Raiders couldn’t remember the Titans in 42-21 loss

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Photo credit: @Raiders

By Jeremy Kahn

OAKLAND — With their playoff hopes riding on this game, the Oakland Raiders looked really good in the beginning of the game; however, the second half was a totally different story.

Ryan Tannehill went 21-for-27 for 391 yards, three touchdowns and an interception and the Tennessee Titans defeated the Raiders 42-21 before a crowd of 52,760 at the Coliseum.

Things started off well, as Tannehill threw a pass that Dion Jordan tipped and Maurice Hurst caught and returned 55 yards to the Titans 24-yard line.

That was my first interception since I was in high school, (Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood, MA, said Hurst.

The former Michigan Wolverines All-American did have a fumble recovery versus the University of Central Florida in the Wolverines season-opening win in Ann Arbor on September 10, 2016.

Derek Carr got the Raiders on the board two plays later, as he found Darren Waller for a seven-yard touchdown pass that gave the Raiders a 7-0 lead.

Tannehill then began to drive the Titans down the field, as he came up with a big pass play when he connected with Khari Blasingame for a 24-yard completion and then two plays later, Derrick Henry scored the first of his two touchdowns on a 12-yard scamper that tied up the game.

After the ensuing Raiders series was stopped, Tannehill gave the Titans the lead just one play after the AJ Cole.

Tannehill found A.J. Brown for a 91-yard touchdown pass that split the Raiders secondary down the middle.

Carr and the Raiders did not sulk, as they immediately tied up the game, when Carr found Rico Gallford for his first NFL touchdown reception.

The back and forth scoring continued on the Titans next series, as Tannehill found Brown for a 16-yard touchdown.

Carr and the Raiders tied up the game on their next series, as he drove the team down the field with the key play being a 26-yard pass from Carr to Waller that ended at the Titans one-yard line.

Foster Moreau caught a one-yard touchdown pass from Carr for the Raiders third touchdown of the afternoon, and unfortunately their final points of the game.

Tannehill and the Titans began to drive down the field again; however, they were kept off the scoreboard, when Ryan Succops 42-yard field goal attempt hit the goalpost and the two teams went into the locker room all tied up at 21 apiece.

The two teams played punt the ball away on the first drives of the second half, including the first two three-and-outs of the game.

Following the second Cole punt of the third quarter, the Titans scored on a 10-yard touchdown run from Henry and never looked back.

Once again, the Raiders were forced to punt and the Titans capitalized on it, as Tannehill made it 35-21 early in the fourth quarter, when he found Jonnu Smith for a 17-yard touchdown pass.

Just two plays after the Tannehill touchdown pass to Smith, the Titans salted the game away, as Carrs pass to Waller was fumbled and returned 46 yards for a touchdown by Jayon Brown to close out the scoring.

After another Cole punt, the Titans could not add any more points, as they were forced to punt after a three-and-out.

The Raiders began to drive down the field, as Carr got them down to the two-yard line, when he found DeAndre Washington pass for 24 yards down to the Titans two-yard line.

Washington was forced into starting at tailback after rookie sensation Josh Jacobs was declared inactive.

I give him a lot of credit. He was really in tears wanting to play, said Jon Gruden.

In his place, Washington gained 53 yards on 14 carries and caught six passes for 43 yards on the afternoon.

We actually found out before the game. Going into the week we knew that he was banged up, said Washington.

Unfortunately for the Raiders, they were unable to cash in and were forced to turn the ball over on downs.

The Titans took over and after two first downs that clinched the game, the Raiders saw them on the short end of their third straight loss.

During the recent three-game slide, the Raiders have been outscored 116-33 in losses to the New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs and now the Titans.

NOTES: With Carrs two touchdown passes, he has now thrown touchdown in all 41 games in his NFL career. The 41 game are the ninth-most in NFL history through a players six seasons.

It was the fifth touchdown of the season for Moreau, as he leads all rookie tight ends in the league.

UP NEXT: In what will be the last home game in Oakland before the move to Las Vegas, the Jacksonville Jaguars will come to the Coliseum. The Jaguars are coming off a 45-10 shellacking at home versus the Los Angeles Chargers.

Reign storm back to upend Barracuda in 5-4 shootout win

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By Marko Ukalovic

The San Jose Barracuda took the foot of the gas pedal after the first period and it came back to bite them as the Ontario Reign scored four unanswered goals en route to a 5-4 shootout victory Saturday evening at Toyota Arena.

San Jose ended up taking three out of the four points in the weekend series against their SoCal rival. However after posting a three-goal first period, the ‘Cuda will look back on a game that were in control of and let slip away.

The Barracuda (8-11-0-2) drew first blood on the power play early in the first period.  Joel Kellman won a face off over to Jonny Brodzinski, who sent the puck back up to the point where Thomas Gregoire collected it. The ‘Cuda defenseman skated back toward the middle, where his wrist shot went through a sea of traffic in front of Reign goalie Cal Petersen into the back of the net for Gregoire’s third goal of the season at the 6:20 mark.

San Jose doubled its lead six minutes later when Brodzinski led a rush into the Reign zone, where he sent a cross-ice pass over to a streaking Kellman and he buried a one-timer past Petersen for his third goal of the season at the 12:10 mark.

Just under two minutes later Gregoire fed a pass over to Alex True in the right slot and he in turn sent a cross ice pass over to Jayden Halbgewachs, who fired a one-timer past Petersen, in a similar goal to Kellman’s, for his sixth goal of the season at the 14:13 mark. Halbgewachs has scored in back-to-back games for the ‘Cuda.

Ontario (11-11-2-0) scored the last goal of the period on the power play when Gabe Vilardi had a nice give-and go with Kale Clague inside the ‘Cuda zone. From the point, Clague snapped a wrist shot past ‘Cuda goalie Josef Korenar for his fifth goal of the season at the 16:35 mark.

San Jose dominated the opening 20 minutes outshooting Ontario 12-8 and had the ice tilted in their favor for most of the period.

The second period didn’t see a goal being scored, but it saw a foreshadow of what would become a third period collapse for San Jose with them going continually going into the sin bin.

Ryan Stanton scored his second goal in as many games after taking a pass from Austin Strand and beat Korenar with a wrist shot at the 6:56 mark.

Ontario scored the equalizer with the man advantage when Clague collected the puck at the left point fed a cross-ice pass over to Martin Frk right above the right faceoff circle and Frk blasted a slap shot past Korenar for his 12th goal of the season at the 8:59 mark. Lance Bouma received the secondary assist.

Then with under four minutes left in the third period, Ontario struck again on the power play for their first lead of the game. Once again, Clauge was the set-up man, this time he sent a cross-ice pass over to Vilardi fired a shot from just above the right slot past Korenar for his second goal of the season at the 15:23 mark.

San Jose didn’t go quietly as Joachim Blichfeld fed a pass over to True, who buried a wrist shot past Petersen for his seventh goal of the season with 1:35 left in the third period to send the game into overtime and eventually the shootout.

In the shootout, both Frk and Vilardi scored for the Reign, while Petersen blanked all three of the Barracuda chances for the win.

Petersen finished the night making 30 saves on 34 shots for his 11th win, and third over San Jose, on the season. For Korenar, he made a career-high 41 saves out of the 45 saves he faced in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 1/3 on the power play. Ontario was 3/7.

Brodzinski extended his point streak to five games (two goals, five assists) as he collected a goal and an assist.

Blichfeld recorded a pair of assists for his fifth multi-point game of the year and second in as many games and now co-leads the Barracuda in scoring (17).

Gregoire scored and added two assist as he recorded his second three-point night of his career and now co-leads the Barracuda in points (17).

The three power-play goals against matched a season-high for San Jose.

San Jose is now 0-2 in shootouts this year.

UP NEXT: San Jose hosts the Bakersfield Condors on Wednesday, December 11 at 7:00 pm at SAP Center.

Sharks Power Play Scores, Still Lose 5-1 to Panthers

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost 5-1 to the Florida Panthers Sunday at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida. Panthers goals came from Keith Yandle, Aleksander Barkov, Mike Matheson, Brett Connolly and Frank Vatrano. Their goaltender, Sergei Bobrovsky, made 30 saves for the win. The Sharks goal was scored by Kevin Labanc, the team’s first power play goal in 23 tries. Martin Jones made 28 saves in the loss.

After the game, Labanc said:

Today, we were working we just weren’t scoring so it sucks. Like I said, I mean we’re getting a ton of chances but we’re just not capitalizing on them. And… just… it’s all in the detail of the game and it’s not that they’re a better team than us it’s just that we’re making more mistakes.

Sharks forward Evander Kane, who sat out for a period’s worth of penalties, said: “I think we’re a little too relaxed right now. A couple games, that we’re off to bad starts and we didn’t really fight back and we didn’t really have much fight back after we got down so that’s really the most disappointing part.”

Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer identified goaltending and special teams as the problem in Sunday’s game:

I thought we hung in there and, you know, kept fighting but you know it wasn’t enough. And, you know, their goalie was better, their special teams were better tonight than ours. That was probably the story. I thought five-on-five we probably carried a lot of the play but, those two areas, they were better than us.

The Panthers started the scoring on a power play at 4:15 of the first. Kevin Labanc was in the box for hooking. Jonathan Huberdeau’s pass up the boards found Keith Yandle for a shot from the blue line. Assists went to Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov.

Barkov scored the next one at 8:15, putting the Panthers up 2-0. The Panthers entered the zone three-on-two with Erik Karlsson and Marc-Edouard Vlasic defending. With Karlsson covering Keith Yandle but letting Barkov slip by at the last moment. Evgenii Dadonov was the puck carrier and he sent the puck to the net for Barkov to tap in. Assists went to Dadonov and Huberdeau.

Kevin Labanc made up for his penalty with a power play goal at 10:13. Labanc took a pass from Erik Karlsson up near the blue line and took the shot from above the face-off circle. The puck went up over Bobrovsky’s shoulder as Timo Meier was blocking the goaltender’s view. Assists went to Karlsson and Evander Kane. The goal ended a scoreless streak 23 power plays long for San Jose.

The Panthers out-shot the Sharks 12-9 in the first period.

Florida scored again on the power play at 6:32 of the second period. With Brett Connolly in the goaltender’s eyes, Mike Matheson took a shot from the blue line that made its way all the way in. Assists went to Aaron Ekblad and Frank Vatrano.

Just 4:16 into the second period, Evander Kane was given multiple penalties for fighting, instigation and misconduct. That all resulted from his response to a hit from behind. The penalties put him out of play for the rest of the period and the start of the third. After the game, Kane was asked about the incident and said: “A guy hits me in the head and no call, you know, you gotta protect yourself. Nobody else is gonna protect you on the ice, not the refs, not the other team, so sometimes you gotta stick up for yourself.”

At the end of the second period, the Panthers took an interference penalty that put the Sharks on the power play for almost a minute of the third period. Seconds into the third, the Panthers took a delay of game penalty, giving the Sharks a brief two-man advantage. That was not enough and the Sharks finished those power plays still down 3-1.

Brenden Dillon went to the penalty box for four minutes, two for high-sticking and two for slashing. The penalties came shortly after a slash that Huberdeau delivered to Dillon earlier that was not called.

The score quickly became 4-1 on the next Panthers power play. Mike Hoffman’s shot from the blue line created a rebound that Connolly was able to put in the net despite losing his footing in front of Martin Jones. Assists went to Hoffman and Keith Yandle.

The Sharks pulled their goaltender with just over two minutes to go and Frank Vatrano put the puck in the net a little over 30 seconds later. Assists went to Mackenkie Weegar and Aaron Ekblad.

The Sharks continue their road trip with a game in Nashville on Tuesday against the Predators at 5:00 PM PT.

The Sharks will be without one of their regular defensemen, Radim Simek, for about two weeks as he is undergoing a surgical procedure.

Garoppolo Outduels Brees in Instant Classic 48-46

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Photo credit: cbssports.com

By: Joe Lami

The Niners walked off the field with the win and control of the number one seed as Robbie Gould’s 30-yard buzzer-beating field goal flew through the uprights with zeros on the clock in the Superdome on Sunday. The 48-46 shootout was an instant classic and the game of the year that included seven different lead changes.

“That’s as cool of a game as I’ve ever been part of,” said Kyle Shanahan.

Jimmy Garoppolo was elite in his best game as an NFL quarterback. Throwing for 349 yards, four touchdowns, for a 131.7 passer rating, Garoppolo led the Niners past the Saints in the Superdome despite his defense giving up 46 points. His day was nearly perfect minus a third-quarter interception that bounced in the air off of Emmanuel Sanders’ hands.

“You gotta give Jimmy Garoppolo credit. That was a shootout, and he got the last shot, said Richard Sherman.”

In the last month, Garoppolo’s averaged a 125.8 passer rating with three of those contests coming against division leaders Green Bay, Baltimore, and New Orleans. He also now sits with 25 touchdowns on the season, three shy of Lamar Jackson for the league lead.

Garoppolo’s final shot came after the Saints scored a go-ahead touchdown to go up by one. Due to a missed two-point conversion for the Saints earlier in the first quarter, New Orleans was forced to go for two again and were stuffed. Jimmy was given 53 seconds and three timeouts to march into field goal range for the win.

After a short pass and two incompletions, the Niners faced fourth and two when Garoppolo found Kittle, who made what’s become a typical “George Kittle type” play. Carrying two defenders and getting faced masked along the way, Kittle picked up 39 yards and an extra 14 for the penalty setting up the game-winning kick.

The 49ers’ defense is lucky for how well Garoppolo and the offense played. They were gashed all day by the Saints’ offense. Drew Brees had Garoppolo-type stats, throwing for 349, five touchdowns, and one rushing. He had one more passing TD than Jimmy, but Emmanuel Sanders stole that one when he threw to Raheem Mostert on a trick play in the second quarter.

Receivers on both sides of the ball were benefactors to the quarterback play. Michael Thomas led New Orleans, catching 11 balls for 134 yards and a touchdown. Jarred Cook was Brees’ early option, catching the first two New Orleans’ touchdowns before leaving the game with a concussion. Tre’Quan Smith and Josh Hill caught the other touchdowns.

Emmanuel Sanders led the Niners with seven catches for 157 yards and a touchdown. He also threw the 35-yard dart to Mostert in his best game as a Niner. Kittle finished with 76 yards, after man-handling the Saints for 39 on the last drive. Kendrick Bourne caught two touchdowns on three receptions for 18 yards.

Deebo Samuel continues to break out and appear like a future pro-bowler for the red and gold. The second-round rookie caught five balls for 76 yards. He also rushed for 33 yards on two carries.

The Niners also rushed the ball exceptional again. Mostert rushed for 69 yards on ten carries and scored on the ground as well. Matt Brieda, coming off his ankle injury, was limited but looked good in spurts, rushing for 54 yards on six carries.

There were plenty of holes and things of concern for San Francisco, but it was all over-shadowed by Garoppolo’s play. The special teams allowed 192 yards to Denote Harris on kick and punt returns. The undrafted rookie had 14 go for touchdowns while at Assumption College.

Most concerning, center, Weston Richburg went down with what appeared to be a serious knee and ankle injury in the third quarter. After being carted off the field, Ben Garland filled-in his shoes and was decent. But losing Richburg for the remainder of the season could be critical for the playoff-stretch.

The Niners finished their toughest stretch of the season, going 2-1 against the divisional leaders and now control their destiny for home-field advantage. They’ll wrap up a playoff position tonight if the Rams lose to the Seahawks.

SDSU remains undefeated with 59-57 win over SJSU

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Photo credit: @SanJoseStateMBB

By Ana Kieu

The San Jose State men’s basketball team had hoped to snap a 4-game losing skid at Viejas Arena against San Diego State on Sunday afternoon, but the Spartans’ hopes weren’t granted in the Mountain West contest.

SJSU’s starting five featured Brae Ivey, Omari Moore, Christian Anigwe, Seneca Knight and Sam Japhet-Mathias.

SDSU jumped out to a 7-2 lead at the first media timeout at the 15:18 mark of the first half. Though, neither team was off to the best of starts as the Spartans and Aztecs combined for just 7-of-24 from the floor at the 12-minute mark of the first.

Ralph Agee scored 5 points off the bench to provide a beautiful yet fiery spark for the Spartans with 9:52 left in the first. Then, Christian Anigwe hit a 3-pointer and Zach Chappell scored off the high glass with 6:08 left in the first.

Omari Moore made a move and delivered a 3 to cut the deficit to 10, Ralph Agee knocked down a triple to cut the deficit to 8 and SJSU scored 6 unanswered points to cut the deficit to 5 late in the first. But, despite the Spartans’ efforts, SJSU trailed 30-25 at the halftime break.

SJSU was off to a great start to open the second half. The Spartans scored back-to-back buckets and Ralph Agee had one of his best outings in a Spartan uniform with a season-high 12 points at the 15:46 mark of the second. Yet, SDSU led 39-31 at the first media timeout of the second.

Brae Ivey made a 3 from downtown to cut the deficit to 5 once again. SJSU trailed 41-36 at the 12:34 mark of the second. Ivey later buried a triple to keep the Spartans in the game with 8:55 left in the second.

Two perfect 3-point buckets from Seneca Knight and Christian Anigwe cut the deficit to 3 to trail 52-49 with 4:18 left in the second. SDSU led 54-49 at the final media timeout with 4 minutes left in the second. Knight hit a 3 to cut the deficit to 2 and Brae Ivey buried a triple to lift the Spartans to a 55-54 lead — their first lead of the game — with 1:29 left in the second. Knight scored a layup to extend the lead 57-54 with 1:03 left in the second.

But the Spartans’ contentedness was short-lived as the Aztecs took the lead 59-57 with 0:9 left on the clock. Malachi Flynn hit the game-winning 3 over three Spartan defenders. The Aztecs won 59-57.

With the win, SDSU remains undefeated with a 10-0, 2-0 MW record. With the loss, SJSU fell to 3-7, 0-2 MW.

The Spartans return home to host the Stanford Cardinal on Saturday, Dec. 14 at 4 pm PST.

NHL podcast with Daniel Dullum: Flames get new downtown arena in Calgary; Sharks’ Kane fined for hit on Gudas; plus more

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sportsnet.com photo: The San Jose Sharks Evander Kane (9) just before he puts a hit check on the Washington Capitals’ Radko Gudas (33). The hit cost Kane a fine from the NHL from last Tuesday’s game at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif.

On the NHL podcast with Daniel:

1 Flames get green light for new downtown arena in Calgary

2 NHL gives Sharks’ Evander Kane maximum $5,000 fine for hit on Capitals’ Radko Gudas

3 Lightning bombard Sharks in Tampa 7-1

4 Agent for Senators’ Nikita Zaitsev refutes story about client allegedly taking his kids from his ex-wife

5 A special anniversary for Gordie Howe

Daniel Dullum does the NHL podcasts Sundays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Lightning Strike Sharks 7-1

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photo from sfgate.com: Lightning center Brayden Point gets around a stick check by Sharks defenseman Brent Burns during the second period of the Tampa Bay victory.

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 7-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning Saturday at Amalie Arena in Tampa. Despite two first period power plays, including a double minor, the Sharks lost by their largest margin this season. Goals came from Tyler Johnson (2), Alex Killorn, Steven Stamkos (2), Victor Hedman and Carter Verhaeghe. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 37 saves in the win. The Sharks’ lone goal came from Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Martin Jones made 17 saves on 21 shots before being replaced by Aaron Dell, who made 14 saves on 18 shots.

After the game, Sharks captain Logan Couture said:

I thought we played pretty well through two, I thought we had some good five-on-five looks, they scored a power play one at the end there. But I didn’t like our third period. Kinda gave them some freebies and let our goalies down out there, but for the first forty I thought we played hard and could have been one, two goal game. But, yeah, I just didn’t like our third period.

Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer had the same view of the third period: “You know, the third period was just unacceptable, it was just a poor effort. I think instead of sticking with it, I think we felt sorry for ourselves after that fourth goal and, you know, maybe started thinking about tomorrow but you can’t do that in this league.”

Tyler Johnson’s first goal of the game came at 3:10 when he caught Carter Verhaeghe’s pass from the half boards. Steven Stamkos was skating across in Jones’ line of sight as the puck sailed by him.

The Sharks out-shot the Lightning 15-10 in the first period and had two power plays, one four-minutes long after Mathieu Joseph caught Marcus Sorensen with his stick and drew blood. They held the Lightning to just the one goal until 12:29 of the second period.

Alex Killorn scored his eighth goal of the season when Martin Jones got turned around making a save and lost track of the puck. Killorn found the puck just outside the blue paint and lifted it over the prone goaltender.

Steven Stamkos scored his eighth at the very end of the second period, during a four minute power play caused by a a high stick from Kevin Labanc. Stamkos spent a long time hovering around the face-off dot while his team moved the puck around and finally passed to him. He used a neat wrist shot to beat Jones on the short side. Assists went to Victor Hedman and Alex Killorn.

The Sharks out-shot the Lightning 15-9 in the second period.

Victor Hedman scored 52 seconds into
the third. Anthony Cirelli carried the puck right up to the doorstep and then made a pass through the blue paint to Hedman. Hedman was at the goal line and his shot was from an impossible angle, except that it went off of Jones and in. Assists went to Cirelli and Killorn.

Aaron Dell came in to replace Jones in net after that.

Tyler Johnson scored his second of the game at 3:51 of the third. Aaron Dell had come out to play the puck but Carter Verhaege was there to take it away from him and send it back up ice to Stamkos in the face-off circle. Johnson was on his way to the net and arrived just in time for the pass from Stamkos.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored for the Sharks at 14:44. Vlasic caught a rebound from an Erik Karlsson shot and carried it down below the face-off dot to shoot it into the top corner on the short side. Assists went to Karlsson and Timo Meier.

Stamkos scored his second of the game on a power play at 15:36. Timo Meier was in the box for slashing Brayden Point. Just seven seconds into the penalty, Victor Hedman took a shot from the blue line. Killorn and Stamkos were both set up to tip the shot but Killorn got it. Dell stopped that one but Stamkos was ready to tap the rebound in. Assists went to Killorn and Hedman.

Carter Verhaege scored his first NHL goal at 19:35 on a breakaway. He shot it into the far side from a sharp angle without ever slowing down. Assists went to Pat Maroon and Yanni Gourde.

The Sharks will next play Sunday at 2:00 PM PT against the Florida Panthers in Sunrise.

Bears’ offense absent for long stretches in 71-52 loss at Santa Clara

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By Morris Phillips

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Cal coach Mark Fox shook up his lineup on Saturday at Santa Clara in response to his team’s sluggish defensive effort at USF where they fell 76-64.

Then Fox watched his team’s offense wander off in a 71-52 loss to the Broncos at the Leavey Center.

Defensively, the only discernible difference was its credibility for the first 10 minutes with Paris Austin and Andre Kelly starting in place of Joel Brown and Lars Thiemann.

In the final 30 minutes, with their shots not falling, the defense waned. Leading scorer Matt Bradley lost his cool and drew a technical in the second half, and the Bears fell for a fourth time in five games, with all the losses away from Berkeley, and by double-digits.

“I felt like the frustration of the ball not going in the basket contributed maybe to our play on the other end,” Fox said. “I don’t think our defense was anywhere good enough the entire night.”

Guglielmo Caruso paced Santa Clara with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Three other Broncos scored in double figures including DJ Mitchell, the transfer from Wake Forest, who put up 13 off the bench.

The Broncos rode two, motivational factors for the win: they were embarrassed last year in a 78-66 loss to Cal at Haas Pavilion. And they saw their 9-1 record blemished on Wednesday in a 31-point loss to Nevada in Reno.

“We were really young,” Caruso said of the loss to Cal. “That experience from last year translated into this year and helped us to get this W.”

Playing in their backyard at the facilities of their mid-major neighbors gives Cal a badge of good will, but they know they have to be ready to play. Only their accurate free throw shooting (21 of 26) carried them on Saturday. Missing 35 of their 49 shots from the field did not. That poor marksmanship included only five made baskets in the first half.

Bradley led Cal with 14 points, Kareem South and Grant Anticevich added nine each. The Bears managed 10 steals, contributing to 20 SCU turnovers, but creating havoc didn’t morph into creating baskets.

The Bears now turn their attention to a date with Fresno State in Berkeley on Wednesday. The Bulldogs from the Mountain West acquitted themselves nicely Saturday by leading for long stretches at No. 25 Utah State before succumbing 77-70 in overtime.

Boise State dominates against Hawaii 31-10 in Mountain West Championship

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Photo credit: @BroncoSportsFB

By Ana Kieu

This year’s Mountain West Football Championship Game was a battle between the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and the Boise State Broncos at Albertsons Stadium on Saturday. For Hawaii, this was their first appearance in the title game, and for Boise State, this was their third consecutive and fourth overall appearance in the title game.

BSU won the toss and elected to receive. The UH defense had a strong start forcing a 3 and out, while its offense took the field with the Rainbow Warriors junior quarterback Cole McDonald behind center.

UH got on the board first, thanks to a 47-yard field goal from Ryan Meskell. The score was 3-0 Rainbow Warriors with 6:44 left in the first quarter.

BSU responded with a 34-yard field goal from Eric Sachse. The Broncos evened the score 3-3 with 30 seconds left in the first. The game was tied 3-3 at the end of the first.

Broncos redshirt senior quarterback Jaylon Henderson threw a 36-yard pass to Khalil Shakir, who ran for the go-ahead touchdown. Eric Sachse kicked the extra point. The Broncos took a 10-3 lead with 1:07 left in the second quarter.

Jaylon Henderson then threw a 36-yard pass to John Hightower, who ran for the touchdown. Eric Sachse kicked the extra point. The Broncos made it a 17-3 game with 14 seconds left in the second. The Broncos carried a 17-3 lead to the locker room at halftime.

BSU put the game out of reach. Khalil Shakir ran for a 4-yard touchdown and Eric Sachse kicked the extra point for a commanding 24-3 lead with 1:09 left in the third quarter.

BSU added to its lead. Jaylon Henderson ran for a 5-yard touchdown and Eric Sachse kicked the extra point to make it 31-3 with just 18 seconds left in the third. The Broncos led 31-3 after three.

UH refused to let the game slip away, but it was too little, too late. Just moments after the rain started pouring in Boise, Idaho, Miles Reed ran for a 21-yard touchdown and Ryan Meskell kicked in the extra point to cut the deficit 31-10 at the 12-minute mark of the fourth quarter.

Ryan Meskell attempted a 21-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter, but it was no good. The score stood at 31-10 in favor of the Broncos. The final play of the game was declared a false start, but it didn’t matter to the Broncos, who became conference championships with a 31-10 win over the Rainbow Warriors.

With the win, BSU improved to 12-1, 9-0 MW. The Broncos are still in the running for a New Years 6 Bowl bid.

With the loss, UH fell to 9-5, 5-4 MW. The Rainbow Warriors are awaiting their bowl game destination.

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: Oilers get two key goals in win over LA; Pens’ Jarry turns aside 33 Yotes shots in shutout; plus more

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photo from edmontonjournal.com: Kings defensemen Drew Doughty clears the puck in front of Edmonton Oilers defensemen Kris Russell during the second period at Rogers Place Friday, Dec. 6, 2019.

On the NHL podcast with Matt:

#1 Leon Draisaitl and Alex Chiasson both had a goal each and an assist as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Los Angeles Kings on Friday night 2-1. The win for the Oilers put them in first place in the Pacific Division.

#2 Tristan Jarry stopped 33 shots in the Pittsburgh Penguins victory over the Arizona Coyotes 2-0. Phil Kessel, a former Penguin, couldn’t score off his former teammate in the loss.

#3 The Montreal Canadiens edged the New York Rangers 2-1 on Friday night. The Habs’ Nate Thompson got a goal with less than two minutes left for the eventual game-winner.

#4 Kirby Dach, in a shootout, got the gamer with a fifth round goal and got the Chicago Blackhawks a win 2-1 over New Jersey. Hawks goaltender Corey Crawford prevented the Devils’ Jack Hughes from scoring for the final attempt in the shootout.

#5 Sportsnet was commenting on Brian Burke, who was a general manager for Vancouver, Anaheim, Toronto and now is team president in Calgary. Said that the league’s salary cap has been great for the sport, but it’s killed trade talk.

Matt Harrington does the NHL podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com