By Tom Reck
It was an interesting weekend in college and pro football.
In the pros, San Francisco and Cincinnati were winners while Pittsburgh and New England lost.
If nothing else, it was a great day for quarterbacks, maybe more than usual. Folks in fantasy leagues likely are aware of some of the feats and may have been lucky enough to have one of the leaders on their roster.
Some of the top efforts:
• Kurt Warner broke a 16-year-old National Football League record with a 92.3 completion percentage, completing 16 straight passes as he went 24 of 26 for 243 yards and two touchdowns in Arizona’s victory at Jacksonville.
• Matt Ryan completed 21 of 27 passes in Atlanta’s victory over Carolina, hooking up with new receiver Tony Gonzalez on one of his three touchdown passes in the first half.
• Brett Favre established a league record by starting his 271st game and was good on 23 of 27 passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns in the Vikings’ victory over the Lions.
• Drew Brees continues on a record pace, hitting 25 of 34 passes for 311 yards and three scores for New Orleans and now has nine touchdown passes in two games.
• Eli Manning was efficient for the New York Giants, completing 25 of 38 passes for 330 yards and two touchdowns as the Giants spoiled Dallas’ party in its new home.
Meanwhile, Tom Brady did not have a great game for New England as the Patriots lost to the unbeaten Jets, completing 23 of 47 passes for 216 yards.
And so it went as we awaited game time to see what Peyton would do in Miami.
• Coaches named — Two veteran high school coaches have been named to fill vacancies in the area.
Chip Sweet will be the baseball coach at Shakamak again, returning to the coaching ranks and succeeding former assistant Matt Fougerousse, a former player who had succeeded him.
The Lakers won lots of games under both coaches and were highly successful in the state tournament, winning the Class A title under Fougerousse after being runner-up in the past.
Tom Anderson has been named the girls basketball coach at Cloverdale after serving in that same capacity at Owen Valley and taking the Patriots to the 3A state finals.
He joins another veteran coach, Pat Rady, as basketball coaches at the school.
• Jones, Brown do well — Tom Jones and Dave Brown both have had good summers in golf and are competing in the WTHI-TV City Championship that winds up this weekend.
They were members of Indiana’s winning team in action against Kentucky and Ohio teams last week as players competed in alternate-shot and best-ball competition at Four Bridges Country Club in the Cincinnati area.
Brown and Jones were in the top five both days and had low score in the alternate-shot action.
This competition has been going on for 69 years and the seniors from Indiana unofficially set a record with their score this year.
In the current state senior amateur standings, Brown is seventh, Ted Kaperak eighth and Jones 11th. Kaperak will be competing in a tournament of champions this week and could move up in the totals.
• Big games — Some big high school football games will be played in the area Friday night.
South Vermillion goes for a 6-0 start and its best start in years at Rockville, which is 4-1. Cody Mumaw has caught 10 touchdown passes for the Wildcats.
Linton and North Daviess both are 4-1 and unbeaten in the Southwest Seven. They meet at Linton.
Northview has lost only to Terre Haute North and takes on Vincennes Lincoln in Clay County. The Knights should win this one since the Alices still are winless.
West Vigo and Edgewood both have one defeat in the Western Indiana Conference and meet at Ellettsville.
Terre Haute North and South will be in Marion County for Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference games. South plays Ben Davis and North takes on Warren Central.
• Tom-Cattin’ It — The Indiana High School Athletic Association has ruled that potential Indiana University recruit Matt Carlino will be eligible to play for Bloomington South.
The 6-foot-2 junior will join three players back from last year’s 4A champs: senior Erik Fromm, who says he will go to Butler; junior Dee Davis, who has committed to Xavier; and junior Spencer Turner, who is being recruited by several Division I teams.
On a side note, one top prospect, New Jersey guard Kyrie Irving, says he has taken IU off his list.
• Former Illinois State standout cager Doug Collins received the Curt Gowdy Award from the Basketball Hall of Fame this year.
• One IndyCar Series race remains to be run. Scott Dixon holds a five-point lead over Ganassi Racing teammate Dario Franchitti and is eight ahead of Team Penske leader Ryan Briscoe.
It should be quite a finish at Homestead-Miami next month.
Tom Reck may be contacted by telephone at (812) 232-3231, by e-mail at tm_reck@yahoo.com or by mail at 4284 South 5th Street, Apt. 3, Terre Haute, IN 47802.
