WJPA Sports

SEATTLE (AP) — Sam Darnold threw for three touchdowns, the Seahawks’ “Dark Side” defense came up with a critical fourth-down stop, and Seattle advanced to the Super Bowl, beating the Los Angeles Rams 31-27 in an electrifying NFC championship game. Led by second-year coach Mike Macdonald and Darnold, the Seahawks reached the fourth Super Bowl in franchise history and first in 11 years. Seattle lost that most recent appearance to New England, and the Patriots will again be the Seahawks’ opponent in two weeks at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Matthew Stafford threw for 374 yards and three touchdowns for the Rams, but the Seahawks broke up his pass to the end zone on fourth-and-4 late in the fourth quarter.

DENVER (AP) — Drake Maye scored New England’s only touchdown on a 6-yard keeper, propelling the Patriots to their 12th Super Bowl with a 10-7 win over the Denver Broncos. Christian Gonzalez intercepted Jarrett Stidham at the New England 36 with 2:11 remaining and the Patriots iced their first playoff win in Denver when Maye ran for 7 yards on third-and-5 from his 41. The Patriots will face the Seattle Seahawls in the Super Bowl. In Mike Vrabel’s first season as coach, New England became the third team in the Super Bowl era to win a conference championship with 10 points or less. The Broncos finished one step shy of fulfilling Sean Payton’s preseason prediction of a trip to Super Bowl 60.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Rookie Ben Kindel scored twice in the second period to lead the Penguins to a 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday and a sweep of Pittsburgh’s four-game western Canada trip. Evgeni Malkin also scored for the Penguins (26-14-11). Stuart Skinner stopped 19 shots and won for the seventh time in eight games. Jake DeBrusk and Teddy Blueger scored in the third period for the Canucks (17-30-5), who dropped their second straight. Kevin Lankinen stopped 21 shots.

LA QUINTA, Calif. (AP) — Scottie Scheffler starts the new season looking every bit the player who dominated the PGA Tour a year ago. He closed with a 66 at The American Express to blow past 18-year-old Blades Brown and everyone else. Scheffler now has 20 wins on the PGA Tour to give him lifetime membership. He joins Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus as the only players to have 20 wins and four majors before turning 30. Scheffler now has nine wins by at least four shots. Brown fell apart with a double bogey on the fifth hole. He shot 74 and tied for 18th.