January 17, 2026 Issue, Page 3 of 13

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SPORTS The Elk City News Quinn Brewer Forehand Spencer Brewer Quinn Brewer 'you're no acing me!' SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2026 • 3 Spencer Brewer - Serve Return Spencer Brewer - Backhand Passing shot Raife Costow Forehand Raife Costow Backhand Kade Duncan Kade Duncan - Ready for Backhand Josie McConnell Josie McConnell - Ace! College, High School & Local Sports By Alex Alvarez COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS It has been more than entertaining watching the playoff bowls. Once your team is out (and in my case, the Sooners), you learn to appreciate the game much more, as you are not cheering for a team and you are watching football as a sports fan and not as a team’s fan, where your opinion on calls sometimes becomes blurred by the love for the team. It’s been surprising that the lower seeds, other than Indiana, continued to dominate the col- lege football playoffs. This was the first time since this format of playoffs began, that only one of the top four make it to the semifinals and final, and the only time, and the only time that other than one team, all lower seeds won every game. #1 Indiana, seems unstoppable, but Miami, who entered as #10, also seems like the team to beat. As of now, the line is the favorite is Indiana by 7.5 and the over/under is 48.5. I’ll just wait and watch the game and see who wins. Here is part of the great story, the final of the playoffs will be played at the hard Rock Casino Stadium, in Miami Gardens, FL. So what? Well, the Miami Hurricanes earned a berth in the final game by beating, in order: #7 Texas A&M in a very close game 10-3. A game where defenses made their statement. That was the first round. Then, in the quarterfinals, they faced the #2 Ohio State Buckeyes, who were favorites by more than a touchdown, by a solid score of 24-14 at the Cotton Bowl Classic at the AT&T Stadium in Fort Worth, TX. The game was fairly close until a late touchdown by Miami made it a two-score game with only minutes to play, and Ohio State could not decipher Miami’s defense and was not able to defend their 2025 title. Then came the semifinal against the #6 Ole Miss Rebels at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, AZ. Again, the Miami Hurricanes scored late in the game and won 31-27 in a very contested game that could have gone the other way. With all of that, Miami earned a spot to play the championship game at their home stadium! How about the Indiana Hoosiers? Well, in their first game, the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA, which because they were seeded was a quarterfinal game, they faced Alabama and gave them the worst defeat ever in a bowl game of 38-3. In the semifinal game, the Peach Bowl, in Atlanta GA, the Hoosiers continued to dominate and gave the Ducks a “torture” of 56-22, with their quarterback Fernando Mendoza throwing five touchdowns. Fernando was the Heisman winner in 2025, and Miami happens to be his hometown! Since Fernando’s dream was to play for the Miami Hurricanes, and at the time did not even allow him a “walk-in” position, so Fernando ended up playing for the California Golden Bears for two years before transferring to Indiana in early 2025. With this, there will be a “Miami Collision” of a Miami born player, who wanted to originally play for the team he now wants to beat in the National Championship, a story the result of the final. A great story that could one day become a movie like “Hoosiers” (Gene Hackman) or “Remember the Titans” (Denzel Washington), a Hollywood story, especially if he lifts the Championship trophy! The game is scheduled for Monday, January 19. Sources: Local Sources, ESPN, MSN, GOOGLE, OSSAA, Wikipedia, Other Internet Media Professional Individual Sports By Alex Alvarez GOLF Let the PGA Tour’s season begin! The PGA Tour should have had their first tournament last week with what used to be the Tournament of Champions sponsored by Sentry, but, due to the conditions of the golf course used, in Kapalua, it was cancelled. Originally, the tournament which was played at the Plantation Golf Course Resort in Kapalua, Maui, was to be relocated since the resort had problems with water restrictions resulting in drought and agronomic and logistical hurdles. Kapalua shut down both of its golf courses in September last year, for at least 60 days, and no irrigation was performed, causing the golf course to be below playing standards. It is unfortunate for the area since the tournament brought millions of dollars in charity due to the PGA Tour’s policy of sharing revenues with local charities in each event. While exact figures for Kapalua’s direct financial loss aren’t public, the resort missed out on tens of millions in annual economic impact (estimated $50M annually) and significant revenue from lodging, dining, and greens fees with The Sentry’s cancellation, leading owner Maui Land & Pineapple Co. to pledge $750,000 for Maui relief efforts, acknowledging the substantial blow from the loss of the PGA Tour’s season opener due to drought and water issues. Estimates of annual PGA Tour charities is about $300 million a year and over $4 billion since the start of the tour years ago. The tournament had been hosted by Kapalua since 1999, and it featured the winners of PGA Tour events of the previous 12 months. The defending champion was the great Japanese player, and former Masters winner, Hideki Matsuyama, who shot 35 under par on the Par73 course. One of the best and classic Tournament of Champions on that course was in 2000, when it was called the Mercedez Championship. Both Els and Woods tied after they both made an eagle on the 18th hole of the last day, then birdied the first playoff hole, and Woods won on the second playoff hole with a 40 birdie putt. At the time, it was Woods’ fifth consecutive victory. The opening 2026 event is in Hawaii as well, and is being played this week as you read this column. The Sony Hawaii Open was the site of the first Japanese player who ever won in the PGA Tour, when Isao Aoki holed out for an eagle 3 on the 72nd hole to beat Jack Renner by a shot in 1983. The defending champion from 2025 is Nick Taylor, from Canada who shot 16 under par and beat Nico Echavarria in the second hole of a playoff. They both had birdied the first playoff hole. The #5 to #8 top ranked players are set to play this year: Russell Henley, J.J. Spaun, Bob MacIntyre, and Ben Griffin, along with major winners Jordan Spieth, Collin Morikawa, Brian Harman and Keegan Bradley. TENNIS The Tennis season begins with a major in Melbourne, Australia with the 114th Australian Open. Defending Champion is #2 in the world, Italian Jannik Sinner, who at the time, was the #1 player in the world. Between Sinner and Carlos Alacaraz, now #1 ranked player, they won all four majors in 2024 and 2025, with four each! The men’s seeding is as follows: #1 Carlos Alcaraz, #2 Jannik Sinner, #3 Alexander Zverev and # Novak Djokovic, who will be looking for an 11th Australian Open Title and 25th major overall. The seeding of players mean that Novak will not play against Alcaraz, until the semifinal if they both get there, and won’t play a higher seeded player until then. On the women’s side: #1 Aryna Sabalenka, #2 Iga Swiatek, #3 Amanda Amisinova and #4 Coco Gauff, these last two, American players. The complete draws (brackets) won’t be released until all the qualifying matches are done by January 15th, after the deadline of this column. Sources: ESPN, PGA Tour.com, LPGA.com, AP Tennis, Personal Library, MSN Sports, On-Line media. Professional Team Sports By Alex Alvarez NFL: The six Wild Card playoffs played last weekend, determined the four divisional playoff matchups for this weekend: The National Conference games were: Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears, who came from behind on the last quarter to win the game. Chicago outscored Grenn Bay 25 to 6 points in the last quarter to win 31-27; San Francisco 49ers beat the Philadelphia Eagles in Philadelphia 2319; and Los Angeles Rams, also upsetting the Carolina Panthers in Carolina 34-31 at the Panthers’ home. The semifinals of the NFC will be Seattle Seahawks hosting the 49ers for the second time in three weeks. In their last game, the Seahawks won 13-3 in San Francisco. The Bears will host the Los Angeles Rams. The American Conference games were: Houston Texans ran over the Pittsburgh Steelers and Aaron Rodgers, at Three Rivers Stadium by a score of 30-6 and will play at the New England Patriots who beat Los Angeles Chargers 16-3; Buffalo Bills beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 27-24 in Jacksonville and will play Denver Broncos, who had a bye in Denver. The Conference finals will be next weekend of January 24-25. Super Bowl the second Sunday of February will be played in Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA. NBA: Oklahoma City Thunder continues to have the best overall NBA record of 2025-2026 with 33-7, and 5 ½ games ahead of the San Antonio Spurs (27-12) in the Western Conference. They are followed by Denver Nuggets (2613), Minnesota Timberwolves (26-14), Los Angeles Lakers (2314) and Phoenix Suns (24-15). In the Eastern Conference, Detroit Pistons (28-10) lead the New York Knicks (25-14) by 3 ½ games, they are followed by Boston Celtics (24-15), Toronto Raptors (24-17), Philadelphia 76ers (22-16) and Orlando Magic (22-18). Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leads the scoring on the Oklaoma Thunder with 31.9 (0.958 points per minute played); followed by Chad Holmgren with 18.1 points per game (0.622 ppm); Jalen Williams with 17.6 (0.581 ppm); and Ajay Mitchel with 14.2 (0.542). In the league, Luka Doncic (Los Angeles Lakers) leads Points per game with 33.6 (0.920 ppm). The Thunder is 3-0 in the last 3 games (10-0 in the last 10). Their next games in the schedule are: San Antonio (Jan-13), Houston (Ja-15), Miami (Jan-17) NHL- STANDINGS AS OF LAST MONDAY Eastern Conference: Carolina Hurricanes 60-Points (28-144), Detroit Red Wings 60-Points (28-15-4), Tampa Bay Lightning 59-Points (28-13-3), Montreal Canadiens 58-Points (26-14-6), New York Islanders 55-Points (25-15-5). Western Conference: Colorado Avalanche 74-Points (33-4-8), Dallas Stars 63-Points (27-10-9), Minnesota Wild 61-Points (2612-9), Vegas Golden Knights 54-Points (21-11-12), Edmonton Oilers 53-Points (23-16-7). Colorado Avalanche is far ahead of everyone in either conference with the least games lost in regulation (4 games lost) and 74 points, leading by 11 points in the Western Conference and 14 ahead of the best team in the Eastern Conference. Sources: ESPN, MSN Sports, On-Line media sports. Gymnastics team, mourn the loss of Jim Hartung, who won the 1984 gold medal individually. He lost a bout with cancer at age 65. RIP! Oklahoma offensive lineman Derek Simmons announced his intentions to enter the NFL draft. Simmons spent just one year at OU. Isabeau Levito displayed grace and elegance in route to the second-highest free skate score (148.73) at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, finishing third overall behind Amber Glenn and Alysa Liu Why can’t we all get along? Lawyers for Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss plan to file suit against the NCAA this week in state court in Mississippi for a preliminary injunction to secure Chambliss’ eligibility for 2026. Lawyer Tom Mars will work with noted Mississippi trial lawyer William Liston. Martina Navratilova defends the right of women to ban biological men from playing in women’s sports. These cases arrived in the Supreme Court! Now the Highest Court in the land will decide if women’s sports remain, well, women’s sports! My God! Where have we been? Sources: ESPN, Wikipedia, Personal Library, MSN Sports, On-Line media. Sports Tidbits By Alex Alvarez NBA Dallas Mavericks’ Anthony Davis is likely to undergo surgery to repair ligament damage in his left hand and miss several months, sources tell ESPN. His Dallas season is essentially over, given the prognosis and the Mavs’ direction. GOLF: LIV Golf: Anthony Kim in, Brooks Koepka out. Kim birdied the last hole of the qualification tournament for LIV, while Brooks Koepka said goodbye after three years. The five-time major champion rath- er play against more of the best players in the world. Brooks Koepka returned to the PGA Tour under special conditions. How times change! Brandell Chamblee has a stern take on Brooks and the PGA Tour: “There must be a precedent that rules apply to everyone! The Tour lost millions of dollars with the defections and the way they were done.” TENNIS: Watch the Australian Open! NFL Buffalo Bills are among 22 teams that voted to ban “push sneak,” but on January 11, 2026, the Bills went 4-for-4 in converting push sneak in 4th quarter, including game-winning TD. Change of mind? With the Chargers’ loss Sunday night, it’s now official: there will be no more games at Buffalo’s Highmark Stadium. Chicago Bears stun the Green Bay Packers with 25 points in the fourth quarter to win their playoff game 31-27. First time since 1941 that the Bears beat the Packers in a playoff game!! COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS Miami Battle! A native quarterback from Miami, FL will try to beat the Miami Hurricanes who did not want to give him a chance to play on the team three years ago. Fernando Mendoza wants to beat the team he once wanted to join! Oh yes, Fernando won the Heisman Trophy! Lucas Carneiro set a Sugar Bowl record not just once on Thursday night. He first had a 55-yard field goal, breaking the record of 53 yards. Then, his 55-yard record was broken minutes later with a 56-yard field goal. The kicker? Lucas himself ! OTHER Team USA, Nebraska and