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6C Daily News – Thursday, September 13, 2012 49ERS Akers surprises self with FG David Akers' mouth fell open and his eyes popped as he threw his arms into the air in both cele- bration and disbelief. Somehow, a field goal from 63 yards out had gone in — after bouncing off the crossbar. Akers knows well that this one easily could have missed badly, and poked fun at himself as he relived the record-tying kick this week. ''It's about like a once-in-a- lifetime opportunity,'' Akers said, once finally able to reflect and watch the field goal on film. ''It was neat to get the opportuni- ty and to finish it off in such a great fashion, because most of my kicks that have hit the poles in years past make that lovely sound like we heard and then it comes bouncing back onto the field.'' SANTA CLARA (AP) — co's spot-on kicker was mobbed by teammates as the 49ers (1-0) headed into halftime of last week's season-opening victory at Green Bay with a 16-7 lead. Akers' facial expressions became nearly as big a deal in the highlight reels as the kick itself, which just so happened to tie an NFL record for longest ever. Coach Jim Harbaugh jumped for joy. Akers compared his feat to a golfer going with just the right club and making a hole-in-one. ''You have to do two things on Moments later, San Francis- Ohio, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Many of Akers' teammates remain amazed the Eagles ever let this guy get away after 12 years in Philadelphia. The 37-year-old Akers, a six- time Pro-Bowler in his 15th NFL season out of Louisville, was considered among the 49ers' most important offseason acqui- sitions after they signed him to a three-year deal in late July 2011. He showed just why from Day 1, and the rest of the way as San Francisco fell just short of reach- ing the Super Bowl in a 20-17 overtime loss in the NFC title game to the eventual champion New York Giants. fall at Ford Field, where San Francisco rallied to hand Detroit its first defeat following a 5-0 start. As always with the unselfish, team-first Akers, he was quick to give credit to the offensive line for standing in and giving him ample time to make it at hostile Lambeau Field. ''You can't go out and even attempt stuff like that without them really sticking their nose in there and being the old mudhogs that they are,'' he said. Harbaugh last season said he every kick: You have to get it long enough and you've got to get it between the sticks,'' Akers said. ''The one thing I didn't want to do is overkick it. I almost didn't hit it, I thought, well enough. That's where a lot of the shock came from. To me I just think it's a blessing and a miracle, honestly, for my own little personal deal. That's the way I saw it. I was like, 'There's no way I hit it good enough.''' And that's saying something coming from the guy who set a single-season record with 44 field goals last year. On Tuesday, the ball was still at team headquarters but being prepared for its trip to Canton, PALMER (Continued from page 1C) deep ball, Palmer ended up throwing shorter passes instead. He threw 18 passes to McFadden, tied for the most targets to any run- ning back in a game since 1991, as he fol- lowed the maxim of tak- ing what the defense gives. ''I thought Carson did a nice job of looking, trying to get the ball downfield, not forcing the ball downfield, tak- ing his checkdown when it was available,'' coach Dennis Allen said. ''We threw the ball effective- ly, we had five explosive gains in the passing game. So the passing game was not the issue.'' McFadden only gained 86 yards on his 13 catches as Palmer Aside from his 44 made field goals last season, Akers also set a record for most attempted at 52 and most points without a touch- down with 166. That far sur- passed the 49ers' previous best — by Hall of Fame receiver Jerry Rice, no less. Rice scored 138 points in 1987. But Sunday's milestone meant a lot because such kicks just don't come around every day. Thus, his reaction when he nailed it. ''I thought it was amazing. Again, you hit it and you don't think you hit it well enough, then it hits the crossbar. I'm like, 'All right, that's going to be great, you have 63 and you came up an inch short,' and then it was the opposite and it went in,'' Akers said. field goals from 40 yards or beyond, giving him another impressive opener after he kicked four in Week 1 of the 2011 season against Seattle. ''The farther you get back, it's not whether you have the strength, it's whether you can keep it straight for that distance. That's a long way,'' 49ers punter Andy Lee said. ''David hit the ball great and that was awe- some.'' Akers also booted a pair of shocked by Akers' leg strength and accuracy come Sunday night at Candlestick Park. They watched him hit a 55-yarder last The Lions (1-0) won't be averaged 9.3 yards per completion, down from his mark of 13.8 a year ago, which was second best in the NFL. Palmer had only one pass play over 25 yards after hav- ing eight in two games against San Diego a year ago. ''You can't let it frus- trate you,'' Palmer said. ''Once you start getting frustrated that's when you start forcing the ball into holes where they want you to throw it. If they're going to make us check it down and we have Darren to check it down to we're going to do it.'' game's best deep threats as a rookie with his average catch coming 14.3 yards down field — fourth highest in the league. He missed the opener with a hamstring injury first sustained in minicamp in June. Moore was one of the would be comfortable letting Akers kick from 60 yards if the conditions and game situation made it the right move — and Akers has proved himself dependable from way out. ''It doesn't surprise us,'' safe- ty Donte Whitner said. ''We understand that he's arguably the best kicker in the National Foot- ball League. I think that Coach agrees with that and the rest of my teammates and the coaching staff. He was a guy who was very reliable last year. We leaned on him so much last year at times when we couldn't get the ball in the end zone. I don't think that Coach would have kicked it if he didn't feel he was going to put his best foot forward and have an opportunity to make it.'' The 49ers would rather score more touchdowns than rely on Akers' left leg quite as much as they did last year. He doesn't think about top- ping what he did in 2011, either. ''All I care to do, honestly, and this is from the bottom of my heart, is just to make the kicks when the team puts me on the field and to never make a mistake when it's critical for the outcome of the game,'' Akers said. ''Sometimes that happens. That's what my goal is every year, to go and make every kick — whether it's 15 or 52, like we tried last year. That's ultimately my goal.'' Moore practiced briefly at the start of training camp before being shut down again. He returned to the practice field last week but was held out of the game by Allen, who did not want to risk further injury. Moore practiced again Wednesday and is expected to play this week in Miami. ''He looked like Denarius of old,'' Palmer said. ''He made a couple phenomenal catches. His burst was there last week, it's just I think more condition- ing, really getting in practice. There's a total- ly different type of shape.'' Ford, meanwhile, will be out for a significant amount of time to under- go surgery on a Lisfranc injury to his left foot. NOTES: CB Ron Bartell broke his shoul- der blade Monday and We Are Rooting For You Spartans! 5am to 11pm ALL NEW FACILITY 714 Walnut St., Red Bluff One Stop Your One Stop Convenience Store Thank You for Voting Us Best Gas Station in Tehama County All Star Quality Used Parts for Less PARTS LOCATING SERVICE GO Corning Cardinals! Auto 10 ACRES OF INVENTORY *WILL PAY CASH FOR JUNK CARS* 530 824-2880 Highway 99W & Capay Road (Halfway between Corning & Orland) Corning CA. 22521 Capay Road, Corning Ca. 96021 Mon-Fri 8am-5pm • Sat. 9am-2pm Junk Cars & Truck Removal • Domestic • Foreign • Pick-ups 800.990.9971 Our Team of specialists share your passion for sports. From injury prevention to evaluation, treatment and rehab, we commit to You give your best, so be treated by the best! Recycling Inc. KEEPING YOU IN THE GAME! 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GAME (Continued from page 3C) flat," he said, adding "Of course, being at home, big crowd, Shootout, it shouldn't be much of a problem to be ready for the game." The second thing, players just deviated from assignments, he said. And that was addressed at practices this week. tackle, which is some- thing that was missing against Anderson. Corning, coming off a successful season last year when it reached the Division II semifinals, could realize a 3-0 record without having yet played a game at home. ——— As for preparing for the Cardinals, Hein said the team will have to tackle well and gang MLB West Division Texas A's Angels Seattle East Division Baltimore New York American League WL Pct GB 85 57 .599 — 81 60 .574 3.5 77 65 .542 8 69 74 .483 16.5 WL Pct GB 80 62 .563 — 80 62 .563 — Tampa Bay 77 65 .542 3 Toronto Boston Central Division Chicago Detroit 64 77 .454 15.5 64 79 .448 16.5 WL Pct GB 76 65 .539 — 74 67 .525 2 Kansas City 65 77 .458 11.5 Cleveland 59 84 .413 18 Minnesota 59 84 .413 18 —————————————————— Wednesday's results Baltimore 3, Tampa Bay 2 Seattle 3, Toronto 2 N.Y.Yankees 5, Boston 4 Texas 5, Cleveland 2 Kansas City 10, Minnesota 5 Detroit at Chicago White Sox, late Oakland at L.A. Angels, late Today's games (All times Eastern) Tampa Bay (Hellickson 8-10) at Baltimore (W.Chen 12-9), 12:35 p.m. Oakland (Bre.Anderson 4-0) at L.A. Angels (Weaver 16-4), 3:35 p.m. Seattle (F.Hernandez 13-7) at Toronto (H.Alvarez 8-12), 7:07 p.m. N.Y.Yankees (P.Hughes 14-12) at Boston (Doubront 10-8), 7:10 p.m. Cleveland (McAllister 5-7) at Texas (D.Hol- land 10-6), 8:05 p.m. Detroit (Verlander 13-8) at Chicago White Sox (Sale 16-6), 8:10 p.m. Kansas City (Mendoza 7-9) at Minnesota (Hendriks 0-7), 8:10 p.m. Friday's games Detroit at Cleveland, 7:05 p.m. Tampa Bay at N.Y.Yankees, 7:05 p.m. Boston at Toronto, 7:07 p.m. Seattle at Texas, 8:05 p.m. Chicago White Sox at Minnesota, 8:10 p.m. L.A. Angels at Kansas City, 8:10 p.m. Baltimore at Oakland, 10:05 p.m. Sports Editor Andre Byik can be reached at 527-2151, ext 111 or at sports@redbluffdai- lynews.com. Follow him on Twitter: @TehamaSports MLB National League West Division GIANTS Dodgers Arizona East Division WL Pct GB Washington 89 54 .622 — Atlanta 81 63 .563 8.5 Philadelphia 72 71 .503 17 New York Miami Central Division WL Pct GB Cincinnati 87 57 .604 — St. Louis 75 68 .524 11.5 Pittsburgh 72 70 .507 14 Milwaukee 72 71 .503 14.5 Chicago Houston 55 87 .387 31 45 97 .317 41 —————————————————— Wednesday's results Philadelphia 3, Miami 1 San Diego 3, St. Louis 2 Cincinnati 2, Pittsburgh 1 Washington 2, N.Y.Mets 0 Chicago Cubs 5, Houston 1 Milwaukee 8, Atlanta 2 San Francisco at Colorado, late L.A. Dodgers at Arizona, late Today's games (All times Eastern) Philadelphia (Cloyd 1-1) at Houston (Harrell 10-9), 8:05 p.m. St. Louis (Lynn 14-7) at L.A. Dodgers (Beckett 1-2), 10:10 p.m. Friday's games Pittsburgh at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 p.m. Cincinnati at Miami, 7:10 p.m. Washington at Atlanta, 7:35 p.m. Philadelphia at Houston, 8:05 p.m. N.Y.Mets at Milwaukee, 8:10 p.m. San Francisco at Arizona, 9:40 p.m. Colorado at San Diego, 10:05 p.m. St. Louis at L.A. Dodgers, 10:10 p.m. 65 78 .455 24 63 81 .438 26.5 WL Pct GB 80 62 .563 — 74 68 .521 6 70 72 .493 10 San Diego 69 75 .479 12 Colorado 57 84 .404 22.5