HIGH SCHOOLS
Veteran coach Adam Perron has been hired as the girls’ soccer coach at South Portland High, the school announced Friday evening.
Perron, a South Portland graduate, coaches unified basketball at the school and previously coached the boys’ soccer team. He also has coached boys’ soccer at Deering and the women’s team at Southern Maine Community College.
He’ll be entrusted with boosting a program that has struggled in recent years, with only one winning season since 2007 and just one postseason victory since 2009. The Red Riots went 3-12 last year.
FOOTBALL
Bears decline 2021 option on Trubisky’s contract
The Chicago Bears have declined their fifth-year option for quarterback Mitchell Trubisky for the 2021 season, a person familiar with the situation said Saturday.
The move is hardly a surprise considering the way Trubisky struggled in his third season with the Bears, who drafted him with the No. 2 overall pick in 2017. His yards (3,138), completion rate (63.2%), touchdowns (17) and rating (83) all dropped from the previous year.
The Bears acquired 2018 Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles from Jacksonville in March and plan to hold an open competition for the starting job.
AUTO RACING
FORMULA ONE: Formula One hopes to finally start the season with a doubleheader in the naturally isolated environment around the venue for the Austrian Grand Prix.
Despite the first 10 races having been canceled or postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, the targeted start date is July 5 in Austria. F1 still envisages holding 15 to 18 of the 22 scheduled Grands Prix.
One way to make up for lost time is having consecutive weekends on one circuit, like the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. F1 manager director of motorsports Ross Brawn says this is a “real consideration” so long as iron-tight safety regulations are met.
The Red Bull Ring’s location in the Styrian mountains makes it naturally isolated.
“It’s pretty challenging to find the right sort of races early on where we can control the environment well enough to ensure the safety of everyone,” Brawn added. “Austria fits that bill very well. It has a local airport right next to the circuit, where people can charter planes into. It’s not too close to a metropolis.”
It is unclear where F1 would race after Austria, if it even goes ahead.
The British GP is set to follow on July 19, and organizers are talking to the government about the viability of holding that race without fans.
IRACING: Scott McLaughlin won on the virtual oval at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, surviving a wild finish in which most of the leaders crashed as they rushed toward the checkered flag.
Formula One driver Lando Norris, winner of last week’s virtual race, was headed for what appeared a 1-2-3 podium sweep for the Arrow McLaren SP entries. But Norris ran into the back of Simon Pagenaud on the final lap to take himself out of contention.
Then Oliver Askew and Pato O’Ward crashed, and McLaughlin slid through the carnage to give Team Penske drivers their fourth win in the six-race series. McLaughlin and Pagenaud have each won twice.
SOCCER
GERMANY: Cologne’s players are continuing to train despite three positive tests for coronavirus at the club that have unsettled the German soccer league’s restart plans.
Cologne said Friday that three people had tested positive but didn’t name them or say whether they were players, who are currently training in small groups.
ENGLAND: Brighton has become the first Premier League club to publicly oppose plans to try to restart the season in neutral stadiums during the coronavirus pandemic.
As the COVID-19 death toll surpassed 28,000 in Britain, Brighton chief executive Paul Barber accepted that resuming sporting events would require compromises but said that the league’s integrity would be damaged if teams can’t play at home.
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