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Chiefs try to rectify slow starts ahead of Denver

Sports

November 27th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – By the time the Kansas City Chiefs pushed the pause button and looked at the scoreboard on Thursday night, they were already trailing the previously winless Oakland Raiders. Not just trailing, either. They were in a 17-3 hole midway through the third quarter. They rallied down the stretch, even taking a brief lead in the fourth quarter. But a defensive collapse and their offense’s inability to go the length of the field in the closing minutes led to a humiliating 24-20 defeat, one that knocked Kansas City from first place in the AFC West.

“We wanted to start off fast and we didn’t play like that in the first half,” Chiefs linebacker Josh Mauga recalled, “and it kind of hurt us.” That may be an understatement. “We didn’t really start the way we wanted to,” Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith admitted. “You know, on the road, we gave them too much momentum, it felt like.”

When asked to explain the Chiefs’ slow start, running back Jamaal Charles was stumped. “I don’t know, you know? Some games are just like that,” he said. “You learn from those games. Hopefully we’ll learn from it and move on and come back next week against Denver.” Yes, the Chiefs get their bitter division rival at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday night, and with them a prime opportunity to move back into a tie atop the AFC West. But unless they are able to solve a troubling trend of slow starts, Peyton Manning and the Broncos could bury them early.

The Chiefs are 5-0 when leading at halftime. They’re 2-4 in all other games. “We come back home and then we’ve got another big division game, and we are about to handle this the right way,” Smith said. “We can regroup and get it together.” Just how do you get it together, though? How do you fix slow starts? After all, it’s not a tangible problem, something that can be fixed with playcalling alone. It doesn’t come down to personnel groups, necessarily, or the scheme for the week. Often, it involves all of those things and more.

In their opener against Tennessee, the Chiefs trailed 10-3 at halftime. They were behind 23-3 by the fourth quarter, when they finally found traction. The result was still a 26-10 loss, one that is even more frustrating now that Kansas City has clawed back into playoff contention. A few weeks ago in Buffalo, the problem popped up again. Kansas City trailed 10-3 at halftime and 13-3 after three quarters, finally coming alive when the game was coming down the stretch. The Chiefs scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns, their defense shut the Bills out and the result was a confidence-building 17-13 victory. The result was better. The way the Chiefs got there was a bit disappointing.

Andy Reid has experience just about everything over the course of his coaching career, and even the Chiefs’ boss has yet to put his finger on the solution to the slow starts.  “Well, I’ve got to make sure that I dial up plays that will help us with that. If you have an opportunity then we’ve got to execute when given the opportunity,” he said. “It hits all of us and defensively the same thing. There are things you can do as a coach with play calls and then the guys have to execute; we’re all in it together that way.”

Reid shouldered much of the blame for the flop in Oakland, and admitted that “we weren’t as well coordinated as we needed to be.” But he also said the Chiefs failed to grasp the opportunities that were presented, and that responsibility falls on the players. “You’ve got to stay on and execute. That’s one area on both sides of the ball we can do better at it. We didn’t do a great job there,” Reid said. “I didn’t feel it was a letdown; the guys didn’t work hard and all that. It was one of those deals.”

One of those deals the Chiefs are trying hard to resolve by Sunday night.

(Podcast) 7:20-a.m. KJAN Sports, 11/27/2014

Podcasts, Sports

November 27th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

With Chris Parks.

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Prospects look good for pheasant hunting during Thanksgiving

Ag/Outdoor, News, Sports

November 27th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

The turkey gets all the attention during the Thanksgiving holiday, but another bird is creeping back into the spotlight this year. Iowa Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist, Todd Bogenschutz, says after several years with their population being down, pheasants are making a comeback. “One of the traditions in Iowa was doing the pheasant hunt before the Thanksgiving meal and with improved bird numbers this year we’ve been getting pretty positive reports and I expect they’ll probably be a few more folks bringing back that tradition,” Bogenschutz says.

The pheasant season opened October 25th, and while the first few weekends are generally some of the best hunting, he says several factors have combined to make the prospects better for hunting now. “Our bird numbers were improved and on top of that we kind of had the late crop harvest, so it was a little challenging the opening week and week after there,” Bogenschutz says. “People had good success, but the birds figured out those crops were there, and most of those crops are gone now and that’s providing a few more birds that weren’t available to hunters.”

He says the latest snowfall also is a benefit to hunters. “Birds can make use of road ditches or even crop fields before we had snow and blend in pretty well, but now when things turn white the birds aren’t so comfortable just being out there in the open. That helps hunters, they can concentrate on the good areas of habitat, and that’s probably where the birds will move to as well,” Bogenschutz explains. A final count on the pheasant harvest won’t come until March, but Bogenschutz likes what he’s heard form hunters thus far.

“It’s just anecdotal reports, but they have all been positive. Folks are really pleasantly surprised with the bird numbers and the success they have been having,” Bogenschutz says. “I think that’s going to lead to probably our best bird harvest that we’ve had in a number of years.” Hunting hours for the pheasant season are 8 a-m until 4:30 p-m each day. The daily limit is three rooster pheasants. The season closes on January 10th.

(Radio Iowa)

Chiefs’ Charles dedicates game to drowning victims

Sports

November 27th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles is dedicating Sunday night’s game against Denver to two teenagers who drowned in a Missouri farm pond over the weekend. Charles met one of the boys, Andre Lance, a few years ago at training camp and remembered taking a photo with him. The 17-year-old Lance and his high school classmate, Tyler Brandt, were found in the ice-covered farm pond Sunday night near Savannah in northwest Missouri.

Charles said that he learned of the drowning through social media. The Chiefs were already playing with heavy hearts after learning safety Eric Berry has a mass in his chest that could be lymphoma. Berry was still undergoing tests Wednesday but will miss the remainder of the season.

Unbeaten Northern Iowa tops Northwestern 61-42

Sports

November 27th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

CANCUN, Mexico (AP) — Seth Tuttle scored 19 points and Northern Iowa beat Northwestern 61-42 to claim the Cancun Challenge championship. Nate Buss added 11 points, including three 3-pointers, as the Panthers (6-0) posted their 11th win all-time against a Big Ten team.

Northwestern (5-1) took an 18-14 lead at 10:14 of the first half after a layup and 3-pointer by Alex Olah, but Northern Iowa went on a 17-2 run to close the half, including a pair of 3-pointers by Nate Buss, to lead 31-20 at the break. The Panthers were 14 of 24 (58 percent) from the floor before intermission and 48 percent overall.

The Wildcats got it to 10 with 11:05 left, but a pair of free throws and a dunk by Tuttle pushed it back to 16. Bryant McIntosh led Northwestern with 13 points. The Wildcats shot just 30 percent (16 of 53) and were 5 of 21 beyond the arc.

Iowa rolled past Northern Illinois 70-49

Sports

November 27th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Aaron White and Anthony Clemmons each scored 14 points to lead Iowa to a 70-49 win over Northern Illinois on Wednesday night. Adam Woodbury had 12 points and six rebounds for the Hawkeyes (4-2). Gabriel Olaseni added 10 points, five rebounds and four blocks in 20 minutes.

Aaric Armstead scored 13 points on 4-of-11 shooting to lead Northern Illinois (2-1). Jordan Threloff added nine points and 11 rebounds. Iowa scored 22 points off 17 turnovers, blocked 12 shots — one shy of tying the school record — and held the Huskies to only 27.9 percent shooting.

The Hawkeyes used a 16-0 run during a six-minute stretch early in the first half to pull away from Northern Illinois. The Huskies never got closer than 10 points in the second half.

HSBB: Atlantic at Denison Girls 11-25-2014

Podcasts, Sports

November 26th, 2014 by admin

Jim Field and Chris Parks have the call of the game played at Denison High School.

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(Podcast) 7:20-a.m. KJAN Sports, 11/26/2014

Podcasts, Sports

November 26th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

With Chris Parks.

Play

Northern Iowa’s Balance Sinks Virginia Tech 73-54

Sports

November 26th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

CANCUN, Mexico (AP) — Matt Bohannon scored 13 points to lead a balanced attack and Northern Iowa defeated Virginia Tech 73-54 in the Riviera Division of the Cancun Challenge on Tuesday. Seth Tuttle had 11 points and Marvin Singleton and Nate Buss had 10 apiece for the Panthers (5-0), who are off to their best start in 14 years. Joey van Zegeren had 15 points to lead Virginia Tech (2-2).

Buss and Bohannon scored 10 points apiece in the first half as Northern Iowa shot 60 percent to take a 40-31 lead. Bohannon’s 3-pointer 4 minutes into the second half started a 12-0 run that put the Panthers up 57-35. Singleton turned a put-back into a three-point play and added a layup during the surge. Wes Washpun capped the run with a layup and as soon as Malik Muller ended the drought for the Hokies with a 3-pointer Washpun answered with a three-point play.

No. 17 Iowa surges past Northern Iowa 73-45

Sports

November 26th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Ally Disterhoft scored 18 points and Samantha Logic added 13 with seven rebounds as No. 17 Iowa rolled past Northern Iowa 73-45 on Tuesday night. The Hawkeyes improved to 5-0 on the season, shooting 43.3 percent from the field and hitting eight 3-pointers. Whitney Jennings added 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting with four assists. Logic also had four assists and Disterhoft grabbed six boards.

After leading by five at halftime, Iowa pulled away in the second half as Logic, Alexa Kastanek and Jennings each hit 3-pointers to fuel a 21-3 run. After Stephanie Davison’s layup at the 17:54 mark, Northern Iowa (1-2) went on a scoreless drought until she hit another layup with 10:38 left. Kali Peschel’s pair of free throws capped the Iowa surge, making it 49-28.

Jen Keitel led the Panthers with 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Davison also chipped in 13 points.