October 5, 2021 3:43 am
INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) – Justin Herbert threw for three touchdowns, Austin Ekeler rushed for 117 yards and scored twice and the Los Angeles Chargers knocked the Las Vegas Raiders from the unbeaten ranks with a 28-14 victory. Los Angeles, 3-1 for the first time since 2014, is part of a three-way tie atop the AFC West with Las Vegas and Denver. The Raiders’ loss leaves the Arizona Cardinals as the NFL’s lone undefeated team after four weeks. Herbert, who completed 25 of 38 passes for 222 yards, accounted for all of his TDs in the first half as the Chargers built a 21-0 halftime lead. The Raiders scored on their first two possessions of the second half to draw within a touchdown, but Ekeler gave Los Angeles some breathing room with an 11-yard scoring run.
October 5, 2021 3:40 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Pittsburgh Steelers are scrambling for answers following a 1-3 start. Pittsburgh’s latest setback came in a 27-17 loss to Green Bay. The defeat dropped the Steelers two games behind AFC North rivals Cleveland, Cincinnati and Baltimore a month into the season. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger says the team needs to look inward for answers. Pittsburgh welcomes Denver to Heinz Field in Week 5.
October 5, 2021 3:46 am
Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer has apologized to his family, his team and owner Shad Khan for actions he called “just stupid.” A video surfaced Saturday night showing a woman dancing close to Meyer’s lap. Another video appears to show Meyer touching the woman’s behind. The 57-year-old Meyer called a team meeting to address his actions and vowed to “own it.” He says his actions were “just stupid.’
October 4, 2021 3:50 am
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) – Aaron Rodgers connected with Randall Cobb for two touchdowns and ran for another score as the Green Bay Packers won their third straight, 27-17 over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Cobb caught a 23-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter to put the Packers ahead for good and scored again on a 1-yard reception that made it 27-10 in the third period. Rodgers has 420 career touchdown passes, tying Dan Marino for sixth all-time. Rodgers went 20 of 36 for 248 yards in his first home start against the Steelers, the only team he hadn’t faced at Lambeau Field. PIttsburgh has lost three straight.
October 4, 2021 3:56 am
UNDATED (AP) – The weather was poor, but the outcome was sunny for Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Brady was a winner in his return to Foxborough as he rallied the Bucs to a 19-17 win over New England. Brady was 22 of 43 for 269 yards with no touchdowns on a rainy Sunday night, but he engineered the fourth-quarter drive to beat his former team. The winning drive was capped by Ryan Succop’s 48-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter. Ronald Jones had an 8-yard scoring run for the defending Super Bowl champions. Brady broke Drew Brees’ NFL career passing yardage record and became the fourth quarterback with victories against all 32 NFL teams, joining Brees, Brett Favre and Peyton Manning. New England had a chance to win, but Nick Folk’s 56-yard field-goal try hit the left upright with with less than a minute to play. The Patriots are 1-3 for the first time since 2001, when Brady took over the offense. Patriots rookie Mac Jones finished 31 of 40 for 275 yards and two touchdowns.
October 4, 2021 3:53 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Joey Votto hit his 36th home run and the Cincinnati Reds finished their season with a 6-3 win over Pittsburgh. Rookie Reiver Sanmartin (2-0) beat the Pirates for the second time in as many starts. Cincinnati finished over .500 (83-29) over the course of a 162-game season for the first time since 2013. Pirates shortstop prospect Oneil Cruz hit his first major-league home run for the Pirates. Pittsburgh finished 61-101 while coming in last in the NL Central for the third straight season.
October 3, 2021 1:52 am
BEAVER FALLS, Pa. — The No. 11 Washington & Jefferson College football team erased a double-digit second half deficit to pick up a 24-20 victory at Geneva College in a Presidents’ Athletic Conference game on Saturday. The win improves W&J to 5-0 overall and 4-0 in PAC play. Geneva, now 2-3 overall, 2-2 in the League, built a 14-0 first-quarter lead, thanks to two grinding drives led by QB Amos Luptak. The Presidents started their comeback with a26-yard scoring pass from Justin Heacock to Andrew Wolf early in the second quarter. After forcing a punt, W&J quickly moved inside the Geneva 10 but the drive stalled out and the Red & Black settled for a 22-yard Sean Disbrow field goal to pull within 14-10 at the half. The Golden Tornadoes scored early in the third on a 47-yard pass from Luptak to Payton Schell, their second TD connection. The PAT kick was wide ride, but Geneva led 20-10. W&J’s defense held the Beaver Falls squad to just four first downs over the final 24 minutes of the game. On the Presidents’ next possession, EJ Thompson, filling in for an injured Joey Koroly, scampered in from nine yards out, to get W&J within a field goal. Wolf set up the go-ahead score, with a 26-yard punt return deep into Geneva territory. Heacock found his favorite target in the back of the endzone for the 19-yard touchdown and W&J escaped with the win.
October 3, 2021 4:00 am
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) – Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers and Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger haven’t faced off as starting quarterbacks since the Packers defeated the Steelers in the Super Bowl a decade ago. That finally changes Sunday when the Packers host the Steelers in just the third overall matchup between the two potential Hall of Famers. Rodgers didn’t play in either of the Packers’ past two meetings with the Steelers because of separate collarbone injuries. Roethlisberger led the Steelers to victories in both those games. The Steelers are the only NFL team Rodgers hasn’t faced at Lambeau Field as a starting quarterback.
October 3, 2021 7:41 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Bryan Reynolds had four hits, raising his batting average above .300, to help the Pittsburgh Pirates rally from a five-run deficit and beat the Cincinnati Reds 8-6 on Saturday night. He had a double and triple and is hitting .302 on the season. The three-year veteran batted just .189 during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season after hitting .314 as a rookie. The Pirates went ahead for good 7-6 in the sixth inning when Reynolds tripled in a run. The Reds had tied it in the top of the inning on Tyler Stephenson’s RBI double. Ben Gamel had three of the Pirates’ 16 hits and Michael Chavis, Jacob Stallings and Oneil Cruz added two each. Pittsburgh has won back-to-back game since reaching 100 losses.
October 2, 2021 1:04 am
After several weeks of blowout games, both of our feature match-ups went down to the wire Friday. Ft. Cherry stopped Northgate twice inside the 15 yard line and drove 96 yards between for the winning score as the Rangers improve to 2-1 in the 1A Big Seven Conference. Trinity built a 10-point lead with just under six minutes to play but had to scramble to knock off West Mifflin, 20-19, keeping the Hillers in control of their own playoff destiny.
Canon-McMillan took charge of a 6A playoff spot with a comfortable win over Hempfield. Peters Township scored first but Upper St. Clair dominated the rest of the game in both teams 5A conference opener.
Waynesburg beat Frazier while Chartiers-Houston topped Charleroi, with the Raiders and Cougars now tied for the fourth playoff spot in the 2A Century Conference.
Burgettstown lost its third straight in the 1A Big Seven. Bentworth survived a wild game with Jeff-Morgan, both teams now in a three-way tie with Mapletown for the last 1A Tri-County South berth. West Greene’s win over Carmichaels keeps the Pioneers perfect and drops the Mikes into a three-way tie for second with California and Monessen.
COVID-19 continues to impact area schools and their football teams. Two games involving Washington County teams were not be played Friday because of the pandemic’s touch. Avella did not have enough available players so the Eagles’ Tri-County South game at California was postponed. No makeup has been announced. Beth-Center notified Washington Thursday morning that the Bulldogs would be forfeiting their Century Conference home game against the Little Prexies. BC officials told WJPA Sports that the game was canceled “due to injuries/COVID-related issues.”
Week 5 results:
6A Canon-McMillan 45, Hempfield 27
5A Upper St. Clair 31, Peters Township 3
4A Trinity 20, West Mifflin 19
4A McKeesport 41, Ringgold 0
2A Wash High by forfeit over Beth-Center
2A Chartiers-Houston 27, Charleroi 10
2A Waynesburg 27, Frazier 7
1A Shenango 28, Burgettstown 6
1A Ft. Cherry 29, Northgate 28
1A Avella at California. postponed
1A Bentworth 49, Jeff-Morgan 48
1A West Greene 41, Carmichaels 20
1A Mapletown 15, Monessen 8
Ex. Linsly 26, McGuffey 21
