Westplex Today Sports Page:   November 17, 2008

In football:   The Rams are unraveling at warp speed, after a 35-16 loss in San Francisco yesterday.   The score is deceiving, because the 49ers embarrassed the Rams to the tune of a 35-3 halftime lead.   Rams quarterback Marc Bulger had three turnovers, and former Rams head coach Mike Martz was ruthless in taking advantage of the Rams’ mistakes in the first half.   The Rams are a woeful 2-8 on the season, and they have a high-noon showdown at home next Sunday with the Chicago Bears.

In other scores from yesterday’s NFL action:

Tennessee 24, Jacksonville 14 (Titans still unbeaten at 10-0)

Dallas 14, Washington 10

Pittsburgh 11, San Diego 10

Arizona 26, Seattle 20 (Kurt Warner’s 4^th-straight 300-yard game)

Carolina 31, Detroit 22

Tampa Bay 19, Minnesota 13

NY Giants 30, Baltimore 10

Miami 17, Oakland 15

New Orleans 30, Kansas City 20

Indianapolis 33, Houston 27

Green Bay 37, Chicago 3

Philadelphia 13, Cincinnati 13 (1^st NFL tie game in 6 years)

Tonight, Cleveland plays at Buffalo on Monday Night Football on ESPN.

At the college level:   Missouri is having a much better season than the Rams.   In fact, the Tigers clinched a share of the Big 12 North championship, and their edge in tiebreakers gives them a trip to the Big 12 Championship Game for the second-straight season.   Missouri also won at least a share of a conference or division championship for the second-straight year…for the first time since 1942, when Missouri played in the Big 6 Conference.   Mizzou has a bye this week, before it faces archrival Kansas in the regular-season finale November 29^th.

Among the small universities in our area:   Lindenwood will return to the NAIA football playoffs, after it defeated Missouri Valley 21-18 in a battle of nationally-ranked teams.   Lindenwood is now 9-1 after winning its last 9 games, and it gets to host a football playoff game this Saturday.   The 7^th-ranked Lions host #16 Lambuth University at 1:30 Saturday afternoon.   Lambuth has won 8 of its last 9 games

Washington University finished its season on a sour note, losing to nationally-ranked conference foe Case-Western 17-0.   The Wash-U Bears finished the season with a 5-5 record, snapping a streak of 15 consecutive winning seasons.

In high school football:   There is only one team left in the Westplex that is still alive for a state championship.   Sullivan edged McCluer South-Berkeley at home 7-0 to advance to the MSHSAA Class 3 semifinals.   Sullivan plays at Cardinal Ritter Saturday afternoon at 1:30 , and the winner goes to the Edward Jones Dome for the Show-Me Bowl state championships during Thanksgiving weekend.

However, the dream of a state crown has ended for Zumwalt West.   Last Friday night, in a cold and windy night, Zumwalt West lost 44-18 at Jefferson City in the Class 6 quarterfinal round.

In baseball:   Unless there is a huge surprise, St. Louis will be honored today when the National League MVP Award will be issued.   The question is, will it go to Cardinal slugger Albert Pujols, or native St. Louisan Ryan Howard of the newly-crowned world-champion Philadelphia Phillies?   Howard hit far more home runs that Pujols, but Pujols has better stats across most of the other batting categories.   The problem for Pujols is the Cardinals finished in 4^th place in their division, while Howard’s Phillies won the World Series.

There’s no debate about who won the Sprint Cup Championship in NASCAR racing.   Jimmie Johnson won his 3^rd consecutive NASCAR cup championship, only the 2^nd time that has happened in the history of NASCAR.   All Johnson needed to do in the last race of the season was to finish in 36^th place or higher, even if 2^nd place contender Carl Edwards won the last race.   Edwards did win the last race of the season, but Johnson is king of the Sprint Cup.

In hockey:   The Blues were snakebit again in an overtime shootout, losing 3-2 to Montreal at the Scottrade Center yesterday.   A bright spot was the performance of Steve Regier, who just arrived from the Blues’ minor league affiliate in Peoria .   Regier had 2 goals in his Blues’ debut, but Alexei Kovalev scored the long overtime shootout goal to give the Canadiens the victory.   The Blues do have 3 points in their last 2 games, and they host the Anaheim Ducks Friday night.

In high school sports, a duo of brothers highlighted the MSHSAA Boys Swimming & Diving Championship Meet at the Rec-Plex in St. Peters over the weekend.   Jerod Simek won the 500 freestyle and finished 5^th in the 200 I-M.   His brother Andrew won two events:   the 100 butterfly and the 100 breaststroke.  The Simek brothers pushed the Zumwalt West squad to 11^th in the overall team standings.

The only other swimmer from the Westplex to finish in the top five in an event was Howell North’s Nate Weiss, who finished 4^th in the 100 backstroke.