January 24, 2026 Issue, Page 9 of 13

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The Elk City News SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 2026 • 9 SPORTS Professional Team Sports By Alex Alvarez NFL: Last weekend the Divisional Semifinal playoffs took place with four games, the first and last of which were great games that went to overtime. First, the Denver Broncos, seeded #1, hosted the Buffalo Bills, their archrivals, in a great game that went to overtime at Mile High Stadium. The first quarter finished with Buffalo ahead 7-3. In the second quarter, Denver went ahead 10-7 with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Frank Crum. The Bills responded with a field goal to tie the game 1010, before the Broncos 17-10 with a rushing touchdown by Creed Humphrey then the Broncos took a 10-point lead 20-10 with a couple of seconds before half time. On the 2nd half, the Broncos took a 13-point lead with another field goal to go ahead 23-10. But Buffalo began a comeback that after a 10-yard touchdown by Keon Coleman. After forcing a punt, Josh Allen connected with Dalton Kincaid for a 14-yard touchdown that gave the Bills a 24-23 lead. After the Bills forced another punt, they took their lead to 27-23 with a field goal with 4:11 left in the game. Denver responded with a touchdown with 1:01 left in the game to take the lead 30-27, which gave the Bills only 61 seconds to either tie the game or win it. They were able to tie the game with a field goal with 5 seconds left and into overtime period marred with controversies. First, both teams failed to score in their first possession which was now a game in whoever scored first would win. Bills had the ball, and what looked like a catch or a dropped pass at Denver’s 27 yards line, with the offensive player and defensive player rolling over each other, it was ruled an interception since during the rollover Denver ended up with the ball, just seconds later, Tre’Davious White was called on a pass interference twice for 55-yards in total gains for Denver, that gave Denver great field position for a field goal that won the game 33-30. The other overtime game was on Sunday between the hosting Chicago Bears who were seeded #2, and the visiting Los Angeles Rams. In this back-and-forth game, Los Angeles took the first lead with 4-yard rush touchdown by Kyren Williams, Chicago took the lead with a touchdown catch by Deniston Moore and a field goal. As time expired in the third quarter, Los Angeles tied the game with a field goal. With 8:50 in the final quarter, Los Angeles took the lead with a rushing touchdown by Kyren Williams. With only 18 second left, Caleb Williams miraculous pass to Cole Kmet tied the game, which went into overtime. Again, no scores in first possession, and a field goal by Los Angeles won the game with 3:19 left in the first overtime, not before stalling a resurgent Caleb Williams’ great plays that resulted in dropped passes by his receivers. The other two games were not as exciting, as the New England Patriots had a solid win against the Houston Texans 28-16 and the Seattle Seahawks ran all over the San Francisco 49ers giving them their worst playoff loss ever with a score of 41-6. On Sunday, January 25th, Seahawks will host Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship game and Denver will host the New England Patriots for the AFC Championship game. Winners, of course, will go to the Superbowl on February 8. Denver will be without Bo Nix, their starting quarterback who got hurt in the closing minutes of the game versus the Bills. NBA: Not tired of the same line, and hopefully it will be the same line until the NBA playoffs: “Oklahoma City Thunder continues to have the best overall NBA record of 20252026”, now with a 35-8 record, and 5 ½ ahead of their nearest competitor in the Western Conference, San Antonio Spurs who have a 29-13 record. The next four teams that make the top six in the Western Conference are Denver Nuggets 29-14, Minnesota Timberwolves 27-16, Houston Rockets 25-15 and Los Angeles Lakers 25-16. Meanwhile, in the Eastern Conference, Detroit Pistons continue to be on top with a 30-10 record, followed by Boston Celtics, 26-15, New York Knicks 25-17, Toronto Raptors 25-19, Cleveland Cavaliers 24-19 and Philadelphia 76ers 22-18. Individually, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leads the scoring on the Oklaoma Thunder with 31.8 (0.955 points per minute played); followed by Chad Holmgren with 17.8 points per game (0.614 ppm); Jalen Williams with 16.8 (0.567 ppm); and Ajay Mitchell with 14.2 (0.533). In the league, Luka Doncic (Los Angeles Lakers) leads Points per game with 33.3 (0.917 ppm). The Thunder is 3-0 in the last 3 games (8-2 in the last 10). Their next games in the schedule are: @ Cleveland Cavaliers (Jan-19), @ Milwaukee Bucks (Jan-21) and Indiana Pacers (Jan-23). NHL- STANDINGS AS OF LAST MONDAY Eastern Conference: Tampa Bay Lightning 64-points (30-13-4), Carolina Hurricanes 64-points (3015-4), Detroit Red Wings 64-points (30-16-4), Montreal Canadiens 61-points (27-15-7), Boston Bruins 58-points (28-19-2), Buffalo Sabres 57-points (26-16-5). Western Conference: Colorado Avalanche 74-points (33-5-8), Dallas Stars 63-points (27-13-9), Minnesota Wild 63-points (27-139), Vegas Golden Knights 60-points (24-11-12), Edmonton Oilers 58-points (25-17-8), Utah Mammoth 54-points (25-20-4). Colorado Avalanche continues to be far ahead of everyone in either conference with the least games lost in regulation (5 games lost) and 74 points, leading by 11 points in the Western Conference and 10 ahead of the best team in the Eastern Conference. Sources: ESPN, MSN Sports, OnLine media sports. Professional Individual Sports By Alex Alvarez GOLF Hawaiian Sony Open: Start getting this name in your database! Chris Gotterup, who was last year was skipped for the Ryder Cup, despite two recent wins at the time, including the “semi-major” Scottish Open, and replaced with players who hadn’t won in a while, won the opening tournament of the 2026 PGA Tour season with an outstanding 6-under par, 64 closing round at the Hawaiian Open at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, HI. Gotterup ended up at 16 under par. He was followed by Ryan Gerard at 14-under par, Patrick Rodgers at TIDBITS Continued from page 3 the first time since 2020. EVERYONE LIKE ROGER! Aryna Sabalenka’s gallery for first match included Roger Federer and Rod Laver, then she took a “selfie” with them. Aryna obviously recognizes history! Way to go! 13-under par, the best Scottish player alive, Robert McIntyre and Jacob Bridgeman at 12 under par and five players at 11-under par. Returning Jordan Spieth, had a decent tournament at 7-under par and 24th place, with all four rounds under par (68-68-68-69). The great Vijay Signh, who is 62-years old and who won 3 majors and 34 tour events during Tiger Woods’ reign, “still has it” and finished at 5-under par, tied for 40th against all of the “young guns”. Vijay is playing the Tour on a special one-time career money list exemption (top 50 all time). Should he continue making cuts and play a little better, he could qualify for the Signature events. Coming up is the American Express at the Pete Dye Stadium Course in La Quinta, CA followed by the Farmers San Diego Open, in Torrey Pines, which will be the first tournament of a returning Brooks Koepka after he finished his contract with LIV Series. DP World Tour: Nacho Elvira from Spain, wins the Dubai Invitational, where Rory McIlroy won his first professional tournament 18 years ago. Nacho won with 10-under par and was only one ahead of Daniel Hillier (Australia) who ended at 9-under. Four players tied for 3rd at 8-under par, Julie Guerrier (France), David Puig (Spain) Shane Lowry (Ireland) and Rory McIlroy From Novak Djokovic: “I understand Sinner and Alcaraz are playing on a different level right now from everybody else. That’s a fact. But that doesn’t mean nobody else has a chance. I always like my chances.” And he should, he ahs 24 of those big trophies! Djokovic wins his 100th Australian Open match! He and many say, “If he can bring his best against the young guns, he can win another one!” NFL Bo Nix’s three passing touchdowns tied Peyton Manning and John Elway for the most TD passes in a playoff game in franchise history. But, he won’t have a chance to tie any more records this season as he sustained a season ending injury in (Ireland). Both, McIlroy and Lowry had late round stumbles to hand the title to Elvira. TENNIS The Tennis Tour and Major season begins at the same time with the 114th Australian Open, played at Rod Lavern Arena in Melbourne Australia. This is the first time that two players have the last eight majors in a row (Carlos Alcaraz, Spain, and Jannik Sinner, Italy) they are ranked and seeded #1 and #2, and are in the field with an older player who is seeking his 25th major and 11th Australian Open, Novak Djokovic, who at 38-years old is still good the last minutes of the game! Such is sport! Sam Darnold is the first QB since Tom Brady to start in a playoff game in consecutive seasons with different teams… and he is still in! COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS Finally, the 2025-2026 College Football Championship is over, and enough to be seeded #4 in the first major of 2026. Novak has admitted that Jannik and Carlos play at a higher level that all the rest of the tour players, but he says that in any given day, he play as good as when he was young or he would have retired. On the Men’s Draw, Americans Frances Tiafoe, Emilio Nava, Learner Tien, Reilly Opelka, Tommy Paul and Michael Zheng won their first match and advanced. Americans Brandon Nakashima, Patrick Kypson, Marcos Giron, Sebastian Korda, Mackenzie McDonald, and Aleksandar Kovacevic were eliminated. #1 Carlos Alcaraz, #2 Jannik Sinner, #3 Alexander Zverev and # Novak Djokovic all advanced to second round. On the Women’s Draw, Americans MacCartney Kessler, Hailey Baptiste, Caty McNally, Peyton Stearns Iva Jovic, Alycia Parks, Jessica Pegula, #4 Amando Anisimova, #3 Coco Gauff and Ann Li won their first round match, while Sofia Kenin, Emma Navarro, Taylor Townsend, Katie Volynets, Elizabeth Mandlik and 46-year old Venus Williams got eliminated. #1 Aryna Sabalenka, #2 Iga Swiatek has not played her first match. Sources: ESPN, PGA Tour.com, LPGA.com, AP Tennis, Personal Library, MSN Sports, On-Line media. a Cinderella Story developed: kid that is denied a spot in his home team, joins another team, and comes back to beat the team that didn’t give him a chance to prove himself, at the team’s home stadium. You can’t make this story up! Cup Series win Tarvisio Super-G Full Run. Keep it up lady, Olympics are two weeks away! Marco Odermatt, from Switzerland, claims record 4th downhill win in Wengen, Switzerland on the Lauberhorn course. Will he get gold next month? Sources: ESPN, Wikipedia, Personal Library, MSN Sports, On-Line media. OTHER Lyndsay Vonn continues to impress everyone with second World Merritt beats Sayre boys and girls with 85-66 boys defeat and 71-34 win over the local rival Photos by Jim Hodnett