Iowa State football coach Matt Campbell is in his second season in Ames and says the biggest difference in opening fall practice this year is knowing what he has. He says they were apprehensive last year as they were only six months in and were not trying to create trust and belief among the players, but also trying to figure out what the players could and couldn’t do.

Campbell says they’ve also had more than a year now to be with the players and teach and work with them. “And that to me is the essence of a football program. It’s not just go recruit guys and get good players here — its’ really develop those people within your walls and give them the tools and resources to have sustained success,” Campbell explains. “I think that we feel really comfortable even though we’ve only been here now a year-and-a-half, that we’ve been able to give some of those tools. and it’s been fun to watch some of our improvement.”

He says there are a lot more people involved in the program than when he was at Toledo and a big key is that everyone now is on the same page. He says the one word to describe it is alignment as everyone now is aligned to the same vision. “As we came in here, whether it was players, whether it was strength and conditioning, athletic training, nutrition, academics, all of us are together, unified, going in the same direction,” Campbell says.

Campbell isn’t predicting a number for season wins or that the team will get to a bowl game. “You know really for me the future of the program has zero to do with wining and losing. My humble opinion,” Campbell says. “Obviously at the end of it, winning and losing will take care of itself. No greater competitor in this room than Matt Campbell — I’ll cheat in golf if I have to to win okay — but at the end of this, the deal in football wining and losing takes care of itself.”

He says that doesn’t mean they don’t have goals. “Yeah we want to go play in bowl games, yes our goal is to win Big 12 champions some day. But for us to get there we have to learn what the process is and laying a foundation to continue that. I think we’ve laid a good foundation,” according to Campbell.

He says they’ll know a lot more about the team after the first few weeks of the season.
“Where are we as a football program? Gosh I don’t know. We are in year two of taking this program over and seeing it, there are lot of young that’re guys playing,” Campbell says. “Does that mean that we can’t win and not have success — absolutely not, that doesn’t mean that. But it’s going to be really fun to see where this program is in four weeks.”

Iowa State opens the season with back-to-back in-state home games against Northern Iowa on September 2nd and then Iowa on September 9th.

(Learfield Sports)

MILWAUKEE (AP) – Keon Broxton drove in the go-ahead run and saved a run with a leaping catch, Matt Garza made a strong start in his return from the disabled list, and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 on Thursday afternoon.

Broxton, who robbed Jose Martinez of a homer in the second when he stretched his glove atop the center field wall, gave Milwaukee a 2-1 lead with a single in the fifth off reliever Brett Cecil (1-4).

Garza (5-5), making his first start since July 21 because of a right leg strain, gave up one earned run on four hits in 5 2/3 innings to give second-place Milwaukee its first home series win over St. Louis since July 2012.

Kolten Wong missed a tying home run by a few feet when his drive to right-center bounced off the wall in the eighth. He was stranded at second when Anthony Swarzak retired Tommy Pham on a groundout and Matt Carpenter on a flyout.

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) – Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson returned to training camp Thursday after missing two workouts with a tooth abscess, while a trio of cornerbacks had to leave practice early with various injuries.

Terrance Mitchell, who could start at cornerback alongside Marcus Peters, went to the locker room on a cart with a sore hamstring. Roster long shots J.R. Nelson left with a groin injury and Keith Baxter with a wrist injury.

Running back Charcandrick West continued to do rehab work after dealing with an ankle injury earlier in the week. Defensive end Chris Jones and left guard Parker Ehinger also continued their rehab. Jones had knee surgery in July and Parker had surgery to repair his ACL last November.

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast w/Jim Field.

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MILWAUKEE (AP) — Yadier Molina hit two solo home runs, Kolten Wong added a two-run double, Luke Weaver pitched into the seventh inning and the St. Louis Cardinals held on for a 5-4 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night.

Weaver (1-1) made one mistake in the first and Eric Thames hit it for his 25th home run of the season. Weaver regrouped and held the Brewers scoreless until Hernan Perez’s one-out RBI single in the seventh.

Weaver allowed five hits, struck out eight and walked two over 6 1/3 innings in his first road start of the season. Molina homered in the fourth and then crushed the first pitch from Brent Suter (2-2) leading off the sixth over the wall in left for his 12th of the season and fourth career multi-homer game.

Jesus Aguilar hit a pinch-hit, two-run homer off John Brebbia in the eighth. Trevor Rosenthal got the last four outs for his seventh save.

After years of high expectations in the Missouri Valley Football Conference and nationally, Northern Iowa’s reputation as an FCS power seems to have diminished heading into 2017. The Panthers fell to 5-6 last year despite opening the season with a win at Iowa State. They were picked fourth in the Valley’s preseason poll, without a single vote for first.

Northern Iowa figures to have another tough schedule in 2017, starting when it opens its season Sept. 2 against the Cyclones. Coach Mark Farley said Wednesday, “This team will find its course. We have a lot of youth, speed and depth.”

In some ways, last season’s subpar record wasn’t so bad. The Panthers lost to subdivision powers Montana and Eastern Washington and narrowly fell to North Dakota State and Youngstown State.

An annual survey of the state’s pheasant population was launched Tuesday and will continue through the middle of this month. Todd Bogenschutz coordinates the survey for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. He suggests this could end up being the highest statewide pheasant count since 2006. “If we see a 40-percent increase like we did in 2015, I think that would be true,” Bogenschutz said. “That’s kind of what we’re hoping for I guess, but we’ll have to see.”

In 2015, the statewide pheasant count increased by 40-percent following a mild winter. Much of the state had very little snowfall this past winter, which likely resulted in good hen survival. “We brought more hens into the spring and more hens putting eggs down always gives you good potential,” Bogenschutz said.    

Iowa’s statewide snowfall average for this past winter was 20.4 inches, but most of the snow fell over northwest and north-central Iowa. Sections of central and southern Iowa received snowfall totals that were up to a foot BELOW normal. Bogenschutz says the pheasant HUNTER numbers in Iowa have increased as the BIRD numbers have improved. “If you go back to 2007, before our numbers crashed with that five years of bad weather we had, we were at about 100,000 hunters. We plummeted down to around 40,000 by 2011,” Bogenschutz said.

The number of pheasant hunters in Iowa last year climbed to roughly 60,000. The roadside pheasant population survey runs for 15 days. Data is collected from 208 30-mile survey routes around the state. In addition to pheasants, the survey also collects information on cottontail rabbits, jack rabbits, quail and Hungarian partridge. Results of the survey will be released in early-to-mid September.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association is hosting their All-Star Series this weekend August 3rd-6th. Games will be played at Waukee, Johnston, and Ankeny with players staying in West Des Moines. The teams will play a round robin of games through Saturday, with a consolation and championship game played on Sunday. A number of other activities will be provided to the athletes through the weekend such as bowling and attending an Iowa Cubs game. Here is a look at the players and coaches that will be participating.

2017 IHSBCA All-Star Series Teams

August 3-6, 2017 @ Des Moines (Games played at Waukee, Johnston and Ankeny)

Small Schools West Squad:

Pitchers: Tyler Heineman – Sgt. Bluff-Luton, Spencer Hanson – Woodward-Granger, Kendrick Umphreys – Treynor, Brett Barnett – Martensdale St. Mary’s.
Catchers: Jordan Wendel – Alta-Aurelia, Quentin Sefrit – Bedford.
Infield: Devin Porter – Saydel, Dillon Sears – Harlan, Keaton King – West Harrison, Jacob Wesselmann – Remsen St. Mary’s, Brett Daley – Treynor.
Outfield: Kade Overton – ADM, Ryley McGregor – Sgt. Bluff-Luton, Isaac McAlister – Coon Rapids Bayard, Steve Lawrence – Gilbert. Utility: Austin Allard – Akron-Westfield.
Coaches: JR Gebhart (HC) – Saydel, Frank Sefrit – Bedford, Dan Wendel – Alta-Aurelia.

Small Schools East Squad:

Pitchers: Trenton Wallace – Dav. Assumption, Nathan Struve – Vinton-Shellsburg, Cameron Baumann – Fairfield, Colton Shipman – Forest City.
Catchers: Clay Emhoff – West Fork, Ryan Gorman – New Hampton.
Infield: Evan Reifert – Wilton, Cameron Hoeg – North Tama, Ben Fitzgerald – Newman Catholic, Austin Savary – Dub. Wahlert, Ross Randall – West Marshall.
Outfield: Bryce Simon – Cascade, Peyton Scott – Newman Catholic, Cael Lambe – Union, David Disney – West Marshall. Utility: Tate Hovden – North Fayette Valley.
Coaches: Dan Hovden (HC) – N. Fayette Valley, Kory Tuescher – Dub. Wahlert, Dan Kopriva – North Tama.

Large Schools West Squad:

Pitchers: Jack Dreyer – Johnston, Ben Probst – WDM Dowling, William Rodruck – WDM Valley, Cameron Cowan – Ankeny Centennial.
Catchers: Cade Maharry – DM Roosevelt, Brodrick Woods – Waukee.
Infield: Jake Gilbert – Ankeny Centennial, Blake Elam – CB Lincoln, Sam Olson – WDM Dowling, Beau Bosley – Sioux City East, Joel Stroman – Sioux City West.
Outfield: Dylan Voves – Mason City, Keaton Candor – LeMars, Calvin Smith – Waukee, Kameron Russell – DM North.
Utility: Brendon Figueroa – Lewis Central.
Coaches: Chris Miller (HC) –DM Roosevelt , Mark Roering – WDM Dowling, Brett Elam – Council Bluffs Lincoln.

Large Schools East Squad:

Pitchers: Austin Marchesani – Cedar Falls, Austin Shotts – Ottumwa, Dylan Gotto – Western Dubuque, Tyler Hillman – Pella.
Catchers: Brett McCleary – Iowa City High, Nick Hagen – Burlington.
Infield: Izaya Ono-Fullard – Iowa City West, Matt Berst – CR Kennedy, TJ Deardorff – Dubuque Senior, Sam Stonskas – North Scott, Rylan Lechner – Linn-Mar.
Outfield: Gregory Bennett – Western Dubuque, Joshua Stivers – Pleasant Valley, Adam Sacia – North Scott, Kirby Kerr – Linn-Mar. Utility: Kyle Cunningham – Clinton.
Coaches: Dan Hovden (HC) – North Fayette Valley, Kory Tuescher – Dubuque Wahlert, Dan Kopriva – North Tama.

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast w/Jim Field.

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Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Jimmy Nelson finally beat St. Louis with six strong innings, and the Milwaukee Brewers held on for a 3-2 victory over the Cardinals on Tuesday night. Nelson entered 0-8 with a 7.01 ERA in 11 appearances against the Cardinals. This time, the right-hander overcame his division rival by allowing just two runs on six hits with seven strikeouts.

BALTIMORE (AP) — Dylan Bundy allowed three hits over a career-high eight innings, newcomer Tim Beckham had two hits and scored twice and the resurgent Baltimore Orioles beat the Kansas City Royals 7-2 Tuesday night for their fourth straight victory. Seth Smith drove in three runs to help the Orioles move within two games of .500 for the first time since July 3.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Rams are long gone from St. Louis, but they still may owe more than $350,000 in taxes to the state of Missouri. The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed a ruling from an administrative hearing that determined the NFL team didn’t have to pay state sales tax on a special city entertainment fee added to tickets from 2007 to 2013.

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Kansas State basketball coach Bruce Weber agreed a two-year contract extension Tuesday that could keep him with the Wildcats through the 2020-21 season. It was the first major personnel decision made by new athletic director Gene Taylor.