“It’s not about what you know; it’s about what you can prove.”-Alonzo Harris “Training Day”

It feels like it was two weeks ago that I was writing about the “Dog Days” of Summer and the longing for the cool of fall to set in. Well, here we are in the first week of October and the first few inches of snow have fallen for the season. Up the mountain I went to get a breath of the crisp air and take in the fall foliage that was draped with sprinkles of powdered sugar. It’s not cool all across the land just yet, but it’ll get there soon.

So will Sunday Night Football. It’ll kick in a few minutes or so on NBC and Peacock. Vrabel and the Patriots are in Buffalo taking on the unbeaten Bills. I’ll take Vrabel 19-15. Or the Bills win 33-10. Maybe Diggs scores the winner. Who knows? We’ll be watching this one together.

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From Sprint Football to tiny tyke, to multiple Overtime games on Thursday Night, to weather shortened and suspended Friday Night Lights matchups, to a late night in Provo, to a full day of college and pro with a little Round Game and baseball mixed in–it’s been quite a weekend for sports. Also, a weekend for weird weather. As I wrote last night, yesterday was the ‘second wettest day in Salt Lake History’ having not rained like that since May 3rd, 1901.

Yeah, one has to go back to the days when part-time hell raiser and full-time old west legend Butch Cassidy was roaming this area to find a rain like yesterday’s downpour.

“On October 27, 1901, a man believed to be George Parker, alias Butch Cassidy, whose photo and description appeared in our circular og Aug. 5th, 1901, attempted to pass one of the $20 dollar bills of the stolen currency–he escaped officers after a severe struggle.”- Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency 11/8/1901 from the book WANTED!

Ole Butch is beloved in this part of the world. You think his story ends how it’s told in the novels and movies?

May 1901 was a long time ago. Walter Elias Disney wouldn’t have even been born yet. Cars had yet to make it to Utah. In fact, it was nine days after the historic gully-washer, May 12, 1901, when Oliver Peterson wrote in his diary about seeing the first horseless carriage in the Cache Valley. “Saw the first automobile pass through this place.”

Tides rise and fall. Sometimes a year’s worth of rain falls in a day. Sometimes it doesn’t rain for weeks or months in extreme cases. However, when it happens to fall at a historic rate, it’s worth documenting. So is the weekend that was in sports.

With that–It’s time for this Week’s “General Update.” General Update.

What to Expect:

• Friday Night Lights
• The Round Game
• The Saturday Game
• Top 12 Rankings in CFB
• The American Pastime Game
• The Grown Man’s Sunday Game

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GENERAL UPDATE

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS

Matinee (Bonus coverage)

The sun fading beyond the West Tennessee horizon. The shimmer of a lake seen by the glowing moon. A bonfire encircled by more than a handful of different colored pup tents. Youngsters all holding metal hot dog pokers roasting dinner over the fire. Each one bursting with energy and ready for the fun.

The bonfire and a few strategic lanterns strung amongst the tiny tent village provided necessary light, but outside the circle it was only lit by the rising moon. Dinner concluded. Where else would all the young boys be? Running wild in the hay field of course. Doing what exactly? Ever heard of the Nerf Glow?

Burning like a meteor in through the darkness, slicing through the night, blazing orange and bright was the most perfect invention of my childhood–the glow in the dark football. About 8-12 youngsters all the same age would have played ‘two hand touch’ football well into the night on a camping trip. A Fall Night just like we are having now. Me and a bunch of kids like me and our dads in a hayfield next to a lake. That perfectly sized football would fly forever. We may have played an organized game or two but what I remember most was a more erratic game.

The one where one launches the ball, and everyone chases after it. Then, whoever grabs it runs around until they are tackled. Once everyone is ready, the kid who was tackled launches the ball into the night and it starts all over again.

This would go on forever and with a glowing orb in the pitch-black darkness, it’s a lot more fun than it may sound. This is one of many treasured football memories.

Football at all levels.

On to the real Friday Night Lights. Hope you enjoyed the matinee.

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MARQUEE GAME: Thursday Night

• Lone Peak 34 @ Skyridge 37
  • SKY QB Kaneal Sweetwyne 3 Total TD’s
  • SKY RB Lincoln Tahi 2 Rushing Td’s
  • LP WR Jaren Pula 186 rec yards and 2 TD’s
  • LP QB Cruz Christensen 2 passing TD’s

This game was wild. One that ended late into the night on Thursday. I’ll hit the highlights:

• With less than six minutes to go in the first half, Lone Peak opened the scoring with a 24-yard field goal to make it 3-0.
• Less than 2 minutes later, Cruz hit Pula, and he took it 87 yards to the house. 10-0 at Half.
• Skyridge having been shut out in the first half tied the game at 10 with a 42-yard field goal with 5 minutes to go in the 3rd.
• The two teams swapped scores down the stretch
• Skyridge tied the game 24-24 with score in the final 2 minutes to send the game to OT
• Both Teams scored touchdowns in the first OT
• Lone Peak kicked a FG in the second OT to go up three. This set up…

Picture a Classic Radio announcer voice coming through a fuzzy speaker:

“From the 16. Sweetwyne is in the gun. Lincoln Tahi to his right. Two receivers split left, one to the right. Lone Peak looking to end this one with a defensive stop. Sweetwyne checks with the sideline, then claps to signal the ready. These boys have played hard all night. Somebody has to win–here’s the snap and a zone read to the right. It’s Tahi–He bursts through a hole untouched. Skyridge is going to win this game…Touchdown SKYRIDGE!!! In classic Friday Night Light’s fashion Skyridge has come back once again to win on a Thursday Night with Lincoln Tahi finishing it off. What a game, folks. What a game. I tell you this, if you weren’t here for the end of this one, you missed a classic.”

What a game. Sheer will and competitiveness on display from both sides. Football is just a game, but it can teach many lessons. Never quit is a lesson we all could learn from this Skyridge team.

FRIDAY NIGHT

Lights turned on, cars jammed parking lots, and people packed stadium bleachers as the storm clouds brewed to the South and West of the Valley. To my knowledge, at least half a dozen games were delayed in some way by the turbulent weather.

Syracuse, Davis, West Field, and Bonneville were four of the games that were suspended before halftime and finished Saturday afternoon, and the Lehi game was called in the fourth quarter. Wind, rain, thunder, and lightning all played a role. Nonetheless, football was played.

NOTABLE SCORES provided by Deseret News:

• Mountain Ridge 24 @ Herriman 8
• American Fork 3 @ Lehi 26
  • Lehi RB Devaughn Eka 3 Total TD’s
    • 71 yard rushing touchdown
  • Lehi Legend Glasker one TD
• Riverton 28 @ Westlake 31
• Syracuse 33 @ Weber 26 (SAT)
• Davis 21 @ Farmington 10 (SAT)
  • Tradon Bessinger 2 passing touchdowns (35 for the year)
  • Bode Sparrow 2 TD
  • Jaxton Itaaheau 1 Rushing TD
• Bingham 34 @ Copper Hills 10
• Fremont 48 @ Box Elder 30
  • Salesi Moa 3 TD’s

TOP RECORDS across UHSAA 6A:

• Herriman (7-1) Region 1: (3-1)
• Davis (7-1) Region 2: (2-0)
• Skyridge (6-2) Region 3: (2-1)
• American Fork (6-2) Region 3: (1-1)
• Corner Canyon (6-1) Region 3: (1-1)
• Mountain Ridge (6-2) Region 2: (4-0)
• Westlake (6-2) Region 2: (3-1)

Upcoming Top Level Games:

• Davis @ Layton
• Farmington @ Syracuse
• American Fork @ Corner Canyon
• Lehi @ Lone Peak
• Herriman @ Copper Hills
• Bingham @ Mountain Ridge

UHSAA 6A Region 3 Standings:

1. Skyridge (6-2)
2. Corner Canyon (6-1)
3. American Fork (6-2)
4. Lehi (4-3)
5. Lone Peak (5-3)

American Fork @ Lehi was the game that interested me the most this week, but it was far from the most exciting. Skyridge beating Lone Peak in dramatic fashion to bounce back from the prior week’s embarrassing performance was by far and away the most thrilling and most inspiring. SKY are now second in the state in scoring at 44.5 points per game. Just 1.3 points off Corner Canyon.

Lehi dominated American Fork and remain one of the stingiest defenses in the State.

The regular season is in its final two weeks. The playoffs will be electric. There are multiple teams that can take home the title.

Unfortunately, I still do not know exactly how the playoffs are seeded and formatted, but I do know that the margins are razor thin.

Davis keeps on scoring. I’ve yet to watch them, but I ‘d love to see this team make a deep playoff run.

We can all find out together as the final two regular season games are played. Weather permitting of course.

TOP 6A TEAMS RANKED in State:

1. Corner Canyon
2. Davis
3. Skyridge
4. Herriman

Three loss Lehi at three loss Lone Peak is the game of the week. Both teams are far better than their records. Both would be in the top 4 if one or two balls would’ve bounced differently.

Chilly nights are here. Friday Night Lights is at it’s peak.

—

NATIONAL FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS Nugget

• Great Bend High School (KS)

Great Bend was first established as a rail town along the newly laid Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe railroad. It gets its name grom the ‘great bend” in the Arkansas River. The first settler of Great Bend was Edward J. Dodge born to John Dodge and Elizabeth Warren. 90 Miles Southwest of great Bend is the old rowdy cow town, Dodge City–Just fun facts. Now, to the football.

Great Bend hosted rowdy Dodge City Friday night. The Panthers defeated the “D-Men” or “Pilldilly” or “Red Demons” as they’re called 41-0.

–I’ll go ahead and spill another fun fact here quickly–In 1927, Dodge City High football players wore letterman’s jackets that had “D-Men” imprinted on them. A sportswriter began writing about them and called them the Red Demons. The name stuck, but as you can imagine, it was controversial amongst some. In 1932, it was changed to “Pilldilly” which is a Jayhawk sort of bird. Fast forward eight years and it was changed back, and the name has stuck around since.

Coach Erin Beck has led this Great Bend team to a perfect start this season and has them ranked the top team in 5A West. The Panthers are led on defense by Senior Mike Linebacker Trenton Kern. “He’s kind of the heartbeat and pulse of that defense,” said Coach Beck back in early September. On offense they are led by Notre Dame commit TE Ian Premer.

Touted as the top player in Kansas, the 6’5/ 230-pound senior plays all over the field. To go along with the tall frame, he’s got a 33-inch vertical and can power clean 305. From the few clips I’ve watched of him, Premer likes to light up DB’s on run blocks, catch it over DB’s on pass plays, and then run over DB’s after the catch. At this level, he eats DB’s for breakfast. He’s hungry for contact every second he’s on the field. At his size and speed, I wouldn’t want to be the DB trying to bring him down. Maybe Jett Washington, Bralon Womack, or Diesel Dart would be up for the challenge, but not me. Ian Premer is a tank.

Great Bend home games can be seen on YouTube: gbhsmedia6763.

Good luck to the Panthers the rest of the way.

“I always liked to hear about the old timers. Never missed a chance to do so.”- Sheriff Bell

—

THE ROUND GAME

ARSENAL

Arsenal hosted Olympiacos in a Champions League Match Wednesday night.

• Olympiacos 0 @ Arsenal 2
  • GOALS: Martinelli 13th, Saka 92nd

• West Ham 0 @ Arsenal 2
  • Rice and Saka scored
  • The Gunners are top of the League!

Next Game:

• Arsenal play at Fulham 10/18 at 10:30

Sunderland

• Sunderland 0 @ Manchester United 2

Sunderland drops to a respectable 7th in the standings.

OTHER SOCCER:

COMO 1907

• Como 1 @ Atalanta 1

Como also are in 7th in their league. They host Juventus at 4:30 AM on 10/19.

WREXHAM

A 1-1 draw to both Leicester and Birmingham this week. Wrexham are now 18th in the Championship standings.

NEXT

• Wrexham travel to Stoke 10/18 at 8:00

“That soccer–never could understand that. Anything a five-year-old can do ain’t a sport. Who invented it? Aztecs. Kickin’ round skulls or something, right?”- Marcus Hamilton

—

THE SATURDAY GAME

From winless UCLA upsetting top ten Penn St in Los Angeles to Miami’s Hurricanes laying waste to Florida St in Tallahassee, college football Saturday had plenty of action. It was a perfect day on Saturday to drink it all in like the desert drank in the bucket loads of rain yesterday.

The perfect day to watch football all day, drink Hot Honey drinks, and slow cook a chuck roast while the pigskin was toted a hundred yards back and forth over and over by elite borderline semi-pro athletes.

Yessir, the Saturday Game delivered a dandy on a cold damp day in the desert. Let’s get into it.

• Hometown Tigers

Tulsa 7 @ Memphis 45

• The Tigers returned home to play Tulsa in their final game before the bye week and they put on a show for the home crowd. Memphis QB Brenden Lewis Totaled 333 yards and four touchdowns in the 45-7 WIN. Memphis is 6-0.

I love how this Memphis Tiger team has elevated through the years. My sweet grandmother would’ve dreamed to see the Tigers bowl eligible by the 1st weekend in October in her many, many years of faithful fandom. Now, ‘Bowl eligible’ isn’t a term that carries much weight anymore with the Tigers. Personally, I think that is an amazing thing. It just wasn’t that long ago that we would be huddled around the tv on Thanksgiving weekend praying that the 5-6 Tigers could win the final game and get a bowl and now here we are 6-0 with an SEC win and flying high. Just keep winning.

The Hometown Tigers get a much-deserved rest next week and then travel to Birmingham for a friendly rivalry game. GO Tigers, Go!

TOP GAMES:

• Air Force 31 @ Navy 34 (5-0)
• West Virginia 24 @ BYU 38 (5-0)
• Penn St 37 @ UCLA 42
• Texas 21 @ Florida 29
• Miami 28 @ Florida St 22

OTHER CFB Scores:

• Virginia 30 @ Louisville 27
• Vanderbilt 14 @ Alabama 30
• Washington 24 @ Maryland 20
• Boise St 7 @ Notre Dame 28
• Oklahoma St 13 @ Arizona 41
• Miss St 9 @ Texas A&M 31
• Minnesota 3 @ Ohio St 42
• Idaho St 38 @ Montana 42
  • WR Michael Wortham
    • 2/2 Passing 49 Yards 1 TD
    • 7 Rushes 41 Yards, 2 TD’s
    • 6 Catches 124 Yards
    • 3 Kick Returns 82 Yards.
  • Montana Total Yards: 517. Michael Wortham 296 Yards

After falling behind the Vandals by 13 points, the Grizzlies from Missoula battled back to win and improve to 5-0. Former Eastern Washington QB and now current Montana Wide Receiver Michael Wortham is a massive reason why. The jack of all trades is doing it all.

• UNLV 31 @ Wyoming 17
  • Slushy white snow covered field. The Vegas team out “Laramied” Laramie.
  • UNLV 5-0

I’ll take the top four on the following list against any team in the playoffs as of right now. Top Tier is set for now.

TOP 12 WEEK 6:

1. Ohio St
2. Oregon
3. Miami
4. Georgia
5. Texas A&M
6. Oklahoma
7. Mississippi
8. Tennessee
9. Alabama
10. Indiana
11. Georgia Tech
12. Texas Tech

I’ll stand behind this top 12, but beyond that–I couldn’t tell you who should be ranked past 16th. My biggest discrepancies are between teams 16-33. At the end of the day, teams ranked below 12 don’t really matter in terms of the playoff. Just keep on winning and you’ll eventually get in. That said–I’ll have the Top33 out tomorrow morning just for fun.

Rankings are fun but do not matter in the slightest on the practice field. Hard work, sweat, and effort don’t care what number is next to the team’s name nor the one on the jersey. There are still plenty of teams that can earn one of the 12 spots by season’s end. My advice–don’t peak too early.

—

What a fun day of football it was. The kind of College Football Saturday that reminds me why I love this sport so much.

Guys like Liam Szarka, Kenneth McShan, Houston Hendrix, and Jaxson Campbell making gritty plays that don’t all show in the stat sheets.

Teams like UNLV, Navy, and Montana finding wins to remain undefeated and winless UCLA playing heroically against Penn St and earning their first win. “Just trying to get to 1-0”- UCLA Head Coach Tim Skipper said in the pregame. What a game that was. UCLA won it start to finish and had fun doing it.

Moments like seeing young UCLA play-caller Jerry Neuheisel getting carried onto the field by the players during the postgame celebration– Looks like fun! Well done Bruins.

Guys, Teams, and Moments like these are all reasons that I love this sport so much.

–There is a suspense as to which top team will lose next. By my estimation, every team will lose at least one game except for maybe Georgia Tech and Oregon, so which one will lose next? Anything is possible. UCLA proved that yesterday in Pasadena.

“Look at this boy run. Longhorns have a good team this year–This is what God watches right here. Don’t worry they’ll have soccer highlights.”- Marcus Hamilton to fellow Texas Ranger Alberto Parker. “Hell or High Water” written by Taylor Sheridan.

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THE AMERICAN PASTIME GAME

It’s the playoffs. The second round. 162 regular season games plus a few have been played and we are down to the final eight teams. I don’t have a dog in the fight, but I thought it worth mentioning. Dodgers/ Phillies feels like a final four matchup. Winner of that probably goes to the series. But don’t count the Chicago Cubs out. Craig Counsell is my kind of wily. He’s just about clever enough to pull blood from the stone with this Cubs team.

On the other side, I’ll take the Yankees. Why not? Phillies and Yankees would be a great series. Cam Schlitter is quite the pitcher. 6’6 and throws 99. That’s West Texas hot right there.

Don’t count Seattle out either. Now there’s a city that knows rain. 2.2 inches for them is probably just another day in January.

The Mariners are hosting the Tigers and have as good of a chance right now as any of the final eight teams. None of which are Cleveland.

“Let this sting.”-Cleveland Manager Steven Vogt

—

THE SUNDAY GROWN MANS GAME

San Francisco beat Los Angeles 26-23 in overtime on Thursday night. Kyrin Williams, Christian McCaffery, and former Orem High football star Puka Nacua were the standout performers.

Then early this morning, from cloudy North London, Minnesota beat Cleveland unceremoniously in the final two minutes of the game 21-17.

I continue to struggle enjoying the NFL this year. I love football, but by Sunday, my appetite for it has perhaps faded some and the excitement of the Grown Man’s Game doesn’t seem to be there. The athletes are stronger, faster, and smarter than they’ve ever been, but the pageantry just doesn’t seem to be there. Maybe it’s just me.

Maybe it’s like Tom Brady said back in 2022–“I just see a lot of bad football being played.” Let’s get into the “bad football.” Let’s start in middle Tennessee.

UPDATE from Nashville:

• TITANS

Nashville 22 @ Phoenix 21

The winless Titans headed to sunny Scottsdale to take on the Cardinals. The home side jumped out to a two-touchdown advantage early and didn’t look back. That is until there was a whacky play that brought the game within a score.

The whacky play? Cam Ward threw an interception. On the INT return the ball was fumbled, picked up by Tennessee’s Tyler Lockett and run in for a score. This made the game 21-19 with only a few minutes left in the game.

After an Arizona punt, Cam and the Titans had the ball at the 18 yard line needing three points to win. The Titans impressively drove the length of the field and made a chip shot 22 yarder as time expired.

Tennessee improves to 1-4 and are no longer in prime position to pick up Jeremiah Smith or T.J. Parker with the number one pick next year. An elite receiver or a pass rusher. Either works for me.

Arizona falls to 2-3.

OTHER NFL Scores:

• Future MVP Daniel Jones and the Indianapolis Colts were too much for Pete Carrol and Las Vegas. Way too much. 40-6. Daniel Jones had 200 yards or so and 2 TD’s. Jon Taylor added 80+ yards and 3 TD’s. Colts can go ahead and take the AFC South.

• Former Roy High QB Jaxson Dart and the Giants fell to Demario Davis and the Saints in New Orleans 26-14. Dart threw two touchdowns in the loss.

• Houston 44 @ Baltimore 10
• Washington 27 @ LAC 10

As far as the Sunday Game goes–I’m rooting for the Titans to improve every week, Jaxson Dart to make his home state proud, and Daniel Jones to challenge for the MVP. Outside of that–I don’t have a rooting interest right now. Oh, and of course, Mike Vrabel. I’ll root for that Cuss until the end.

—

“It was like a ballplayer told me one time–he said that if he had some slight injury and it bothered him a little bit, nagged at him, he generally played better. It kept his mind focused on one thing instead of a hundred. I can understand that. Not that it changes anything.”– Sheriff Bell NO COUNTRY- Cormac McCarthy

END.

Another “General Update” will be out this same time next Sunday.

Until then,

Find the Humor and Keep on Movin’

Whit W.

Thank you for reading.