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ByChipThompson editor@redbluffdailynews.com @editorchip on Twitter RED BLUFF For the first time since 2012 the Red Bluff Spartans football team has a shot at mak- ing the playoffs when they take the field Friday night to host the Anderson Cubs. At 2-3 in league play, the Spar- tans would leapfrog the 2-3 Cubs with a win and finish tied with the Yreka Miners with a Miners' win. The Spartans beat the Min- ers 36-14 on Sept. 30. Yreka hosts the second-place Corning Cardinals, who are 4-1 in league play and looking for a strong finish after falling to the league-leading Lassen Grizzlies last week. The Cubs are smarting af- ter being shut out at home 30-0 last week by the West Valley Ea- gles, who sit in third place in the league standings. The Spartans' offense is fir- ing on all cylinders with quarter- back Marshal Brose completing 10 passes for 176 yards and three touchdowns last week in a win over the Central Valley Falcons. He also led the ground game with 187 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries. Tanner Tweedt put up 71 yards rushing and a touchdown and Cameron Ortega had 133 yards receiving and two interceptions. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at Spartans Stadium. CardinalsatYreka YREKA The Corning Cardinals took just their second loss of the season last week in a game dubbed the Mud Bowl, when field conditions played into the hands of the Lassen Grizzlies' size and power running game. This week the Cardinals will look to finish the season on a high note when they visit the 4-5 Yreka Miners on Friday. The Cardinals have outscored the Miners with an average of 36 points per game compared to Yre- ka's 18. Corning has given up an average of 22 points per game and the Miners 23. The Miners' biggest offensive threat is David Ruiz, who is av- eraging 133 yards per game and has seven rushing touchdowns on the season. The Cardinals will lean on quarterback Devin Wunsch, who has 719 yards and five touch- downs through the air and 308 yards on three touchdowns rush- ing. Oscar Garcia leads the team's balanced rushing attack with 583 yards and 12 touchdowns and No- lan Peterson is right on his heels with 560 yards and seven touch- downs. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Yreka High School, 431 Knapp St. in Yreka. Warriors at Butte Valley DORRIS When the season opened, Mercy coach Brian Me- deiros didn't have enough players to make the trip to Dorris to face the Butte Valley Bulldogs and had to cancel the game. Friday night the Warriors will open the playoffs in Dorris as the South No. 3 seed against the North No. 1 seed Bulldogs. The Warriors finished at 3-2 in league play and have been improving as the season pro- gressed. They'll face a 6-1 Butte Valley team that hasn't lost since FOOTBALL Spartansvieforplayoffspot RB hosts Anderson; Cardinals, Warriors, Bulldogs hit the road By Andrew Seligman The Associated Press CHICAGO No more Lovable Los- ers. Forget those curses, too. The Chicago Cubs ended de- cades of heartache and futility by beating the Cleveland Indi- ans for their first championship since 1908 . And that means for the first time in 108 years, the Cubs can — get this — turn their attention toward a champion- ship repeat. They finally wiped out base- ball's longest title drought early Thursday in Cleveland when third baseman Kris Bry- ant fielded Michael Martinez's grounder off Mike Montgomery and threw to Anthony Rizzo at first, closing out an epic Game 7 of the World Series against the Indians. That set off a celebration more than a century in the mak- ing in Chicago. It was still go- ing on Thursday afternoon. Fans jammed the sidewalks outside the Wrigley Field talking un- der the famed marquee, which read "WORLD SERIES CHAM- PIONS." Across the street at the corner of Clark and Addison, the line to get into a sportswear store sell- ing Cubs merchandise stretched around the corner. There will be a championship parade starting at Wrigley Field followed by a rally at Grant Park on Friday. "We're in the books," Rizzo said. "We're in history forever. This team is brothers forever no matter what." World Series favorites from the start, the Cubs spent almost the entire season in first place on the way to a 103-58 record — their highest win total since the 1910 team with 104. They beat the playoff-tested San Francisco Giants in the NLDS. They shook off back-to- back shutout losses and a 2-1 deficit against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS to capture their first pennant in 71 years. They topped it all off when they became the first team since the 1985 Kansas City Royals to overcome a 3-1 deficit to win the title. And now, that World Series W flies. As the Cubs — the Cubs, of all teams — turn their attention toward a championship repeat, here are some things to know. ON THE MARKET The Cubs will have to pay up if they want to keep their closer. That's because Chapman has an expiring con- tract and figures to become baseball's richest reliever. The flame-throwing closer converted 16 of 18 save oppor- tunities for Chicago during the regular season after being ac- quired from the New York Yan- kees and was a huge reason why they won the World Series. If Chapman signs with an- other team, the Cubs could go back to Hector Rondon as their closer. MORE DECISIONS The Cubs pulled off a surprise by re-sign- ing Dexter Fowler to a $33 mil- lion, three-year deal during spring training when he ap- WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS CUBS NOW LOOK TO GET REPEAT TITLE Chicago's 108-year championship drought over, club will try to add success in future MATTMARTON—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo displays the Commissioner's Trophy as the team arrives at Wrigley Field in Chicago early Thursday a er winning the World Series. By Fred Goodall The Associated Press TAMPA, FLA. Matt Ryan threw for 344 yards and four touch- downs, helping the Atlanta Fal- cons tighten their grip on first place in the NFC South with a 43-28 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night. Julio Jones had eight recep- tions for 111 yards and a TD as the Falcons (6-3) avenged a sea- son-opening loss to the Bucs (3- 5). Tampa Bay has dropped two straight on the heels of a three- game winning streak that got them back to .500. Jones, who's closing in on another 1,000-yard receiving season with 970 through nine games, caught a 3-yard scoring pass in the third quarter, when Ryan led TD drives of 86 and 82 yards to break it open. Levine Toilolo, Patrick Di- Marco and Austin Hooper also caught TD pass from Ryan, who leads the NFL with 2,980 yards and 23 touchdowns vs. four in- terceptions. Jameis Winston threw for 261 yards and three touchdowns for Tampa Bay, including scoring passes of 3 and 24 yards to Ev- ans, who had 11 receptions. Both of Tampa Bay's young stars finished the game on the sideline, with Evans being eval- uated for a possible concussion and Winston limping off after being shaken up when he was tackled trying to score on a two- point conversion play with just under seven minutes remaining. Winston was tackled around the ankle by Atlanta's Brooks Reed and also hit by cornerback Jalen Collins. Mike Glennon finished up for the Bucs. NFL Ryan throws 4 TDs to lead Falcons over Bucs MAGIC102,KINGS94 Up next: Sacramento Kings at Milwaukee Bucks, 5p.m. Saturday, TV on CSN-CA. THESCORE By Terrance Harris The Associated Press ORLANDO, FLA. So much has been made about the process in this first season of the Orlando Magic under Frank Vogel. There are just no shortcuts in the climb toward respectabil- ity for the Magic. And after slow starts in their first four games, Or- lando put together its most com- plete game this season in a 102- 94 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Thursday night. Led by Evan Fournier's 29 points on 10-of-15 shooting, the Magic were effective on offense and held DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay in check during the sec- ond half to come up with their second straight win. "It was better tonight obvi- ously," Fournier said. "We were pretty good defensively. The last four games we started the game super flat and had a 10-point def- icit by the first quarter." The Magic never trailed Sac- ramento by more than eight points. Orlando brought the of- fensive pressure for a change by building its lead to 13 points with Aaron Gordon, Serge Ibaka and Jeff Green all hitting timely shots. "There are no guarantees early in the season but these guys are working to gel to come together as a group on the court and to try to do what I am asking them to do," said Vogel, whose team im- proved to 2-3. "That takes a little time, it's a process." Late in the second quarter, Vo- gel turned to his bench of veter- ans that includes Green, D.J. Au- gustin, C.J. Watson and Bismack Biyombo to reclaim the lead for good. Bismack was a force with his interior defense, blocking two shots and changing several oth- ers, while Augustin and Green both came up with big baskets to give the team a spark. But as big as the baskets were, the Magic's defense was even big- ger in the second half. Cousins seemed unstoppable in the first half with Ibaka guarding him, but in the fourth quarter Vogel put Nikola Vucevic on Cousins to limit his effectiveness in the paint. Cousins finished with 33 points but only managed eight in the critical fourth quarter once Vucevic was switched on him. Gordon was also huge against the more physical Gay in the sec- ond half. Gay only had four points in the second half. "This is one of the few complete performances that I've seen being with the Orlando Magic so that is very inspiring and reassuring that this team can be great," said Gordon, who had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Sacramento coach Dave Jo- erger liked the fight in his team, but felt the continued issues with turnovers was the determin- NBA Magic get by Kings in return to home FOOTBALL PAGE 2 CUBS PAGE 2 KINGS PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, November 4, 2016 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1