Western Iowa Conference

(3-0) Audubon 25-25-25, Logan-Magnolia 23-20-23

Rolling Valley Conference

(3-1) CAM 20-25-25-25, Paton-Churdan 25-14-19-8

Corner Conference

(3-1) Fremont-Mills 25-25-17-25, Heartland Christian 21-8-25-13
(2-0) Fremont-Mills 25-25, Cornerstone Christian 9-12
(2-1) Heartland Christian 25-22-15, Cornerstone Christian 23-25-10
(3-0) South Page 25-25-26, West Nodaway 17-16-24

By JAY COHEN, AP Sports Writer
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A chuckling Eric Thames said it felt so good he almost ripped third base out of the ground and hoisted it above his head.
A lot of that going around for Milwaukee these days.

Thames tripled and scored on reliever Bud Norris’ throwing error in the eighth inning, and the Brewers improved their playoff positioning by topping the St. Louis Cardinals 6-4 on Monday night.

“You have to capitalize on errors and bad pitches, wild pitches and stuff like that,” Thames said. “Tonight we did that.”

Ryan Braun homered and Christian Yelich drove in two runs as Milwaukee won for the fourth time in five games. The Brewers (90-67) opened a three-game lead over St. Louis for the top spot in the wild-card standings and pulled within 1 1/2 games of the NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs, who lost 5-1 to Pittsburgh.

“Offensively, we did a heck of a job,” manager Craig Counsell said.

Corbin Burnes (7-0), the seventh of nine Milwaukee pitchers, got two outs for the win, and Corey Knebel worked the ninth for his 16th save. With a runner on, Jose Martinez fouled off four two-strike pitches before taking a called third strike for the final out.

Chase Anderson was slated to start before Counsell announced Sunday that the team had decided to go with a bullpen game instead. Dan Jennings made his first career start and retired Matt Carpenter on a grounder to second before the left-hander was replaced by Freddy Peralta, beginning a parade of relievers for the Brewers.

“Props to everybody who came in behind me and the position players for getting it done,” Jennings said. “That’s a grind right there.”

Martinez and Marcell Ozuna homered off Josh Hader in the rain, but St. Louis (87-70) was unable to close out a one-run lead. The Cardinals’ advantage in the race for the second NL wild card was trimmed to a half-game over Colorado, which cruised to a 10-1 win over Philadelphia.

“It’s not frustrating, at all,” Martinez said. “We’ve got two games to win the series.”

Thames has played sparingly this year with the Brewers in playoff contention. But Counsell sent him up to hit for Burnes in the eighth and he tripled past a sliding Martinez in right field with one out.

“Oh man, it felt amazing,” Thames said.

After Mike Moustakas was intentionally walked, Norris (3-6) tried a pickoff throw that hit the baserunner before bounding away from first baseman Matt Carpenter.

“It was called from the dugout. … A decent throw, but obviously crept in and got him and the ball bounced away,” Norris said. “Just a tough break. Very unfortunate.”

Thames scored easily and Yelich added an RBI double in the ninth as Milwaukee improved to 9-8 against St. Louis this season. Yelich, one of the top candidates for NL MVP, also walked and scored on Braun’s bases-loaded walk as the Brewers scored two runs in the sixth without a hit, opening a 3-1 lead.

St. Louis staged a dramatic rally as the showers intensified on a soggy night at Busch Stadium.
Martinez led off the sixth with a drive to center for his 17th homer, sending a charge through the crowd of 36,508. After Paul DeJong walked, Ozuna put the Cardinals in front with a screaming liner just over the wall in center.

Hader had given up just six homers in 51 appearances this year, and none since Anthony Rizzo connected for the Cubs on Sept. 3.
But Milwaukee quickly answered. The Brewers loaded the bases with one out in the seventh against Jordan Hicks, and Keon Broxton scampered home with the tying run on Yelich’s fielder’s choice back up the middle.

UP NEXT
Brewers left-hander Gio Gonzalez (9-11, 4.28 ERA) and Cardinals left-hander Austin Gomber (6-1, 3.63) pitch on Tuesday night. Gonzalez is 2-0 with a 1.65 ERA in three starts since he was acquired in a trade with Washington on Aug. 31. Gomber is coming off a solid start at Atlanta, allowing one run in five innings for an 8-1 victory.

Class 4A
1. WDM Valley (5-0) LW #1 vs Urbandale
2. Cedar Falls (5-0) LW #2 vs Cedar Rapids Jefferson
3. Ankeny Centennial (5-0) LW #3 vs S.E. Polk
4. Bettendorf (4-1) LW #4 @ Burlington
5. Iowa City West (4-1) LW #5 @ Linn-Mar
6. Dowling Catholic (3-2) LW #6 @ DSM Lincoln
7. Johnston (4-1) LW #7 vs Ottumwa
8. Waukee (3-2) LW #8 vs DSM East
9. Cedar Rapids Prairie (4-1) LW #9 @ Dubuque Hempstead
10.Indianola (5-0) LW #10 vs Mason City

Class 3A
1. Lewis Central (5-0) LW #1 @ Winterset
2. Cedar Rapids Xavier (5-0) LW #2 vs Dubuque Wahlert
3. Pella (5-0) LW #3 vs South Tama
4. Solon (5-0) LW #4 vs Washington
5. North Scott (4-1) LW #6 @ Iowa City Liberty
6. Western Dubuque (4-1) LW #7 vs Center Point-Urbana
7. Clear Creek-Amana (5-0) LW #10 @ Clinton
8. Sergeant Bluff-Luton (4-1) LW #9 vs LeMars
9. Harlan (4-1) LW (X) vs Glenwood
10.Sioux City Heelan (4-1) LW #5 @ Denison-Schleswig

Class 2A
1. PCM (Monroe) (5-0) LW #1 @ Saydel
2. Spirit Lake (5-0) LW #2 @ Southeast Valley
3. Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley (4-1) LW #3 vs Okoboji
4. Waukon (4-1) LW #5 @ Oelwein
5. Clear Lake (4-1) LW #6 @ Crestwood
6. Greene County (5-0) LW #7 @ Carroll Kuemper
7. Algona (5-0) LW #8 @ Clarion-Goldfield-Dows
8. West Marshall (4-1) LW #10 vs Vinton-Shellsburg
9. Union (LaPorte City) (3-2) LW (X) vs Roland-Story
10.Benton (4-1) LW #4 vs Nevada

Class 1A
1. Van Meter (5-0) LW #1 @ West Central Valley
2. Dike-New Hartford (5-0) LW #3 @ East Marshall
3. South Central Calhoun (5-0) LW #4 @ South Hamilton
4. Bellevue (5-0) LW #7 @ Dyersville Beckman
5. Wilton (4-1) LW #5 @ Wapello
6. West Lyon (4-1) LW #6 @ Unity Christian
7. West Branch (4-1) LW #2 vs North Cedar
8. Mediapolis (5-0) LW #8 @ Columbus Jct.
9. West Sioux (4-1) LW #9 vs Western Christian
10.Sumner-Fredricksburg (5-0) LW #10 vs Osage

Class A
1. Hudson (5-0) LW #1 vs #4 Saint Ansgar
2. Algona Garrigan (5-0) LW #2 vs #8 Belmond-Klemme
3. AHSTW (Avoca) (5-0) LW #3 @ Earlham
4. Saint Ansgar (4-1) LW #5 @ #1 Hudson
5. North Tama (4-1) LW #6 vs Grundy Center
6. Pekin (4-1) LW #7 vs Highland (Riverside)
7. Hinton (5-0) LW #8 @ HMS (Hartley)
8. Belmond-Klemme (5-0) LW #10 @ #2 Algona Garrigan
9. BGM (Brooklyn) (5-0) LW (X) vs Belle Plaine
10.Edgewood-Colesburg (4-1) LW (X) vs Lisbon

Eight-man
1. Don Bosco (5-0) LW #1 vs #9 Northwood-Kensett
2. Newell-Fonda (5-0) LW #2 vs #7 AR-WE-VA
3. New London (5-0) LW #5 vs Winfield-Mt. Union
4. Iowa Valley (5-0) LW #4 @ English Valleys
5. Exira-EHK (5-0) LW #6 vs West Harrison
6. Midland (5-1) LW #7 vs West Central (Maynard)
7. AR-WE-VA (5-0) LW #8 @ #2 Newell-Fonda
8. S.E. Warren (6-0) LW #9 @ Lenox
9. Northwood-Kensett (5-0) LW #10 @ #1 Don Bosco
10.Central City (5-0) LW (X) @ Easton Valley

Monday marks the start of Homecoming week in Atlantic leading up the football game on Friday night against the OA-BCIG Falcons and the dance on Saturday.

Atlantic students will be dressing up throughout spirit week and lunch games will be held throughout the week along with a dodgeball tournament for girls. Each class will make a float and judging will be held on Wednesday evening. The dress days are: Monday: Numero Uno – Colors for Each Class: Seniors-Blue, Juniors- Yellow, Sophomores-Green, Freshmen-Red. Tuesday: Glucose World – Pajama Day. Wednesday: Who is You? – Students Dress as Teachers, Teachers as Students. Thursday: Camo Day. Friday: Black and Gold.

Voting for King and Queen will take place on Wednesday. Queen candidates this year are: Halsey Bailey, Alyssa Ginther, Taylor Hansen, Cambry Miller, Baylee Newell, Sadie Welter, Ashley Wendt. King candidates are: Nathan Behrends, Tyler Comes, Matthew Gearheart, Kenneth Jimerson, Chase McLaren, Connor Pellett, and Korben Peterson. Corontation and Pep Assembly will start at 12:13pm on Friday.

The Homecoming parade will begin at 2:30pm on Friday. Parade entry forms are available in the high school office or online at www.atlanticiaschools.org. Entry forms are due by Thursday, September 27th at 3:00pm. Businesses and individuals are encouraged to join the parade.

Awarding of the spirit stick will take place at halftime of the football game and the Homecoming dance is on Saturday night.

You can contact the high school office at 243-5358 if you have any questions about Homecoming festivities.

w/ Chris Parks

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ST. LOUIS (AP) — Miles Mikolas’ outing against the San Francisco Giants was typical, and typical for him is pretty good.

Mikolas won his fourth straight start, Matt Carpenter hit his NL-leading 36th homer and the Cardinals beat the Giants 9-2 to complete a three-game sweep and remain on track for the NL’s second wild card.

St. Louis (87-69) has won three straight games and six of seven. The Cardinals remained 1½ games ahead of Colorado (85-70) and two games behind Milwaukee, the wild card leader. St. Louis hosts the Brewers (89-67) in a three-game series starting Monday night.

“We feel pretty good,” Mikolas said. “We feel strong. We feel like we’re a team that’s real dangerous and a team that’s going to come out and give a lot of people trouble.”

Mikolas (17-4) allowed two runs — one earned — and two hits in seven innings with eight strikeouts and no walks. John Brebbia and Giovanny Gallegos, who made his Cardinals debut, finished a five-hitter.

“I had some good sink of my fastball so I tried to use that a lot,” said Mikolas, tied with Washington’s Max Scherzer and Chicago’s Jon Lester for the NL lead in wins. “Just pound the zone. They took some swings early so I was able to get some quick outs.”

Mikolas has made 11 starts of at least seven innings and the two hits he gave up were a season low.

“He works ahead in the count so that creates doubt,” Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said. “He can pretty much throw any pitch he wants at any time in the count. He throws inner half, which sets up the outer half, which disrupts the balance of the hitter and he can change speed which disrupts the timing of the hitter. That combination is what pitching is.”

Andrew Suarez (7-12) gave up two runs and six hits in five innings as San Francisco gave him three runs or less of run support during his time in the game for the 21st time this season. The Giants finished 31-50 on the road for a two-year record of 57-105 away from home.

San Francisco has lost 10 straight road games against NL Central teams since winning at the Chicago Cubs on May 27.

“It’s a tough lineup,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of the Cardinals. “They’ve got power, speed, good athletes.”

The bottom two in the Cardinals batting order built a 2-0 lead with two-out singles, by Yairo Munoz in the second and Mikolas in the fourth.

Harrison Bader bunted in a run to spark a five-run sixth that includes RBI singles by Munoz and Paul DeJong around Jose Martinez’s two-run double. Carpenter hit a two-run homer off Casey Kelly in the eighth.

“Everybody contributed,” Carpenter said. “Guys finding a way to score even when we’ve got some guys that aren’t getting it done. It’s the making of a good team.”

Brandon Crawford’s two-run homer in the seventh stopped an 0-for-9 skid.

“I’ve faced him a few times back in 2012 but other than that I haven’t seen him for years,” Crawford said of Mikolas. “I was just looking for something up that I can put in play and try and just get the bat on and fortunately saw the curve ball enough to put the barrel on it.”

TRAINING ROOM

Cardinals: 2B Kolten Wong missed his second consecutive start after leaving Friday’s game in the seventh inning with cramps in both hamstrings.

DEBUT

INF Edmundo Sosa was recalled from Triple-A Memphis. Sosa made his debut when he walked as a pinch-hitter in the eighth, and he scored on Carpenter’s home run.

UP NEXT

Giants: LHP Derek Holland (7-8, 3.57 ERA) starts the first of a three-game series at home against San Diego and RHP Bryan Mitchell (1-4, 6.16 ERA) on Monday night. Holland will make his first start since July 18, which was also against the Padres, where he allowed four runs in five innings.

Cardinals: RHP Jack Flaherty (8-8, 3.08 ERA) kicks off a three-game home series Monday night against Milwaukee and RHP Chase Anderson (9-8, 3.93 ERA). Flaherty is 1-1 with a 2.35 ERA in four career starts against the Brewers.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes is just as efficient at home as he is on the road. He gets the same results, too. After winning his first three starts, all away from Arrowhead Stadium, the second-year pro finally made his regular-season home debut Sunday. Mahomes responded by torching San Francisco’s banged-up pass defense for 314 yards and three touchdowns in a 38-27 victory over the 49ers.

Mahomes now has 13 touchdown passes without an interception, breaking the NFL record for TD passes in the first three weeks of a season. Peyton Manning threw 12 to start the 2013 campaign. Mahomes’ touchdown passes to Chris Conley, Demetrius Harris and Sammy Watkins , along with a pair of TD runs by Kareem Hunt, helped Kansas City (3-0) race to a 35-7 lead late in the first half.

Few leads are safe against the Chiefs’ porous defense, though. The 49ers (1-2) rallied behind running backs Matt Breida and Alfred Morris, who kept gouging the Chiefs’ defensive front, and Jimmy Garoppolo, who threw for 251 yards and two scores . It was Garoppolo’s 11-yard pass to Marquis Goodwin early in the third quarter that started the comeback, and Morris scored on a short touchdown run later in the quarter to make it 35-24.

After the Chiefs tacked on a field goal early in the fourth to extend their lead, the 49ers came back with a grinding, 17-play drive that wiped out more than half the period. But it ended in a strange sequence that began with Garoppolo taking a hard hit from Steven Nelson along the sideline. Garoppolo easily could have stepped out of bounds, but instead he was crushed on his throwing shoulder and had to leave.

C.J. Beathard came in and threw what appeared to be a fourth-down touchdown pass to George Kittle, but it was wiped out by offensive pass interference. There was only 5:17 left, but rather than go for it on fourth-and-goal at the Kansas City 25, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan elected to kick a field goal — keeping it a two-possession game.
San Francisco proceeded to kick it deep rather than try an onside kick. The Chiefs picked up a first down on a penalty, and Hunt churned his way for two more first downs to put the game away.

The 49ers have not won in Arrowhead Stadium since Dec. 26, 1982.
UP NEXT…49ers: Play the Chargers in Los Angeles next Sunday. Chiefs: Visit the AFC West-rival Broncos next Monday night.

(2-1) AHSTW, Avoca 21-14-15, Atlantic 13-21-10
(2-0) AHSTW, Avoca 21-21, CAM, Anita 15-13
(2-0) AHSTW, Avoca 21-21, Southwest Valley 11-17
(2-1) AHSTW, Avoca 27-23-15, Panorama 25-25-13
(2-1) Atlantic 21-13-17, CAM, Anita 18-21-15
(2-0) Audubon 21-21, Exira-EHK 15-14
(2-1) Bishop Heelan 21-10-15, Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln 16-21-12
(2-0) Bishop Heelan 22-21, Sioux City, North 20-16
(2-1) Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln 13-21-15, Lewis Central 21-11-11
(2-0) Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln 21-21, Hinton 17-7
(2-0) Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln 21-21, Sheldon 12-15
(2-0) Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln 21-21, Sioux City, East 8-15
(2-0) Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln 21-21, Sioux City, North 10-15
(2-1) Council Bluffs, Thomas Jefferson 21-9-15, Fremont-Mills 16-21-6
(2-0) Dallas Center-Grimes 21-21, Carroll 11-17
(2-1) East Mills 19-21-15, Central Decatur, Leon 21-9-9
(2-1) East Union 11-21-15, Central Decatur, Leon 21-11-12
(2-1) Griswold 21-8-15, Fremont-Mills 17-21-3
(2-1) Kuemper Catholic, Carroll 12-21-16, Sergeant Bluff-Luton 21-16-14
(2-0) Kuemper Catholic, Carroll 21-21, LeMars 9-14
(2-0) Kuemper Catholic, Carroll 21-21, Sioux Center 11-8
(2-0) Kuemper Catholic, Carroll 21-21, Southwest Christian 14-12
(2-1) Kuemper Catholic, Carroll 23-19-15, Unity Christian 21-21-12
(2-0) Kuemper Catholic, Carroll 24-21, Sioux Falls Christian 22-10
(2-0) Lenox 21-21, Audubon 12-18
(2-0) Lenox 21-21, Exira-EHK 13-11
(2-0) Mount Ayr 25-25, Central Decatur, Leon 13-19
(2-1) Panorama 14-21-15, AHSTW, Avoca 21-14-13
(2-1) Panorama 21-18-15, Lenox 16-21-4
(2-0) Panorama 21-21, Atlantic 18-12
(2-0) Panorama 21-21, CAM, Anita 17-19
(2-0) Sergeant Bluff-Luton 21-21, LeMars 17-8
(2-0) Sidney 21-21, Council Bluffs, Thomas Jefferson 12-9
(2-0) Sidney 21-21, East Atchison 4-8
(2-0) Sidney 21-21, Fremont-Mills 6-8
(2-0) Sidney 21-21, Griswold 11-9
(2-1) Southwest Valley 17-24-15, Audubon 21-22-5
(2-0) Southwest Valley 21-21, Lenox 16-16
(2-1) Southwest Valley 23-15-15, Lenox 21-21-6
(2-0) Unity Christian 21-21, LeMars 9-10
(2-1) West Monona 21-14-15, Westwood, Sloan 10-21-7
(2-0) West Monona 21-21, Lawton-Bronson 13-12
(2-0) West Monona 21-21, River Valley 15-6
(2-1) Woodbury Central 21-14-15, West Monona 16-21-13