Several are High School golf teams participated in regional competition Monday with several state qualifiers.

ANDALE, Kan. – Buhler Girls Golf captured 1st place in their regional with a team score of 388 edging out Andale’s 390 score. Senior Haley Miller led the way shooting an 87 and placing 2nd.  She was followed by Lauren Specht at 5th with 92.  Callie Cooper in 8th place and Hayley Engellend 10th rounded out the Top 10 medalist. Rylie Cannon was 12th and Kate McPherson 14th for a great team showing by the Crusaders.

Nickerson’s Makenna Dodson placed 9th and qualified for state as a sophomore.

WICHITA, Kan. – Hutch High’s Reaghan Martin placed 5th in the 6A Regional played in Wichita and qualified for State.  Senior Evann Deal placed 16th and was just one stroke short of qualifying for state. Hutchinson as a team placed 5th.

RUSSELL, Kan. – Cheney’s Jayln Turner placed 3rd with a 96 and teammates Kaitlyn Fowler and Morgan Sutter helped Cheney place a team 3rd score of 452.

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 100 pitches in, Stephen Strasburg was adamant he wasn’t quite ready to leave the latest superb start by a Nationals pitcher against the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Championship Series — a win that put Washington on the verge of the city’s first World Series in 86 years.

It was the seventh inning, and manager Dave Martinez noticed Strasburg had flexed his right leg and reached for that hamstring. So the skipper and a trainer went to the mound to check on their guy.

“I was trying to explain to him, ‘Hey, you just grabbed your hamstring, so there’s a little concern,’” Martinez recalled. “He said, ‘No, I cramped up. It’s fine. I always cramp up.’ He said, ‘I’m staying in the game. I want to finish this inning.’ I said, ‘You sure you’re all right?’ He said, ‘I’m in the game!’”

The right-hander did, indeed, stay in. Even struck out the next two batters to raise his total to 12 Ks, each finished with an off-speed pitch. Strasburg took his turn silencing the Cardinals’ struggling bats, Nationals postseason star Howie Kendrick doubled three times and drove in three more runs, and Washington took a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven NLCS by beating St. Louis 8-1 Monday night.

“It’s a little surreal,” reliever Sean Doolittle said about being one win from the World Series, “and I think that’s why it’s important that we don’t look too far ahead.”

After Nationals starters Aníbal Sánchez and Max Scherzer flirted with no-hitters in the first two games against the Cardinals, Strasburg wasn’t quite that untouchable: He allowed a double in the second inning, six later singles and one unearned run.

Still, the Cardinals, quite simply, can’t score in this NLCS: They have a grand total of two runs and 11 hits through three games. Washington’s three starters have a combined ERA — no calculator necessary for this one — of 0.00.

Yes, that’s zero-point-zero-zero.

“We expected better,” said Kolten Wong, who went 0 for 4 on Monday and is 0 for 10 in the series for St. Louis.

Now it’s Patrick Corbin’s chance to see if he can match his rotation-mates. The $140 million lefty will start for the Nationals in Game 4 on Tuesday night, when they can close out a sweep at home. Rookie right-hander Dakota Hudson will be on the mound for the Cardinals.

“We’ve got to get a lead at some point in this series. Hard to win a game if you can’t get a lead,” St. Louis manager Mike Shildt said. “We’ve got to figure out a way to create some offense early in the game and be able to hold it there.”

Washington hasn’t put a baseball team in the World Series since 1933, when the Senators lost to the New York Giants in five games. The nation’s capital owns only one MLB championship; the Senators won all the way back in 1924. There wasn’t even a baseball team at all in Washington for more than three decades until the Montreal Expos franchise moved to town before the 2005 season and was renamed the Nationals.

Until this season, the Nationals hadn’t won a playoff series, going 0-4 since 2012, but they sure look as if they’re making up for lost time.

“Shoot, maybe we’re finally coming around,” third baseman Anthony Rendon said.

How about this current run? The Nationals, who found themselves at 19-31 in late May, have won 15 of their past 17 games, stretching back to the last week of the regular season.

It all starts with the pitching.

“That’s what our team is built around. You have those guys, those horses, that take the ball every fifth day,” said Ryan Zimmerman, who drove in two runs. “They haven’t disappointed, obviously, in the postseason, but they’ve kind of been the backbone of this team all year.”

Against Sánchez in Game 1, the first hit for the Cardinals arrived with their 27th batter. Against Scherzer in Game 2, it was their 21st batter. But even when the Cardinals did something right against Strasburg, they erased it by doing something wrong.

Their fourth batter, Marcell Ozuna, doubled to the left field corner in the second, then quickly erased himself with some poor baserunning, going too far toward third on a comebacker and getting tagged out by Strasburg, who is enjoying a postseason to remember.

He was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 amateur draft, then was infamously shut down before the playoffs three years later to protect his surgically repaired right elbow. Strasburg is now hale and hearty, throwing 117 pitches Monday, his most since totaling 118 in a May 2017 game.

And this sort of October excellence is what the Nationals were hoping for: Strasburg has a 3-0 record and 1.64 ERA, with 33 strikeouts and one walk — he didn’t issue a free pass Monday — in 22 innings this postseason.

Much to the delight of a red towel-twirling crowd of 43,675, Washington’s batters kept delivering, led by Kendrick, who has eight RBIs in the past four games.

The Nationals roughed up Jack Flaherty for four runs, all in the third inning; he hadn’t allowed that many in a game since July 2, a span of 18 appearances.

Seven of Washington’s eight runs came with two outs, and there were contributions from up and down the lineup: Victor Robles homered in his return from a hamstring injury, and Rendon heard “MVP!” chants after a slick defensive play and an RBI double.

“We haven’t been able to play our brand of baseball in full,” Shildt said. “We haven’t been able to get in rhythm or sync, but we still have more baseball to play.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Nationals: Robles, the Nationals’ center fielder, missed five postseason games with a strained right hamstring he hurt in Game 2 of the NLDS.

UP NEXT

Corbin took the loss in each of Washington’s two defeats this postseason. One was a start — in Game 1 of the NLDS, when he allowed just one unearned run with nine strikeouts — and one came in relief. Corbin also came out of the bullpen to retire one Cardinals batter in Game 2 of the NLCS on Saturday.

In his only postseason start, in Game 4 of the Cardinals’ NLDS against Atlanta, Hudson allowed one earned run in 4 2/3 innings and did not factor in the decision as St. Louis won 5-4 in 10 innings.

NEW YORK (AP) — LSU moved up to No. 2 in The Associated Press college football poll, giving the Southeastern Conference the top two teams in the country for the 29th time and putting the Tigers behind No. 1 Alabama less than a month before the rivals meet in Tuscaloosa.

The Tigers jumped from No. 5, past No. 3 Clemson and No. 4 Ohio State, after beating Florida in a matchup of unbeaten teams Saturday night. LSU received 12 first-place votes Sunday in the AP Top 25 presented by Regions Bank while Alabama received 30 first-place votes and is No. 1 for the third consecutive week. The Crimson Tide host the Tigers on Nov. 9.

One conference has held the top two spots 75 times since the AP poll started in 1936, none more than the SEC. The now-defunct Big Eight is next with 23.

Clemson received 11 first-place votes Sunday and Ohio State had nine. Oklahoma was No. 5 and Wisconsin became the first new team to crack the top six after Georgia suffered the biggest upset of the season so far. The Bulldogs dropped from No. 3 to No. 10 after losing at home to South Carolina in double overtime.

Georgia is the highest-ranked team to lose to an unranked team this season. The Bulldogs had been steady at No. 3 since the preseason. They were among a season-high eight ranked teams to lose this weekend, including four to unranked teams.

Penn State moved up to No. 7. Florida’s loss at LSU cost the ninth-ranked Gators two spots. Notre Dame was No. 8, two spots ahead of Georgia, which won a close game at home against the Irish last month.

Texas slipped four spots to No. 15, the highest ranked team with two losses. The Longhorns lost to Oklahoma on Saturday and fell to LSU early in the season. Both losses were to current top-five teams, each by seven points.

POLL POINTS
It is the 27th time the SEC has had the Nos. 1 and 2 teams in the rankings since 2000. The only other conferences to do it in that time are the Big Ten (eight times) and the Big 12 (once).

LSU and Alabama have been 1 and 2 (in some order) 10 times previously, including nine during the 2011 season, when they played as the top two teams in the regular season and BCS championship game. Alabama avenged the regular-season Game of the Century loss and won the national championship.

The Tigers and Tide were also 1-2 for a week in September 2013.

IN
Three teams moved into the rankings for the first time this season and a fourth is back after a week out.

— No. 20 Minnesota (6-0) is off to its best start since 2003. The Gophers are the only unbeaten team from a Power Five conference that had not yet been ranked.

— No. 22 Missouri has won five straight since losing its opener at Wyoming.

— No. 24 Appalachian State is in the Top 25 for the second time in school history. The Mountaineers will try to hang around a little longer this time. Last year, App State was ranked for the first time since moving to the FBS in 2014, but the Mountaineers lost their first game as a ranked team and never returned.

— No. 25 Washington (5-2) fell out last week after losing at Stanford, but it bounced back with a decisive road win against Arizona on Saturday.

OUT

— Texas A&M had been lingering at the bottom of the ranking, despite September losses to Clemson and Auburn. After getting routed by Alabama, voters finally bailed on the Aggies.

— Virginia is out after losing at Miami on Friday night.

— Wake Forest lost for the first time this season and dropped out after falling 62-59 to Louisville.

— Memphis lasted only a week in the Top 25 after losing at Temple.

CONFERENCE CALL

The Atlantic Coast Conference is down to one ranked team: Clemson. The last time the ACC had only one team in the Top 25 was Sept. 28, 2014, when Florida State was No. 1.

SEC — 6 (Nos. 1, 2, 9, 10, 11, 22).
Big Ten — 6 (Nos. 4, 6, 7, 16, 20, 23).
Pac-12 — 4 (Nos. 12, 13, 17, 25).
Big 12 — 3 (Nos. 5, 15, 18).
American — 2 (Nos. 19, 21)
ACC — 1 (No. 3).
Mountain West — 1 (No. 14)
Sun Belt — 1 (No. 24)
Independent — 1 (No. 8).

RANKED vs. RANKED
No. 16 Michigan at No. 7 Penn State. Happy Valley whiteout greets the Wolverines.
No. 17 Arizona State at No. 13 Utah. Major Pac-12 South implications.
No. 12 Oregon at No. 25 Washington. Major Pac-12 North implications.

The Top 25 teams in The Associated Press college football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Oct. 12, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and previous ranking:

Record Pts Pv
1. Alabama (30) 6-0 1503 1
2. LSU (12) 6-0 1449 5
3. Clemson (11) 6-0 1427 2
4. Ohio St. (9) 6-0 1404 3
5. Oklahoma 6-0 1333 6
6. Wisconsin 6-0 1245 8
7. Penn St. 6-0 1129 10
8. Notre Dame 5-1 1042 9
9. Florida 6-1 1041 7
10. Georgia 5-1 995 3
11. Auburn 5-1 985 12
12. Oregon 5-1 906 13
13. Utah 5-1 729 15
14. Boise St. 6-0 716 14
15. Texas 4-2 672 11
16. Michigan 5-1 648 16
17. Arizona St. 5-1 524 18
18. Baylor 6-0 470 22
19. SMU 6-0 398 21
20. Minnesota 6-0 330 NR
21. Cincinnati 5-1 308 25
22. Missouri 5-1 233 NR
23. Iowa 4-2 210 17
24. Appalachian St. 5-0 148 NR
25. Washington 5-2 107 NR

Others receiving votes: Tulane 55, Iowa St. 36, Temple 31, Wake Forest 25, California 20, Virginia 8, Memphis 6, Southern Cal 4, South Carolina 4, Texas A&M 3, UCF 3, San Diego St. 2, Louisiana Tech 1.

(BY STEVE CARPENTER)
(HUTCHINSON CC SPORTS INFORMATION

HUTCHINSON, Kan. – There were no changes among the nation’s Top 5 on Monday in the NJCAA Football Rankings.

That means the 6-1 Hutchinson Community College football team remains No. 4 this week.

The Blue Dragons defeated Coffeyville 49-7 on Saturday at Gowans Stadium to improve to 6-1 and become bowl eligible. The Dragons play host to Dodge City at Noon Saturday at Gowans Stadium.

Mississippi Gulf Coast remained unbeaten and received 15 of the 16 first-place votes from the voting committee. Northwest Mississippi is second and unbeaten Lackawanna College is third. After Hutch, Kilgore and Hinds, at Nos. 5 and 6 remained stable in the rankings from last week.

Hutchinson is just 0.93 points behind Lackawanna for third and only three points behind Northwest Mississippi for second. The Dragons own a 23.04-point lead over Kilgore for fourth place in the rankings.

Hutchinson’s strength of schedule was bolstered by the new rankings. Hutchinson has defeated No. 7 butler, No. 15 Fort Scott and No. 18 Iowa Western. Independence is receiving votes this week. Highland, the only team to defeat Hutchinson this season, is ranked No. 12.

The Blue Dragons have been ranked in 18 consecutive polls.

Information Box

NJCAA Football Rankings
	Record	Points	Last Week
1. Mississippi Gulf Coast (15) 2. Northwest Mississippi 3. Lackawanna (1) 4. Hutchinson 5. Kilgore 6. Hinds 7. Butler 8. Garden City 9. Snow 10. Jones 11. Trinity Valley 12. Highland 13. Georgia Military 14. Monroe College 15. Fort Scott 16. Mesabi Range 17. East Mississippi 18. Cisco 18. Iowa Western 20. ASA Brooklyn	7-0 6-1 6-0 6-1 6-1 6-1 6-2 6-2 4-2 5-2 5-2 4-2 5-2 5-1 4-2 7-0 4-3 5-2 4-3 5-2	371.50 318.79 316.72 315.79 291.75 273.90 229.44 222.80 193.66 191.05 177.2 146.31 121.05 120.00 84.81 82.22 81.72 36.00 36.00 31.00	1 2 3 4 5 6 9 10 13 12 11 14 15 7 RV 18 8 NR RV RV
Others Receiving Votes: East Central (4-3, 22.8); Independence (3-3, 17.1); ASA Miami (4-2, 14.0); Tyler (3-4, 11.0); Nassau (4-2, 10.0); Holmes (3-4, 6.7); Iowa Central (4-4, 4.0); North Dakota SCS (6-1, 4.0); Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (3-4, 4.0); Copiah-Lincoln (3-4, 3.7). *25.0 percent of the NJCAA football rankings are comprised of the NJCAA Football Computer Rankings. The remaining 75.0 percent is derived from individual votes conducted by a 16-member committee featuring the seven members of the NJCAA Football Committee, two annually rotating at-large selections, and a representative from each of the six NJCAA football conferences and a representative from the independent schools.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Chiefs coaches and quarterback Patrick Mahomes talked football past and future during a Monday presser. Following are their comments.

HEAD COACH ANDY REID

OPENING STATEMENT: “Quick turnaround here. We evaluated the tape and have had an opportunity to look at it. Obviously, yesterday wasn’t good enough. I didn’t feel like we took advantage of opportunities, number one, from an offensive standpoint, on the turnovers. We didn’t score touchdowns, which we pride ourselves in doing. We created too many negative situations for ourselves with penalties. We have to take care of that. Our time of possession is way out of whack. When given opportunities to stay on the field, we have to make sure that we do that offensively and get off of the field defensively. The fourth quarter is a great example of that. I understand there is a small margin between winning and losing in the National Football League. You see this every week. Teams come in when they might not be doing well, and they turn it around. It doesn’t happen automatically, though. There has to be hard work here. We have to fix the problems. As coaches, we have to do that. As players, we have to do that. Collectively, as a team, we have to do that. We’re on a short week here, so that’s what we’re working on today. We start today with a walk-through practice. We’ll go through it and then we’ll get on with the rest of it. But it is a quick turnaround. We have to learn from this last game. We have to put it in the rear-view mirror real quick and get moving forward. With that, time’s yours.”

Q: What can you do better offensively to improve the unit’s time of possession?

REID: “Without going through every play, there are certain things. Obviously, drops can become an issue and so on. You run. You want to make sure that you gain more yards and stay on the field. We can all do better. I can do better calling the plays. We can do better executing.”

Q: QB Patrick Mahomes seemed to not complete as many throws after it appeared that he re-aggravated his ankle injury. How much of that is coincidence and how much of that is mobility and stability?

REID: “I’m not telling you that it doesn’t bother him, but it’s not something that’s hindering him like that. There are other things that go into that.”

Q: What types of things specifically can you work on to try to limit the penalties?

REID: “Yeah, we have to do better, the best we can. I’m not saying that every one of them I agree with, but there are enough of them here where it’s becoming a trend that we have to stop that. We have to keep working the fundamentals.”

Q: Have you received any better explanation about the penalty called on Travis Kelce?

REID: “No. They gave me quite an extensive one on the field. I’ve had a chance to look at it, and I think you all have too. I’ll eventually talk to them somewhere here, but I’ve been trying to get ready for this next game.”

Q: What do you need to see out of Sammy Watkins over the next two days to determine if he will be able to play or not on Thursday night?

REID: “He worked hard last week in the rehab part of it. We’ll just see how he does here. He didn’t play, so he’s fresh to where he can move around a little bit and we can get an idea of where he’s at here.”

Q: Can you expand on the offense’s inability to capitalize on the defense’s takeaways?

REID: “We have to do that. There were some unique situations that came up there, but we have to take care of it. We have to score. That’s what needs to take place. We’ve been very good at that, we just didn’t do that yesterday.”

Q: How is Eric Fisher coming along with his injury?

REID: “He’s getting better, but I think he still needs a little time, probably.”

Q: How much of an added benefit is it that this short week leads into a divisional game, as opposed to a team that you may not have game-planned for before?

REID: “Well it’s a new coaching staff, but that doesn’t matter. It’s an AFC West game, so it’s an important game, obviously. They’re all important, but this week is pretty important. We have to buckle down here the next couple of days and make sure that we get the game plan under wraps so that we can go execute.”

Q: Is there any update on Kendall Fuller’s injury from yesterday?

REID: “I don’t have anything for you on that right now. They’re all coming in here in a little bit.”

Q: What is the stamp that new Broncos Head Coach Vic Fangio has put on this team that you’ve seen thus far?

REID: “I think he’s done a nice job. The last two games they’ve played well. They’ve won the last two games and have done a nice job with it. Aggressive defense. They’re finishing on the offensive side and doing well. They’re putting up enough points to win the game. They’re going through and playing good football right now.”

Q: After seeing Tyreek Hill’s backflip touchdown celebration, would you say that he is back to full health?

REID: “It wasn’t his legs that were hurting, it was the chest. He came out feeling pretty good. He was one of the guys that was in early here, so he’s feeling pretty good.”

Q: At what point do you and the coaching staff become alarmed at this run defense trend that has occurred over the last month?

REID: “We have to fix it. That’s what has to take place. Again, there’s a lot that goes into that. You can try, at times, too hard. It’s not an effort thing right now. It’s a maintaining your position thing. We have to do a better job with that. Getting ourselves working together, not over-compensating and giving up lanes, and then communicating better.”

Q: You’ve gotten out of a lot worse than a 4-2 start to the season – like the 1-5 start and some others – what are the traits or markers that you look for from a group that can overcome something like that?

REID: “That’s a good question. I appreciate that (laughter). I think staying positive is one of them, but also being real with the errors that are taking place. This is both coaches and players. Then, you have to trust each other, and you can’t lose that. If we can all do that and learn from it to make ourselves better, that’s where you go from here. With all of the parity in the National Football League, it’s not always a huge thing. It’s the small things that add up on you. You have to fix those.”

OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR ERIC BIENIEMY

Q: First game for Martinas Rankin, what did you see that was positive and maybe some things you saw that indicates he can get better as he goes?

BIENIEMY: “I thought he had some good spots. Obviously, him starting with the group for the first time there were a few rough areas, but I will tell you this, he played hard and gave us an opportunity.”

Q: There’s been a bunch of offensive penalties, what are specific ways to work on that during practice to fix it?

BIENIEMY: “One thing we strive with and one thing we take a lot of pride in is being fundamentally sound. The only thing that you have when you’re going through an NFL season, you have to keep demanding it and expecting it and keep working it in the individual periods. The only thing we’re asking our guys to do is go out there and do it the right way. That way we can give ourselves a chance. We’re making our mistakes at the most inopportune times which is not giving us an opportunity to be at our best. What does that mean? We’re going to keep demanding excellence from our players at all times. We’re going to keep coaching them up to make sure we’re doing it the right way.”

Q: Have the breakdowns been more about personal execution of blocking the guy in front of you or more scheme stuff?

BIENIEMY: “One thing I just want to get out there, I think the O-line takes the blunt of the blow. I will say this, our O-line has been working their tails off. Have they been perfect? Not at all. Collectively as a group and an offensive unit, we have to be better. That’s the important thing. We need to be better. We need to make sure we’re playing assignment sound. We can do it. We’ve shown it. We know how to do it. Now we just need to go out there, clean it up and do it when it’s all said and done with.”

Q: Where is Patrick’s involvement in this rough patch?

BIENIEMY: “Offensively, we’re just not clicking. We’re just not getting it done. So, when I talk about us as a group, I’m talking to all of us. We need to make sure that we’re executing and performing at a high level. Expectations are high and we need to play at that level. That’s what we expect from our guys and that’s what we demand from them.”

Q: You talked about the RPOs, are you confident Patrick is making the right read on the majority of those?

BIENIEMY: “Oh yeah. Very confident. We put all our trust and faith in Pat. If there’s something or an adjustment, we want to make we’ll have that discussion on the sideline.”

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR STEVE SPAGNUOLO

OPENING STATEMENT: “On yesterday, not a great day. We’re a little disappointed, like everybody, but because it’s a short week, we have to put it behind us. Put it in the rear-view mirror and move on. With that, I’ll open it up.”

Q: Is it frustrating when you and the group experience inconsistency in creating takeaways?

SPAGNUOLO: “It is a little bit. I’ll share this with you. It was one of the years that we were in Philadelphia with Jim Johnson as the (defensive) coordinator, and we went through kind of a dry stretch. His point was that (takeaways) usually come in bunches. And they truly do. I would like for them to come in a lot of bunches, but I did think that we made two really good plays on the football yesterday. C-Dub (Charvarius Ward) had one and Juan (Thornhill) obviously had a really good play. We would like to be getting more of them. I mean the first play of the game was pretty exciting. It kind of got us rolling, and then it changed. I watched the film early this morning, there were a number of times that we got the ball on the ground. Now, I think one time they called him down, and then we ripped it out another time. It wouldn’t have been a fumble, but it’s good to see that the ball was coming out. Hopefully, somewhere along the way, they’ll become turnovers for us.”

Q: With Juan Thornhill’s interception, if he would have just knocked it down, the offense probably would have been in better shape and field position. Is that something that you guys go over?

SPAGNUOLO: “That’s a great point. I’ll be perfectly honest with you. When he caught it, I was fired up for him to catch it, too. Then quickly, when I realized where we were, that we now had the ball and it was fourth down. My guess is that it would have taken a real savvy veteran that’s been back there for a long time, someone that it all registers with, to knock it down. I just think it was a really good job covering. We were in man (coverage). They caught us in man and took a shot. I don’t think that’s really what they wanted to do, but they saw an opportunity and Juan took it away. I was happy for him to have done that, but your point is a good one.”

Q: It looked like you guys were trying some new things by moving Frank Clark around along the defensive front. How did that go?

SPAGNUOLO: “Pretty good. We’re trying to get him into as many good situations or places that we can. Now, that takes a little bit of work – guys are moving – but we’ll do that as much as we possibly can. We want him to be comfortable with where he is.”

Q: Everybody seems to be a little banged up right now in Week 7 of the season. Is Clark all good?

SPAGNUOLO: “Well you would have to ask him. He’s a warrior, so he goes, but I’d be willing to say that there are a lot of guys with a nick, a bruise and a bump, and they’re fighting through things. You can see it on the sidelines. Guys hang in there and they keep going. I’m proud of them in that regard.”

CHIEFS QB PATRICK MAHOMES

Q: Do you feel like in your career you have had a stretch like you guys are now where it has been a little bit rough?

MAHOMES: “I mean I think there were certain times at Texas Tech we didn’t do the things that we wanted to as an offense to find ways to win. I’ve definitely been through adverse times when I was in college of not winning the games I feel like we could have won. Then, my first year here whenever the team went through a little stretch when they weren’t winning games was something I can always look back on and realize it’s a long season. You can figure it out. That team my rookie season started hot, had a few games they didn’t like and then picked it back up as the season went on. There’s just difficult times in the NFL. There’s teams that are good and we’ve played some great opponents so far this season. We’ll have to find a way to get this thing rolling again on a short week against a great opponent.”

Q: In this instance, how do you get to the other side?

MAHOMES: “You just have to keep trying to execute and trust in what we’re doing. I feel like there’s plays in every single game that change the outcome and that’s how close it is in the NFL. Every team can win every single week. It’s about the little plays here and there that can change the whole aspect of a football game.”

Q: Your first 16 passes, I believe you completed 10 for 186 yards then it was nine for 19 for 80-something yards, was there an adjustment made for maybe ankle protection?

MAHOMES: “I don’t know if any was ankle protection at all but they played a similar defense the whole game and we didn’t execute at a high enough level. I didn’t make the throws at a high enough level as the game went on. I mean, I felt like we were doing the same things, we were running the plays we had gained playing before and we just didn’t get some of the series rolling the way we wanted to get going to have success later in the game.”

Q: Travis Kelce may be one of the best tight ends in the league, from your perspective how much are you seeing defenses being as physical as possible to prevent you and him from getting into a rhythm as the game goes on?

MAHOMES: “You can see it that last few weeks. Defenses are going to put their hands on him and try to hold him and try to rough him up on the line of scrimmage to disrupt our timing. All we can do as an offense is just keep going through our offense and keep trying to execute at a high level. Me and him both have to be better at trying to find ways for me to give him time to get open and make better throws when he does get open and then for him to keep working those routes and trusting his technique and his abilities. That’s stuff we’ll work on as the season goes on. Obviously, this will be a time to look back upon and learn things about ourselves as a team and as an offense and hopefully grow as an offense with a lot of the young guys we have on this team.”

Q: With Tyreek coming back could you see a difference in how defenses were going about coverages towards you?

MAHOMES: “When Tyreek’s out there, defenses have to pay extra attention to him and I think you saw that at the beginning of the game. They kind of started off with more press-man coverage we had been seeing and he kind of got them a couple times. Then you saw they kind of backed off of him earlier and played more of press and the safety was cheating over there to kind of help out the guys over there. He’s a guy that takes added attention so we need to utilize that and whenever he gets those matchups, take them, and when he gets that attention we need to use other guys to have success as an offense.”

Q: How do you handle and accept the responsibility after back to back losses that there’s going to be a lot of guys looking to you and how you’re handling it during practice or meetings?

MAHOMES: “You have to go about it as you just need to get better each and every week. I think you have to have the same mentality after a win that you have after a loss, that you’re trying to go out there and get better. So, after back to back losses, we aren’t happy with how we’ve performed the last few weeks but we know we have a short week against another opponent and we still can control our own destiny as far as our division and trying to win the AFC West and doing those different things and so it’s an important game this week. We’re playing Denver at Denver, they’ve won two in a row and are playing good football right now. For us we have to make sure we have our game plan and execute at a high level in a hostile environment.”

Q: How do you go about self-scouting and deciding ‘Did I make the right call here to pass and did I make the right call here to run the ball?’

MAHOMES: “You look at the positive parts of each play and a lot of the RPOs we completed a lot of the passes. I think there was one time if I look back right now, I’m about to watch the film after this, but I think there was one time I made a throw to (Byron) Pringle that we almost hit on that missed that the run could’ve been out from the pictures I saw on the tablet. For the most part on those things, I’m kind of always throwing them to Tyreek on the side where he’s getting nine yards a catch and stuff like that whereas those RPO options and you get plus nine on those throws, those are success plays for us.”

Q: The O-line takes a lot of criticism, what is your message to them that you still have confidence in them?

MAHOMES: “I’ll always have confidence in them. Those guys are working their tails off to protect me and we put a lot on them as far as letting them have those one on ones with the pass rushers with the Texans and these last couple weeks. They’ve been holding their own and doing their best job and I’ll keep trusting those guys to do their job. I have to get the ball out of my hands when the play isn’t there. I think you saw that with the play before half. I held onto it just a little too long instead of just burning it and living the play to the next half. Those are mistakes you can’t make when you’re playing an opponent like that.”

Q: Confidence-wise as a group, does it feel different than last year when you were losing in shootouts? How is your confidence in getting back to scoring what the fans expect of 30, 40 points in a game?

MAHOMES: “I feel like we still did a good job yesterday of moving the ball up and down the field for the most part. There was a couple drives there at the end where we just couldn’t get it rolling and put our defense in a bad situation by putting them right back on the field. I think the biggest difference you have is missing those little plays as far as third down conversions and little things like that we were making last year that we haven’t made these last few weeks that we were making at the beginning of the season is what changes the whole aspect of the game. Knowing that and guys seeing that on film, they understand that we’re this close to being that same explosive offense we were at the early part of the season so it’s about just executing as we keep getting guys back and keep getting more and more opportunities, we have to make sure we’re executing at a high enough level to have success.”

Q: Last year the Thursday Night Game was in December and your body is tired from the season, what can you do to make sure your body is ready to go for this Thursday night against the Broncos?

MAHOMES: “I think last year we did a good job of executing at the beginning of the game and we kind of faded at the end. Just knowing that it’s going to be a full game, you have to make sure that you are going to play a full entire game against a division opponent, knowing they’re going to give their best effort since it is such an important game.  For us, we’re going to go out there and get this game plan down today, make sure we prepare ourselves to play a full 60 minutes or however long it takes.”

Q: With their shutout yesterday, it looks like their defense is coming around, what kind of challenge does that present?

MAHOMES: “They have great personnel with their defensive players that they have that came back and have been there for a long time. With Coach Fangio, he was a really good defensive coordinator and now head coach. For them to have that combination you know they’re going to have a good defense so as an offense we need to understand what they’re trying to do and how they’re trying to do it then find ways to have success whenever we get our opportunities.”

—CHIEFS—

PHILADELPHIA – The American Athletic Conference coaches expect an improved Wichita State squad to finish near the top of the 2020 men’s basketball standings.

The Shockers were picked fourth out of 12 teams in the preseason poll, released Monday morning ahead of the league’s annual media day festivities at the Philadelphia Airport Marriott.

WSU did not have a player selected for preseason all-conference honors

Ballots were cast by each of the 12 head coaches, who were not permitted to vote for their team or players.

Houston and Memphis are the co-favorites, according to the poll. UH garnered seven first-place votes to Memphis’ four, but both teams finished with exactly 113 points. It’s the first time in the league’s seven-year history that two teams have tied for the top spot.

Only six points separated WSU (88) from third-place Cincinnati (94), which has the AAC’s Preseason Player of the Year in Jarron Cumberland.

Memphis’ James Wiseman was named Preseason Rookie of the Year.

Picked eighth last year, a rebuilding WSU (22-15, 10-8 AAC) started conference play 1-6 but went 9-2 the rest of the way to claim a sixth-place finish. Momentum continued in the postseason with semifinal runs in both the AAC and the National Invitation tournaments. Three starters and seven of the top-nine scorers are back, including a core of five sophomores who all played key minutes.

13th year Shocker head coach Gregg Marshall joined an elite fraternity last March when he picked up his 500th career victory. He’s led WSU to at least 22 wins in each of the last 10 seasons.
American Athletic Conference Preseason Poll:
t-1. Houston (7) – 113
t-1. Memphis (4) – 113
3. Cincinnati (1) – 94
4. Wichita State – 88
5. USF – 79
6. UConn – 75
7. Temple – 72
8. SMU – 47
9.  UCF – 40
10. Tulsa – 36
11. ECU – 20
12. Tulane – 15

Preseason Player of the Year:
Jarron Cumberland, Sr., G, Cincinnati

Preseason Rookie of the Year:
James Wiseman, Fr., C, Memphis *

Preseason First Team:
Jarron Cumberland, Sr., G, Cincinnati *
Quinton Rose, Sr., G, Temple
DeJon Jarreau, R-Jr., G, Houston
James Wiseman, Fr., C, Memphis
Laquincy Rideau, R-Sr., G, USF

Preseason Second Team:
Alexis Yetna, Jr., F, USF
Jayden Gardner, So., F, ECU
Nate Pierre-Louis, Jr, G, Temple
Alterique Gilbert, R-Jr., G, UConn
David Collins, Jr., G, USF
Christian Vital, Jr., G, UConn
* unanimous selection
Houston won the 2018-19 American regular-season championship, reached the NCAA Sweet Sixteen, won a program-record 33 games and returns preseason first-team member and 2018-19 Sixth Man of the Year DeJon Jarreau. The Cougars also welcome five newcomers for 2018-19 American Coach of the Year Kelvin Sampson’s sixth season and will be looking to make the NCAA Championship for a third consecutive year.

Memphis does not return any starters from the 2018-19 squad that reached the NIT and won 22 games, but the Tigers welcome the No. 1 recruiting class in the country according to the long-running Recruiting Services Combined index. Second-year head coach Penny Hardaway’s recruiting class features five top-100 prospects including Wiseman, who was rated No. 1.

Cincinnati welcomes a new head coach in John Brannen and will look to advance to the NCAA Championship for the 10th straight season. The Bearcats return three starters from 2018-19’s tournament championship team, including Cumberland, who averaged 18.8 points per game last year.

Wichita State returns three starters and nine letterwinners from a 2018-19 squad that advanced to the NIT semifinals. The Shockers will look to advance to the NCAA tournament for the eighth time in nine seasons under head coach Gregg Marshall, who enters his 13th season. Amongst the returners is 2018-19 American All-Freshman Team member Dexter Dennis, who averaged 8.4 points and 5.3 rebounds per game last year.

USF returns all five starters from the team that captured the 2019 CBI Championship and will look to return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2012 under third-year head coach Brian Gregory. Laquincy Rideau was named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year and Alexis Yetna was The American’s 2018-19 Rookie of the Year. Those players join guard David Collins to give the Bulls a league-leading three preseason all-conference selections.

UConn returns four starters for head coach Dan Hurley’s second season. Forward Josh Carlton returns after sharing the league’s Most Improved Player award, while guards Christian Vital and Alterique Gilbert both earned preseason all-conference nods. Five newcomers look to push the Huskies back into the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2016.

Temple advanced to the NCAA tournament for the first time in three seasons and returns 10 letterwinners for new head coach and Owl legend Aaron McKie. Three starters are back, including guard Nate Pierre-Louis, who shared Most Improved Player honors, and second-team guard Quinton Rose.

SMU is ranked eighth in the poll and welcomes eight newcomers for head coach Tim Jankovich’s fourth season. Forwards Ethan Chargois (12.4 ppg) and Isiaha Mike (11.7 ppg) are the leading returners for the Mustangs.

UCF reached the NCAA tournament second round for the first time in program history in 2019 and welcomes 10 newcomers in head coach Johnny Dawkins’ fourth season. Forward Collin Smith is the Knights’ leading returner in scoring at 8.0 ppg.

Tulsa is picked 10th, but welcomes seven newcomers for head coach Frank Haith’s sixth season. The Golden Hurricane returns two of its top three scorers from 2018-19 in forwards Martins Igbanu (12.5 ppg) and Jeriah Horne (10.1 ppg).

ECU returns only one starter from last season, but it is American All-Freshman  forward and the Pirates’ leading scorer, Jayden Gardner (16.3 ppg). Head coach Joe Dooley is in the second season of his second stint at ECU and welcomes 13 newcomers.

Tulane hired veteran Ron Hunter as its head coach in the offseason. Hunter brings 445 victories and four NCAA tournament appearances in 25 seasons as a head coach. The Green Wave welcomes 11 newcomers into the fold for 2019-20, including guard/forward K.J. Lawson, who was the 2017 American Rookie of the Year at Memphis before transferring to Kansas.

The 2019-20 season begins Nov. 5, while conference play begins with two league games on New Year’s Eve. Seven of the 11 teams in The American this year played in the 2014 postseason, while the 2014-15 season will be the second straight year in which the conference has the previous season’s NCAA champion in its ranks.

The 2020 American Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Championship will take place March 12-15 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.

WASHINGTON (AP) — After no-hit bids into the late innings helped the Nationals take a 2-0 lead over the Cardinals in the NL Championship Series, postseason star Stephen Strasburg takes the mound for Washington in Game 3 and 23-year-old ace Jack Flaherty for St. Louis. The Cardinals have just four hits and one run through the first two games. St. Louis is sending 23-year-old ace Jack Flaherty to the mound in Game 3.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Deshaun Watson threw for 280 yards and a touchdown while running for two more, outdueling Chiefs counterpart Patrick Mahomes and leading the Texans to a 31-24 victory Sunday. Carlos Hyde added 116 yards rushing and a touchdown against the team that traded him to Houston before the start of the season. Mahomes finished with 273 yards passing and three touchdowns, two of them to returning star Tyreek Hill.

UNDATED (AP) — A review of college football statistics at midseason shows a lot of familiar names at or near the top of the charts and a few surprises, too. Oklahoma is on track to lead the nation in offense for a third straight year. LSU, which has ranked in the top 50 in offense only three other seasons since 2009, is producing points and yards at unprecedented rates. Wisconsin has posted four shutouts in six games, and Penn State, Ohio State and Iowa give the Big Ten four of the top five defenses.

WACO, Texas (AP) — No. 18 Baylor will be without leading tackler Clay Johnston for the rest of the season after he injured his knee on a play where he had an interception. Johnston got hurt in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s 33-30 double-overtime win over Texas Tech. The senior middle linebacker limped off the field and never returned after his interception deep in Baylor territory. Baylor officials confirmed he will miss the rest of the season.

National Headlines

NEW YORK (AP) — LSU moved up to No. 2 in The Associated Press college football poll, giving the Southeastern Conference the top two teams in the country for the 29th time. The Tigers jumped from No. 5, past No. 3 Clemson and No. 4 Ohio State, after beating Florida in a matchup of unbeaten teams. Georgia dropped from No. 3 to No. 10 after losing at home to South Carolina in double overtime. The Bulldogs were among a season-high eight ranked teams to lose this weekend, including four to unranked teams.

HOUSTON (AP) _ The American League Championship Series is tied at a game apiece after Carlos Correa (koh-RAY’-uh) belted a walk-off, solo homer off J.A. Happ in the 11th inning to give the Houston Astros a 3-2 victory over the New York Yankees. Aaron Judge belted a two-run blast in the fourth inning to put the Yankees ahead 2-1, but Houston forced extra innings on George Springer’s fifth-inning blast. The series resumes tomorrow in New York when Luis Severino will take the mound for the Yanks against Gerrit Cole.

TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) _ Yesterday’s NASCAR playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway was red-flagged and halted for the day because of rain. NASCAR called the red flag at the end of the first stage of Sunday’s race. They are scheduled to pick up the race this afternoon. Hendrick driver William Byron won the first stage, with teammates Alex Bowman and Jimmie Johnson right behind him.

HUMBLE, Texas (AP) _ Lanto Griffin has qualified for the Masters by capturing the Houston Open. Griffin took the lead with a 35-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole and sank a 6-foot par on the final hole for a 3-under 69 and a one-shot victory over Mark Hubbard and Scott Harrington. None of the three had won on the PGA Tour. Harrington missed a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th and shot 67.

STUTTGART, Germany (AP) _ Simone Biles has broken the all-time record for most medals by any gymnast at the world championships by winning the balance beam competition yesterday in Stuttgart. It’s the 24th world championship medal for Biles, breaking a tie on 23 with the Belarusian men’s gymnast Vitaly Scherbo. Biles scored 15.066 on the beam after a near-flawless routine.

Sunday Scores

AMERICAN LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Final Houston 3 N-Y Yankees 2 (11 Innings)

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Final Carolina 37 Tampa Bay 26
Final Houston 31 Kansas City 24
Final Seattle 32 Cleveland 28
Final Baltimore 23 Cincinnati 17
Final New Orleans 13 Jacksonville 6
Final Minnesota 38 Philadelphia 20
Final Washington 17 Miami 16
Final San Francisco 20 L.A. Rams 7
Final Arizona 34 Atlanta 33
Final N-Y Jets 24 Dallas 22
Final Denver 16 Tennessee 0
Final Pittsburgh 24 L.A. Chargers 17
Mon Detroit at Green Bay 7:15 p.m. (CT)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — There were plenty of people standing on the Houston Texans sideline that felt they had something to prove against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

Just about all of them succeeded, too.

Deshaun Watson threw for 280 yards and a touchdown while running for two more, outdueling Chiefs counterpart Patrick Mahomes, who was famously picked two spots ahead of him in the 2017 draft.

Carlos Hyde ran for 116 yards and a touchdown against the team that traded him to Houston in the preseason, when the Chiefs decided there was no room for him in their own backfield.

Most importantly, Bill O’Brien proved he could beat a team pegged a Super Bowl contender, leading the Texans to a come-from-behind 31-24 victory after losing three of his last four to Kansas City.

“They care about the team. They seem to have fun with each other. We’ve just got to keep it going,” said O’Brien, whose losses to the Chiefs include a postseason defeat. “We just had a really good win against a good team, but we’re 4-2 and 4-2 gets you nowhere.”

Better than being 3-3, though.

That was still a possibility until DeAndre Hopkins made a sliding grab on fourth-and-3 from the Kansas City 27 with just under 2 minutes to go. That allowed the Texans to run out the clock and deal the Chiefs (4-2) their second consecutive loss — both at Arrowhead Stadium.

“It’s a wonderful feeling to be able to deal with all the adversity and the up and down and flow of the game and to be able to fight for 60 minutes,” Watson said. “That’s what we did. We kept fighting and kept pushing and kept encouraging. This locker room, everyone is always fighting to the end regardless of the score. We don’t look at the scoreboard. We’re going to play 60 minutes every game.”

Mahomes, hobbled once again by a sore left ankle, finished with 273 yards passing and three TDs while throwing his first interception of the season. Two of the scores went to Tyreek Hill, who returned for the first time since breaking his collarbone in a Week 1 win in Jacksonville.

“We just have to flip a few things,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “The margin of winning and losing in this league is minute. We were this close to coming out of this thing with a win.”

It wasn’t a pretty game for either side. They combined for 21 penalties totaling nearly 150 yards, and that didn’t include close to a dozen flags that were offsetting, overruled or declined.

It was Kansas City that started hot, engineering drives of at least 90 yards twice in the first quarter. Hill finished the first with a 46-yard reception — the first touchdown throw in a first quarter by Mahomes since Week 1 — while Damien Williams finished the second with a 14-yard TD catch.

In between, Hyde coughed up the ball on Houston’s first offensive play.

But the big running back soon atoned for his mistake. Hyde battered the Chiefs’ porous run defense the rest of the game, punctuating a big first half against his ex-team with a short touchdown run.

“It was big for him to come in here and do what he did,” Watson said.

The Texans then took the lead into the locker room after Mahomes was strip-sacked with 20 seconds left and Houston recovered, and Watson waltzed into the end zone on the very next play.

It wasn’t the last time he reached pay dirt.

Mahomes hit Hill again in the third quarter to give the Chiefs the lead back , but the Houston quarterback answered with a 12-play, 93-yard drive consuming more than 8 1/2 minutes. By the time he spun into the end zone and converted the 2-point try, the Texans had a 31-24 lead with 6:17 to go.

Kansas City went three-and-out on its next possession, and a defense that has been maligned for most of Reid’s tenure with the Chiefs failed to make a stop once again.

“We haven’t played a perfect game on defense,” Chiefs defensive end Frank Clark said, “and we’re not going to play a perfect game, but we need to play a bit better. We need to eliminate the rush. When you eliminate the rush, you can have more fun.”

FIRST PICK

The first pick Mahomes had thrown this season was nearly wiped out when an official threw a flag for pass interference. But after referee Shawn Hochuli announced the penalty, the officials huddled and decided to pick up the flag in a bizarre series of events.

“It was man coverage and I saw (Travis) Kelce getting ready to do his move, so I threw it to where he was going to be and he got tackled,” Mahomes said. “With how the ruling worked, they said since the ball was uncatchable it wasn’t pass interference or something.”

INJURIES

Texans: CB Johnathan Joseph (hamstring) was inactive after showing up on the injury report Friday. Also inactive were WR Kenny Stills (hamstring) and RB Taiwan Jones (hip). … RT Tytus Howard (knee), CB Bradley Roby (hamstring) and LB Zach Cunningham (knee) left during the game.

Chiefs: Inactive starters included WR Sammy Watkins (hamstring), LT Eric Fisher (groin), LG Andrew Wylie (ankle), DT Chris Jones (groin) and LB Anthony Hitchens (groin). … CB Kendall Fuller was due to get X-rays on his right hand after leaving the game. He had surgery on the same hand last season.

UP NEXT

Texans visit the Colts next Sunday.

Chiefs visit the Broncos on Thursday night.

BUHLER, Kan. – Buhler High School Athletics and Activities topped off a big Saturday to follow up with a big Football win over Circle 48-0 Friday Night.

Buhler Girl’s Tennis are Regional Champs and are going to State. Ailyah Frederick won 2nd and Brittney Teufel took 3rd.  Frederick actually had to play her teammate Teufel in the semi-finals. In Doubles, Payton DeMeyer and Alex Hutton won with teammates Bethany Yutzy and Kendall Birney advancing to state for the first time.

4A State Tennis will be played October 18-19 at the T.H. Vaughan Tennis Center at 1400 Mound Street in Winfield.

Buhler Varsity and JV Volleyball also went 4-1 in El Dorado

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Buhler Band won the Shawnee Mission North Marching Festival.