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