January 24, 2026 Issue, Page 3 of 13

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SPORTS The Elk City News SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 2026 • 3 EC Zavian Rivera - You can't keep me down. Rivera won! EC Oakley Blankenship wins match EC Noah Lemons. Wins match EC Kayden Morgan EC Jaden Cerda - Wins match! EC Bronson Cobb wins match! EC Brock Leal - Wins match EC Asia Maddox EC Angel Rivera - can't keep him down. Wins match! EC - J.J. Cupp. Wins match EC - Elei Payan - Wins Match EC - Joel Shelton EC Hogan Holladay - Winner EC Matthew Herrera Cory Spieker & Andy Blankenship enjoying wrestling College & High School Basketball By Alex Alvarez OMITTED INFO LAST WEEK: I apologize. In last week’s column of “Amy Busby Aces First Tennis Coaching Season”, I failed to include the two significant awards that Amy won as a first year Tennis Coach for Elk City. In winning the 4-A Tennis Championship for Elk City (a first in Tennis for this high school), Amy won the OSSAA 4-A Boys Tennis Coach of the Year, and more importantly. the “Section 6 Tennis Coach of the Year” and “Section 6” includes Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas! What a double honor for Amy and Elk City High School! EARLY ROAD TO THE FINAL FOUR: With a maximum of 32 games per season allowed per team in the college basketball season (previously it was limited to 31 – but the number of games varies due to conferences and team preferences), the basketball season is past their mid-point and some rankings are beginning to be more clear for the sixty-four team NCAA men’s and women’s tournaments this coming March 17 & 18, with the men’s Fi- nal Four being played on April 6, 2026 in Indianapolis, at the Lucas Oil Stadium, and the women’s final at the Footprint Center, in Phoenix, AZ on April 5th. With 31 college conferences, that offer automatic spots for the NCAA Tournament to the conference winner, and a few more automatic spots for high finishes in the bigger conferences, there are always a few spots for independent teams and teams of smaller, less competitive conferences. Conferences like the Big 12, Big 10, ACC, SEC, Big East, Mountain West among others, usually have powerful teams. For instance, this year, the Big-12 has 7 top 25 teams, short of the high of 14 teams that SEC had last year. Thus far, the 10-top ranked teams overall, are Arizona (Big-12), Iowa State (Big-12), UConn (Big East), Michigan (Big-10), Purdue (Big-10), Duke (ACC), Houston (Big-12), Nebraska (Big-10), Gonzaga (WCC) and Vanderbilt (SEC). The best ranking of an Oklahoma team is the Oklahoma Sooner ladies which has fluctuated between #9 and #13. The Men’s Sooner team is not ranked. The Oklahoma State Cowgirls are ranked #14 while the Cowboys are not ranked. Here are the records of our colleges and local high schools: OKLAHOMA COLLEGES BASKETBALL Oklahoma Sooners. Men. Southeastern Conference Coach: Porter Moser Record: 11-7 overall, 1-4 in SEC Conference. Last three games: 0-3. Losses vs Texas A&M 76-83, Florida 79-96, Alabama, 81-83 Coming up: South Carolina (Jan-20), Missouri (Jan-24), Arkansas (Jan-27) Conference Position: Tied 11th. Conference Leader: Vanderbilt Commodores 16-2. #13 Oklahoma Sooners. Women. Southeastern Conference Coach: Jennie Baranczyk Record: 14-4, Conference 2-3 Last three games: 0-3. Losses vs Ole Miss 69-74, Kentucky 57-63, LSU 72-91 Coming up: South Carolina (Jan-22), Auburn (Jan-25), Texas A&M (Jan-29) Conference Position: 10th Conference Leader: Vanderbilt Commodores 18-0 Oklahoma State Cowboys. Big12 Conference Coach: Steve Lutz Record: 14-4 overall, 2-3 Conference Last three games: 1-2. Win vs Kansas St 84-83, losses vs Iowa St 71-83 and Baylor 79-94 Coming up: TCU (Jan-20, Iowa St (Jan-24), Utah (Jan-21) Conference Position: 13th Conference Leader: Arizona Wildcats 18-0 #18 Oklahoma State Cowgirls. Women. Big-12 Conference Coach: Jacie Hoyt Record: 14-4 overall, Conference 5-2 Last three games: 3-0. Wins vs Colorado 63-56, Kansas 85-76 and Iowa St 86-58 Coming up: Colorado (Jan-25), BYU (Jan-28), Arizona (feb-1) Conference Position: 4th Conference Leader: Texas Tech Lady Riders at 19-1 ELK CITY BASKETBALL – IDLE NEW YEAR’S WEEK #8 CANUTE CLASS A BOYS: Coach Brock Steffes. Record 12-5 Last three games: 0-3. Losses vs Hooker 41-50, Cheyenne/Reydon 41-50, Mangum 60-62 Coming up: Hydro/Eakly (Jan 18 no score available), Fort Cobb/ Broxton (Jan-27), Sentinel (Jan-30) #2 CANUTE CLASS A GIRLS: Coach Tatum Ridling. Record 16-1 Last Three 3-0: Wins vs Merritt 41-24, Cheyenne/Raydon 65-41, Mangum 67-18 Coming up: Ft. Cobb/Broxton (Jan-27), Sentinel (Jan-30), Pawhuska (Jan-31) MERRITT CLASS 2-A BOYS Coach Tyler Snowden. Record 6-7 Last Three: 2-1. Wins vs Frederick 55-31, Sayre 85-66, Loss vs Burns Flat/Dill City 38-44 College Football By Alex Alvarez THE MOVIE SCRIPT IS COMPLETE From Immigrant Roots and being denied a spot on his home team, to National Champion It was, without a doubt, a great game, but the story within the game is much bigger, as it shows that sometimes there is a Higher Plan when you are humble. The story’s main character is, of course, Fernando Mendoza, the Indiana quarterback who more than once put his body on the line during the game, and, in one of such occasions, he scored the winning touchdown. When you see him flying sideways over the goal line in the air, you just think some 300 pound defender is going to break his back on the play…. Thank God, it didn’t happen. Here you have a teenager who was born in the United States to immigrant parents and grandparents who came from Communist Cuba after the Cuban Revolution in the mid-50’s. His parents for sure, had to teach him the Cuban story and why they ended in the USA, a new life, and why he should embrace his birth country, along with his older brother Alberto. Fernando grew up surrounded by the energy of the big city of Miami, where he joined his older brother on the high school team. After graduating, he sought to play with the Miami Hurricanes, but it was not to be. Like many kids, young Fernando dreamed of mak- ing it big in the sport that symbolized so much about his parents adopted country: American football. Did it deter his ambition to become better? NO! He humbled himself and went to a small college in California, before given the opportunity to join his brother in Indiana when coach Curt Cignetti recruited him. After watching both play, he made the heard decision to give the younger brother the older brother’s starting position. And it paid off. With Alberto as the backup, a turn-around role from their high school days, Fernando felt confident that they could do very good, and their dream season to their first National Championship began. The two brothers, whose Catholic faith is indisputable and their closeness unbreakable, always giving thanks to God for their ac- complishments, along with talent, and talented team members and coaches, and a deep belief, brought them to win the Big-10 Championship, then three solid games in the playoffs, including the national Championship. It is a result of cheering for each other since their younger days, while both taught to appreciate the freedom, diversity, and culture around them. Since the beginning of the game against Miami, played in Miami and the team that did not give a young Fernando an opportunity to play for them, it was established that Miami was not a push-over, but also that Indiana had all the tools to continue on top of the leaderboard, as they led 10-0 at halftime. In the third quarter, Miami promptly scored a touchdown to make it 10-7, and 5 minutes later, with Miami having to punt inside the 20-yard line, Indiana’s defensive lineman, Mikail Kamara, blocked the punt that linebacker Isaiah Jones recovered the ball for Indiana in the Miami in-zone for an Indiana touchdown to stretch the lead to 10 points again at 1710. That would have probably been the play that was talked about later, if Indiana won, but Mendoza’s play and will to win, was not over yet. That is the way the third quarter ended. With just seconds after the last quarter began, Miami scored a touchdown to make it a 17-14 game, but just about 5 minutes later, with Indiana on the 12 yard line, it looked like a broken play and a possible sack, when Mendoza ran around the defenders and leaped from the 4 yard line into the in-zone for a touchdown and a 24-14 lead with just about 9 minutes left in the game. This is a play that was so dangerous that it was impossible not to think that if someone had been close and ready for Mendoza’s leap, he could have definitely hurt him in the air. He was definitely hit, but not as hard as it could have been had the defensive player been ready for it. It was just a reaction, and a millisecond too late, and the picture of Mendoza in the air will fill the airwaves, and the X, Google and Youtube users, and it will become a poster of some sort and the movie’s picture ad. Miami scored with 6 minutes to go to make it 24-21 and Indiana threatened to get another touch- down, but a 5-yard penalty gave them a 3rd and long, and Miami’s defense stood strong, forcing the Hoosiers to kick a field goal and a 27-21 score, keeping the possibility of a late touchdown to win the game and an upset of the #1 ranked team. Miami took the ball downfield, and without time-outs and less than 2 minutes left, threw an interception on Indiana’s side of the field and the game was over: Indiana had completed the best program turn-around ever with their first championship in football. The result of this game is more than a championship, it is a story of resilience and of someone taking a disappointment as a challenge, and meeting that challenge, and a legacy of hope for those who face “bumps on the road”: A HEART OF A CHAMPION NEVER GIVES UP! A great story that could one day become a movie like “Hoosiers” (Gene Hackman) or “Remember the Titans” (Denzel Washington), and better, as their mother, with Multiple Sclerosis is always there, reaching from the strength of her inner spirit to continue giving strength to her boys (the boys now raise money for MS in Indiana). It will be much better than any Hollywood story. A great script that shows a humble immigrant family that encouraged their children to become the best they could be. Sources: Local Sources, ESPN, MSN, GOOGLE, OSSAA, Wikipedia, Other Internet Media Coming Up: Hollis (Jan-19), Anadarko (Jan-20), Texoma (Jan22) #4 MERRITT CLASS 2-A Girls Coach Jeff Daugherty. Record 10-3 Last Three: 2-1. Wins vs Burns Flat/Dill City 74-32, Sayre 71-34, Loss vs Canute 24-41 Coming Up: Hollis (Jan-19), Anadarko (Jan-20) and TBA (Jan22) ELK CITY CLASS 4-A BOYS Coach Tyler Foale. Record 0-13 Last Three: 0-3. Losses vs Elgin 45-53, Weatherford 46-58, and Blanchard 22-70. Coming Up: TBA (Jan-22), Woodward (Jan-27), Bethany (Jan30) #15 ELK CITY CLASS 4-A GIRLS Coach Mason Jones. Record 9-5 Last 3: 2-1. Wins vs Weatherford JV 43-27, Blanchard 55-37, Loss vs Weatherford 35-53 Coming up: TBA (Jan-22 to Jan24) Sources: ESPN, MSN Sports, OSSAA, On-Line media sports. Sports Tidbits By Alex Alvarez NBA Steph Curry who is famous for helping kids, involved an unnamed young kid to help him to a pregame exhibition dunk. This kid will remember the moment forever! GOLF: As announced by the PGA Tour 3 years ago, anyone coming back would have to pay a stiff penalty, so Brooks Koepka is not been given a “special treatment”, as he had to shell several million dollars, plus agree to be ineligible to certain PGA Tour bonuses. Good for the Tour and Good for Brooks. Glad he is back! “Un-Luck of the Irish”? Both Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy had a chance to with the opening tournament of the DP World Tour, and both messed up #18, handing the victory to Spaniard Nacho Elvira. Got to keep concentration to the end! (they both know!) TENNIS: Roger Federer was the star of the inaugural Australian Open 2026 Opening Ceremony on January 17, 2026, returning to Rod Laver Arena for a celebrated exhibition match alongside legends like Andre Agassi and Ash Barty, delighting a soldout crowd and marking a memorable return to Melbourne Park for See TIDBITS page 9