The Mars varsity football team is well-represented on the Tri-County North all-star team.

Running back Paul Ferrese and tight end Matt Whittington made first team offense and lineman Pete King and linebacker Dave Pisarcik made the first team defense.

Second-team honorees for the Planets are lineman King on offense, cornerback Josh Keil and punter Tim Wirtz on defense.

Summit Academy center Mike Genes was named first-team offense and defensive back-wide receiver Calvin Love was a second-team choice on both sides of the ball.

Mike Sklarsky, a member of the Washington & Jefferson football team, recorded 12 tackles in the Presidents' 35-30 win over Waynesburg College Saturday.Sklarsky, a graduate of Seneca Valley, had two tackles for losses and one sack.Dennis Gearhart, a graduate of Freeport High School, pulled down four passes for 64 yards for Waynesburg.

James Madison University midfielder Annie Lowry was named the Colonial Athletic Association Women's Soccer Rookie of the Week.The freshman had a part in all four of the Dukes' goals last week. She scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Delaware last Thursday and scored one goal and assisted on another in a 2-1 win over Towson Saturday.In the Dukes' four-game winning streak, Lowry, a graduate of Butler High School, has tallied at least a goal or assist in each game.

Bloomsburg University's Justin Shepherd, a 2003 graduate of Seneca Valley, earned All-Conference honors at the PSAC Cross Country Championships at Kutztown University Saturday.Shepherd placed 10th with a time of 26 minutes, 15 seconds and was the highest finisher for the Huskies.It was Shepherd's second consecutive year of earning all-conference honors.

HOUSTON - Houston Astros general manager Gerry Hunsicker resigned Monday, less than two weeks after the team came within one win of reaching the World Series for the first time.Hunsicker, 53, said he will remain with the Astros as an adviser through next season. He became general manager in 1995 and had one year remaining on his contract. During his tenure, the Astros won four NL Central titles and finished second three times, including this season.Tim Purpura, Hunsicker's assistant and the team's director of player development, will succeed him immediately.

PHOENIX - Wally Backman was hired Monday as manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks, taking over a team coming off one of the worst seasons in major league history.Backman, 45, was selected minor league manager of the year this season by The Sporting News after leading Class A Lancaster to the best record in the California League. It was his first year in the Diamondbacks' organization. He was given a two-year contract with two team options.Backman played 14 seasons in the major leagues, the first nine with the New York Mets.He takes over a team that had a 51-111 record last season, the worst in the seven-year history of the franchise, which won the World Series title in 2001.

CHICAGO - The U.S. women's soccer team will play Mexico Dec. 8 in a match that probably will mark the final international appearances of Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy. The teams will meet in Carson, Calif., in the finale of a 10-game tour that followed their gold-medal win at the Athens Olympics.Joy Fawcett, who has played every minute for the United States in the last three Women's World Cups and Olympics, is injured and will not play but plans to be at the game, the U.S. Soccer Federation said.