I was almost shocked when I realized I was running out of days left in the month in my desktop planner.

BELLEFONTE, Ky. — Mason County shot the second-lowest team score in Ashland Invitational history Monday to win the high school golf tournament at the Bellefonte Country Club.

The Cabell Midland junior is considered by many the premier girls soccer player in West Virginia, but also has become one of the state’s better kickers in football. She's an integral part of the team tabbed as a contender to win a state championship.

Marshall teammates Joseph Kalaskey and Noah Mullens used being paired together to their advantage as they fed off each other for rounds that have them in the top-5 heading to Wednesday's final round.

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS — Mother Nature and the Old White TPC joined forces to dish out one heck of a case of the Mondays.

Welcome to “Second Guess” Tuesday.

HUNTINGTON — Huntington St. Joe High School not only hired a boys basketball coach in Tolsia’s Todd Maynard, the Irish have picked up a pair of transfers.

HUNTINGTON — Kevin Shackelford figures if Japan can house Olympians it surely can allow families of foreign professional baseball players into the country.

A Cabell Midland offensive lineman shouted, “Jose! Jose! Jose!”

KASHIMA, Japan (AP) — Carli Lloyd, clutch in so many critical moments for the U.S. women's soccer team, failed to connect against Canada on Monday night and the Americans won't play for a fifth Olympic gold medal.

HUNTINGTON — The only required masks in high school sports in Ohio will be on football helmets, at least for now.

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS — For Brian Anania, the long road back to competitive golf has been about as topsy turvy as his opening round in the 102nd West Virginia Amateur on Sunday afternoon.

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS — Alex Easthom began his opening round at the 102nd West Virginia Amateur as the event’s defending champion.

MAN — Being an old Logan Wildcat, someone joked about making David Early an honorary Man Hillbilly.

It is said that two is a coincidence and three is a trend.

A scandal and an offseason firing of coach Les Miles was hardly what Kansas needed after limping to an 0-9 campaign in 2020.

Defensive lineman Zimarian “Mari’’ Lawton and linebacker Mondrell Dean, both starting their junior seasons at South Charleston, received scholarship offers from Marshall’s football program on Saturday.

HUNTINGTON — The referee took longer to count out Gage Townson’s opponent than it did for the South Point, Ohio, native to score a knockout.

BARBOURSVILLE — Reid Carroll, 65, of Barboursville completed quite the golfing feat Saturday at the Esquire Golf Club.

HUNTINGTON — On Saturday, Huntington High School’s football team did belly flops, cannon balls and played chicken.

HUNTINGTON — Marshall and Navy will be foes on the football field on Sept. 4, but will come together to celebrate a man whose influence on both programs is enduring.

After starting his career in construction, Marshall director of sports performance Ben Ashford found his calling in athletic training. Now, Ashford is busy trying to assist head coach Charles Huff in building the Herd back into a championship-caliber team.

“I feel like I’ve been there all my life.”

HUNTINGTON — Shawnee State University basketball star E.J. Onu signed a free agent contract with the Dallas Mavericks.

Growing up is the theme for Marshall men's basketball, according to guard Andrew Taylor. Not only is Taylor growing into an expanded role as a leader, but he lauded several teammates for their physical work in the offseason to transform from the build of boys to looking like men on the court.

Being from Elk River, West Virginia, I have always felt that elk and I were somehow connected. As strange as that may seem, perhaps growing up on the river and a town named after the animal may have caused my curiosity. I often wondered why so many places in our home state had the word “elk”…

HUNTINGTON — Former Belfry High School football star Cole Bentley was named to the Rimington Trophy watch list.

SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Mark Mason is now “one of the guys” in the MSAC.

Former Marshall standout guard and current Herd graduate assistant Stevie Browning has signed with an agent and is re-joining his pursuit of a professional basketball career, after interest gained from his successful run in The Basketball Tournament.

Gone is head coach Tom Herman. Gone is four-year starting quarterback Sam Ehlinger.

ASHTABULA, Ohio — The Fairland Dragons 9-, 10- and 11-year-old team is coming home as state champions.

HUNTINGTON — The Miami Marlins called up former Marshall University outfielder Corey Bird on Wednesday.

HUNTINGTON — Lee Moon’s retirement didn’t last long.

HUNTINGTON — The Cincinnati Reds beefed up their much maligned bullpen with a pair of trades that landed them three relief pitchers.

HUNTINGTON — The Tri-State area has been good to college football programs in Kentucky and Tennessee in recent seasons.

The biggest question mark on WVU’s 2021 football roster from an experience standpoint would seem to be at linebacker.

It was pretty easy to read between the lines of WVU Athletic Director Shane Lyons’ official statement released late on Monday evening.

Editor’s note: This is the 10th in a 12-part series previewing WVU’s football opponents for the 2021 season.

HUNTINGTON — From NCAA Division I to NAIA, Tri-State student-athletes compete.

HUNTINGTON — David Bradshaw prefers victories, of course, but is just thankful to play football.

Marshall defensive tackle Jamare Edwards and West Virginia defensive tackle Dante Stills were each named to the 2021 Bronko Nagurski Award Watch List, which denotes the best defensive college football player in America. Stills, a Fairmont native, was also named to the Outland Trophy Watch List for the nation's top interior lineman.

Two of the Tri-State’s premier linemen were selected to play in the Blue-Grey All-American Bowl.

ROME TOWNSHIP, Ohio — The 2021 Herald-Dispatch Tri-State boys high school basketball player of the year has selected a college.

Marshall cornerback Steven Gilmore was one of 40 players nationwide named to the watch list for the Paycom Jim Thorpe Award, given to the nation's top defensive back.

At the exact same time that Texas and Oklahoma were officially making their intentions public about leaving the Big 12 Conference and pursuing membership in the Southeastern Conference, West Virginia Athletic Director Shane Lyons was making his own statement.

PORTSMOUTH — Shawnee State University swimming head coach Gerald Cadogan was awarded with the Mid-South Conference’s Coaching for Significance Award — as announced by conference officials on Thursday morning.

The Ironton 13-14-year-old Junior League All-stars defeated Jefferson-Ashtabula-Geneva All-Stars 6-2 on Sunday to win the Ohio Junior League Baseball Championship played at Rock Hill High School.

Editor’s note: This is the ninth in a 12-part series previewing WVU’s football opponents for the 2021 season.

ONA — Lucas, Lucas, Mercer and Sheils might sound like a law firm, but actually is a quartet of local West Virginia high school sports standouts honored by USA Today.

HUNTINGTON — Ohio Wesleyan University’s sports teams are known as the Battling Bishops. OWU has won the recruiting fight for several local student-athletes who are excelling at the school in Delaware, Ohio. The following is a look at six of them:

What a mess.