FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT
B3
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • FRIDAY, JANUARY 1, 2021
bendbulletin.com/sports
COLLEGE
FOOTBALL
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
PLAYOFF SEMIS
Year in Sports
ARIZONA BOWL
Ball St.
(22) San Jose St.
ARMED FORCES
BOWL
Mississippi St.
(24) Tulsa
28
26
LIBERTY BOWL
West Virginia
Army
Unfinished
business for
Clemson,
Ohio State in
Sugar Bowl
34
13
24
21
Armed Forces Bowl
ends in ugly brawl
FORT WORTH, Texas
— A bowl victory that in-
creased Mississippi State’s
win total this season to
four and No. 22 Tulsa’s
failed attempt to add an-
other unlikely comeback
to its impressive collec-
tion this season took a
back seat to the melee
that broke out Thursday
shortly after the Armed
Forces Bowl ended.
True freshman Will
Rogers scored his first
rushing touchdown of
the season and had a 13-
yard TD pass to lead Mis-
sissippi State past Tulsa
28-26 in a game that was
tense from the start.
Minutes after it ended,
the teams became in-
volved in a large brawl
on the field, with players
punching and kicking
one another. Tulsa coach
Greg Montgomery said
sophomore safety Kend-
arin Ray, who was helped
off the field after being
at the bottom of a dog-
pile during a scrum, was
treated for “some sort of
concussion.”
“I’m not sure what ex-
actly caused that,” said
Mississippi State coach
Mike Leach, who referred
to the altercation as a
“mosh pit.” “It was some-
thing before the game,
too. We’ve never had any
problem with that the en-
tire season, so I can only
guess without seeing the
film.”
In a video posted from
Mississippi State’s locker
room, Malik Heath joked
about kicking a Tulsa
player in the facemask.
“The one thing I’ll say
is our program, our guys,
we’re a team that are go-
ing to stand up for each
other and we’re going to
battle,” Montgomery said.
“We talk about faith, fam-
ily, football, and family’s
going to take care of fam-
ily. We’re a team that has
battled all year long. We
battled again today. From
that standpoint, our guys
are going to continue to
protect each other and
go from there.”
Tulsa quarterback Zach
Smith threw a 15-yard
scoring pass to Keylon
Stokes with 1:23 to play,
and Tulsa failed to recover
the ensuing onside kick.
On the play, Mississippi
State’s Erroll Thompson
leveled Tulsa’s Ryan Nixon
and was penalized 15
yards for taunting.
“It’s just dumb,” Leach
said. “There was some
stuff going back and forth
during the course of the
game. With any of it on
our side, I don’t want to
see it because I feel like
I got shorted, what, 15
yards, 30 yards on deals
where if we could keep
our mouth shut, you
know.”
During the brawl, Mis-
sissippi State’s De’Monte
Russell, in street clothes
beneath his jersey, ripped
the helmet off Tulsa’s
TieNeal Martin and ap-
peared to land a punch to
Martin’s head.
“Coach Leach ad-
dressed us as a team after
the game, and we will
handle that in-house,”
Kobe Jones said. “It was
emotional and a mishap.
We have to be better and
more disciplined.”
— Associated Press
Breaking
through
barriers
BY RALPH D. RUSSO
AP College Football Writer
Women are
making strides
on and off the field
BY ERIC OLSON • Associated Press
Josie Lepe/AP file
San Francisco 49ers offensive assistant Katie Sowers watches her team warm up before a game against the Arizona Cardinals in Santa
Clara, California, in 2019.
I
t was a milestone year
NEW ORLEANS — Ev-
erybody loves a comeback
story, and both No. 2 Clem-
son and No. 3 Ohio State ar-
rive at the Sugar Bowl look-
ing for redemption of sorts.
For Trevor Lawrence and
the Tigers, this College Foot-
ball Playoff semifinal brings
them back to the site of last
season’s national champion-
ship game loss to LSU.
For Justin Fields and the
Buckeyes, the Sugar Bowl
is a chance to avenge their
last defeat, a thrilling semi-
final against Clemson last
year that effectively ended
with Ohio State’s star quar-
terback being intercepted in
the end zone.
See Sugar Bowl / B6
for women in sports,
starting with Katie
Notre Dame,
’Bama move
Rose Bowl
clash to Texas
Sowers becoming the
first woman to coach
in the Super Bowl and ending with
Becky Hammon serving as an
NBA head coach.
In between was a series of
Eric Gay/AP
breakthroughs for women who just
wanted a chance — and got it.
Sarah Fuller became the first woman
to score in a major college football game,
and Kim Ng became the first to be hired
as a general manager for a major league
team.
WNBA players achieved a higher level
of financial security and professional
women’s hockey got a boost in exposure.
International soccer saw an unprece-
dented transfer fee paid for a woman to
move from one team to another, and the
U.S. women’s national soccer team took
a step toward its goal of equitable treat-
ment.
“2020 was certainly a tumultuous and
challenging year,” the Women’s Sports
Foundation said in a statement to The
Associated Press on Thursday. “It was
also transformational, with many excit-
ing, history-making firsts for women’s
sports, athletes, coaches and leaders.
Sports is a connector, a unifier and a
microcosm of society. As we reflect on
the power of women athletes and teams
San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon calls a play during a timeout in Wednes-
day night’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers, after coach Gregg Popovich was ejected in
San Antonio. Hammon was the first woman to act as head coach of an NBA team.
“I look forward to the day where
none of this is news, just people
accomplishing things and everybody
having a chance and everybody
having a shot at the same thing.”
— Rudy Gay, San Antonio Spurs player who
is close with assistant coach Becky Hammon
who spoke up, challenged the norms,
shattered glass ceilings and showed girls,
boys and everyone the limitless potential
one can achieve, it gives us all hope for
2021 and beyond.”
Sowers had been working as a San
Francisco 49ers offensive assistant since
2017 but wasn’t widely known until she
was featured in a Microsoft television
commercial that began running in Jan-
uary.
When the 49ers played the Kansas
City Chiefs in the Super Bowl, she be-
came the first female assistant and first
openly gay coach to take the sideline in
pro football’s biggest game.
Hammon became the first female
coach to take charge of a team during an
NBA game, taking over the San Anto-
nio Spurs on Wednesday night against
the Los Angeles Lakers following Gregg
Popovich’s ejection in the second quar-
ter.
“I look forward to the day where
none of this is news, just people accom-
plishing things and everybody having
a chance and everybody having a shot
at the same thing,” said the Spurs’ Rudy
Gay, who is close with Hammon.
Hammon, a star player in the college
and pro ranks, already was the first full-
time female assistant coach in league
history.
Hammon acknowledged it was “a sub-
stantial moment” but said she was more
interested in winning the game.
See Women / B4
BY STEPHEN HAWKINS
Associated Press
ARLINGTON, Texas —
Playing a Rose Bowl game
deep in the heart of Texas is
anything but normal. Top-
ranked Alabama being in
a College Football Playoff
semifinal game is nothing
new.
The SEC champion
Crimson Tide (11-0) are in
a familiar position despite
the chaos of playing during
the pandemic. No. 4 No-
tre Dame, which finished
runner-up in the ACC af-
ter temporarily giving up
its cherished independent
status, gets another playoff
chance two years after a big
thud in the same stadium.
“We’re going to keep
knocking at the door. We
don’t listen to the narratives
about what Notre Dame
can and can’t do,” Fighting
Irish coach Brian Kelly said
Thursday.
See Rose Bowl / B6
Special Olympian spreads message of love
BY JOHN MARSHALL
Associated Press
Gary Schottle arrived in
time to see the other kids in
line hitting and jumping on his
young son.
Nicknamed “Tank,” Derek
towered over the pestering
kids, yet lacked the confidence
to stick up for himself and was
too kindhearted to intention-
ally hurt anyone. Head down,
he took the blows without re-
acting.
Special Olympics changed
everything.
Tank felt accepted and con-
fident. He blossomed into a
leader, became an inspiration
to everyone he met.
Self-assuredness allowed
Tank to take his message of
hope and love to social media,
where his daily affirmations
have been a beacon of joy to
more than 100,000 followers
during the bleak days of a pan-
demic.
“If you’d have told me back
then what he’s doing now,
I wouldn’t have believed it.
There’s just no way,” Gary
Schottle said. “It truly is amaz-
ing.”
Special Olympics, founded
by Eunice Kennedy Shriver,
have melded competition and
confidence for people with in-
tellectual disabilities since the
first games in 1968. Special
Olympics has since branched
out to more than 170 coun-
tries, empowering more than 5
million athletes who had often
been cast aside.
The mission has always been
one of acceptance and inclu-
sion. Tank, a seven-sport ath-
lete, paid it forward.
As a young boy, he lacked
social skills, had few friends
and was often picked on by
other kids.
In 20 years of Special Olym-
pics competition, Tank’s con-
fidence has soared, his leader-
ship spreading across playing
fields, the Houston area and
beyond.
Tank, 31, has received local
and national awards for being
an advocate for Special Olym-
pics and anti-bullying. He reg-
ularly gives speeches about
love and hope.
Tank appeared on CNN and
other networks to fight for Spe-
cial Olympics when Education
Secretary Betsy DeVos threat-
ened to halt funding for the or-
ganization in 2019.
Once one of the bullied, he
has become a living embodi-
ment of the Special Olympics
message.
“He’s a gregarious individ-
ual, extremely outgoing, always
positive,” said Aaron Keith,
Gary Schottle/via AP
Derek “Tank” Schottle competes in the 100-meter dash as part of the
Pentathlon at a Special Olympics track meet in Rosenburg, Texas, in
2017. Special Olympics changed everything for Tank. He blossomed
into a leader, spreading love and inspiration to everyone he met.
executive director of the Spe-
cial Olympics Texas east re-
gion, where Tank competes.
“What he’s done as a leader and
a change agent for individu-
als with ID is way bigger than
what he’s done on the field.”
See Olympian / B4