Sports Shorts: Local Cagers at MCC, NFL Title Games & Bracket Pick #1

Local Jayhawks: #5 Haley Zerlaut,, #22 Calla Miller, #23 Emmerson Goodin, #1 Kayla Fisk

By Ken DeLaat

A quartet of teammates and former rivals from our area are doing their thing on a successful MCC team. Led by former Packer Calla Miller, who recently was named conference player of the week, the Jayhawks also have Fremont’s Haley Zerlaut as well as Lion alumni Emmerson Goodin and Kayla Fisk on the squad. They are currently 4-1 in conference play with a 13-5 overall record. This Wednesday they play in Harrison facing the Lakers of Mid Michigan CC with a shot at a share for first place in the MCCAA-North standings. Saturday they play at home at 1pm. Here’s a link to their team page for more info.
https://www.muskegoncc.edu/athletics/womens-basketball/

What a huge disappointment the NFC game proved to be. Not because the Niners lost. I didn’t have a dog in this fight so the winner of this was inconsequential to me. But seeing a great story like the Mr Irrelevant qb (the #3 qb before #1 and #2 got hurt) going against the Philly phenom with a pair of awesome defenses for each to confront was one of those perfect storm matchups.
Except the storm fizzled out with the injuries to Brock Purdy and then when the backup to the backup to the backup was also injured it left Frisco a shell of a team on offense when Purdy was put back in despite being unable to toss a coin much less a downfield pass. Philly is a good team. Possibly a great team. But this was like a heavyweight bout where one fighter truly did have one arm tied behind his back

“Those are some stones!” Loved that call by broadcaster Tony Romo when the Bengals joe Burrow tossed a 35 yard pass on 4th and 6 to Ja’Marr Chase in the AFC contest. This game was all it was supposed to be and yet ended up being decided by a penalty. A Lion-like penalty for those who have followed our Detroiters the past few decades.

Watching #1 Purdue play makes me wonder how in the world Rutgers beat them for their only loss.  Edey looks like he can drop 30 on a team whenever he wants. Got a hunch teams that play them in March will have seen a lot of Purdue/Rutgers tape by the time they hit the court. 
​They may not stay atop the polls and could lose by  hitting a cold spell like they did at the charity stripe against the Scarlet Knights, but they are already one of my Final Four picks.
Which likely doesn't bode well for them given the ineptitude of my predictions in recent years. 

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