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Sports PREP FOOTBALL | MERCY PREVIEW Daily News photos by Andre Byik The Mercy Warriors opened camp this week under the guidance of first-year head coach Charlie Ford, right. Conditions for a win its first capital 'W' in a year. By ANDRE BYIK DN Sports Editor The Mercy Warriors varsity football team is searching for This is only partially misleading, as the eight-man Divi- sion VI football squad had one win last year through a for- feit. ly count. wanted to coach since 2004, his last year playing Warriors football as offensive tackle and defensive end. And he's taking cues from his coach that year, Mike McDonald, who coached the Orland Trojans to a Division II championship last season. There's no wasted time on the field, he said, and practices The 27-year-old Mercy High School graduate said he's First-year head coach Charlie Ford said that doesn't real- "So looking at that, the changes that I saw needed to be made from last year to this year was the conditioning level just wasn't high enough last year," said Ford, who was an assistant coach last season and is succeeding former head coach Paul Vietti. He added: "It's more of a mental thing than it is a physi- cal thing. Conditioning affects both your mentality and your physicality." Tehama MLB Giants St. Louis SF — Scutaro 1-3, 1 RBI STL — Beltran 1-3, 2 RBI Today's games MLB Athletics Chicago OAK — McCarthy, 6-3 CHI — Floyd, 8-9 Colorado Atlanta COL — Chatwood, 1-2 SF — Lincecum, 6-11 On the tube OLYMPICS • 8 p.m. NBC — Track and field, Gold Medal finals: men's 4 x 400m relay, men's pole vault, women's 4 x 100m relay, women's 1500m; men's diving, platform; cycling, BMX Gold Medal finals, at London (same-day tape) • 9 p.m. TELEMUNDO — Track and field, Gold Medal finals; men's div- ing, platform, at London (same-day tape) GOLF • 10 a.m. TNT — PGA of America, PGA Championship, second round, at Kiawah Island, S.C. • Noon TGC — USGA, U.S. Women's Amateur Championship, quarterfinal matches, at Cleveland LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL • 8 a.m. ESPN — Playoffs, Mid- Atlantic Regional semifinal, teams TBD, at Bristol, Conn. • 10 a.m. ESPN — Playoffs, Great Lakes Regional final, teams TBD, at Indianapolis • Noon ESPN — Playoffs, Mid- Atlantic Regional semifinal, teams TBD, at Bristol, Conn. • 2 p.m. ESPN2 — Playoffs, West Regional semifinal, teams TBD, at San Bernardino, Calif. • 4 p.m ESPN — Playoffs, South- east Regional final, teams TBD, at Warner Robins, Ga. • 6 p.m. ESPN — Playoffs, West Regional semifinal, teams TBD, at San Bernardino, Calif. MLB • 11:20 a.m. WGN — Cincinnati at Chicago Cubs • 4 p.m. MLB — Regional coverage, Atlanta at N.Y. Mets or L.A. Dodgers at Miami MCT photo Marco Scutaro, left, forces out the Cardinals' Jon Jay. 7:35 p.m. CSNB 5:10 p.m. CSNC 3 1 early have focused on training for the speed of a regulation game. And in eight-man, games are fast. "Eight-man football is 95 percent running," Ford said. "So if you're not in shape you just can't hang with anybody." The Warriors finished 1-8 last season and they've lost their top scorers to graduation. But the squad this year says it's been working harder in the offseason and conditioning for its first scrimmage, which is scheduled for the week See MERCY, page 2B OLYMPICS | WOMEN'S SOCCER FINAL Tracker Thursday's result U.S. avenges World Cup loss, beats Japan 2-1 WEMBLEY, England (AP) — Abby Wambach didn't put on her ''Greatness Has Been Found'' T-shirt right away. She instead strayed from her teammates and knelt alone at midfield — and cried into a U.S. flag. Yes, greatness has been found. And payback has been achieved. The Americans are again on top of the women's soc- cer world. They won their third straight Olympic gold medal Thursday, beating Japan 2-1 in a rematch of last year's World Cup final and aveng- ing the most painful loss in their history. Carli Lloyd scored early in both halves, Hope Solo leaped and dived to make saves, and the entire roster found the redemption it had been seeking since that penalty kick shootout loss in Germany last summer. Before 80,203 fans at MCT photo The USA's Abby Wambach (14) celebrates with Shannon Boxx on Thursday. Wembley Stadium, a record for a women's soccer game at the Olympics, the teams put on a back-and-forth, don't-turn-your-head soccer showcase, proving again that these are the two pre- mier teams in the world. Women's soccer is still in its formative stages in Britain, but the match proved more than worthy for the hal- lowed grounds of the beauti- ful game. was paying attention — just as it was last year and CARDINALS 3, GIANTS 1 Beltran tags Bumgarner for 2, downs Giants ST. LOUIS (AP) — Madison Bum- garner liked the pitch he threw to Carlos Beltran. So did Beltran. Beltran hit a two-run homer off Bum- garner in the first inning and that was enough for Adam Wainwright and the St. Louis Cardinals in a 3-1 win Thurs- day over the San Francisco Giants. Bumgarner (12-7) gave up just three hits in six innings. He struck out seven and walked one in posting his sixth suc- cessive quality start. Bumgarner has given up 18 homers this season, 15 on the road. Yet he says the pitch that Beltran hit for his 27th homer of the season was not a bad offering. ''It was pretty much right where I wanted to throw it,'' Bumgarner said. ''I got it in there. I didn't think he'd be able to keep it fair but he did. That's what ultimately what cost us the game. Overall, Bumgarner was pleased with his performance, just not the final result. ''I feel good about today, with the exception of that one pitch that really hurt me,'' he said. Beltran has three homers in his last seven games. ''It was just a good hitter looking for a pitch and he got it,'' Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. Wainwright and Beltran helped St. Louis get back on track Thursday. The Cardinals, who have won seven of 10, lost 15-0 to the Giants on Wednesday, their worst home shutout defeat since 1961. See GIANTS, page 2B Back home, America despite all the other Olympic events. Even Presi- dent Barack Obama, while visiting the U.S. Olympic Committee's training center in Colorado Springs, Colo., offered a ''special shout- out'' to the women's team for its victory. At the final whistle, Solo found herself enveloped in a group-hug celebration that unleashed a year of bottled- up frustration. Many of the players paraded with the flag and put on the celebra- tory T-shirts. Wambach, the outspoken co-captain who missed the Beijing Games with a bro- ken leg, was always the player most impassioned about the mission to get the Americans back atop the podium. She spoke of ''nightmares'' from the Japan defeat, and now they've been replaced by tears of happiness. The loudest of cheers erupted when she received See FINAL, page 2B Wide receiver Nick Feser at practice on Wednesday. 1B Friday August 10, 2012