About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 28, 2018)
2B Sunday, October 28, 2018 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com ★ SPORTS NASCAR Stewart-Haas aims to dominate round of 8 NFL Minneapolis meet up HOWARD SIMMONS I Associated Press Minnesota Vikings running back Latavius Murray (25) celebrates after rushing for a 38- yard touchdown during a game against the New York Jets Sunday, Oct. 21, in East Rutherford, N.J. Saints, Vikings set to clash in a rematch of last year s NFC Divisional game BY JENNA FRYER Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Tony Stewart passionately believed in Aric Almirola when others dismissed the racecar driver as a journey man with nothing more to offer than the backing of a bacon company sponsor. Stewart had a chance to replace Danica Patrick in one of the four Stewart-Haas entries — the weakest of the teams, statistically — and Almirola was his guy. It merely helped that Almirola had Smithfield, a pork com pany that not only wanted to win NASCAR races but wanted to do it with him, was a coveted sponsor through out the entire garage. But Stewart wanted him for reasons beyond the financial backing. He’d first encountered Almirola at least a decade earlier, when Stewart was a champion driver at Joe Gibbs Racing and Almirola was touted as a future star. Almirola got bounced around the system, wound up at Richard Petty Motorsports and was mak ing a living but not winning races. The No. 10 car at SHR should have been as compet itive as the others, Stewart believed, and with Patrick out it opened the door for Almirola to get out of mid level equipment and show he had the talent to run with NASCAR’s elite. “Everybody said I was crazy for hiring Aric. I won der if they think I’m crazy now?” Stewart said. “No matter what happens for him the rest of the year, he’s proven what I knew all along. It was just a matter of getting him in a car that could help him show his potential.” Football/NFL AMERICAN CONFERENCE East w L T Pet PF PA New England 5 2 0 .714 214 179 Miami 4 4 0 .500 174 219 N.Y Jets 3 4 0 .429 182 176 Buffalo 2 5 0 South .286 81 175 W L T Pet PF PA Houston 5 3 0 .625 197 167 Tennessee 3 4 0 .429 106 127 Jacksonville 3 4 0 .429 116 146 Indianapolis 2 5 0 North .286 189 185 W L T Pet PF PA Pittsburgh 3 2 1 .583 171 154 Cincinnati 4 3 0 .571 184 203 Baltimore 4 3 0 .571 176 101 Cleveland 2 4 1 West .357 151 177 W L T Pet PF PA Kansas City 6 1 0 .857 260 182 L.A. Chargers 163 5 2 0 .714 195 Denver 3 4 0 .429 165 164 Oakland 1 5 0 .167 110 176 NATIONAL CONFERENCE East W L T Pet PF PA Washington 4 2 0 .667 126 121 Philadelphia 3 4 0 .429 154 138 Dallas 3 4 0 .429 140 123 N.Y. Giants 1 6 0 South .143 137 185 W L T Pet PF PA New Orleans 5 1 0 .833 204 163 Carolina 4 2 0 .667 142 131 Tampa Bay 3 3 0 .500 167 196 Atlanta 3 4 0 North .429 190 212 W L T Pet PF PA Minnesota 4 2 1 .643 177 165 Green Bay 3 2 1 .583 148 144 Detroit 3 3 0 .500 157 158 Chicago 3 3 0 West .500 170 134 W L T Pet PF PA L.A. Rams 7 0 0 1.000 235 128 Seattle 3 3 0 .500 143 117 Arizona 1 6 0 .143 92 184 San Francisco 1 6 0 .143 158 218 Thursday’s Games Houston 42, Miami 23 Sunday’s Games Philadelphia vs Jacksonville at London, UK, 9:30 a.m. Cleveland at Pittsburgh, 1 p.m. Washington at N.Y. Giants, 1 p.m. Seattle at Detroit, 1 p.m. Baltimore at Carolina, 1 p.m. Denver at Kansas City, 1 p.m. Tampa Bay at Cincinnati, 1 p.m. N.Y. Jets at Chicago, 1 p.m. Indianapolis at Oakland, 4:05 p.m. Green Bay at L.A. Rams, 4:25 p.m. San Francisco at Arizona, 4:25 p.m. New Orleans at Minnesota, 8:20 p.m. Open: Dallas, Tennessee, L.A. Chargers, Atlanta With Almirola in a star- studded lineup that includes former series champions Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch, as well as Clint Bow- yer, SHR has a remarkable four cars remaining in the third round of NASCAR’s playoffs. Eight drivers race Sunday at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia for a slot in the finale at Home- stead-Miami Speedway, where four will race for the title. SHR could mathemati cally take all four slots in the winner-take-all champion ship field. “In the perfect world it would be all four racing each other for a champi onship versus somebody else,” Stewart said. “There is strength in numbers. But it’s hard to think we’ll get all four of them there. Two of them? That’s feasible. I’d love to believe we could do four, but I honestly do believe our best shot is two and maybe three.” What about Harvick? Well, the seven-time win ner has racked up so many bonus points that Stewart said “unless there’s a natu ral disaster, he should make it to the finals.” So that’s one of the four. What about a second? Busch and Bowyer are going to have to be nearly perfect. Busch would have had an easy path into the third round if he’d won at Talladega instead of run ning out of gas in the final overtime laps, and both had to squeeze out every last point last weekend at Kan sas to make it through to this round. “Neither one of them should be having any drama,” Stewart said. “The only thing holding us back right now is ourselves. Our Golf/PGA Saturday At Country Club of Jackson Jackson, Miss. Purse: $4.4 million Yardage: 7,440; Par 72 Third Round Cameron Champ 65-70-64—199 -17 Corey Conners 71-68-64—203 -13 D.J. Trahan 67-70-67—204 -12 Shawn Stefani 68-68-68—204 -12 Sam Burns 69-70-66—205 -11 Martin Laird 72-67-66—205 -11 Dylan Meyer 71-67-68—206 -10 Bill Haas 70-70-67—207 -9 Lucas Glover 68-72-67—207 -9 Talor Gooch 71-68-68—207 -9 Matt Every 68-71-68—207 -9 Andres Romero 67-71-69—207 -9 Chad Ramey 67-70-70—207 -9 Seth Reeves 67-70-70—207 -9 Denny McCarthy 71-68-69—208 -8 Anders Albertson 71-70-67—208 -8 Adam Schenk 70-68-70—208 -8 Sam Saunders 69-69-70—208 -8 Rory Sabbatini 67-73-69—209 -7 Vaughn Taylor 69-70-70—209 -7 Patrick Rodgers 70-69-70—209 -7 Nate Lashley 69-70-70—209 -7 Seamus Power 71-68-70—209 -7 Roberto Castro 71-71-67—209 -7 Stephan Jaeger 72-70-67—209 -7 Carlos Ortiz 69-69-71—209 -7 Scott Stallings 70-67-72—209 -7 Jonathan Byrd 68-68-73—209 -7 Hudson Swafford 69-68-72—209 -7 John Chin 71-69-70—210 -6 Alex Cejka 70-71-69—210 -6 Jonas Blixt 73-68-69—210 -6 Robert Garrigus 68-71-71—210 -6 Robert Streb 67-72-71—210 -6 Tom Lovelady 71-71-68—210 -6 Ryan Blaum 73-67-71—211 -5 Nick Taylor 69-71-71—211 -5 Ben Silverman 75-65-71—211 -5 Kyoung-Hoon Lee 72-68-71—211 -5 Nicholas Lindheim 70-71-70—211 -5 J.T. Poston 71-68-72—211 -5 Harris English 71-72-68—211 -5 Norman Xiong 68-67-76—211 -5 Scott Langley 68-73-71—212 -4 Hayden Buckley 75-67-70—212 -4 Hunter Mahan 72-71-69—212 -4 Wyndham Clark 74-69-69—212 -4 Curtis Luck 69-71-73—213 -3 Scottie Scheffler 68-72-73—213 -3 Wes Roach 71-70-72—213 -3 Cameron Tringale 66-73-74—213 -3 J.J. Henry 70-69-74—213 -3 Alex Prugh 70-72-71—213 -3 Dawson Armstrong 69-73-71—213 -3 Richy Werenski 69-73-71—213 -3 Johnson Wagner 72-70-71—213 -3 Chris Thompson 73-70-70—213 -3 Martin Piller 70-70-74—214 -2 Brady Schnell 70-71-73—214 -2 Adam Svensson 71-71-72—214 -2 Ryan Armour 70-73-71—214 -2 Jonathan Randolph 74-69-71—214 -2 Stuart Appleby 73-70-72—215 -1 Derek Ernst 72-71-72—215 -1 mistakes are what will keep us from moving on.” Then there’s Almirola, the surprise SHR entry in the mix. He got Patrick’s old team that, as everyone well knows, never won any races. Almirola brought some con sistency to the effort, not to mention what Stewart called “a renewed energy.” “The thing about him,” Stewart said, “is he’s so hun gry to win, but it’s also very important for him to be a great teammate. It was a huge opportunity for him to come over, but he wanted to make sure right off the bat that he was a good team mate within the organiza tion. That’s really resonated with the guys and it has set the tone for all the teams.” So now it’s SHR versus everybody else for the next three races: at Martinsville, Texas and the cutoff race just outside Phoenix, Ari zona. Almirola is the wild card, up against his own teammates and the so-called “Big 3” of Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. That trio dominated so much of the year, but they’ve cooled off of late and the momentum shifted to Chase Elliott, winner of two of the last three races. Elliott might have raced for the championship last year but he was wrecked while leading late at Martinsville. Regardless, a win Sunday gets a driver an automatic berth in the final four. It once seemed as though three slots were guaranteed for the “Big 3,” but now its wide open with SHR look ing to grab as many as pos sible through race victories — just like Elliott and Joey Logano. Hocky/NHL All Times EOT EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division GP W L 0T Pts GF GA Tampa Bay 9 7 1 1 15 32 20 Toronto 10 7 3 0 14 38 32 Boston 10 6 2 2 14 34 24 Montreal 9 5 2 2 12 30 25 Buffalo 10 6 4 0 12 26 28 Ottawa 9 4 4 1 9 32 35 Florida 9 2 4 3 7 28 35 Detroit 10 1 7 2 4 21 41 Metropolitan Division GP W L OT Pts GF GA Carolina 10 6 3 1 13 33 29 Pittsburgh 8 5 1 2 12 35 26 Washington 10 5 3 2 12 39 37 New Jersey 8 5 2 1 11 28 20 Columbus 9 5 4 0 10 31 34 N.Y. Islanders 9 4 4 1 9 28 24 Philadelphia 11 4 7 0 8 32 46 N.Y. Rangers 10 3 6 1 7 25 34 WESTERN CONFERENCE Central Division GP W L OT Pts GF GA Nashville 11 8 3 0 16 38 28 Colorado 11 7 2 2 16 39 24 Winnipeg 11 7 3 1 15 33 29 Chicago 10 6 2 2 14 37 34 Minnesota 9 5 2 2 12 26 25 Dallas 9 5 4 0 10 28 25 St. Louis 9 2 4 3 7 29 36 Pacific Division GP W L OT Pts GF GA San Jose 10 5 3 2 12 34 29 Vancouver 11 6 5 0 12 31 35 Edmonton 9 5 3 1 11 27 29 Calgary 11 5 5 1 11 36 40 Anaheim 11 5 5 1 11 27 30 Vegas 10 4 5 1 9 22 27 Arizona 9 4 5 0 8 19 19 Los Angeles 10 2 7 1 5 18 36 Saturday’s Games New Jersey 3, Florida 2 N.Y Islanders 6, Philadelphia 1 Edmonton 5, Nashville 3 Washington 4, Calgary 3, SO Buffalo at Columbus, Late Winnipeg at Toronto, Late Montreal at Boston, Late Colorado at Minnesota, Late Chicago at St. Louis, Late Tampa Bay at Arizona, Late Pittsburgh at Vancouver, Late Today’s Games N.Y. Rangers at Los Angeles, 3:30 p.m. N.Y. Islanders at Carolina, 5 p.m. Dallas at Detroit, 5 p.m. Edmonton at Chicago, 6 p.m. Ottawa at Vegas, 8 p.m. San Jose at Anaheim, 8 p.m. Monday’s Games Calgary at Toronto, 7 p.m. Minnesota at Vancouver, 10 p.m. Tuesday’s Games N.Y. Islanders at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m. Detroit at Columbus, 7 p.m. Calgary at Buffalo, 7 p.m. Boston at Carolina, 7 p.m. BY BARRY WILNER Associated Press The last time the Saints and Vikings hooked up, folks in Minnesota were toasting Stefon Diggs with steins of Surly, and people in Louisiana were crying in their gumbo. They get together again in prime time, a nice treat to finish off a Sunday with several intriguing matchups. New Orleans sure hopes there’s no second Minne apolis Miracle. “This is not a revenge game,” Drew Brees insists, referring to the playoff loss in January. “It’s a different sea son. These are new teams, even though there’s a lot of similar personnel. It’s a new season, new team, new mindset. So listen, it’s a very good opponent that we are playing on ‘Sunday Night Football’ at their place. It is a tough environ ment (and) a tough place to play. We understand we’re going to need our best game, our best execution to win.” The Saints (5-1) have been doing a lot of winning since they were upset by Tampa Bay in their opener. Last week they won against a playoff-caliber team at Baltimore. Now they get the Vikings (4-2-1), who have been spotty but lead the NFC North and are 14-3 at home vs. New Orleans. The Vikings might feel equipped enough to get into a shootout with Brees, but when you listen to their coach, Mike Zimmer, who has a defensive back ground, he knows his side will be tested. It’s uncertain if the Vikings will have end Everson Griffen available as he returns from deal ing with mental issues that sidelined him for almost six weeks. “I think as the game goes FINAU ■ Continued from 1B Reed didn’t make a par over the last six holes, with four birdies and two bogeys. He missed a 15-foot eagle chance on the reach able par-4 16th, and then peeled his tee shot to the right down the slope into the hazard on the 17th to make bogey. A short birdie on the 18th gave him a 70. But the real collapse came from Rose, who had led since a short birdie on the seventh hole and appeared to be in complete control of his game. And then it was gone. His double bogey on the 17th hole sent him from a two-shot lead to a one-shot deficit, and then he com pounded it with another mistake on the 18th. Rose played the final two holes at Sheshan International in 11 shots compared to Finau’s six. Schauffele rolled in a long birdie putt on the 16th and momentum until his second shot went into the water on the 18th, though on, Brees gets a much bet ter feel of what the defense is trying to do throughout the course of the ballgame with him,” Zimmer says. “A guy like him who has seen everything — he sees everything anyway — but he’s seen so many different looks that he can kind of decipher things quickly on the move. I think that’s part of it, and he’s got good play ers, too. Michael Thomas is good, (Alvin) Kamara is good, (Mike) Ingram is good. They have a lot of good players.” The weekend began Thursday night with Hous ton’s 42-23 home victory over the Miami Dolphins. Deshaun Watson matched his career high with five touchdown passes to lead the Texans to their fifth straight victory after open ing 0-3. Miami has lost two straight to drop to 4-4. Off are Dallas (3-4), Ten nessee (3-4), Atlanta (3-4) and the Los Angeles Char gers (5-2). Green Bay (3-2-1) at Los Angeles Rams (7-0): Talk about shootouts, this has the makings of one. Green Bay comes off a bye, which means Aaron Rodgers is healthier and could have more targets to con nect with. Still, the Packers rank fourth in passing and A-Rod has 332.8 yards pass ing per game and 12 touchdowns, one pick. But the Packers opened as the biggest underdog of his career. That’s because the NFL’s only unbeaten team has been unstoppable with the ball and pretty stingy without it. Oh yeah, the Packers don’t cover particularly well in the secondary. Running back Todd Gur ley leads the NFL with 88 he scrambled for par for a 69. Andrew Putnam, play ing in his first World Golf Championship, had a 67 and was five shots behind, along with Tommy Fleet- wood (72). Fleetwood was two shots behind until he chopped up the par-5 14th hole, three-putting from 12 feet for a triple bogey. Rory Mcllroy also had an 8 on the 14th hole as he continued a big slide with a 75, leaving him 21 shots behind Finau. It not only was the second triple bogey this week for Mcll roy, he has had five scores of 6 or higher on his card this week. Brooks Koepka, in his debut at No. 1 in the world, had a 71 and was 14 shots behind. Finau’s only vic tory was in 2016 at the Puerto Rico Open, an event held opposite the Match Play in Texas. He had a three-shot lead going into the weekend, which was gone when he missed a short par putt on the fifth hole and failed to convert a points, 686 yards rushing, 144 carries and 956 yards from scrimmage. DE Aaron Donald co-leads with eight sacks, comes off four sacks, six tackles for loss against San Francisco. Denver (3-4) at Kansas City (6-1): The Chiefs have won six in a row in this series and, like the Rams, have a dynamic, versatile offense. But they also rank last in yardage allowed on defense, so Denver might not be totally overmatched. Chiefs coach Andy Reid won his 200th game last week vs. Cincinnati. Reid would tie Dan Reeves for eighth in NFL history with another victory. To get it, he will rely on second- year QB Patrick Mahomes, who leads the NFL in TD passes (22) and 25-yard- plus completions (26). He has a franchise-record six consecutive 300-yard pass ing games. Baltimore (4-3) at Caro lina (4-2): Carolina exhibited its resilience and staying power by rallying from 17 points down in the fourth quarter at Philadelphia last week. It was the largest comeback in franchise his tory, and now the Panthers are home, where they’ve won eight straight. The challenge is huge against Balti more, which fell at home by one point to New Orleans when Justin Tucker — only the league’s career kicking leader — missed an extra point for the first time. That final-seconds miscue shouldn’t camou flage that the Ravens lead the league in defense. Bal timore has allowed 101 points, lowest total through seven games since coach John Harbaugh took over in 2008. The Ravens have allowed the fewest yards (280.6 per game) and few est points (14.4). 5-foot birdie putt on No. 7 as Rose was making his move. The 29-year-old Ameri can took only four putts over the last four holes, starting with a tough up- and-down from a bunker behind the 15th green that barely reached the fringe and trickled down to about 4 feet. By the end of the round, everything was going his way. Not only did he hit a flawless tee shot into short range on the 17th, he got away with a poor tee shot into a bunker on the 18th and a shot that left him a lot farther from the green than he wanted. No matter. He made the putt and was on the verge of getting a victory to go with his consistent play this year. “I’m looking forward to tomor row,” Finau said. “I’ve got a world-class field chasing after me. This is the posi tion you want to be in and I’ll be looking to close out my first tournament in this position, which is exciting forme.” TODAY ON TV BASEBALL GOLF ■ Red Sox vs. Dodgers, 8 p.m., Fox ■ PGA Tour Golf: Sanderson Farms Championship, 2:30 p.m., Golf Channel VOLLEYBALL ■ Women’s College Volleyball: Mississippi vs. Alabama, 6 p.m., ESPNU SOCCER ■ Premier League Soccer: Crystal Palace vs. Arsenal, 9:25 a.m., NBC Sports ■ Premier League Soccer: Manchester United vs. Everton, noon, NBC ■ Bundesliga Soccer: Werder Bremen vs. Bayer Leverkusen, 12:55 p.m., Fox Sports 1 ■ Michigan State vs. Indiana, 4 p.m., ESPNU ■ MLS Soccer: Sporting KC vs. Los Angeles FC, 4:30 p.m., Fox Sports 1 FOOTBALL ■ Redskins vs. Giants, 1 p.m., Fox ■ Ravens vs. Panthers, 1 p.m., CBS ■ Packers vs. Rams, 4 p.m., Fox ■ Saints vs. Vikings, 8:20 p.m., NBC RACING ■ Formula One Racing: Mexican Grand Prix, 2:30 p.m., ABC ■ Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series: First Data 500,2:30 p.m., NBC Sports SCOREBOARD > Brees Rodgers Koepka
