2,000 marchers — from bag pipers to Irish dancers and from fire and police groups to school youth and sports organizations.,The City of Stamford anticipates an estimated 20,000 visitors on parade day, according to a news release.,The nonprofit organization is managed by local volunteers and solely funded by its sponsors, donations from individuals and local businesses, and through a portion of ticket sales for the annual Grand Marshal’s Dinner.,This year’s dinner takes place on Friday, March 1, at the Stamford Sheraton Hotel.

Over the past 10 days, the Barnesville and Steubenville high school mat teams have combined to help a Steubenville youth that has been stricken with the toughest opponent of all — cancer.,“We found out about it while we were in Steubenville for the (Ohio Athletic Committee) Junior High School Districts,” Barnesville wrestling coach Jayson Stephen explained.,The annual Buckeye 8 Tournament will be held Saturday inside ‘The Hangar’ on the campus of Union Local High School.,Division III schools are split between Barnesville High School and Sandy Valley High School in Magnolia, while Division II schools head to Claymont High School in Uhrichsville and Steubenville High’s Crimson Center.,The 82nd annual Ohio state tournament will be staged March 7-8-9 inside the Jerome Schottenstein Center on the campus of Ohio State University.

Corrections and additions may be emailed to Ryan Njegovan (men’s indoor field) and Jocelyn Ocon (women’s indoor field) were chosen NACC Athletes of the Week.,... North Central’s Andy Hinch (men’s indoor tennis) was named athlete of the week in the CCIW.

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — A proposed 6,000-seat arena would be booked 300 days a year, helping local hotels and other businesses, Athens civic leaders said.,The executive director of the existing events center called The Classic Center said an arena could generate more than 600 jobs and have a $33 million impact on the local economy.,The arena, adjacent to Athens-Clarke County's Multimodal Center and warehouses on Foundry Street, would be booked 300 days a year and fill up downtown hotel rooms, said Classic Center Executive Director Paul Cramer, the Athens newspaper reported.,The arena would be linked directly to The Classic Center, and through there "to that magic place we call downtown Athens," he said.,Concert promoters say an arena that size would also bring many major music acts to Athens, Cramer told the committee.

In this Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019 photo, Brad Pick, marketing officer at Primebank, passes out copies of the bank's Hotsheet to Don Davis, center, and Cash Howe, both of Kingsley, at JJ Cafe in Le Mars, Iowa.,(Tim Hynds/Sioux City Journal via AP) less

In this Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019 photo, Brad Pick, marketing officer at Primebank, passes out copies of the bank's Hotsheet to Don Davis, center, and Cash Howe, both of Kingsley, at JJ Cafe in Le Mars, Iowa.,... more read more

By Norm Elrod (CBSLA/CBS Local) — The squall of festivities surrounding Super Bowl LIII all comes down to one game.,MORE: CBS Local Sports Experts Break Down Super Bowl LIII

Now it’s time for them to give their picks.,Tom Brady (Photo Credit: Patrick Smith/Getty Images) read more

The Raiders didn’t come to Fairfield to play football, they instead came to accept the challenge from a local all-star team to play a charity basketball game at Armijo’s E. Gary Vaughan gymnasium.,The 1979 local team included Fairfield High hoopster/Armijo Hall of Fame coach Jay Dahl, then-City Councilman later-Mayor Chuck Hammond and Armijo hoops standout/Fairfield-Suisun School District teacher and administrator Mark Dietrich, among others.,In his Jan. 23, 1989, column, “Overtime,” then-Daily Republic sports writer Brad Stañhope gushed about the previous day’s dramatic 20-16 fourth quarter comeback victory by the San Francisco 49ers over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVIII played at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami.,Before the game, four local high school football coaches and one junior college football coach – specifically Greg Clark (Armijo), Jim Sykes (Fairfield), Kevin Luckey (Vanden), Tom Zunino (Vacaville) and Ron Beverly (Solano Community College) – unanimously picked the Niners to win.,It came out later that when the 49ers were about to start the final drive on their own 8-yard line with 3:20 left in the game and trailing by 3 points, Montana earned his nickname, “Joe Cool.”

CAPE TOWN - The City of Cape Town has asked the South African Football Association Cape Town (Safa CT) to vacate the premises of Athlone Stadium, which Safa CT calls home, by 31 January 2019 citing zoning irregularities as well as health and safety reasons.,Safa CT will be holding a press conference on Thursday as they seek to air their grievances with the City of Cape Town, and in particular Mayoral committee member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management James Vos.,Bailey says that the change of leadership within the City of Cape Town regarding stadium management has had a disastrous impact on local football.,There is a political aspect to the matter with the ANC Youth League in the Western Cape also joining hands with local and provincial sporting organisations to unite against the City of Cape Town's plan to remove Safa CT from the Athlone Stadium.,The ANC Youth League believes the City of Cape Town is acting against the interests of community football.

Here is a look at the top stories for Thursday in Patch towns throughout Hartford and Tolland counties.,Click on the headlines to see the stories in full.

NEW HAVEN, CT (WFSB) - Following a 21 year run in New Haven, the Connecticut Open tennis tournament will no longer be held in the Elm City.,In the meantime, the TFC Board said it will continue to look into whether another Premier WTA or professional tennis event can be drawn to New Haven.,“It has been an amazing 21-year run for women’s professional tennis in New Haven and we are truly grateful to all the fans, volunteers, players, media and sponsors involved,” said Anne Worcester, tournament director.,In particular we would like to thank the State of Connecticut, City of New Haven, Board of Alders, Yale University, Yale New Haven Health, WTA, USTA and USTA New England, all of whom have supported and contributed to the Connecticut Open for more than two decades.,The Connecticut Open, which officials called the third best attended women’s-only WTA tournament in 2018, has generated more than $10 million annually in economic impact for New Haven and Connecticut.