FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT
B3
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 2021
bendbulletin.com/sports
49ERS
Assistant Sowers
will not return
Offensive assistant Ka-
tie Sowers, the first female
coach to make it to the
Super Bowl, will not be
returning to the San Fran-
cisco 49ers in 2021.
A person familiar with
the situation said Thursday
that the 34-year-old Sow-
ers will be leaving coach
Kyle Shanahan’s staff,
where she worked closely
with receivers coach Wes
Welker. The person spoke
on condition of anonymity
because the team hadn’t
made an announcement.
The Bay Area News
Group first reported Sow-
ers’ departure and said she
is looking for an expanded
role on another team.
Sowers posted a mes-
sage on Instagram on
Thursday, writing: “I think
it’s important to under-
stand that the path you
were meant to take is
more often than not …
the path that was least ex-
pected … but that is the
beauty in your story and
YOU will always control
the narrative.”
Sowers generated a big
following after becom-
ing the second woman
to work as a full-time as-
sistant coach in the NFL,
following Kathryn Smith,
who was a special teams
assistant in Buffalo in
2016. Sowers was also the
first openly gay coach in
the NFL.
She was part of San
Francisco’s staff that went
to the Super Bowl last sea-
son and was featured in a
prominent Microsoft com-
mercial thanking her for
knocking down doors for
other women.
Sowers, who played
in the Women’s Foot-
ball Alliance and for USA
Football’s national team,
got her start in the NFL in
2016 with Atlanta through
the Bill Walsh Diversity
Coaching Fellowship
when Shanahan was of-
fensive coordinator for the
Falcons.
She followed Shana-
han to San Francisco the
following season and was
hired as a full-time assis-
tant in 2018, working ex-
tensively with the team’s
wide receivers.
PREP SPORTS
Sports starting Feb. 22? Still to be seen
BY BRIAN RATHBONE
The Bulletin
High school sports have
been on hiatus in Oregon for
nearly a year, but are forecasted
to make their return in less
than two months.
The fall sports of foot-
ball, volleyball, soccer and
cross-country are scheduled to
resume practices on Feb. 22 and
competitions on March 1. But
those dates remain uncertain.
Peter Weber, the executive
director of the Oregon School
Activities Association, joined
Full interview
For the complete interview
with OSAA executive director
Peter Weber, visit bendbulle-
tin.com/sports.
“Anytime you can get kids back in the classroom in person learning, whether it’s hybrid or
fully in person, that is a positive. In terms of what it means for sports and athletics in the
short term, it doesn’t really have any impact or change. But I do believe it bodes well for us
moving forward.”
— Peter Weber, Oregon School Activities Association executive director
The Bulletin on a Zoom inter-
view Thursday to discuss the
current state of high school
sports in Oregon and the myr-
iad challenges sports are fac-
ing to make their return. (The
questions and answers have
been shortened for clarity and
to accommodate space.)
Q: Schools in Central Oregon
are expected to open in some
capacity — hybrid or in per-
son — later this month or early
February. Is having schools re-
open good news for sports to re-
turn by Feb. 22?
A: It could be good news.
Anytime you can get kids
back in the classroom in per-
son learning, whether it’s hy-
brid or fully in person, that is
a positive. In terms of what it
means for sports and athletics
in the short term, it doesn’t re-
ally have any impact or change.
But I do believe it bodes well
for us moving forward.
See Prep sports / B5
NFL PLAYOFFS
First-
timers
Seattle Seahawks’ Jamal Adams among
several stars savoring 1st playoff seasons
— Associated Press
Elaine Thompson/AP
MLB
Mets acquire star
shortstop Lindor
CLEVELAND — The
Indians drafted and de-
veloped Francisco Lindor,
who blossomed into an
All-Star shortstop and
one of baseball’s best all-
around players.
Cleveland chased a
World Series title with him.
They’ll now do it with-
out Lindor.
Knowing they could
never meet his price, the
Indians dealt the four-time
All-Star and pitcher Carlos
Carrasco to the New York
Mets, who have a new
owner willing to spend at
baseball’s highest levels in
order to get his franchise
back on top.
The cash-strapped
Indians sent Lindor and
Carrasco to the Mets on
Thursday for infielders An-
drés Giménez and Amed
Rosario, right-hander Josh
Wolf and outfielder Isaiah
Greene — a move Cleve-
land hopes can keep it
competitive and capable
of ending baseball’s lon-
gest title drought.
“They’re special people
in addition to special play-
ers,” said Chris Antonetti,
Cleveland’s president of
baseball operations, add-
ing he cried when inform-
ing the players they were
New York bound. “Trades
like this are really, really
hard to make. But at the
same time, we feel it’s the
right thing to do for us.”
— Associated Press
Seattle Seahawks’ Jamal Adams reacts to a play against the Los Angeles Rams on Dec. 27 in Seattle. After spending the first several years of his career with the New York Jets,
Adams gets his first taste of the playoffs on Saturday when the Seahawks host division-rival Los Angeles Rams.
“I don’t want to be too happy because I don’t want people to say he’s dramatic or he hasn’t been
here before.”
BY JOSH DUBOW
AP Pro Football Writer
J
amal Adams yelled in celebration
after Seattle qualified for the playoffs
— Jamal Adams, Seattle Seahawks strong safety
“I don’t want to be too happy
last month and lit up a victory cigar at because I don’t want people to say
the podium when the Seahawks clinched the
division.
After spending his first three seasons in the
NFL on the outside of the postseason with the
struggling New York Jets, Adams is reveling
in the chance to play in meaningful January
games after the offseason trade to Seattle.
he’s dramatic or he hasn’t been
here before,” Adams said after the
division-clinching win over the
Rams in Week 16.
Adams is among the several
big-name players headed to the
postseason for the first time,
hoping to gain even more fame
by shining on the big playoff
stage.
Adams has delivered for the
Seahawks, who traded a big pack-
age featuring two first-round
picks to the Jets in July for the
playmaking safety. He set a re-
cord for defensive backs with 9½
sacks for a defense that made big
strides in the second half of the
season and went from a liability
to a relative strength.
Here’s a look at some other
players set to make their playoff
debuts this weekend:
Baker Mayfield: The only time
the Cleveland quarterback was
seen last postseason was on a
commercial, not on the playing
field. But Mayfield had an effi-
cient third year with the Browns
and helped get the franchise back
to the postseason for the first
time since 2002.
Mayfield threw 26 TD passes
and posted a career-best 95.9
passer rating in his first season
under coach Kevin Stefanski,
who will miss the game Sunday
against Pittsburgh following a
positive COVID-19 test.
Mayfield will try to snap Cleve-
land’s 17-game losing streak in
Pittsburgh since the Browns’ last
win there in 2003, the year before
Ben Roethlisberger joined the
Steelers.
See NFL / B5
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF
NFL prospects all over the field in Alabama-Ohio State championship game
BY RALPH D. RUSSO
AP College Football Writer
Former LSU linebacker Pat-
rick Queen is a good example
of how a huge performance in
a national championship game
can help a player boost his NFL
draft stock.
Queen was a rising prospect
throughout last season and
capped it by being the defensive
MVP of the College Football
Playoff championship victory
against Clemson. Queen was
later selected in the first round
by the Baltimore Ravens at No.
28 overall.
No. 1 Alabama and No. 3
Ohio State head into the na-
tional title game Monday with
a slew of future NFL players.
The matchups will not only de-
termine who wins a champion-
ship, but could also influence
INSIDE
• College football awards handed
out Thursday night, B4
where players are drafted.
“You do want to look into
a player’s ability to play in the
clutch and in the big moments
because obviously when you’re
putting together a football team,
an NFL roster, your goal is to be
playing in the playoffs,” said Jim
Nagy, Senior Bowl executive di-
rector and a former NFL scout.
“So you want to look at the con-
sequential games. The games
that really matter.”
Alabama center Landon
Dickerson, who is out with a
knee injury, and guard Deonte
Brown have already accepted
invitations to the Senior Bowl
on Jan. 30, Nagy said. Heisman
Trophy-winning receiver
DeVonta Smith, star running
back Najee Harris and tackle
Alex Leatherwood have also
been invited.
For Ohio State, center Josh
Myers, running back Trey Ser-
mon, linebackers Tuf Borland
and Barron Browning, and de-
fensive end Jonathon Cooper
plan to take part in the Senior
Bowl, Nagy said.
See Prospects / B5