Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/9392
Wednesday Baseball — Esparto at Los Molinos, 4:30 p.m. Baseball — Red Bluff at Sutter, 4 p.m. Softball — Esparto at Los Molinos, 4:30 p.m. Track — Corning at West Valley, 3:30 p.m. Track — Mid-Valley League at University Prep, 3:30 p.m. Track — Red Bluff at Enterprise, 3 p.m. Sports 1B NFL releases schedule NEW YORK (AP) — The Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints will get an early test when they host the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL season opener, a rematch of their thrilling NFC championship game decided in overtime. That nationally televised game will be Thursday night, Sept. 9. New Orleans won its first conference title by beating Minnesota 31-28 on a 40- yard field goal by Garrett Hartley 4:45 into overtime. The Saints went on to defeat the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 in the Super Bowl. ‘‘I can’t imagine it being anymore charged than the last time we were down there,’’ Vikings coach Brad Childress said Tuesday night. ‘‘That’s always a great, hostile environment to play in.’’ The Saints also will play at Dallas on Thanksgiving Day; the Cowboys handed New Orleans its first defeat after 13 victories last season. In an effort to make late-season games more meaningful and avoid teams sitting out regulars once they have clinched a playoff berth, the NFL set up all intradivision matchups for the final Sunday, Jan. 2. That adjustment caused much of the delay in the release of the schedule this year; it normally is announced in early April or before. Indianapolis begins its 2010 schedule at Houston on the first full day of the season, Sept. 12. Another highlight that Sunday will be the reg- ular-season debut of the new Mead- owlands Stadium, with Carolina at the New York Giants. The next night, Baltimore is at the New York Jets in the same venue, followed by San Diego at Kansas City in what has become a traditional Monday night doubleheader to kick off the season. Two games will be played abroad: Denver vs. San Francisco in London on Oct. 31, and Chicago vs. Buffalo in Toronto the following Sunday, Nov. 7. ‘‘Our Toronto fans will have the opportunity to see us play against one of the most storied franchises in NFL history,’’ Bills owner Ralph Wilson said, ‘‘with Brian Urlacher anchoring the Bears’ defense and Jay Cutler, one of the most exciting quarterbacks in the game today, leading their offense.’’ The Jets also will host the Thanks- giving night game, against Cincin- nati. Also on that holiday, New Eng- land visits Detroit. Donovan McNabb’s first game as Redskins quarterback will be against a familiar foe: Dallas. The Cowboys visit Washington in the Sunday night game on Sept. 12. McNabb goes back to Philadel- ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Dwight Howard turned to Orlando Magic general manager Otis Smith, some- what unsure how to answer the question. Already the youngest player ever with two NBA defensive player of the year awards, just how many could he eventually win? Smith raised his hands, all 10 fingers dangling. Howard laughed, smiled and nodded his head. ‘‘That’s not enough?’’ Smith asked. ‘‘I don’t have enough hands.’’ At this rate, it might not be so far fetched. The Magic’s All-Star center won the award for the second straight year Tues- day after becoming the only player to lead the league in blocks and rebounds in the same season twice — let alone two years in a row. Now 24, perhaps the next step for Howard is improv- ing his offensive game enough to sway voters that he should win the Most Valuable Player award. Cleveland’s LeBron James seems certain to take that honor again, and Howard said voters should factor in defense more. ‘‘I think most people look at Most Valuable Play- er as somebody who scores a lot of points, which is great. I believe that defense wins championships, wins games,’’ said Howard, who averaged 18.3 points per game. ‘‘I’ve always thought Up? The Red Bluff Round-Up Association and PRCA are hosting a rodeo camp Saturday in Red Bluff. The camp curriculum includes an introduction to roughstock events with an emphasis on safety, funda- mentals, chute procedures, livestock safety, overview of riding equipment, injury prevention and management, fitness and nutrition, introduction to PRCA business and goal setting. Instructors deliver encouragement to participants as they pursue both their rodeo careers and scholastic endeavors. During its inaugural year, this nationwide program hosted camps in five cities. Camps are geared at providing free learning opportunities for cowboys just starting out that either have had little or no direction in rodeo or have been competing in rodeo and want to fur- ther learn about the fundamentals from PRCA champi- ons. For more information on the camp please contact Julie Jutten at jjutten@prorodeo.com or call (719) 528- 4729. Registration can be done online at www.prorodeo.com/youthrodeo.aspx. Tehama Tracker Track and field boys Taylor Hickson made quite a name for himself at Satur- day’s John Frank Invitational and the Red Bluff Spartans boys team finished third at the Central Valley hosted event. Corning finished 10th at MCT file photo The Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints will have a rematch of their NFC championship to open the 2010 season. phia on Sunday, Oct. 4, the fourth week of the schedule and the first week with byes. ‘‘It’s a competitive schedule to measure ourselves against some of the top teams in the National Football League,’’ Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said. ‘‘It is flattering to open the season on national television on Sunday night and to also play three prime-time games and five national broadcasts in our first nine games.’’ Other featured matchups include the Giants at the Colts as the prime- time Sunday game in Week 2, the second meeting between Peyton Manning and younger brother Eli; the almost-annual Colts-Patriots game, in Week 11 at New England; Dallas at Arizona on Christmas night, a Satur- day; and the double dose of Brett Favre vs. the Packers, if the 40-year- old quarterback returns to Minnesota: Sunday night, Oct. 24 at Lambeau, and Nov. 21 at Minneapolis. Julius Peppers, the highest-profile free agent this year, will return to Car- olina with his new team when the Bears play the Panthers in Week 5. about it like that, and I’ll continue to think about it like that.’’ That mentality helped him runaway with the defensive award again. Howard received 576 total points, including 110 first-place votes from a panel of 122 writers and broadcasters. Atlanta’s Josh Smith was second with 136 points, and Charlotte’s Ger- ald Wallace finished third with 113 points. Howard averaged 13.2 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game this season, powering the Magic (59-23) to the league’s second-best record behind Cleveland. Only Bill Walton, Kareem Abdul-Jab- bar, Hakeem Olajuwon and Ben Wallace each led the NBA in those categories once in the same season. ‘‘I think it speaks very highly of him, at 24, he’s winning the award twice,’’ Van Gundy said. Howard has long preached defense first. He has studied Bill Rus- sell for years, reading books and newspaper articles on the player many consider the greatest defensive center in history. Howard is also good friends with defensive standout Dikembe Mutombo and assistant coach Patrick Ewing. The former centers chal- lenged him from the begin- ning to be a great defender above all else. ‘‘Not all good players in this league, and not all great In addition to Shanahan’s first game coaching the Redskins, the debuts of the two other new head coaches will have Pete Carroll’s Sea- hawks hosting San Francisco, and Chan Gailey’s Bills at home against Miami. The Rams, who hold the first pick in Thursday’s draft, open at home against Arizona. For the first time since the Sunday night game moved to NBC in 2006, the network’s schedule won’t skip a week during the World Series. One of the season’s most intriguing matchups, the Steelers at the Saints on Oct. 31, is poised to go up against Game 4. Major League Baseball chief operating officer Bob DuPuy declined comment. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said: ‘‘We’ve built a great franchise in Sun- day Night Football and we agreed with NBC that it made sense to play a full season of Sunday night games without taking a week off.’’ Raiders, 49ers full schedules on 2B Howard wins consecutive defensive player awards the event won by Heritage. Foothill was second. Hickson won the 110- meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles and took second place finishes in both the long and triple jumps. Another Spartan, Devin Shoop won the 800 meters with a time of 1:59.72 — a full three seconds faster than second place. Hickson ran the 110-meter hurdles in 15.52 seconds and tied with Lassen’s Ruben Torrez with a time of 42.25 in the 300-meter hurdles. In the long jump his 20’3.75” was second as was his 41- foot triple jump. Corning’s Blaine Glover finished fourth in both events. Robert Schatz gave Red Bluff a third place finish in the high jump with a mark of 5’09”. Shoop, Austin Shilts, Grant Blaser and Jeffrey Foster fin- ished fourth for Red Bluff in the 4x400 relay. Foster also took a fourth place finish in the 100 meters and was seventh in the 200 meters. Shilts was 13th in the 400 meters. Corning’s Jose Torres was fifth in the 800 meters and sixth in the 1600 meters. The Cardinals also received strong performances from Luis Piseno with a sixth place finish in the shot put and an eighth place finish in the discus. Track and field boys On the girls side, West Val- ley edged out Heritage for first place with Shasta coming in third. Los Molinos was 12th and the Spartans and Corning tied for 17th. Lady Bulldog Carolyna Salazar finished third in the triple jump with a mark of 30’08.75”. dles. Salazar also placed sixth in the discus and 100-meter hur- Red Bluff’s Roxanne Luppino was fifth in the 200 meters. Spartan Erin Eicholtz was seventh in the 400 meters. Nicole Mason finished sixth for Corning in the long jump. Mason teamed with Catherine Kinkle, Regan Albee and Jessica DuBois for a sixth place finish in the 4x100 relay. Kinkle also took a 14th place finish in the individual 100 meters. Karen Torres was 10th in the 800 meters. Bulldogs golf The Bulldogs broke away from their first place tie with Esparto by taking both the Front and Back 9 during Monday’s fourth Mid-Valley League match in Arbuckle. Los Molinos and Esparto had entered the match tied with 21 points, but the Bull- dogs now hold a 29-27 lead over their rival. Zach Mathues led Los Molinos with an 87 and Wills Mathues shot a 95. Esparto’s Matt Muller had the low round of the field with a 76. MCT photo Dwight Howard receives his award,Tuesday. players in this league accept challenges, and that’s proba- bly the biggest growth that you see in him is that he accepts the challenge that’s put in front of him,’’ Smith said. ‘‘The challenge that’s put in front of him is being the best defensive player night in, and night out.’’ So far, so good. The man they call Super- man swooped in to effect more shots than he blocked this season, changing games with his presence in the paint. Howard has been a matchup nightmare against almost every team, the main reason the Magic kept opposing shooters to an NBA-low 43.8 percent shooting. The No. 1 overall draft pick out of high school in See WINS, page 2B Other Bulldog scores included Andrew Ruiz shooting a 104, Robert Harrigan a 112, Jared Hawker a 121 and Gaumel Murillo a 123. Warriors softball Mercy picked up their third win of the season, Friday, with a 17-6 win over Faith Christ- ian. Natasha Czajka returned to the mound for Mercy after a line drive fractured her jaw earlier in the season. Czajka held Faith Christian scoreless for four innings and received plenty of run support from her teammates. Desiree Crane drove in five runs and had a double. Ariana Ramos drove in three runs and doubled. Diana Van Ert and Gaby Reynoza each drove in a pair of runs and doubled. Benicia Grace went 3-for-4 with a two RBIs and Maggie Keller drew three walks. Mogan Hampton also drove in a run. Wednesday April 21, 2010 PRCARodeo camp Saturday Rodeo still on your kid’s mind following the Round-