FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT
A5
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • TUESDAY, MAY 11, 2021
bendbulletin.com/sports
FOOTBALL
TENNIS
High Desert Storm
lose opener, 46-44
Ready to return
NAMPA, Idaho — The
Oregon High Desert
Storm lost their franchise
opener Saturday night
to the Idaho Horsemen,
46-44, at the Ford Idaho
Center.
It was the first ever
game for the Storm, the
newest team in the Amer-
ican West Football Confer-
ence, a pro indoor football
league with five teams in
the Northwest.
According to oregon-
storm.com, the Storm had
a chance to tie the game
with just under three
minutes left, but quarter-
back William Crest Jr. was
sacked on a 2-point con-
version attempt.
The Horsemen, the de-
fending AWFC champions
from 2019 after last sea-
son was canceled, opened
the game with two con-
secutive touchdowns
and had a 38-18 lead by
halftime.
In the second half, the
Storm defense made a
few adjustments and
held the Horsemen to just
eight points.
Storm running back
Caleb Stennis scored a
touchdown with 4:59 re-
maining, and then scored
again on a 1-yard run a
couple of minutes later
after an Idaho fumble to
cut the Horsemen lead to
46-44 with 2:51 left.
But Crest was sacked
on the conversion and
Idaho was able to run out
the clock for the victory.
After two weeks off,
the Storm will travel to
Yakima, Washington, to
face the Yakima Canines
on May 29.
Aside from the Ore-
gon High Desert Storm
and the Idaho Horsemen,
the three other teams in
the AWFC are all based in
Washington: the Yakima
Canines, Tri-City Rush and
Wenatchee Valley Sky-
hawks.
The Storm are sched-
uled to play their first
home game at First Inter-
state Bank Center in Red-
mond on June 5 against
the Horsemen, and they
are scheduled to play six
of their 11 games in Red-
mond this season, which
runs through July 30.
For more information
about the team, visit ore-
gonstorm.com.
—Bulletin staff report
NFL DRAFT
UO’s Thibodeaux
projected No. 1
Oregon’s presence
early in the first round of
the NFL draft is expected
to continue.
Ducks edge rusher
Kayvon Thibodeaux is
projected as the No. 1 pick
in the 2022 NFL draft by
both ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr.
and Todd McShay.
“He was the No. 1
player coming out of high
school, he’s maintained
that grade throughout at
Oregon with the Ducks,”
Kiper said. “He’s that pass
rusher off the edge who
can bend it and close
quickly on the quarter-
back.”
A third team AP
All-American last season,
Thibodeaux had 38 tack-
les with 9.5 tackles for
loss, including three sacks,
and three pass breakups
in seven games last sea-
son. He won the Morris
Trophy as the Pac-12’s
best defensive lineman as
voted on by the players.
Kiper evoked com-
parisons to former No. 1
overall picks Myles Garrett
and Jadeveon Clowney
in discussing Thibodeaux,
who was projected as a
top pick in the 2022 draft
even a year ago.
—The Oregonian
Serena Williams
returns the ball
during a training
session at the
Italian Open tennis
tournament, in
Rome on Monday.
Gregorio Borgia/AP photo
BY ANDREW DAMPF
Associated Press
R
OME — Forget all that specu-
lation about Serena Williams
considering retirement after
her emotional hand-to-heart
gesture upon her Australian
Open exit three months ago.
While Williams has not played since
losing to Naomi Osaka in the Melbourne
semifinals in February, she has been prac-
ticing “very intensely” on clay courts and
is ready to “start fresh” in her pursuit
of Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand
Slam titles.
Preparing to return at this week’s Ital-
ian Open to gear up for Roland Garros
later this month, Williams on Monday
detailed her recent training regimen.
There was a block of time on clay
courts back home in the United States fol-
lowed by 2½ weeks on the red dirt at the
French academy run by her coach, Pat-
rick Mouratoglou.
“So we had an intense several weeks of
training — very intense,” Williams said. “I
feel good. ... I’m going to have some good
matches here hopefully, and then I will
be at another Grand Slam, which always
makes me excited. So I think either way
I’ll be ready.”
The 39-year-old Williams, who only
needs one more Grand Slam title to match
Court’s record, added that her fans shouldn’t
read too much into the lack of tennis infor-
mation she shares on social media.
“I don’t do a lot of sport content, so I do
feel like people are wondering if I’m play-
ing, and I have to say I always am, you just
don’t see it,” she said. “I don’t show what I
do. I don’t always show my cards.”
Williams, a four-time champion in
Rome, will face either French Open semi-
finalist Nadia Podoroska or German
qualifier Laura Siegemund in her open-
ing match at the Foro Italico. She’s in the
same quarter of the draw as Osaka and
has a first-round bye.
“It’s good to start fresh but it’s also hard
to start fresh,” Williams said.
Williams was also asked if she will play
at the Tokyo Olympics if coronavirus pro-
tocols mean she can’t bring her 3-year-old
daughter into Japan.
“I haven’t spent 24 hours without her,
so that kind of answers the question it-
self,” Williams said. “We’re best friends.
“I haven’t really thought much about
Tokyo, because it was supposed to be last
year and now it’s this year, and then there
is this pandemic and there is so much to
think about,” she added. “Then there is
the Grand Slams. It’s just a lot. So I have
really been taking it one day at a time to
a fault, and I definitely need to figure out
my next moves.”
NFL
HORSE RACING
Tebow-Meyer reunion on
verge of becoming official
Medina Spirit
traveling to
Preakness,
minus Baffert
There’s a twist: former
Heisman QB to play TE
BY MARK LONG
AP Pro Football Writer
Tim Tebow and Urban Meyer are
apparently getting back together,
this time in the NFL.
The former Florida star and 2007
Heisman Trophy-winning quarter-
back is expected to team up with his
college coach by signing a one-year
contract to play for the Jacksonville
Jaguars, the NFL Network reported
Monday.
The league-owned network said
the deal “could be official in the
next week or so.”
The 33-year-old Tebow would
be returning to the NFL after four
years (2016-19) in the New York
Mets’ organization and he’d be play-
ing for Meyer for the first time since
his senior year in 2009.
This reunion would come with a
twist, though.
Tebow would be joining the Jag-
uars as a tight end. He switched
positions after retiring from base-
ball in February. He worked out for
Jacksonville a week later.
Meyer and general manager
Trent Baalke are seemingly wait-
BY GARY B. GRAVES
Associated Press
TIM
TEBOW
“That will be interesting to see
how that contributes to us on of-
fense,” Jaguars co-owner Tony Khan
said. “Obviously Urban knows Tim
really well, and Tim’s got a great his-
tory of winning. Urban really be-
lieves he can help us, and I think it
makes a lot of sense. And it’s a posi-
tion where we need to get better.”
But how much can a guy on the
wrong side of 30 who’s never played
the position bring to the team? Te-
bow’s value could mean as much off
the field as on it.
Meyer has said repeatedly that
signing players who already know
his methodology would be helpful
in Year 1.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky Derby
winner Medina Spirit is headed to Baltimore
for the Preakness Stakes while trainer Bob
Baffert said Monday that he won’t attend
the race to avoid being a distraction in the
wake of scrutiny following the colt’s failed
postrace drug test.
Medina Spirit’s Derby win by half a length
over Mandaloun on May 1 gave Baffert his
record seventh victory in the sport’s premier
race. That milestone win is now in jeopardy
following Baffert’s announcement on Sun-
day that test results revealed the horse had
more than twice the state-allowed amount
of the steroid betamethasone.
Baffert is appealing the positive test and
part of the original sample will be re-tested.
If the violation is upheld, Medina Spirit
could be disqualified and runner-up Man-
daloun elevated to winner.
The trainer has denied all wrongdoing
and promised full transparency with Ken-
tucky racing officials. Churchill Downs
nonetheless suspended Baffert from en-
tering horses at the track. The Maryland
Jockey Club and Pimlico officials say they
will decide on Medina Spirit’s status in the
Triple Crown’s middle jewel after reviewing
the facts.
See Tebow / A7
See Medina Spirit / A7
URBAN
MEYER
AP file
ing until after this weekend’s rookie
minicamp to get the deal done.
Tebow, who grew up in Jack-
sonville, could fill a huge hole with
his hometown team. The Jaguars
decided not to pick up a team op-
tion in veteran Tyler Eifert’s con-
tract and traded oft-injured 2019
draft pick Josh Oliver to Baltimore.
They signed run-blocking special-
ist Chris Manhertz in free agency,
brought back James O’Shaughnessy
and drafted Ohio State’s Luke Far-
rell in the fifth round.
Those were considered minor
moves after Meyer vowed to com-
pletely revamp the position group.
Tebow, at the very least, would pro-
vide a splash.