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A5 S PORTS THE BULLETIN • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2021 bendbulletin.com/sports WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Super Bowl LV SUPER REMATCH Hill burned Bucs repeatedly in 1st meeting Mark LoMoglio/AP file Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill beats Tampa Bay Buccaneers strong safety Antoine Winfield Jr. on a 75-yard touchdown reception in Tampa, Florida, on Nov. 29. Hill was unstoppable against Tampa Bay in late November. The speedy Kansas City star caught 13 passes for 269 yards and three touchdowns in the Chiefs’ 27-24 victory that afternoon. Tampa Bay gets another shot at Hill and the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. BY MARK LONG AP Pro Football Writer yreek Hill sprinted past cornerback Carlton Davis again, caught the ball in stride and then cut so sharply that safety Mike Edwards ended up flail- ing at him with one arm near the sideline. Hill casually jogged a few more yards before pausing at the goal line and doing a backflip into the end zone. Showtime! It was the second and most im- pressive of three scores for Hill, who was the star of Kansas City’s 27-24 victory at Tampa Bay in Week 12. Hill finished with 13 receptions for 269 yards — both career highs — and proved to be a mismatch for Davis and the Buccaneers. Tampa Bay gets another shot at Hill and the Chiefs in the Super Bowl next Sunday, the first rematch in the NFL finale in nearly a decade. Same teams, same venue, much higher stakes. The Chiefs are counting on the T Jason Behnken/AP file Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill celebrates with a backflip after he pulls in a 44-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Patrick Mahomes against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa, Florida, in late November. same outcome. The Bucs, who have won seven straight since that late November loss, are looking to be- come the eighth team in 14 tries to beat an opponent in the Super Bowl that it lost to in the regular season. Both sides expect to lean on — and learn from — that previous meeting. “We’ll help a little bit more than we did in that ballgame,” Bucs coach Bruce Arians said. Tampa’s biggest and most ob- vious mistake was trying to sin- gle-cover Hill, one of the fastest players in the league. Davis was burned repeatedly, including on consecutive TD passes from Patrick Mahomes to Hill (75 and 44 yards) in the first quarter. Davis gave up their third scoring connection, too, but had much tighter coverage on what was a perfect throw and catch. Hill had seven receptions for 203 yards and two TDs in the first quar- ter alone, but just six catches for 66 yards and a score the rest of the way. The difference? “I just got tired. I got tired of run- ning,” Hill joked this week. “No, let me stop,” he continued. “Todd Bowles is a great defensive coordinator. He’s been doing it for a long time. I’m sure he’s seen guys like me throughout his career. Just being able to dial up (coverages) and things like that to slow me down. See Hill / A6 WINTER SPORTS Freestyle skier takes time to reflect each after crash BY PAT GRAHAM Associated Press ASPEN, Colo. — Every May 8 for the last four years — and, he vows, every one going for- ward — freestyle skier Colby Stevenson could be found in a similar setting: hanging out with friends, usually on top of a mountain somewhere. It’s his “celebrate life” day, a reminder of how everything can change in the blink of an eye. On a late-night drive back to Utah from Mount Hood on May 8, 2016, Stevenson fell asleep for a split second. He overcorrected and his truck rolled again and again. From the moment he woke up in the hospital — with what was classified as a traumatic brain injury because of a frac- tured skull — he pondered the same question: When can I ski again? Five months later, he re- turned. Last winter, he was on top of the freestyle skiing world at the Winter X Games, winning slopestyle and the inaugural ski Knuckle Huck event. “It’s a miracle that I’m well enough to be able to ski at my highest level,” said the 23-year- old Stevenson, who finished seventh in the slopestyle event Sunday at Winter X. “It’s just been gratitude ever since — the realization that I’m just lucky to be able to shred and send it.” From an early age, he proved to be a natural on skis — zip- ping his way down the snowy driveway at 14 months. When his family later moved to Park City, Utah, he constantly watched elite freestyle skiers perform high-flying tricks on the slopes — and then put his own spin on it. “One of the most crazy tal- ented kids I’ve ever met,” said 2012 Winter X ski slopestyle champion Tom Wallisch, who’s now an X Games commenta- tor. “Just one of the kids that works the hardest.” Fast-forward to 2016: An 18-year-old Stevenson was in- vited to a West Coast Session camp at Mount Hood in Ore- gon, where he was so dynamic he earned the MVP award and won best trick. One of his friends, John Michael Fab- rizi, suffered a broken leg and needed help getting his truck to Utah. See Stevenson / A6 Dave Chidley/The Canadian Press via AP, File United States’ Colby Stevenson competes in the men’s slopestyle at a World Cup freestyle skiing event in Calgary, Alberta, last year. Nearly four years after Stevenson suffered a fractured skull he was on top of the freestyle world at the Winter X Games, winning slopestyle and the Knuckle Huck event last winter. Beavers fend off Utes down stretch Oregon State was clinging to a four-point lead in the closing min- utes of its fourth game in eight days Sunday af- ternoon. Coach Scott Rueck called a timeout as the Beavers were close to get- ting called for a 10-sec- ond count in the back- court. All Rueck was hoping for on the ensuing in- bounds play was to get the ball over half court and avoid a violation. Instead, Sasha Goforth was able to break free, Talia von Oelhoffen deliv- ered a perfect pass and Goforth went in for the basket that helped keep Utah and bay. The Beavers then made enough free throws down the stretch to come away with an 84-74 win over the Utes before a smattering of fans at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City. For Oregon State, Aleah Goodman fin- ished with a team-high 21 points for the second straight game while Go- forth added 16 points and 10 rebounds for her first career double-dou- ble on her birthday. Jones scored 15 despite playing just 13 minutes as she battled foul trouble and von Oelhoffen chipped in 12 for her third dou- ble-digit performance in as many games. Utah (4-10, 3-10) got 27 points from Brynna Maxwell. — Albany Democrat-Herald MLB Proposal: Delayed 154-game season Could opening day be a May day? Major League Baseball has proposed delaying the season by about a month and playing the World Series in Novem- ber, said people familiar with the matter but not authorized to speak pub- licly Sunday. The schedule would be shortened to 154 games, but players still would receive the required 162 games of pay. The own- ers also asked the players’ union to approve a desig- nated hitter and 14-team expanded playoffs this season, a proposal the union previously has de- clined. The proposal was sent to the union Friday, with a request for a response by Monday. Players and union leaders are dis- cussing the proposal this weekend. The league previously floated the concept of starting the season a month late but declined to extend the season into November or pay players for games lost to a short- ened season. The league said then that its television partners preferred that the post- season conclude in Octo- ber, but Fox is amenable to a postseason that lasts one week into Novem- ber. This proposal does not include a neutral-site postseason — either in warm-weather climates or in a dome — which would make scheduling easier for the television networks. Since then, the Cactus League has asked MLB for a month’s delay, citing the high rate of coronavirus cases in Arizona. As cases decline and vaccina- tions increase, more fans would be able to attend games in spring train- ing — and in the regular season. — Los Angeles Times