Friday's Report: State HS 🥎 &🏐, Mercer Tennis Classic; Falcons, UGA; MLB playoffs, college sports/🏈 & 🏀, NFL, WNBA, soccer
In Coverage: Friday night’s Central Georgia football scouting reports; Maxwell Ratings predictions, Central Georgia composite rankings, The Sports Report predictions
In Coverage: Central Georgia’s most complete coverage of high school softball and volleyball
In Coverage: Macon Mayhem hockey season is here
📰S📰C📰O📰R📰E📰B📰O📰A📰R📰D📰
High School
🏈🏈🏈Football🏈🏈🏈
Bleckley County 42, East Laurens 6
The Royals scored 42 points for the third straight week and fourth time this season, and won by three touchdowns or more for the fourth time in improving to 7-2 and 3-0.
Howard 28, Griffin 21
The game was tied at 7, 14, and 21, the Huskies getting the game-winning touchdown in the final minute, improving to 4-4 and 1-3.
Southwest 36, Kendrick 8
The Patriots rode big plays to get back to .500 overall and up to 3-2 in region play, in sole possession of fourth in 2-AA.
🏈🏈🏈Flag football🏈🏈🏈
Houston County 45, Dougherty 6
Mary Persons 24, Pike County 0; Mary Persons 13, Pike County 6, 2 OT
Warner Robins 41, Dougherty 0
Westside 24, Northside 0
🥎 🥎 🥎Softball 🥎 🥎 🥎
See separate Scoreboard in Coverage
📰C📰O📰V📰E📰R📰A📰G📰E📰
Around/About Central Georgia
Mercer’s Harper adds another school record
Bracket at Mercer Tennis Classic falling into place with seeds
Two more of the top eight singles seeds at the Mercer Tennis Classic lost, but the first four continue on.
Top seed Taylor Townsend lived up to it, getting revenge on McCartney Kessler with a 6-1, 6-4 win. Kessler had knocked off Townsend 6-2 6-4 earlier this month in Rome, Ga., shortly after Townsend won 7-5, 6-4 in
The next three seeds – Kayla Day, Katie Volynets, and 2022 finalist Panna Udvardy won in straight sets, Day and Idvardy taken to 6-4.
Fifth seed Hailey Baptiste lost a tough three-set battle to Raluca Georgiana, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (0), and 6-4, while No. 6 Ann Li lost 6-3, 6-4 to Makenna Jones.
Georgia’s Alexandra Vecic lost in an SEC/ACC battle, falling 6-4, 6-0 to Miami’s Alexa Noel.
The doubles quarterfinals has only one seed left, No. 2 Sofia Sewing and Anastasia Tikhonova, surviving a 3-6, 6-3 (11-9) tussel over Whitney and Victoria Osuigwe.
Action resumes at 11 a.m. on Friday, with Volynets taking on No. 8 Renata Zarazua among the first matches.
Around/About Georgia/Southeast
NFC South lead on the line when first-place Buccaneers host division rival Falcons
Ridder's coachability has helped him grow through the Falcons highs and lows
Falcons receiver Van Jefferson jumped into role on offense
Beck’s hard tackle after INT impresses
MLB Playoffs/Baseball
The hit of the week wasn’t on a football field
Column- Please do not act surprised Phillies, Rangers are winning in playoffs
Abreu, Alvarez and Altuve help Astros pull even in ALCS with 10-3 win over Rangers in Game 4
Marte hits walk-off single in ninth, D-backs beat Phillies 2-1 and close to 2-1 in NLCS
MLB playoff ratings steady in LCS after declines in wild-card and division rounds
College Sports
Sen. Maria Cantwell says she wants any NIL legislation to also address NCAA athletes' rights
College Football/SEC/ACC/South
SEC coaches are more accepting of youthful mistakes amid roster engagement in the portal era
Rivalry games, travel demands are top concerns as ACC officials plan to tackle new scheduling format
Will Vols’ Sack Committee meet at Milroe?
Does Saban smoke a victory cigar after Alabama-Tennessee rivalry game?
Kiffin reposts column that states he should be fired if he loses to Auburn
Auburn DB coach McGriff temporarily stepping away from on-field duties, still with team
Freeze says the ‘process of becoming’ has been harder at Auburn than it was at Ole Miss. Why?
Miami hasn’t beaten Clemson since when?
Swinney on Clemson fans: ‘I love our fans. Again, 98.5 percent are amazing’
College Basketball
LSU star Angel Reese ready for on-court encore amid surging wealth and fame
Cincy hoops transfers have waiver denied by NCAA, file appeal in hopes of playing this season
DePaul hires former Blue Demons and NBA star Aguirre as special assistant to athletic director
Bigger, deeper and stronger: Big 12 welcomes 4 new schools to college basketball’s best league
Former media antagonist Boeheim joining ESPN
College Football
NCAA investigating allegations of sign-stealing by Michigan. Harbaugh denies knowledge, involvement
Washington Penix Jr. highlights AP midseason All-America team loaded with experience
Column-Why Cincinnati snubs Ohio State, Big Ten
No. 23 Tulane hosts ‘explosive’ North Texas as Fritz makes Green Wave history
BYU and Texas Tech both seeking to bounce back from recent Big 12 losses
College Football/Thursday night
JT Daniels accounts for 3 TDs, Dean Connors runs for 3 TD; Rice beats Tulsa 42-10
McCloud passes for TD, runs for another as JMU beats Marshall 20-9, wins 9th straight
Olivo kicks 3 FGs, FCS No. 10 NC Central beats Morgan State 16-3
Football
Flag football is having a moment, tackling equity and safety along the way
NFL/USFL/XFL/Football
Julio Jones wants to 'dominate' while still fitting in with A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith
Trevor Lawrence comes through late and the Jaguars hold off the Saints, 31-24
NFL changes policy on coaching interviews with goal to 'create a more level playing field'
Analysis: The Lions are the real deal because Jared Goff has become a top-tier QB again
QB Tyson Bagent has come a long way, from D-II to likely starter for Bears with Justin Fields hurt
Rams invite 4 running backs to compete for carries after injuries to their top 2 backs
NBA/WNBA/Basketball
Champion Aces built for a three-peat with finals MVP A’ja Wilson, core group returning
WNBA fines Liberty for breaking media access rules following championship loss to the Aces
Column-Aces show they’re the best team ever
Soccer
Ali Krieger’s retirement tour with Gotham gets extended in the NWSL playoffs
Scoreboards