Anytime news comes out on a late afternoon, it is usually not good. In case of the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association and the sports of basketball and wrestling, the news wasn’t good this past Friday. Both sports were schedule to start practice on Jan. 2 and start games on Jan. 14.
In the 1990s, the Bills buffaloed their way to four successive — if not successful — Super Bowls. No other franchise has managed that. About a decade later, the long-downtrodden Buccaneers swashbuckled to an NFL title. Ever since, pretty much nothing for those teams. Until now. Next weekend, Buffalo, which last got this far in the 1993 season, heads to reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City. And the Chiefs could be missing their dynamic star quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, who was concussed in a 22-17 victory Sunday over Cleveland. “It’s a special time to be a Buffalo Bill, ” tackle Dion Dawkins said.
Grant Sherfield scored 27 points, making it six 20-point games in a row, and Nevada beat Fresno State 79-65 on Sunday. Sherfield hit all 10 of his free throw attempts. He added eight assists.
With the effort of Battle Mountain Junior High School teacher Julia Ramirez and help from Battle Mountain High School players, students at the Battle Mountain Junior High School started a volleyball clinic for its players on Friday. The clinic will run on Jan. 22 and Jan. 29.
Urban Meyer first started thinking about the NFL about a decade ago. He was getting phone calls from team owners. He was intrigued by the notion of testing his coaching skills at football’s highest level. He was ready to make the jump.
The Nevada football team announced the addition of two four-year transfers to the defensive secondary for the 2021 season. Bentlee Sanders, started 15 games at safety over the past three seasons at South Florida, and Miles Hayes, a starting safety from William and Mary, have signed to join the Wolf Pack as transfers this season.
In a perfect world — one we are not in right now, the first games of the revamped high school sports season was scheduled to begin this past weekend. That deadline came and went with no basketball games or wrestling matches and it appears the state of Nevada won’t be seeing any of those sports taking place anytime soon.
Thirteen Nevada football players were named to the All-Mountain West team by Phil Steele’s College Football Magazine this week. Nevada landed four players on the first team in quarterback Carson Strong, wide receiver Romeo Doubs, tight end Cole Turner and kicker Brandon Talton.
Nevada fought back to tie Saturday night’s series finale at San Diego State twice in the final minute, but the Wolf Pack was done in by Trey Pulliam’s buzzer beater in a 69-67 defeat.
Thirteen Nevada football players were named to the All-Mountain West team by Phil Steele’s College Football Magazine this week. Nevada landed four players on the first team in quarterback Carson Strong, wide receiver Romeo Doubs, tight end Cole Turner and kicker Brandon Talton.
The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association (NIAA), the non-profit governing body of high school athletics in the Silver State, and Snap Mask Sports (SMS) have jointly announced a partnership. Snap Mask Sports is the leader in custom face masks that can be worn safely during practice and competition for all sports. The NIAA joins the state associations of Louisiana, New Mexico, Washington, and Oregon as the latest to partner with Snap Mask Sports.
High school basketball and wrestling teams began the small steps to returning to play this winter this past week, as non-contact conditioning was allowed to take place. Even though that part of the comeback has started, it is not known if there will be a basketball or wrestling season this school year.
There were so many in 2020. Sports in 2020 was an unending state of mourning. It was as if every week, sometimes days, another luminary fell, bringing a cascade of condolence and remembrance. It began New Year’s Day, a harbinger of what the year held, with the deaths of David Stern and Don Larsen. Not long after came a seismic jolt, the helicopter crash of Kobe Bryant in the fog-shrouded California hills that reverberated across sports and across continents.
Welcome to the postseason, Cleveland. Cleveland? The Browns ended their string of non-playoff seasons on Sunday with a tighter-than-expected 24-22 victory over archrival Pittsburgh, which sat many of its starters. Cleveland returned to the NFL in 1999, made the playoffs in 2002, and then, zilch. Until now. “It’s a moment I’ll never forget,” quarterback Baker Mayfield said. “But we’re not satisfied. We expected to be here.” The NFL’s two longest playoff droughts have been snapped with the advancements of Tampa Bay and Cleveland, both 11-5. The Buccaneers, who downed Atlanta 44-27, already were in and secured the fifth seed in the NFC, setting up a visit to the sub-.500 NFC East winner, Washington (7-9). Tampa Bay’s last trip to the postseason was 2007.
From the rested in Kansas City and Pittsburgh to the relieved in Cleveland, Chicago and Los Angeles, the field for the Super Bowl chase is set. There are some powerhouses and some pretenders — and a team with a losing record. The reigning Super Bowl champion Chiefs (14-2) and Green Bay (13-3) earned each conference’s lone bye in the expanded playoffs. And no, adding a third wild-card entrant is not why a 7-9 club will be playing next weekend. Washington “earned” that spot by winning the abysmal NFC East that displayed in the finale of the regular season why NFC Least has been so appropriate a moniker. So while New York Giants fans scream that Eagles coach Doug Pederson didn’t truly play to beat Washington on Sunday night, it should emphasized that the Giants went 6-10, a record more in line with relegation than reward.