Good news over the weekend for High School sports. Under the COVID guidelines, Region 2 which includes LaSalle County is expected to reach phase four with no mitigations later today which basically means all high school sports can begin. This comes after the Illinois Department of Public Health announced that regions that reach Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois Plan will now be allowed to play intraconference games in higher-risk sports – including football, basketball and wrestling. The next questions will be what the revised sports schedule will look like. The IHSA board of directors will meet Wednesday and hopefully we should have a complete schedule for the 2020-21 high school season.
In college basketball
Northwestern rallied late in the game but came up short to Penn State and lost 81-78. The Wildcats will try again to break their seven game losing streak when they host Rutgers at the Welsh-Ryan Arena on Sunday.
Illinois State lost both games to Valparaiso at home this weekend. On Friday they lost 69-60 and fell short on Sunday when the Rebirds lost 70-66. ISU is 5-9 so far this season and will travel to Iowa to take on the Drake Bulldogs on Sunday.
Notre Dame won on the road in Miami Florida to beat the Hurricanes 73-59. The Irish are 4-8 on the season and will host 16th ranked Virginia Tech on Wednesday.
Over the weekend the Chicago Bulls defeated the Hornets in Charlotte 123-110 on Friday . The Bulls came up short on Saturday at the United Center to the Lakers 101-90. Tonight the 7-9 Bulls will host the Boston Celtics.
Pius Suter scored a hat trick with his first three NHL goals as the Blackhawks powered past the Red Wings 6-2 at the United Center. Kevin Lankinen stopped 25 pucks in his second straight win as Chicago swept its two-game set with Detroit. The 2-3 and 1 Blackhawks travel to Nashville to face the Predators tomorrow and Wednesday night.
Yesterday was the Championship round in the NFL
Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are heading to Super Bowl 55. Brady threw three touchdown passes and overcame three interceptions as the Bucs beat the Greenbay Packers 31-26 in the NFC Championship Game at Lambeau Field.
Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs are heading back to the Super Bowl after defeating the Bills 38-24 in the AFC Championship Game in Kansas City. Mahomes threw for 325 yards and three touchdowns in the win.
The Chiefs will now meet the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay. It will be the first time in Super Bowl history that a team will play on their own field. Kansas City defeated Tampa 27-24 back in November.
Other NFL news
The Bears promoted Sean Desai from safeties coach to Defensive coordinator. Desai was originally hired by the Bears in 2013 and is the only remaining holdover from former coach Marc Trestman’s staff. He is believed to be the first coach of Indian descent in the NFL.
In Golf, Si Woo Kim birdied two of the final three holes to win The American Express Open in La Quinta California for his third PGA Tour victory.