KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Former Buffalo Bills running back LeSean McCoy is reuniting with Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, a source tells ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

McCoy is getting a one-year, $4 million deal that includes $3 million guaranteed from the Chiefs.

McCoy, who starred with Reid when they were with the Philadelphia Eagles, was cut by the Bills on Saturday.

McCoy appeared destined to wind up with an AFC West team as a source said the Los Angeles Chargers were the other team pursuing McCoy following his release.

By DAVE SKRETTA
AP Sports Writer

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Chiefs wide receiver De’Anthony Thomas was suspended for the season opener for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy Saturday, part of a busy cut day that included a pair of trades and the movement of several players to injured lists.

The Chiefs sent backup running back Carlos Hyde to the Houston Texans for Martinas Rankin, a former third-round pick who will provide depth along the offensive line. They also traded defensive back Mark Fields to the Minnesota Vikings for a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2021 draft.

Hyde was signed to a one-year deal and given every opportunity to make the team, but he failed to hold onto the No. 2 job. Rookie running back Darwin Thompson passed Hyde early in camp, and veteran Darrell Williams locked up the No. 3 spot with a strong preseason.

“We were really trying to identify a young tackle,” Chiefs general manager Brett Veach said. “A young kid who has a lot of upside who we can develop and we have under contractual control.”

The decision to keep Thomas — despite his one-game suspension — may have saved cornerback-turned-wide receiver Tremon Smith’s job for at least a week. The speedy Smith fulfills many of the same jobs as Thomas on special teams, including the crucial punt-coverage role.

“We always talk about when we come down to the final days here how critical special teams are,” Veach said. “Tremon did a great job for us last year in the special teams game.”

Defensive back Morris Claiborne joined Thomas on the reserve-suspended list while he misses the first four games of the regular season for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. Claiborne was signed midway through training camp and played considerably in the last couple of preseason games.

Veach acknowledged Saturday he will “certainly” be looking for help at cornerback among the other players that were cut. But Veach also said he’s comfortable using his trio of safeties — Tyrann Mathieu, Juan Thornhill and Jordan Lucas — at cornerback if necessary.

Veach also said he made some calls about a trade for a cornerback but nothing materialized.
Defensive end Breeland Speaks and wide receiver Gehrig Dieter were placed on injured reserve as the Chiefs continued to trim their roster to the 53-man limit ahead of their opener in Jacksonville.

After a dismal rookie season, Speaks had begun to flourish in the Chiefs’ new 4-3 defensive set before hurting his knee. Veach said that Speaks’ ACL was intact but there were complications with an MCL surgery, ultimately ending the pass rusher’s season.

“He’s such a young guy that there’s no way you want to kind of put a designated tag on him and rush him back out there,” Veach said of the second-year pro. “The best way to make sure this thing will fully heal is to take care of this right now.”

Dieter missed nearly all of training camp with a back injury.

The Chiefs continued to trim their roster to the 53-man limit ahead of their opener at Jacksonville on Sept. 8 by placing linebacker Darius Harris on the non-football injury list and waiving wide receiver Felton Davis and cornerback Michael Hunter with an injury designation.

Among the big names that were cut were offensive lineman Khalil McKenzie, a former draft pick who was trying to transition from defensive line to offensive line; cornerback D’Montre Wade, who impressed early in training camp but faded down the stretch; cornerback Herb Miller, who ran with the starting defense at some points during camp; and tight end Nick Keizer, who was competing for a backup job.

The Chiefs signed veteran quarterback Matt Moore after losing backup Chad Henne to a broken ankle in their penultimate preseason game. He was kept ahead of Kyle Shurmur and Chase Litton, a pair of developmental prospects who played the majority of the fourth preseason game.

“There were some guys we certainly tried to target and trade for and that didn’t happen,” Veach said. “The roster is set for now, but I still think there could be two or three moves that we make.”

---

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Chiefs announced roster moves on Saturday, putting the club at the NFL-mandated 53-player limit.

WAIVED/RELEASED

Player/Pos. /Ht./Wt./College/Hometown

Jeff Allen  G  6-4  306  Illinois  Chicago, Ill.

Dino Boyd  T  6-4  300  Cincinnati  Newark, N.J.

Jamal Custis  WR  6-5  213  Syracuse  Philadelphia, Pa.

Rashard Davis  WR  5-9  175  James Madison  Charlottesville, Va.

Raymond Davison  LB  6-1  230  California  Los Angeles, Calif.

Hunter Dimick  DE  6-3  268  Utah  Syracuse, Utah

Jody Fortson  WR  6-6  230  Valdosta State   Buffalo, N.Y.

Jack Fox  P  6-2  224  Rice  St. Louis, Mo.

Manasseh Garner  TE  6-2  240  Pittsburgh  Pittsburgh, Pa.

Zack Golditch  G  6-5  295  Colorado State  Aurora, Colo.

Justin Hamilton  DT  6-2  315  Louisiana-Lafayette        Natchez, Miss.

D’Juan Hines  LB  6-1  235  Houston  Spring, Texas

Harold Jones-Quartey  S  5-11  210  Findlay  Columbus, Ohio

Nick Keizer  TE  6-4  251  Grand Valley State  Kalamazoo, Mich.

Chase Litton  QB  6-5  230  Marshall  Tampa, Fla.

Marcus Marshall  RB  5-10  200  James Madison  Raleigh, N.C.

Rob McCray  DE  6-2   280  Indiana  Rockdale, Ga.

Kahlil McKenzie  G  6-3  320  Tennessee  Walnut Creek, Calif.

Herb Miller  CB  6-2  190  Florida Atlantic  Miramar, Fla.

Dakari Monroe  CB  5-11  191  San Jose State  San Jose, Calif.

Pace Murphy  T  6-6  308  Northwestern State  Houston, Texas

Jimmy Murray  C  6-5  305  Holy Cross  Evanston, Ill.

Chidi Okeke  T  6-6  315  Tennessee State  Anambra, Nigeria

Kyle Shurmur  QB  6-4  225  Vanderbilt  Philadelphia, Pa.

Andrew Soroh  S  6-2  210  Florida Atlantic  Miami, Fla.

Cody Thompson  WR  6-2  205  Toledo  Huron, Ohio

Jalen Tolliver  WR  6-3  210  Arkansas-Monticello  Rayville, La.

D’Montre Wade  CB  5-11  206  Murray State  Columbia, Tenn.

Cavon Walker  DT  6-2  278  Maryland  Washington, D.C.

 

WAIVED/INJURED

Felton Davis   WR  6-3  211  Michigan State  Richmond, Va.

Michael Hunter  CB  6-0  192  Oklahoma State  Monroe, La.

 

PLACED ON INJURED RESERVE

Gehrig Dieter  WR  6-3  207  Alabama  South Bend, Ind.

Breeland Speaks  DE  6-3  285  Mississippi  Jackson, Miss.

 

PLACED ON NON-FOOTBALL INJURY LIST

Darius Harris  LB   6-2   238  Middle Tenn. State  Horn Lake, Miss.

 

RESERVE-SUSPENDED

Morris Claiborne  CB  5-11  192  LSU  Shreveport, La.

De’Anthony Thomas  WR  5-8  176  Oregon  Los Angeles, Calif.

 

TRADED TO VIKINGS FOR UNDISCLOSED DRAFT PICK

Mark Fields  CB  5-10  192  Clemson  Charlotte, N.C.

 

TRADED TO HOUSTON IN EXCHANGE FOR T MARTINAS RANKIN

Carlos Hyde  RB  6-0  229  Ohio State  Cincinnati, Ohio

 

ACQUIRED VIA TRADE WITH TEXANS FOR RB CARLOS HYDE

Martinas Rankin  T  6-5  311  Mississippi State  Mendenhall, Miss.

—Chiefs—

OVERLAND PARK, Kan – KJCCC Football scores and standings as of September 1st

Sat. 31	Independence Community College	21	Hutchinson Community College	31	Final
	Ellsworth Community College. IA	0	Highland Community College	21	Final
	Garden City Community College	42	Dodge City Community College	22	Final
	Snow College, Utah	17	Butler Community College – KS	36	Final
	Fort Scott Community College	40	Coffeyville Community College	29	Final

Iowa Central, IA

28

Iowa Western Community College

26

Final

2019 KJCCC FOOTBALL STANDINGS

COLLEGE FOOTBALL-Top 25 SCHEDULE

Tide trounces Blue Devils

UNDATED (AP) _ Second-ranked Alabama has kicked off its season with a blowout win over Duke in Atlanta.

Tua Tagovailoa (TOO’-ah tuhng-ah-vy-LOH’-ah) threw for 336 yards and four touchdowns as the Crimson Tide mauled the Blue Devils, 42-3. Tagovailoa put his tight ends to good use as he hooked up with Miller Forristall on a 27-yard touchdown pass and then went to Major Tennison for a 1-yard score

Receivers DeVonta Smith and Jerry Jeudy also had scoring receptions, while Jerome Ford and Brian Robinson Jr. ran for the Tide’s other TDs.

Alabama overwhelmed Duke’s defense after being held scoreless in the first quarter, something that happened just once last year.

In other top-25 action:

_ Justin Fields looked good in his first game for Ohio State, throwing for four TDs and running for a score as the fifth-ranked Buckeyes hammered FAU, 45-21. Fields finished 18 for 25 for 234 yards and a 51-yard touchdown run.

_ Jacob Eason passed for 349 yards and four touchdowns in his first game in nearly two years to highlight No. 13 Washington’s 47-14 rout of Eastern Washington. The Georgia transfer completed 27 of 36 passes and led the Huskies to touchdowns on four of their first five possessions.

_ No. 15 Penn State crushed Idaho, 79-7 as Sean Clifford completed 14 of 23 passes for 280 yards and two touchdowns. Journey Brown and Noah Cain both added a pair of touchdown runs as the Nittany posted their biggest point total since an 81-0 win over Cincinnati in 1991.

_ Sheldon Croney Jr. scored from a yard out in triple overtime to give 21st-ranked Iowa State a 29-26 triumph over Northern Iowa 29-26.

_ No. 24 Nebraska scored two defensive touchdowns and one on special teams in grinding out a 35-21 win against South Alabama.

_ K.J. Costello completed 16 of 20 passes for 152 yards and the TD pass before leaving the game following a late hit in No. 25 Stanford’s 17-7 verdict over Northwestern.

MLB-SCHEDULE

Cards take opener, Cubs fall

UNDATED (AP) _ The St. Louis Cardinals have added another game to their lead over the second-place Cubs in the NL Central, and they aren’t done today.

The Redbirds took the opener of their doubleheader as Dexter Fowler and Yadier (YAH’-dee-ehr) Molina homered in a 10-6 downing of the Reds. Dakota Hudson allowed four runs and just four hits while striking out eight over a career-high 7 2/3 innings to help the Cards win for the seventh time in eight games.

Kolten Wong and Paul Goldschmidt each had two hits and two RBIs for the Cardinals, who currently lead their division by two games over the Cubs heading into Game 2 of the twinbill.

In Chicago, Zach Davies combined with four relievers on a six-hitter as the Brewers ended the Cubs’ four-game winning streak, 2-0. Neither team scored after Manny Piña delivered a two-run single in the top of the first. Ben Gamel (GAM’-ul) added three hits as Milwaukee pulled within four games of Chicago for the second NL wild card.

Elsewhere on major league diamonds:

_ Wilson Ramos extended his hitting streak to 24 games by going 4-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored in the Mets’ 6-3 win at Philadelphia. New York third baseman Todd Frazier had three hits, drove in two and made a stellar, run-saving catch in the sixth inning. Steven Matz gave up two runs over five innings as the Mets pulled within four games of Chicago for the second NL wild card, while leaving the Phillies 3 ½ games behind the Cubs.

_ DJ LeMahieu homered on the first pitch in the bottom of the 11th inning to send the Yankees past the Athletics, 4-3. Aaron Judge hit a tying homer for New York with two out in the eighth, his sixth in eight games. Gary Sánchez went deep twice and Cory Gearrin worked two scoreless innings of relief for his first win as a Yankee.

_ Cavan Biggio and Teoscar (tay-AHS’-kur) Hernandez delivered two-run homers to back Clay Buchholz in the Blue Jays’ 6-4 victory over the AL West-leading Astros. Buchholz allowed two runs and three hits in 5 2/3 innings, using four double plays to overcome a season-high five walks. Biggio went 2 for 3 with a walk, three RBIs and two runs scored against the team for which his Hall-of-Fame father starred for 20 seasons.

MLB-NEWS

Sabathia back on IL

UNDATED (AP) _ New York Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia (sah-BATH’-ee-uh) is on the injured list for the fourth time this year.

Sabathia was taken out of Friday’s game against Oakland after three innings due to a recurrence of pain in a balky right knee that’s bothered him for years.

The six-time All-Star and 2007 AL Cy Young Award winner plans to retire after the season. He has 251 career wins and surpassed 3,000 strikeouts earlier this season.

NFL-NEWS

Bills cut McCoy

UNDATED (AP) — The Buffalo Bills have released veteran running back LeSean McCoy as NFL teams set their 53-player rosters.

The 31-year-old McCoy is an 11-year veteran, whose 10,606 yards rushing rank 25th on the career list and fourth among active players. He is coming off his least productive season and proved to be the odd-man out after Buffalo restocked the position this offseason.

In other NFL news:

_ The Falcons are bringing back 44-year-old kicker Matt Bryant after failing to find his successor during the preseason. Bryant was released in a cost-cutting move after last season, when he made 20 of 21 field-goal attempts. He holds the franchise record with 1,122 points since joining the Falcons in 2009.

_ The Titans have traded wide receiver Taywan Taylor to the Browns for a 2020 draft pick. Taylor has 53 catches for 687 yards and two touchdowns in 29 games, but he’s struggled with consistency and dropped balls.

TENNIS-US OPEN

Osaka takes first set from Gauff…Townsend reaches 4th Round

NEW YORK (AP) _ Top-ranked Naomi Osaka is trying to end Coco Gauff’s run at the U.S. Open.

Osaka has taken the first set 6-3 in her third-round match against the 15-year-old Gauff. Osaka blasted 15 winners to Gauff’s four in a hard-hitting set that lasted 36 minutes.

American Taylor Townsend has advanced to the Round of 16 after clawing her way through qualifying last week. The 23-year-old Townsend advanced further than she’s ever gone in a Grand Slam by beating Sorana Cirstea, 7-5, 6-2.

Townsend came to the net 75 times, winning 47 of those points against the 106th-ranked Cirstea. That sets up an unlikely fourth-round match putting the 116th-ranked Townsend against 15th seed Bianca Andreescu, who used a steady baseline game to beat 19th seed Caroline Wozniacki (wohz-nee-AK’-ee), 6-4, 6-4.

Kristie Ahn was a 6-3, 7-5 winner against former French Open champ Jelena Ostapenko, and Belinda Bencic advanced when Anett Kontaveit withdrew from singles play with an acute viral illness. Elise Mertens has reached the round of 16 for the second year in a row, beating Andrea Petkovic, 6-3, 6-3.

On the men’s side, second seed Rafael Nadal (nah-DAHL’) had no trouble downing qualifier Hyeon Chung 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the round of 16. It’s the 13th straight time he’s gone at least that far in a Grand Slam event.

No. 22 Marin Cilic (CHEE’-lihch) won a battle of big servers by knocking out American John Isner 7-5, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 to reach the fourth round.

F1-BELGIAN GP

Leclerc takes Belgian GP pole; driver dies in F2 accident

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium (AP) _ Charles Leclerc took the third pole position of his promising career, comfortably ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel in a dominant Belgian Grand Prix so far for Ferrari.

Leclerc beat his own leading time to finish .748 seconds clear of Vettel and .763 ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

Also at the Belgian track, French driver Anthoine Hubert has died in a Formula Two accident. Hubert raced for the British-owned Arden team. Het won two F2 races this season and was eighth in the championship standings.

(AP)Scores from Saturday

___

INTERLEAGUE

Final

Atlanta

11

Chi White Sox

5

___

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Final	N-Y Yankees	4	Oakland	3	(11 Innings)
Final	Toronto	6	Houston	4
Final	Tampa Bay	9	Cleveland	6
Final	Detroit	10	Minnesota	7
Final	Kansas City	7	Baltimore	5
Final	Texas	3	Seattle	2
Final	L-A Angels	10	Boston	4

___

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Final	St. Louis	10	Cincinnati	6	(1st game)
Final	Milwaukee	2	Chi Cubs	0
Final	N-Y Mets	6	Philadelphia	3
Final	Washington	7	Miami	0
Final	St. Louis	3	Cincinnati	2	(2nd game)
Final	Arizona	6	L-A Dodgers	5
Final	Pittsburgh	11	Colorado	4
Final	San Diego	4	San Francisco	1

___

TOP-25 COLLEGE FOOTBALL

	Louisiana Tech	14	(10)Texas	45	(4th Quarter)
	New Mexico St.	7	(23)Washington St.	58	(4th Quarter)

Final	(21)Iowa St.	29	N. Iowa	26
Final	(24)Nebraska	35	South Alabama	21
Final	(5)Ohio St.	45	FAU	21
Final	(13)Washington	47	E. Washington	14
Final	(2)Alabama	42	Duke	3
Final	(15)Penn St.	79	Idaho	7
Final	(25)Stanford	17	Northwestern	7
Final	(22)Syracuse	24	Liberty	0
Final	(7)Michigan	40	Middle Tennessee	21
Final	(16)Auburn	27	(11)Oregon	21
Final	(6)LSU	55	Georgia Southern	3
Final	(20)Iowa	38	Miami (Ohio)	14

WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION

Final	Washington	91	Dallas	85
Final	Las Vegas	92	Los Angeles	86

___

MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER

Final	Colorado	2	New York	0
Final tie	Chicago	1	Columbus	1
Final	D.C. United	3	Montreal	0
Final tie	Toronto FC	1	New England	1
Final	Philadelphia	3	Atlanta	1
Final	FC Dallas	3	Cincinnati	1
Final	Sporting Kansas City	1	Houston	0
Final	New York City FC	3	Vancouver	1
Final	Portland	1	Real Salt Lake	0
Final	San Jose	3	Orlando City	0

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — White Merrifield hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the eighth inning after Kansas City loaded the bases on three bunts, and the Royals beat the Baltimore Orioles 7-5 Saturday night.

Bubba Starling hit his first homer at Kauffman Stadium after growing up about 30 miles away, and Hunter Dozier connected for the 24th time this season for Kansas City.

Anthony Santander went deep twice for the Orioles, who fell apart defensively in the eighth when Kansas City tried to play small ball.

Slow-footed Meibrys Viloria started the Royals’ rally with a bunt single. Brett Phillips tried to sacrifice him to second, but Viloria beat the throw. Nicky Lopez followed with another sacrifice attempt, and catcher Chance Sisco’s throw to third was off the mark.

Merrifield followed with his second sacrifice fly of the night to make it 6-5, and Dozier added an RBI on a groundout.

The three bunts came against reliever Paul Fry (1-6), who took the loss even though those were his only batters faced.

Scott Barlow (3-3) got the win with 1 2/3 perfect innings. Ian Kennedy pitched a perfect ninth for his 24th save in 27 chances.

Starling homered leading off the second, Santander countered with a leadoff shot in the fourth, and then Kansas City pieced together a three-run fourth on two sacrifice flies and a groundout RBI. That rally was helped when Phillips’ routine fly to center was dropped by Stevie Wilkerson.

Baltimore got four runs in the fifth inning to retake the lead. Sisco hit a two-out solo home run before Johnathan Villar and Trey Mancini singled to end the night for starter Jorge Lopez. Santander greeted reliever Tim Hill with his second home run of the night, the first multihomer game of his career.

Dozier’s solo shot tied it in the seventh.

SWEEPING UP
The Royals acquired minor league slugger Ryan McBroom from the Yankees for international signing bonus pool money and a player to be named or cash. The 27-year-old first baseman and outfielder hit .315 with 26 homers for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

TRAINER’S ROOM
Royals LHP Danny Duffy is expected to be reinstated from the 10-day IL for Sunday’s start against the Orioles. Duffy has been on the IL since Aug. 8 with a left hamstring strain. … Royals SS Adalberto Mondesi and C Cam Gallagher also are expected to be activated Sunday. Mondesi has been on the IL since July 17 with a left shoulder subluxation and Gallagher has been on the IL since Aug. 8 with a left oblique strain.

ROSTER MOVES:
The Orioles had three players in the clubhouse and plan to activate them Sunday when rosters can be expanded. OF Dwight Smith, Jr. has played in 84 games with this season, hitting .238 with 12 home runs and 48 RBIs. RHP Branden Kline is 1-4 with a 7.44 ERA in 25 relief appearances. Tanner Scott is 1-0 with a 5.29 ERA in 15 appearances with the parent club. The Orioles are considering other call-ups but have not announced them.

The Royals are expected to have some call-ups, but with most of their minor league teams preparing for postseason, no announcements were made, other than from the injured list.

UP NEXT
Orioles: RHP Aaron Brooks (4-7, 5.79 ERA) will try to duplicate his recent outing against the Royals when he allowed one run on seven hits over five innings.

Royals: LHP Danny Duffy (5-6, 4.96 ERA) will return from his second stint on the 10-day injured list to make the start.

By DAVE SKRETTA
AP Sports Writer

MANHATTAN, Kan. — Skylar Thompson threw for 212 yards and accounted for two touchdowns, six different Kansas State players reached the end zone, and the Wildcats rolled to a 49-14 victory over Nicholls on Saturday night to give coach Chris Klieman a win in his debut.

James Gilbert paced a Kansas State running attack that rolled up 361 yards by going for 115 and a score. Jordan Brown, Harry Trotter and Tyler Burns also ran for touchdowns.

The Wildcats finished with 573 yards of total offense.

Indeed, it was a near-perfect start for Klieman, who led North Dakota State to four national championships in five seasons but was filling some mighty big shoes. He took over last winter for Bill Snyder, the Hall of Fame coach who took Kansas State from lowly also-ran to a perennial Big 12 contender.

The Wildcats did it in just about all phases, too. They reached the end zone on their first four possessions, got a long TD catch from Dalton Schoen and returned a fumble for another score.

Chase Fourcade, the Colonels’ star quarterback, was just 10 of 18 for 126 yards with a pick. Kendall Bussey and Julien Gums had second-half touchdown runs.

The Wildcats, who the last few years under Snyder had grown stale offensively, roared out of the locker room with a sense of purpose. They brutalized the Colonels at the line of scrimmage, were largely free of penalties and looked every bit the program from a Power 5 conference.

Trotter, a Louisville transfer, reached the end zone first. Thompson scrambled 17 yards for the second score. Brown, a North Carolina transfer, reached pay dirt next. And Gilbert, the newcomer from Ball State, ran 24 yards to give the Wildcats a 28-0 lead with 6:21 left in the first half.

In fact, the Wildcats nearly went 5-for-5 on TDs in the first half. But when Schoen hauled in a 20-yard touchdown pass, a review showed him bobbling the ball as he fell out of bounds.

That led to their only first-half miscue: Blake Lynch missed the ensuing 37-yard field goal.

Schoen finally got his touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter. He breezed past a defender and hauled in a 38-yard reception to give the Wildcats a 35-7 lead.

Jonathan Alexander’s strip, recovery and 25-yard touchdown return punctuated the win, and allowed Klieman to give his backups and third-teamers a chance to play most of the fourth quarter.

THE TAKEAWAY
Nicholls: After beating Kansas just down the road in their opener last season, the Colonels never really put up a fight. Fourcade threw a pick on their second offensive play, they went three-and-out on their next possession and the Wildcats quickly built an insurmountable lead.

Kansas State: The Wildcats looked a lot like Klieman’s teams at North Dakota State, winning the battle in the trenches and rotating running backs every couple of plays. The result was a team that was fresher and more physical as the game went along.

UP NEXT
Nicholls plays the second of four straight on the road, at Prairie View A&M on Sept. 14.

Kansas State hosts Bowling Green next Saturday before a trip to Mississippi State.

 

By DAVE SKRETTA
AP Sports Writer

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Carter Stanley threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Daylon Charlot with 2:20 left in the game, and Kansas rallied for a 24-17 victory over Indiana State on Saturday to avoid saddling new coach Les Miles with a devastating defeat in his debut.

The Sycamores had clawed back from a 16-3 deficit, taking the lead when Stanley fumbled in the end zone and Inoke Moala recovered it for a touchdown with 4:24 left in the game.

But the Jayhawks’ senior quarterback calmly responded to adversity, hitting Andrew Parchment with a couple of passes, finding Charlot for a 26-yard gain then hitting him again for the go-ahead score.

The Jayhawks used an end-around pass to convert the 2-point conversion, then stopped the Sycamores in the closing minutes to avoid losing to their third FCS school in the last five seasons.

Hasan Defense returned an interception 57 yards for a touchdown for Kansas. Khalil Herbert added 88 yards rushing, and Parchment had eight catches for 121 yards, as the Jayhawks tried to build on some of the excitement that Miles has brought to the program.

It wasn’t always pretty for the national-title winning “Mad Hatter.”

His kicker, Liam Jones, missed a field goal and extra point. Stanley fumbled a snap on fourth down to spoil another drive. And there were far too many blown assignments on both sides of the ball to think Kansas is much different than its woeful years under Turner Gill, Charlie Weis and David Beaty.

The Sycamores’ Ryan Boyle threw for 219 yards with a touchdown, but he also tossed a pair of costly interceptions. Titus McCoy had 88 yards rushing before leaving with a left knee injury.

Still, the Missouri Valley school was in the game in the fourth quarter. Boyle threw a touchdown pass to Dante Jones to get the Sycamores within 16-10 with 10:52 left, and their score on defense gave them hope of their first win over an FBS school in 33 tries.

Instead, the Kansas defense that’s been so maligned over the years came up with a big stop, forcing Boyle into throwing a fourth-down incompletion with 1:35 left to essentially end the game.

The Sycamores will no doubt rue a couple of missed chances.

They looked as if they might have scored a touchdown just before halftime, but Dante Hendrix had a sliver of his toe out of bounds when he hauled in the catch in the back of the end zone. Boyle also had an interception at the goal line as the Sycamores were about to score.

Throw in Jerry Nunez’s two missed field goals and Indiana State made too many mistakes to overcome.

THE TAKEAWAY
Indiana State: After ripping off five straight wins to end last season, coach Curt Mallory’s bunch carried that momentum into this season. The Sycamores stood toe-to-toe with Kansas all afternoon, and at several points looked to be the better team.

Kansas: The Jayhawks played without running back Pooka Williams, their best playmaker, as he served a one-game suspension for a series of off-the-field incidents. His return next week should give Kansas a big boost of speed and a much-needed offensive lift.

UP NEXT
Indiana State plays its home opener against Dayton next Saturday.

Kansas hosts Coastal Carolina next Saturday in the first meeting between schools.

Here are the scores from yesterday’s sports events:

___

INTERLEAGUE

Final

Atlanta

10

Chi White Sox

7

___

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Final	Tampa Bay	4	Cleveland	0
Final	Oakland	8	N-Y Yankees	2
Final	Houston	7	Toronto	4
Final	Minnesota	13	Detroit	5
Final	Texas	6	Seattle	3
Final	Baltimore	14	Kansas City	2
Final	Boston	7	L-A Angels	6	(15 Innings)

___

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Cincinnati

at

St. Louis

7:05 p.m.

Final	Chi Cubs	7	Milwaukee	1
Final	N-Y Mets	11	Philadelphia	5
Final	Washington	7	Miami	6
Final	Pittsburgh	9	Colorado	4
Final	San Francisco	8	San Diego	3
Final	Arizona	5	L-A Dodgers	4

___

TOP-25 COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Final	(19)Wisconsin	49	South Florida	0
Final	(18)Michigan St.	28	Tulsa	7

WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION

Final

Connecticut

94

New York

84

___

TODAY’S SPORTS SCHEDULE

___

INTERLEAGUE

Chi White Sox

at

Atlanta

7:20 p.m.

___

AMERICAN LEAGUE

	Oakland	at	N-Y Yankees	1:05 p.m.
	Houston	at	Toronto	3:07 p.m.
	Cleveland	at	Tampa Bay	6:10 p.m.
	Minnesota	at	Detroit	6:10 p.m.
	Baltimore	at	Kansas City	7:15 p.m.
	Seattle	at	Texas	8:05 p.m.
	Boston	at	L-A Angels	9:07 p.m.

___

NATIONAL LEAGUE

	Cincinnati	at	St. Louis	1:15 p.m.
	Milwaukee	at	Chi Cubs	2:20 p.m.
	N-Y Mets	at	Philadelphia	4:05 p.m.
	Miami	at	Washington	7:05 p.m.
	Cincinnati	at	St. Louis	7:15 p.m.
	L-A Dodgers	at	Arizona	8:10 p.m.
	Pittsburgh	at	Colorado	8:10 p.m.
	San Diego	at	San Francisco	9:05 p.m.

___

TOP-25 COLLEGE FOOTBALL

	N. Iowa	at	(21)Iowa St.	12 p.m.
	South Alabama	at	(24)Nebraska	12 p.m.
	FAU	at	(5)Ohio St.	12 p.m.
	E. Washington	at	(13)Washington	3 p.m.
	(2)Alabama	at	Duke	3:30 p.m.
	Idaho	at	(15)Penn St.	3:30 p.m.
	Northwestern	at	(25)Stanford	4 p.m.
	(22)Syracuse	at	Liberty	6 p.m.
	Middle Tennessee	at	(7)Michigan	7:30 p.m.
	(16)Auburn	at	(11)Oregon	7:30 p.m.
	Georgia Southern	at	(6)LSU	7:30 p.m.
	Miami (Ohio)	at	(20)Iowa	7:40 p.m.
	Louisiana Tech	at	(10)Texas	8 p.m.
	New Mexico St.	at	(23)Washington St.	10 p.m.

WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION

	Washington	at	Dallas	8 p.m.
	Los Angeles	at	Las Vegas	10:30 p.m.

By Steve Carpenter – Hutchinson CC Sports Information

The No. 5-ranked Hutchinson Community College football team opens play in the Jayhawk Conference on Saturday at the Blue Dragons take on the Independence Pirates in a battle of 1-0 teams.

Kickoff is scheduled for noon at Hutchinson’s Gowans Stadium. Blue Dragon flagship station KHUT-FM (102.9) and sister stations KWBW-AM/FM (1450/98.5) will broadcast the game live at 11:30 a.m. The Blue Dragon Sports Network will begin the videostream at 11:50 a.m.

The Blue Dragons enter Saturday’s game coming off a 41-16 victory at Ellsworth on Thursday, August 22 in Iowa Falls, IA. Independence had an impressive 48-29 KJCCC victory over Dodge City to open its season last Saturday at Emmot Field in Independence.

Blue Dragon head coach Rion Rhoades earned his 97th victory as a Jayhawk Conference coach (90 at Hutchinson, 7 at Fort Scott) and tied former Blue Dragon head coach John Matous for fourth place on the all-time league coaching wins list.

The Blue Dragons had an early scare in the season opener when starting quarterback Mark Wrightthrew an interception for a touchdown on the second series of the game. But the Blue Dragons responded nicely with a 20-point first quarter, which included Wright touchdown passes of 24 yards to Karim Brown and 66 to Mitchell Tinsley and a 55-yard interception return for a touchdown by Isaiah Todd.

The Blue Dragons outgained ECC 464-133. The Dragons were a minus-1 in turnover radio, the Blue Dragons had five quarterback sacks and forced nine Independence punts.

Independence quarterback Stephon Brown tied a Pirate single-game record with six touchdown passes last week against Dodge City. Brown completed 14 of 26 passes for 345 yards and he was also Indy’s leading rusher with 98 yards on 11 rushes.

Overall, the Pirates amassed 606 total yards (345 passing, 261 rushing), but were touched for 395 total yards, 330 yards coming through the air, by the Conquistadors.

One year ago, the Blue Dragons avenged a 2017 loss to Independence with a 37-27 victory over the Pirates at Emmot Field. The Blue Dragons scored all 37 points in the first half in building a 37-7 halftime lead. The Pirates pulled within 10 points, but Erin Collins ran for 129 yards and a touchdown to lead the Blue Dragons.

The Dragons 51-24-2 all-time in home openers. The Blue Dragons are 16-3 in opening at Gowans Stadium since 2000. Hutchinson had won eight-straight in the first games of seasons at the friendly confines before 2013 setback against No. 3 Navarro College.

Already in the early season, No. 1 East Mississippi, No. 3 Garden City and No. 4 Jones have been defeated in the first two weeks of the 2019 season. No. 2 Iowa Western defeated Coffeyville last week.

Information Box

BLUE DRAGON FOOTBALL

No. 5 Hutchinson (1-0, 0-0) vs. Independence (1-0, 1-0) When: Saturday, August 31, 2019 Where: Gowans Stadium, Hutchinson, KS Kickoff: Noon Live Radio: KHUT-FM (102.9); KWBW-AM/FM (1450/98.5)-Glen Grunwald (PBP), Rob Dreher (Color), 11:30 a.m. Video: Blue Dragon Sports Network, 11:50 a.m. Live Stats: BlueDragonSports.com Twitter: @bluedragonsport Corporate Sponsor: RCB Bank Admission: $8 reserved; $6 general admission CLICK FOR COMPLETE GAME NOTES (PDF Format)

By Steve Carpenter – Hutchinson CC Sports Information

For the second-straight year, the final half time of the Terry Masterson Twilight Classic was the decisive stretch.

One year ago, Hutchinson Community College runners Andrew Kibet and Sylvestre Kibarar were locked in a high-speed duel with Cloud County. In the final half time, Kibet ran away from the field to open what became a national championship season for him.

Friday night at Fun Valley, the two Blue Dragon runners and Cloud County were once again pushing an impressive pace over the four-mile course. Cloud County’s Dais Malebana took charge in that final half mile to defeat both Kibet and Kibarar.

CLICK FOR FINAL RESULTS (Courtesy Heartland Timing)

Malebana’s individual title helped the Thunderbirds defeat Hutchinson for the 2019 team title. Cloud County had 23 points to Hutchinson’s 42. Cowley was third with 11 points.

The Blue Dragons had three runners finish in the top nine, but Cloud County had runners finish first, fourth, finish, sixth and seventh propel the Thunderbirds to the team championship.

Kibet finished with a second-place time of 19:56.2. Kibarar was third with a time of 20:27.5. Freshman Teagan Flanagan was ninth with a time of 21:43.7 and freshman Austin Lorenzo was 13th with a time of 22:05.7.

Jeffrey Klopt placed 15th overall with a time of 22:12.5. Andrew Holt was 17th with a time of 22:12.5. All-American Brett Hillabrandplaced 18th in a time of 22:31.6. Zach Haxton was 21st 22:57.7.

Matthew Schrag placed 34th with a time of 23:23.8 and Alex Nava was 50th with a time of 24:14.6.

The Blue Dragons run their first 8K race of the season on September 21 at the Missouri Southern Stampede in Joplin, Missouri.