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CHIPTHOMPSON—DAILYNEWS Corning's Noah Zoppi puts up a shot Thursday night against Yreka at the Shootout Tournament. ByChipThompson editor@redbluffdailynews.com @editorchip on Twitter CORNING The Corning Cardinals boys basketball team kept their re- cord spotless Thursday night with a convincing win over the Yreka Min- ers 64-47 to open the 16th annual Shootout Tournament. Yreka came out strong in the first quarter and took a 12-11 lead into the second period, bat that's when the Cardinals picked up the pace on both sides of the court, outscoring the Miners 18-5 and taking a 29-17 lead into the half. In the third period the Cardinals turned up the pressure on defense and it seemed like Noah Zoppi and Brendan Hoag couldn't miss. The Cards scored 28 while holding the Miners to eight. The final period was lopsided to- ward Yreka, which made up some of the 57-25 deficit they started the pe- riod with, but the gap was too much to overcome. Zoppi led the Cardinals with 23 points, Hoag had 11, Austin Mishoe had eight and Corey Busta and Marco Tapia each had seven. With the win, the Cardinals ad- vance to the semifinal at 7:30 p.m. Friday against the winner of the late game between the Sutter Huskies (7- 4) and the Willows Honkers (2-10). In the earlier games Thursday, the Orland Trojans beat the Central Val- ley Falcons 53-44 and the Anderson Cubs beat the Durham Trojans 61-37. The Cubs (5-5) will take on the Or- land Trojans (5-7) at 6 p.m. Friday in the other semifinal. The Falcons (2-8) will play the Durham Trojans (5-6) at 3 p.m. Fri- day and the Miners (4-8) will play the Huskies or Honkers at 4:30 p.m. Spartans38,LasPlumas32 OROVILLE The Red Bluff Spartans started off the Dennis Burnum Tour- nament with a win Thursday over the Las Plumas Thunderbirds 38-32. The Spartans got out to an early lead, 10-4 in the opening period but BASKETBALL CardinalsbeatYrekaintourney Spartans triumph over Las Plumas in Oroville's Burnum tournament Staff Report RED BLUFF The Red Bluff Spar- tans boys soccer team played to a tie Wednesday and the girls team to a 1-0 loss against the West Valley Eagles. The boys were on the road at Redding Soccer Park and got out to a 2-1 lead in the first half of play, but gave up the same margin in the second half to tie 3-3. The girls hosted the Eagles and gave up a goal in the sec- ond half after a scoreless first half to take the loss. The boys team (7-2-1) is scheduled to take on the Shasta Wolves (6-3) in Redding at 6 p.m. Jan. 11 to kick off league play. The girls (6-4-1) will host the Wolves (9-0) at 6 p.m. Jan. 11 to start league play. The Corning Cardinals boys team (5-2) is scheduled to host the Las Plumas Thunderbirds (1-0-3) at 3:15 p.m. Tuesday in a nonleague game. League play will kick off Jan. 12 when they host the Oroville Tigers (0-8). The Lady Cardinals (2-4) will host the Thunderbirds (2-5) at 3:15 p.m. Tuesday. League play will start Jan. 12 when they host the Oroville Tigers (4-5-1). SOCCER RED BLUFF BOYS TIE AS GIRLS LOSE Spartan boys jump out to 2-1 lead in 1st half, finish in 3-3 draw; girls get shut out at home CHIP THOMPSON — DAILY NEWS Red Bluff's Claire Miller, on the right, in white, jockeys for possession with West Valley's Kailyn Carroll (7) on Wednesday night. By Arnie Stapleton The Associated Press The AFC playoff field features a mix of familiar faces and fresh blood at quarterback, and this time none of them will have to fret over seeing Von Miller ready to wreck game plans and Super Bowl dreams. While the defending cham- pion Denver Broncos sit this one out and search for a new coach, Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger and Alex Smith return to the playoffs this month. The other half of the teams will turn to QBs who have never taken a single snap in the post- season: longtime backup Matt Moore in Miami, backup-to-the- backup Connor Cook in Oakland and Brock Osweiler , who was benched but is back up in Hous- ton. The AFC gets wild-card week- end started Saturday when the Raiders visit Houston. On Sun- day, the Dolphins visit Pitts- burgh. New England has its customary bye week — its sixth straight — and Kansas City earned its first bye since 2003. The strengths and weak- nesses of each of the six AFC playoff teams: 1. NEW ENGLAND (14-2), last Lombardi: Super Bowl 49, 28-24 over Seattle on Feb. 1, 2015. Hope: Tom Brady isn't act- ing his age. At 39, when most QBs have either hit the wall or are hitting the links, Brady has shown the best command of his career. Since returning from his September suspension, Brady has been picked off just twice to go with 28 touchdown throws and 3,554 yards passing. Nope: Brady lost his favorite target Rob Gronkowski to sea- son-ending back surgery in De- cember. Gronk's only injury-free season in the last six years was 2014 — the only time the Patri- ots won the Super Bowl in his career. Brady still has Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola, but among newcomers Martel- lus Bennett, Chris Hogan and Malcolm Mitchell, only Bennett has playoff chops (way back in '09 with Dallas). The Dope: "This team showed a lot of mental toughness that they can do it week in and week out at a consistent level. Any team can go 8-8. ... But 14-2 is a tough thing to do. It's very cool for this team to accomplish that." — Brady. 2. KANSAS CITY (12-4), last Lombardi: Super Bowl 4, 23-7 over Minnesota on Jan. 11, 1970. Hope: Special teams. The Chiefs have one of the league's best punters in Dustin Colquitt, one of the top kickers in Cairo Santos, one of the best coordi- nators in Dave Toub — who's on the Broncos' and Chargers' head coaching radar — and then there's rookie blur Tyreek Hill , who returned two punts and a kickoff for scores. Nope: Too often, Kansas City has to rely on Eric Berry and an opportunistic defense or Hill and the spectacular special teams to do what the offense can't: get into the end zone. Teams don't generally win in the playoffs that way. The anti- dote could be Hill, who also has six TD receptions and three TD runs. The Dope: "Right now it's awesome that we won (the AFC West) ... but everything is kind AFC PLAYOFF PICTURE It 's a m ix o f fa mi li ar , fr es h fa ce s am on g QB s By Arnie Stapleton The Associated Press Dak Prescott was quite the rev- elation and consolation for Dal- las Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who was outmaneuvered for first- rounder Paxton Lynch and third- rounder Connor Cook in the NFL draft last April. Jones chose Prescott with the 135th pick of the fourth round, and Tony Romo's training camp injury microwaved plans to ease the rookie from Mississippi State into the rotation. Now Prescott is aiming to be- come the first starting QB to win a Super Bowl as a rookie, and he has the supporting cast to make it happen, including fellow rookie Zeke Elliott and perhaps the best offensive line in the league. The rest of the NFC field fea- tures teams with experienced quarterbacks who could squelch those plans, however, including Matt Ryan of the high-flying Fal- cons , who also earned a first- round bye. The showcase of wild-card weekend comes Sunday when Aaron Rodgers and the Packers host Eli Manning and the Giants. On Saturday, Matthew Stafford and the Lions visit Russell Wil- son and the Seahawks. The biggest strength and weak- ness of each of the six NFC play- off teams: 1. DALLAS (13-3), last Lom- bardi: Super Bowl 30, 27-17 over Pittsburgh on Jan. 28, 1996. Hope: Prescott and Elliott keep rolling right along and don't al- low the pressure of the playoffs to get to them. Coach Jason Gar- rett used the season finale against Philadelphia to allow Romo to shake off the rust , just in case. While many playoff teams have QB issues, Dallas has depth at the position. Nope: The rookies could run out of magic in the playoffs, es- pecially if a defense short on headlining playmakers gives one of the NFC's elite passers plenty of time to work over a secondary that hasn't produced many inter- ceptions over the last two seasons. The Dope: "We're as healthy as we've been all year. We've got players we didn't dream we would have when we started training camp. Let's let it all empty the bucket in our three games. What- ever we can do, think of, let's do it over those three games." — Jones, seeking his fourth ring but first 21 years. 2. ATLANTA (11-5), no Lom- bardi Trophies: lost Super Bowl 33 to Denver 33-19 on Jan. 31, 1999. Hope: Exceptionally deep and balanced offense. Ryan threw a team record 38 TD passes and to an NFL record 13 targets. Taylor Gabriel, Justin Hardy and Aldrick Robinson provide big-play poten- tial behind top WRs Julio Jones and Mohamed Sanu. OC Kyle Sha- nahan is THE hot head-coaching candidate. Nope: Despite a league-high 540 points, the defense isn't all that. Even though youngsters NFC PLAYOFF PICTURE Cowboys looking to rookies as leaders BASKETBALL PAGE 5 AFC PAGE 5 NFC PAGE 5 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, January 6, 2017 MORE ATFACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1