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SPORTS Tuesday, January 21, 2020 East Oregonian B3 Baylor jumps Zags to give AP poll record-tying seventh No. 1 By DAVE SKRETTA Associated Press AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid reacts after win- ning the NFL AFC Championship game Sunday against the Tennessee Titans in Kansas City, MO. The Chiefs won 35-24 to advance to the Super Bowl. Mahomes gives Reid best hope to win that elusive Super Bowl By ROB MAADDI AP Pro Football Writer Andy Reid revitalized the Kansas City Chiefs the same way he did with the Philadel- phia Eagles. He’s one win away from finishing the job. The only thing miss- ing from Reid’s impres- sive resume is a Super Bowl title. He is seventh on the career wins list and every coach ahead of him has a championship. Thanks to Patrick Mahomes, Reid gets another shot when the Chiefs (14-4) play the San Francisco 49ers (15-3) in Miami on Feb. 2. Mahomes did it all in Kansas City’s 35-24 victory over Tennessee in the AFC championship game Sunday. He threw for 294 yards and three touchdowns and led the team with 53 yards rush- ing, including a nifty 27-yard score. Reid, the quarterback guru who helped develop Brett Favre and Donovan McNabb, saw tremendous potential in Mahomes when he traded up to the No. 10 spot in the 2017 NFL draft to grab the former Texas Tech star. It was the same fore- sight he had in 1999 when, as a rookie head coach in Philadelphia, Reid selected McNabb with the No. 2 over- all pick even though the city wanted Ricky Williams. Reid was patient with McNabb, holding him out of the starting lineup until Week 10 while veteran and longtime backup quarterback Doug Pederson groomed the rookie. Once McNabb took over, the Eagles were on their way. In 2000, Reid and McNabb led Philadelphia to the first of five straight play- off appearances. They went to four consecutive NFC title games, losing the first three, including two at home. The Eagles got past that hurdle after the 2004 season, advancing to the Super Bowl only to lose 24-21 to the New England Patriots. Reid led them to the brink one more time four years later as a No. 6 seed before they lost to Arizona as a road favorite in the NFC champi- onship game. The Eagles won their last division title under Reid with Michael Vick at quarterback in 2010. Vick revived his career in Philadelphia after missing two seasons while serving a prison sentence. He had his best all-around sea- son with Reid. In 14 seasons in Phila- delphia, Reid led the Eagles to six NFC East titles, nine playoff appearances and five conference championship games. He won more games than any coach in franchise history but couldn’t win the only one that mattered to Eagles fans. Still, he played a role in helping Philadelphia get its first Super Bowl title because Pederson, Reid’s protege, was the coach who guided the Eagles to that elusive championship two years ago, with backup quarterback Nick Foles beating the Patri- ots. Reid drafted Foles in the third round in his final sea- son in Philadelphia and per- suaded him not to retire in 2016 when he brought him to Kansas City to back up Alex Smith. Reid was fired by the Eagles after a 4-12 season in 2012, the year his oldest son, Garrett, died from a drug overdose at training camp. He quickly landed in Kansas City, taking over a 2-14 team, and turned the Chiefs into a winner even faster than he did the Eagles. The Chiefs went 11-5 in Reid’s first year. But Reid was 1-4 in the playoffs with Smith at quar- terback in his first five sea- sons in Kansas City. He drafted Mahomes to take the team to the next level. After making him sit behind Smith for a season, just like McNabb waited in Philadelphia, Reid took a risk. He traded Smith away following consecutive division titles and handed the offense to Mahomes. All Mahomes did was win the NFL MVP award in his first year as the starter in 2018. The Chiefs fell short at home against New England in the AFC title game last sea- son, dropping Reid to 1-5 in conference championships. They couldn’t be stopped this time. Led by the dynamic Mahomes, Reid’s offense has scored 86 points in two play- off games. The NFL’s No. 2 defense awaits. The 49ers allowed 281.8 yards per game in the regular season, sec- ond only to the Patriots. They held Minnesota to 10 points last week and Aaron Rodgers and the Packers to 20 points after taking a 27-0 halftime lead. Reid is 22-5 in his career when he has two weeks to prepare for an opponent, so it’ll be an interesting chess match against San Francisco defensive coordinator Robert Saleh. The only coach who waited longer than Reid for a return trip to the Super Bowl was his friend and for- mer Eagles coach Dick Ver- meil. After Philadelphia lost to Oakland in the 1981 Super Bowl, Vermeil led the St. Louis Rams to victory over Tennessee following the 1999 season. It’s Big Red’s turn to win the big game. Baylor and Gonzaga were the only two teams in the top five that took care of business last week. That doesn’t mean they didn’t move around, too. The Bears (15-1) leaped over the Bulldogs and into the No. 1 spot in The Asso- ciated Press men’s college basketball poll on Monday, using wins over Iowa State and Oklahoma State to give the Top 25 its seventh team on top this season. That matches the record set in 1983 for the most No. 1s in the history of the poll, which dates to the 1948-49 season. Gonzaga (20-1) was merely a victim of its con- ference schedule. The Bull- dogs blew out Santa Clara and BYU, but just enough voters considered those wins to be less impressive than the Bears’ perfect Big 12 start. Baylor received 33 first-place votes and had 1,591 points from the 65-member media panel while Gonzaga received 31 first-place votes for 1,588 points. “It takes a team to win,” said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team also reached the top of the poll two years ago. “As a coach, you’re just really proud when different people step up, especially guys that have been working hard.” The rest of the top five looks a whole lot differ- ent after Duke, Auburn and Butler all lost both of their games last week. Kansas (14-3) rose three spots to No. 3 after victo- ries over Oklahoma and Texas, the latter requiring a big comeback in Aus- tin. San Diego State (19- 0) remained perfect with wins over Fresno State and AP Photo/Jerry Larson, File Baylor forward Tristan Clark (25) is guarded by Iowa State forward George Conditt IV (4) during the second half of a Jan. 15, 2020, game in Waco, Texas. Nevada, and Florida State (16-2) barged into the fifth spot after it beat reigning national champion Virginia and survived overtime to best Miami. The Seminoles haven’t lost since playing Indiana in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge the first week of December. Louisville, which tasted the top spot earlier this sea- son, jumped five spots to sixth after beating Pitts- burgh in overtime and han- dling the Blue Devils. Day- ton was next, followed by Duke, Villanova and Seton Hall to round out the top 10. Duke also lost to Clem- son earlier in the week, sending coach Mike Krzyzewski’s team tum- bling five spots. “We just have to get older,” he said after the Blue Devils’ 79-73 loss to the Cardinals on Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium. “I’m really up on my team. It’s a long journey. I’ve never told you that we’re great. It’s a process for us, playing these two teams. Getting beat, we have to learn from it and move on. It’s a long journey.” Krzyzewski’s team wasn’t alone in getting a tough lesson last week. Fourth-ranked Auburn fell all the way to No. 16 after losing a pair of blowouts to Alabama and Florida, and fifth-ranked Butler was bounced all the way to 13th after the Bulldogs followed up a loss to Seton Hall by getting soundly beaten by DePaul. “It’s the time of the year when we should be trying to elevate our play, and we’re not,” said Tigers coach Bruce Pearl, whose team had won its first 15 games. “Obviously, there’s a pretty big price on our head being ranked fourth in the coun- try. And so I think we have to respond to the step-up that we saw this week from both Alabama and Florida.” Here’s a closer look at the other big news in another fresh Top 25: Rutgers on the rise The Scarlet Knights bounced back from a loss to Illinois by beating Indiana and Minnesota at home, run- ning their record at the RAC to 13-0 this season — the best start in school history. That was enough to get Rut- gers (14-4) into the poll at No. 24 for the first time since the final poll of the 1978-79 season. And with Seton Hall at No. 10, the state of New Jersey has two teams ranked for the first time since the Pirates were joined by Princ- eton in the last poll of the 1990-91 season. Other newcomers Iowa, which has been in and out of the poll all sea- son, made the biggest jump back in at No. 19 after its win over then-No. 19 Mich- igan. The Hawkeyes were joined by No. 22 Arizona — which beat a ranked team in Colorado — and No. 25 Houston, which romped through SMU and then-No. 16 Wichita State last week. Pendleton finishes 2-3 at Oregon Classic Mac-Hi’s Jesse Jones posts 5-0 record on the weekend By ANNIE FOWLER East Oregonian REDMOND — Junior Isaac Urbina went 4-1 on the weekend, and Pendleton fin- ished 2-3 in the 5A bracket at the Oregon Classic at the Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center. Urbina had three pins and one major decision among his wins. His lone loss was to Crescent Valley’s Hayden Walters in their second pool match at 182 pounds. The Bucks opened with a win over Hood River Val- ley 37-36, and then dropped matches to Crescent Val- ley (72-6) and Ridgeview (66-18). In the first match of the championship round, the Bucks beat Milwaukie 42-37. Pendleton got wins from Jack Lieuallen (126), Collin Primus (132), Matthew Rob- ertson (145), Danner Hamil- ton (152) and Urbina (195) in its match against Milwaukie. In the quarterfinals against Crescent Valley, a 63-6 loss, the Bucks got a win from Urbina at 182 pounds, where he pinned Konrad Hoyer in 2:35. Pendleton forfeited six matches to the Raiders. Lieuallen, a freshman, finished 3-2 on the weekend. Crescent Valley won the 5A division of the tourna- ment with a 6-0 record. The Raiders beat Crook County 50-21 in the championship match. In the 4A division, Mac-Hi/Griswold recorded a 1-4 record, with their lone win coming over Mashfield, 51-18, in the consolation semifinals. The Pioneers lost pool matches to Tillamook (67- 12), Estacada (55-24) and Philomath (58-12). Mac-Hi dropped its quar- terfinal match to Molalla 54-24. Jesse Jones (145/152) was 5-0 on the weekend, with four pins and one decision. His quickest pin came against Philomath’s David Griffith in 1:06. Girls wrestling Hermiston had three wrestlers place fourth, and the Bulldogs finished ninth in the team standings with 77 points Saturday at the Othello Lady Huskies Invite, which featured 56 teams. Hanford won the team title with 163 points, followed by Sunnyside (156.5) and Othello (116). Amree Braithwaite was fourth at 140 pounds. She recorded two pins and an overtime win on the day. Halle Thomas finished fourth at 145 pounds. She had three pins and one win by injury default. At 235, Macy Morgan was fourth after winning two of four matches. Jazmin Deike turned in a seventh-place finish at 190, winning two of four matches, both by fall. Prep roundup: Stanfield hosts Pilot Rock on Friday Continued from Page B1 following Saturday’s road loss to Horizon Christian. Javon Curiel posted 13 points, including three treys, to lead Echo. Echo (0-16, 0-6) hosts Condon/Wheeler on Friday at 7:30 p.m. GRANT UNION 61, W ESTON-MCEW EN 30 — Aiden Wolf fin- ished with a team-best nine points as Weston-McEwen suffered its fourth Blue Mountain Conference loss in John Day on Saturday afternoon. The TigerScots (3-12, 0-4 BMC) travel to Enter- prise on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Girls basketball WALLOWA 66, NIXY- AAWII 53 — Sophie Bronson had a team-high 20 points, but the Golden Eagles could not overcome their Wallowa hosts on Sat- urday afternoon. “It was a back and forth game for the most part, but we just didn’t rebound well enough to win,” Nixyaawii head coach Jeremy Mad- dern said. “We got off to a real bad start, but we fought back to make it a game.” Kyella Picard finished with 11 points, and Mack- enzie Kiona had 10. Nixyaawii (6-7, 2-1 OOL) hosts White Swan on Wednesday at 5 p.m. STANFIELD 49, ENTERPRISE 31 — Ken- dra Hart scored 18 points to aid in Stanfield’s fourth Blue Mountain Conference win on Saturday afternoon. Nyah Tejada chipped in 11 points, and Alexis Shelby grabbed 11 rebounds. Stanfield (13-3, 4-1 BMC) hosts Pilot Rock on Friday at 6 p.m. GRANT UNION 42, WESTON-MCEWEN 16 — The TigerScots fell to a three-game Blue Mountain Conference skid on Satur- day, as Cloe Davis posted a team-high five points on their road loss on Saturday. Weston-McEwen (2-13, 0-4 BMC) travels to Enter- prise on Friday for a 6 p.m. tip-off. Staff photo by Kathy Aney Savannah Sharp (10), of Stanfield, goes up for a shot during Saturday’s Blue Mountain Conference game against Enter- prise.
