Category: Sports

No. 10 Penn State holds off No. 17 Iowa 17-12

No. 10 Penn State holds off No. 17 Iowa 17-12
By LUKE MEREDITH AP Sports Writer
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — On the road against one of the best defenses in America, 10th-ranked Penn State won the turnover battle and converted on third downs to survive yet another tough trip to Iowa.
Noah Cain ran for a 5-yard touchdown with 5:17 left and Penn State held off the 17th-ranked Hawkeyes 17-12 on Saturday night, its first win over a ranked opponent this season.
Cain finished with 102 yards for the Nittany Lions (6-0, 3-0 Big Ten), who extended their winning streak over the Hawkeyes (4-2, 1-2) to six games.
“This is a team. You’re going to have to earn it,” Penn State coach James Franklin said about the Hawkeyes. “The defense has been great all year. We leaned on them heavily.”
A matchup between two of the nation’s top defenses turned when Iowa’s Nate Stanley threw an interception near midfield with 9:22 remaining. Penn State drove 35 yards on a gassed Iowa defense, and the last of three straight runs by Cain made it 17-6.
The Nittany Lions gained just 294 yards. But they were 10 of 19 on third downs against a defense ranked fourth in scoring defense entering play, and they scored 10 points off of two Iowa miscues.
“We grinded it out,” Franklin said.
Iowa pulled within 17-12 when Stanley found Brandon Smith for a 33-yard TD pass with 2:31 to go. The Hawkeyes’ two-point try failed though, and Cain converted a crucial third down that ensured that Iowa never saw the ball again.
The Hawkeyes have dropped back-to-back games by just 12 points after its first 4-0 start since 2015.
“We’re doing the right things. We’ve just got to do a little better,” Iowa defensive end A.J. Epenesa said.
Up 7-6 late in the third quarter, Penn State recovered a fumble at Iowa’s 16 and Sean Clifford connected on an apparent touchdown pass to Pat Freiermuth that was overturned on review. Iowa then held the Nittany Lions at the 1-foot line, and two straight holding calls forced them to settle for a 33-yard field goal.
KJ Hamler caught seven passes, including an acrobatic 22-yarder for a TD, for Penn State.
Stanley threw for 286 yards, but the Hawkeyes ran for just 70 yards on 30 attempts.
THE TAKEAWAY
Penn State: The Nittany Lions survived their toughest road challenge outside of a trip to Ohio State on Nov. 23. Penn State was on the road against a talented team with a jacked-up crowd, and yet the Nittany Lions were the ones making the plays that made the difference.
Iowa: The Hawkeyes nearly went back-to-back games without a touchdown. Granted, Michigan and Penn State are really good on defense. But Iowa can’t continue to lean on its own defense to keep it in games. At 1-2 in the league and with Wisconsin looking like one of the best teams in America, the Big Ten West doesn’t look so winnable anymore. “We’ve just ended up shooting ourselves in the foot,” Stanley said.
PIVOTAL MOMENT
Penn State was facing a third-and-10 at Iowa’s 35 after Stanley’s interception. But Clifford broke right on an option, kept it, burst through a hole and gained 11 yards to extend what proved to be the game’s winning drive. “He didn’t necessarily play his best game. But he was gutsy,” Franklin said. “That was a big-time play.”
THE NUMBERS
Clifford was 12 of 24 for 117 yards, snapping his streak of five straight games with at least 200 yards passing. … Freshman Tyler Goodson led Iowa with 35 yards rushing, though he lost a fumble that won’t help his chances of winning the starting job. Starter Mekhi Sargent had just 18 yards on nine tries. … Penn State punter Blake Gillikin placed five of his seven kicks inside Iowa’s 20-yard line. … Iowa, which at one point this season went three games without a turnover, fumbled three times and lost one. … Penn State has 52 points off of turnovers through six games.
HE SAID IT
“I’ve got confidence in our football team,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “We didn’t play good enough this week or last against two really good football teams. I think we have a good team.”
POLL IMPLICATIONS
Penn State might move up a few spots. Iowa might struggle to hang onto its spot in the Top 25 after back-to-back losses.
UP NEXT
Penn State hosts Michigan on Oct. 19.
Iowa hosts Purdue next Saturday.
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Crosby, short-handed Penguins beat winless Wild 7-4

Crosby, short-handed Penguins beat winless Wild 7-4
By BRIAN HALL Associated Press
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Just four games into the season, injuries have decimated the top lines for the Pittsburgh Penguins as Evgeni Malkin, Nick Bjugstad, Alex Galchenyuk and Bryan Rust have all missed time.
The Penguins still have Sidney Crosby, and a trio of callups helped pick up the load on Saturday.
Crosby had a goal and assist, Adam Johnson and Sam Lafferty each scored his first career goal, and the short-handed Penguins held on to beat the winless Minnesota Wild 7-4 on Saturday night.
Patric Hornqvist, Kris Letang, Joseph Blandisi and Jake Guentzel also scored in Pittsburgh’s first road game of the season. Matt Murray stopped 29 shots for the Penguins, who scored four times in the second period.
“That’s the only way you win is with everyone contributing,” Crosby said. “I think with those guys, just the way they skate and with how fast they are on the forecheck, and what they’re able to do that way, they’re going to create chances just by that. I think with every game they’ll get more and more comfortable and you could see tonight, they got some huge goals for us.”
Minnesota goalie Devan Dubnyk gave up five goals on 23 shots and was pulled midway through the second period. Alex Stalock made seven saves in relief.
Jason Zucker, Jared Spurgeon, Brad Hunt and Luke Kunin scored for the Wild, who lost their home opener and fell to 0-4-0.
“Yeah, it is frustrating right now, especially start of the season,” Minnesota captain Mikko Koivu said. “I think you always want that first one, obviously, as soon as you can. Things are not going our way right now. We can be here and whine about it, but you got to go forward.”
Crosby continued his success against Minnesota — increasing his total to 23 points in 18 career games against the Wild — but Pittsburgh got support throughout the lineup while playing without four key forwards.
Malkin and Bjugstad each missed his third straight game with a lower-body injury. Malkin was placed on long-term injured reserve. Rust hasn’t played this season with upper-body injury and Galchenyuk missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury.
The four combined for 72 goals and 102 assists last season.
After breaking out for seven goals in the last game played by Malkin and Bjugstad, the Penguins had scored three goals in the previous two games. The injuries forced the callups of Johnson, Lafferty and Blandisi.
The three combined for three goals on Saturday while skating on the fourth line.
“I think these guys, they’ve shown that they can come in and have an impact on the game,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said, noting the fourth line defended well and sustained momentum on the forecheck. “When you can have the trust in those guys that you can put them in those situations, it can give us an opportunity to use Crosby’s line for example, in an advantageous situation offensively.”
Johnson started a Penguins surge later in the period as they scored three times in 2:28.
Guentzel scored on the power-play for a 6-2 lead midway through the third before Minnesota scored twice in 21 seconds on goals from Hunt and Kunin.
“I think the formula has been the same every game,” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. “They score three goals in 2 1/2 minutes … It’s like we get a woe is me attitude. We’re down instead of picking up our shoes like we did the last five minutes and saying let’s go get them. Until we learn how to quit feeling sorry for ourselves, it’s not going to work.”
NOTES: Minnesota fell to 14-1-4 in home openers in franchise history. They entered the game first in league history in point percentage in home openers. … The Wild honored the National Anthem singer for the Minnesota North Stars, Jim Bowers, before the game. Bowers died in the offseason and the team used a video rendition of Bowers signing the anthem on Saturday. Minnesota’s new executive advisor, Mike Modano, did the customary “Let’s play hockey” call before the game. … Murray won his 100th career regular season game, becoming the fourth goaltender in franchise history to reach the mark. Murray is the quickest of the four, hitting the milestone in just his 166th career appearance. Only six goaltenders have reached the mark quicker in the post-expansion era. … The Wild play six of their first seven and 17 of 26 games on the road this season. The nine home games in October and November are the fewest in franchise history.
UP NEXT
Penguins: At Winnipeg on Sunday.
Wild: At Ottawa on Monday.
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Robert Morris beats St. Francis (PA) 20-17 in double OT

Robert Morris beats St. Francis (PA) 20-17 in double OT
LORETTO, Pa. (AP) — Caleb Lewis threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Matthew Gonzalez with 45 seconds left in regulation, Nick Bisceglia made a 37-yard field goal in the second overtime, and Robert Morris slipped past St. Francis (PA) 20-17 on Saturday.
Lewis finished 9-of-22 passing for 152 yards and two scores. Tim Vecchio had six receptions for 94 yards and a score and Alijah Jackson had 26 carries for 110 yards for Robert Morris (2-4, 1-0 Northeast Conference).
On the first possession of the second OT, Jared Harris’ strip-sack of the Red Flash’s Jason Brown was recovered by Garret Fairman and, four plays later, Bisceglia’s field goal won it.
Chris Wells scored on a 14-yard run to give St. Francis (3-3, 2-1) a 17-10 lead with 5:34 left in the fourth quarter. Amir Jordan returned the ensuing kickoff into Red Flash territory but the RMU drive stalled at the 29 but the Colonials defense forced St. Francis to go three-and-out. Lewis then led a nine-play, 70-yard drive — hitting Deonte White for 9 yards on fourth-and-6 and connected with DeLano Madison for 19 yards on fourth-and-10 — capped by his TD pass to Gonzalez forced overtime.
Bisceglia’s 42-yard attempt was blocked on the first possession of OT and, after St. Francis moved to the 9, Trevor Thompson’s 26-yard attempt was wide right.
Brown completed 27 of 40 for 268 yards and a score and Well finished with 19 carries for 80 yards for the Red Flash.

CCBC Players of the Game Saturday October 12, 2019

Saturday, October 12, 2019:

WBVP, WMBA and 99.3 FM

New Brighton- Nyasanu Greene
Western Beaver– Xander LeFebvre

Western Beaver Defeats New Brighton 21-13

What a game this afternoon as Western Beaver comes back in the second half to take the win over New Brighton. A rough start for the Golden Beavers in the first quarter as Nyasanu Greene brings in the points for New Brighton. They were only able to make one extra point of two touchdowns, ending the half 13-0 over Western Beaver. The Golden Beavers fought back in the third quarter, with a touchdown by Elias Bishop. New Brighton really started to sweat in the fourth, unable to bring anything to the end zone. Xander LeFebvre of Western Beaver took advantage of the momentum, scoring the last two touchdowns of the game. The Golden Beavers triumphed over the Lions, ending the game 21-3.

 

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Here are some photos from today’s game:

Former Pirate Freese announces his retirement.

David Freese, former World Series MVP, retires at 36
By BETH HARRIS AP Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — David Freese is retiring after a 10-year career that included a World Series title with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2011 when he was MVP.
The 36-year-old infielder made the announcement Saturday on Twitter.
He made his final appearance Wednesday in a deciding Game 5 of an NL Division Series, striking out as a pinch-hitter for the Los Angeles Dodgers. They lost 7-3 to the Washington Nationals. Freese had started Game 1 at first base.
Freese batted .315 in 79 games for the Dodgers this season, with 11 home runs and 29 RBIs. He played his final two years with the Dodgers after stints with the Los Angeles Angels and Pittsburgh.
He made his major league debut with the Cardinals in 2009 and became a postseason star two years later. Freese batted .545 with 12 hits in the NL Championship Series in 2011. He also set a MLB postseason record with 21 RBIs and earned MVP honors in the NLCS and World Series.
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