AMES, Iowa (AP) — Sam Richardson threw two touchdown passes and Iowa State got rolling in the second half to open the season with a 31-7 victory over Northern Iowa on Saturday night. Iowa State bottled up its FCS opponent for most of the steamy night and provided a key victory for coach Paul Rhoads, who is under scrutiny after winning only five games over the last two seasons.

The Cyclones also ended a two-game losing streak to FCS teams and won its opener for the first time since 2012, delighting a record crowd of 61,500 in newly expanded Jack Trice Stadium. Illinois transfer Aaron Bailey totaled 199 yards and threw a touchdown pass in his first game at quarterback for the Panthers. But he was sacked five times and UNI was hurt throughout by poor field position.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Conley Wilkins ran for three touchdowns to lead Drake past William Jewell 44-30 Saturday night. Drake built a 26-9 in the third quarter on Andy Rice’s 48-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Yarwood with 7:54 left. But the Cardinals’ Anthony Mullins ran the ensuing kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown making it 26-16. Josh Lee hit a 24-yard field goal making it 29-16 to end the quarter.

Nick West then led the Cardinals 69 yards in eight plays, capped by a 21-yard touchdown pass to Cody Edwards cutting the lead to 29-23. Drake countered with its own eight-play drive, which ended with a 22-yard touchdown toss from Rice to Eric Staubert with 9:08 left. The two-point conversion extended the lead to 37-23. Wilkins, who had 110 yards rushing, concluded the Bulldogs’ scoring with a 4-yard run.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — C.J. Beathard threw for 211 yards and a touchdown in his first career start at Kinnick Stadium and Iowa pounded Illinois State 31-14 on Saturday. Beathard also ran for two touchdowns, and LeShun Daniels, Jr. had 123 yards rushing for the Hawkeyes in their opener.

Iowa held the FCS Redbirds to just 231 yards — roughly half of what they averaged per game last season. Iowa raced out to a 17-0 halftime lead and pushed it to 31-0 on Beathard’s 1-yard plunge midway through the fourth quarter. Jake Kolbe had 147 yards passing and two meaningless late TDs for Illinois State.

The 7:18-a.m. Sportscast w/Ric Hanson.

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ST. LOUIS (AP) — J.A. Happ pitched seven scoreless innings and Starling Marte drove in three runs to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 9-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night. Happ allowed only three singles and won for the fourth time in six starts since being acquired from Seattle at the July 31 trade deadline. He retired 15 straight batters in one stretch, matched his season-high with eight strikeouts and walked none. Happ (4-1) lowered his ERA with the Pirates to 1.57.

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

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(2-0) A-D-M, Adel 21-21, Knoxville 12-8
(2-0) A-D-M, Adel 21-21, Newton 14-19
(2-0) A-D-M, Adel 21-21, Perry 15-19
(2-0) Bedford 25-25, Riverside, Oakland 20-10
(3-0) Denison-Schleswig 25-25-25, Shenandoah 12-17-19
(3-0) Des Moines Christian 25-25-25, Panorama 12-16-10
(3-0) East Mills 25-26-25, Southwest Valley 14-24-20
(2-1) Essex 19-25-15, Bedford 25-21-10
(2-0) Essex 25-25, Riverside, Oakland 5-15
(3-1) Kuemper Catholic, Carroll 26-34-15-25, Red Oak 24-32-25-12
(3-1) Lenox 25-27-21-25, Martensdale-St Marys 20-25-25-12
(2-0) Maple Valley-Anthon Oto 25-25, Missouri Valley 22-19
(2-0) Maple Valley-Anthon Oto 25-25, Sioux City, North 20-22
(2-0) Maple Valley-Anthon Oto 28-25, West Monona 26-19
(2-0) Norwalk 21-21, A-D-M, Adel 15-17
(3-0) Sidney 25-25-25, Fremont-Mills 11-17-18
(3-0) St. Albert, Council Bluffs 25-25-25, Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln 8-12-14
(2-0) Tarkio 25-25, South Page 10-14
(3-1) Van Meter 25-25-22-25, Earlham 22-14-25-18
(3-2) West Central Valley, Stuart 24-25-9-25-15, Southeast Warren, Liberty Center 26-21-25-22-8
(3-0) Winterset 25-25-25, Carlisle 21-20-14
(2-0) Woodward-Granger 22-21, A-D-M, Adel 20-19

The Exira-EHK Spartans and CAM Cougars were both big winners in week one 8-man football.  The Cougars went on the road and pounded out a win against rival Adair-Casey 66-8 while the Spartans stayed home and forged a win against Nishnabotna 35-6.

Both teams would like to build on that week 1 success but it will be a tough task for both teams.  Exira-EHK Head Coach Tom Petersen spoke with KJAN after their win against Nishnabotna and he expects CAM to be a tough opponent.

“We are going to have to get better in a hurry. Next week we go down to CAM and Joe has a good ball team this year. He has some bigger guys and some experience so we are going to have our hands full.” said Petersen.

The Spartans will rely on Senior Brady Hansen at the Quarterback spot whom will look to build off a strong performance against the Blue Devils. Hansen threw for 101 yards and two scores and also rushed for 101 yards and another score.  Coach Petersen knows he has the experience to lead.

“He has been there, Brady did it a year ago.  He played, came in for Drew Peppers and did a great job.  He throws a great ball and he’s got a great really good idea and concept of what our offense is trying to do. We’ll be fine with what Brady does, he’s a great Quarterback.” said Petersen.

The Spartans will have to deal with CAM Senior Quarterback Drew Ticknor.  Ticknor threw for 77 yards and 3 touchdowns while also rushing for 48 yards and a score in that week one win over the Bombers.

Exira EHK and CAM are set to kickoff at 7:00pm tonight in Anita.

The Atlantic Trojans will travel to Denison tonight looking for their first win of the season after an opening week loss to Clarinda 34-14. Atlantic Head Coach Eric Waldstein took away some positives from the first game of the year and thinks progress is being made.

“We’re much improved compared to where we were a year ago. And for the most part, probably 90% of the time, we are doing everything right. It’s just a matter of taking care of the little things.” Waldstein said.

Atlantic faces a Denison team that fell in week one 44-7 to Harlan.  Monarch Quarterback Brandon Brotherton was sacked 4 times in that game and Coach Waldstein said the Trojans will try to keep the pressure on him.

“Yeah that’s what we do as a defense.  We like to bring pressure and bring man coverage. Everybody that we played against last year, they know what to expect from us and that’s what your going to get is man coverage and lots of pressure.  Hopefully we are able to take advantage of some of their lack of experience on offense and make some big plays on D.” said Waldstein

Denison Head Coach Chad Van Kley thought his defense played well at times last week in short field situations and he wants them to stay disciplined this week against Atlantic.

“They have some people that played last year. They were a little young last year, they have some guys that bring experience back.  They have some athletes… that when the ball is in their hands in open space they will make some things happen…Our job is to try to contain it. We have to try to minimize their open field and really rally to the football and be disciplined in our defensive approach to them.” said Van Kley.

You can hear more from both coaches during our pregame coverage starting and 6:30pm and you can also hear an extended interview with Coach Waldstein on Trojan Preview at 4:45pm.  The Trojans and the Monarchs kick off tonight at 7:30pm on KJAN.