November 7, 2026 Issue, Page 3 of 15

Page Text

SPORTS The Elk City News SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2026 • 3 Local Sports By Alex Alvarez GOLF: While Elk City Golf & Country Club finished their tournament season the previous week, last Sunday, Sayre National had their second to last tournament of the season with a fun “Jack & Jill” tournament (mixed couples with no age restriction). Several couples from Elk City participated in the fun Jack & Jill on Sunday afternoon and the participating teams were divided into two flights. “A” – 1st Mac & Mylee Brunker - Alston & Alyssa Grey (54), 2nd Clark & Jennifer Calaway (Elk City) - Danny Rolands & MacKinlee Brunker (59) “B” – 1st Sam & Patty Thompson - Tom & Kim Haseloff (68) 2nd LeeDon & Andrea Wiseman (Elk City) with Rotnie & Mychaela Pineda (Elk City) The last Tournament will be on November 7. Fireman’s Benefit Scramble. HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS AROUND THE AREA ELK CITY The Elks had their last home game last Friday when they hosted the Clinton Tornadoes and broke their two-game winning streak with a 4221 loss to the powerful Tornadoes who have a 7-2 record, and a possible State Tournament appearance. The game was played under a drizzle which turned into light rain at times. Clinton is led by #7 Easten Powell, a junior 6’1” 185lbs athletes. Clinton High School Red Tornadoes utilize a heavy, clock-controlling flexbone of- Rotnie & Micaela Pineda 2nd in Sayre LeeDon & Andrea Wiseman 2nd in Sayre fense that relies on a “running back by committee” approach rather than a single featured back. However, looking at the team’s production and roles, junior Justin “JJ” Ruiz Jr. (#1) emerges as the top-performing running back. Other running backs are Cruz Rios and Dyson Moss. The Elks’ last scheduled game is on November 6 when they visit Bethany where senior #12 Wyatt Taliaferro will try to lead the Elks squad to a last game victory. Wyatt has completed 77% of his passes this season and has a rating of 77.1. Helping him will be #5 Nate Miller and #21 Freddie Arviso who scored a tying touchdown last Friday to even the game at 7-7. AREA TEAMS RECORDS: ELKS FOOTBALL: Coach Zac Maynard. Record 2-7. The Elks ARE 2-1 in their last three games: Wins vs U.S. Grant by a score of 41-16, and Douglas 34-12. Loss versus Clinton 21-42. Last regular season game: @Bethany (Nov-6) Basketball: will begin on December 1st for both boys (Coach: Tyler Foale) and girls (Coach: Mason Gabe & Stephanie Edney Clark & Jennifer Calaway 2nd in Sayre Jones). Wrestling: will begin December 8th (Coach Kaleb Murray) SAYRE FOOTBALL: Coach Craig Hixon. Class “A.” 2026 Record 4-5. Last four Games 2-2: Losses vs Tonkawa 12-63 and Hooker 0-28. Wins vs Hinton 50-6, Merritt 34-16. Coming Up: Watonga (Nov 6). Basketball: Begins December 1st for Boys (Coach: Garrett Thomas) and Girls (Coach: Libbi Zinn) MERRITT FOOTBALL: Coach Dustin Beasley. Class “A”. Record 2-7 Unranked. Last four Games 0-4: Losses vs Fairview 6-62, Crescent 0-40, Sayre 16-34, Watonga 0-3. Coming up: @Hooker (Nov 6) Basketball: Begins November 20 for boys (Coach: Tyler Snowden) and Girls (Coach: Jarod Owen) CANUTE: Basketball: will start on November 6 for boys (Coach: Brock Steffes) and girls (Coach: Tatum Ridling). Note: Canute Girls was Basketball State Champion in early 2026 on their 2025-2026 season. Canute does not have a football team. eagle on the 224-yard Par-3 17th and the 548-yard Par-5 18th hole. The previous week, Rory Sabbatini won the first Charles Schwab playoff tournament. Zach Johnson had a one-stroke lead with two holes to go and finished par-birdie, but it was not enough. It also gave Fichardt a place in the final 36 holes. In 3rd place, seven shots behind Johnson at 14 under par was jerry Kelly, followed by George McNeill, Soren Kjeldsen and Scott Hend at 13 under. Next at 12 under were Y.E. Yang, Alex Cejka and Ricardo Gonzalez. It will be the first time in 10 years that Bernhard Langer does not make the top 36! This was the second of three playoff tournaments for the Schwab Cup. LPGA: Maybank Championship, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Miyu Yamashita won for the third time this year and began talking about being considered Player of the Year. She probably needs to win two more times, as Nelly Korda has the honor all but locked up. Miyu scored 65-66-67 & 68 for 22 under par. Yan Liu was next at 20 under par. Tied for third Pauline Roussin-Bouchard and amateur Marisa Tojai at 19 under. Fifth belonged to Robin Choi at 17 under par, next Archiraya Sriwong at 16 under, A Lim Kim 15 under, Weiwei Zhang 14 under, and eleven players at 13 under. The best American finish was Sophia Schubert who was in a tie for 21st at 9 under par. Professional Golf By Alex Alvarez PGA TOUR: VIDANTAWORLD MEXICO OPEN By opening with 68-61, Andrew Novak took control of the Vidanta world Mexico Open in Puerto Vallarta at the Vidanta Vallarta Golf Club designed by Greg Norman. The other course, designed by Jack Nicklaus, was not used for the event. Novak followed his weekend rounds with 62-69 and a five-point victory over Steven Fisk and Kris Ventura, who played at Oklahoma State University. They finished five shots behind at 20 under par. In a tie for fourth place were Mackenzie Hughes and Andrew’s buddy Ben Griffin, with whom they both won their first tour event in the 2025 at the Zurick Classic. In a tie for 6th at 18 under par were Erik Van Rooyen, Brian Campbell (*), Tom Kim (*), Pierceson Coody and Doug Ghim. (*) Tom Kim and Brian Campbell had a two-stroke penalty on Saturday after both hitting the wrong ball out of a bunker. Brian Campbell was the defending champion. Note: prior to 2022, if you hit the wrong ball out of a bunker, there wasn’t any penalty because you were not allowed to pick up your ball and properly identify it, not you can pick it up and identify it, and they failed to do so. Coming up: Worldwide Technology Championship (Los Cabos, Mexico) November 5-8, the Austin Championship in November 12-15, and RSM Classic in November 1922. Ryder Cowan, who was invited to play the Mexico Open, missed the cut when he made three bogeys coming in on Friday and missed the cut by one. The Fall FedEx Cup continued with the fifth of eight fall tournaments to decide spots 51-100 and 101-125. No one in this group can get to the top 50 which are already set and final after the Tour Championship. The top 50 are eligible to play in full field and signature events. However, spots 51-60 will have an automatic entry in the AT&T Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational. Top 100 earn a PGA Tour card. Places 101-125 earn conditional PGA Tour Cards. Out of the top 125… no status and must find a way to qualify for the tour via DP World, Americas or Korn Ferry Tour. So far, out of the top 125 are former PGA Tour winners Kevin Streelman, Johnathan Vegas, Matt Kuchar, Sam Ryder, Webb Simpson and others. CHAMPIONS TOUR: Simmons Bank Championship, Little Rock AR For the second week in a row, a South African won in the Champions Tour (AKA Senior Tour), when Darren Fichardt bested Zach Johnson by one after finishing birdie and Professional Team Sports By Alex Alvarez WNBA The Golden State Valkyries made history the fastest expansion team to win the WNBA Championship title. It was only their second season in the league. All of it without an “All-WNBA” player, proving that while great players are ticket sellers, basketball is still a team sport. The Valkyries beat the Atlanta Dream in seven games: 68-64, 65-79, 71-97, 67-62, 64-55, 69-80, 68-63. Gaby Williams was named Finals MVP after scoring 30 points in the final game, 28 of which were in the second half, a record. Angel Reece was held to 8 points in the final game. NBA Atlanta Hawks’ rookie guard Kingston Flemings was suspended for one game after an intentional elbow foul. Meanwhile, Oklahoma City Thunder’s roster will shift: the Thunder backet out signing Ochai Agbaji as Chet Holmgreen, Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace ae also dealing with extended absences! Memphis Grizzlies remain undefeated at 6-0 even though stars Anthony Edwards and Ja Morant face notable recovery timelines. EASTERN CONFERENCE: Philadelphia 76ers 6-1 (Atlantic), Detroit Pistons 5-1 (Central), Washington Wizards 3-3 (Southeast) WESTERN CONFERENCE: Portland Trail Blazers 4-1 (Northwest), Los Angeles Lakers 5-2 (Pacific), Memphis Grizzlies 6-0 (Southwest). NOTE: Oklahoma City Thunder is 4-2 after the latest injuries to starters. NFL Last weekend left us without an undefeated team as the Detroit Lions took care of the Minnesota Vikings at the Motor City’s Ford field. The Lions beat the Vikings by a score of 19-15 while one of their best linebackers, Jack Campbell, was carted off the field with a possible and dangerous neck injury. As of Monday night, he remains hospitalized for evaluation and monitoring. Have a photo to share? The Kansas City Chiefs suffered their second loss in a row after falling to the Denver Broncos at Mile High Stadium by a score of 28-24. The Broncos held Mahones and his powerful offense on the one-yard line for four straight downs in the last seconds of the game. Broncos are now 6-2, and the Chiefs are 5-2. The Broncos overcame an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter, and on Sunday night, the Washington Commanders surprised the Eagles (in a way since Jalen Hurts is off for the season) by a score of 27-10 after being 10 points down. And Baker Mayfield, former Sooner quarterback, had a historic day with 0 completed passes (0-3) but used his runners for a 310 rushing performance and a 16-0 win versus Atlanta. Lamar Jackson, Ravens quarterback, will undergo thumb surgery and will be out for at least 5 more weeks, just a few games prior to playoffs. The Lions announced that Wu-Tang Clan will headline the 87th annual Thanksgiving Halftime Show on November 26 against the Bears at Ford Field. The standings are as follows: AMERICAN LEAGUE: Buffalo Bills 6-1 (East), Pittsburgh 6-2 (North), Jacksonville Jaguars 5-2 (South), Denver Broncos 6-2 (West). NATIONAL LEAGUE: New York Giants 4-2-1 (East), Minnesota Vikings 6-1 (North), Carolina Panthers 3-4 (South), San Francisco 49ers 6-1 (West). Note: National League South is the only division with a losing record as leader. NHL The National Hockey League and the NBA have concurrent seasons, so both leagues have started their competition. After 15 games played out of a total of 84, the standings are as follows: EASTERN CONFERENCE: Atlantic - Boston Bruins (21 Points). Metropolitan - Carolina Hurricanes (26). WESTERN CONFERENCE: Central - Minnesota Wild (23). Pacific - Edmonton Oilers (24) Sources: ESPN, GOOGLE, SPORTS CHANNELS. Send to [email protected] with a description!