• Will Dunbar's numbers down at UAB, but that's not all bad
The easy explanation for Will Dunbar's drop in the number of tackles he's made this season is it was all by design.

• Place-kicker Tom Schneider, a veteran of Cal's Big Game, set for North Alabama's playoff push
FLORENCE - Tom Schneider has played in the Big Game three times, but now every game is capital-letters B-I-G.

• Spartans poised to end Bucs' run
Imagine a rerun where the plot gets better. Actors nail scenes they flubbed. The story arc spins tighter. The camera captures more tugs of the heart than the original airing. That's what Mountain Brook versus Hoover will be tonight at Regions Park in the quarterfinals of the Class 6A state football playoffs.

• Another easy win over another NAIA foe
Samford hosted a different NAIA school Thursday night, but ended up nearly re-enacting Monday's win over Spring Hill.

• Birmingham serves up pitch for Davis Cup
Birmingham made a convincing pitch Thursday to host the first round of tennis' Davis Cup in 2009 as the selection committee from the United States Tennis Association toured the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex and adjacent facilities.

• Blazers hunt for more success
It's impossible to tell these days that Kerry Messersmith inherited a mess when she became the volleyball coach at UAB.

• COLLEGE BEATS
ALABAMA

• FIVE THINGS
A light-hearted Q&A with SEC Commissioner Mike Slive. What was your very first job? Cutting meat at my father's meat market. What are you reading now? The Alexandria Link by Steve Berry. Who was your favorite athlete when you were growing up? Jim Thorpe. What was your first car? A 1950 Plymouth with a hole in the floor. What's on your "bucket" list to do before you die? Reading every book in my library, and to live each day to its fullest. Ray Melick --

• Will Dunbar's numbers down, but that's not all bad
The easy explanation for Will Dunbar's drop in the number of tackles he's made this season is it was all by design.

• NASCAR should try a testing tax
Bruton Smith might be the biggest beneficiary of NASCAR's new ban on testing.

• Sports Digest
UAB BASKETBALL

• Tim Simon, Cordova High, Prep Football Player of the Week
Year: Senior Positions: Running back/Safety Ht./Wt.: 6-2/216 The scoop on Simon: He loves to pile it on. That goes for his second and third plates of food at the Ryan's buffet restaurants he favors and eye-popping stats. His career totals stand at 7,859 rushing yards and 126 touchdowns. He's third all-time in the Alabama High School Athletic Association record books for career touchdowns and 50 yards away from the third-highest rushing total. His career rushing average zooms along at a most impressive 11.1 yards per carry. What he did: The numbers to remember are 2, 4, 110, 196, 264 and 374. Simon missed two days of practice last week due to bronchitis. He still scored four touchdowns in a 54-40 win against Trinity. The Ole Miss commitment ran for 110 yards in the first quarter before sitting out after an on-field asthma attack. He stripped the Trinity quarterback of the ball near his goal and raced 74 yards to close out the first quarter. His return was halted at 74 yards because of that attack. His heart rate spiked to 196 shortly after. After sitting out the second quarter, he ran for 264 yards in the second half to finish with 374 rushing yards on 31 carries. What Cordova coach Pete Bush thought: "That strip was maybe his best play of the year. He was on defense. They ran a quarterback draw and it opened up like the Red Sea. Tim was on the left side of their QB. Their QB ran about 30 yards and had three yards before the end zone when Tim ran him down and took the ball away. He took it back to the 15 before his asthma hit. He had real bad bronchitis last week." In his own words: It's gotten hard to breathe this last week because it's gotten cold. It's hard to breathe in the cold with asthma. My inhaler doesn't help. I had 110 yards in the first quarter but sat out the second quarter after my attack. I stumbled that play where I stripped the ball away from their guy who was about to score. I could hardly breathe running it back. It hit me hard when I got down to the 10-yard line. I was stumbling. I couldn't breathe. Their dude hit me in my knees and made me lose my balance." Compiled by News staff writer Jeff Sentell --