Hometown Broadcasting Sports Monday 1/13/20
13 January 2020 Sports
Aaron Rodgers connected with Davante Adams eight times for 160 yards and two touchdowns, Green Bay’s spruced-up defense fended off a spirited Seahawks rally, and the Packers held on for a 28-23 victory Sunday night to reach the NFC championship game for the third time in six years. Aaron Jones rushed for 62 yards and two first-half scores for the Packers (14-3), who will travel next weekend to take on top-seeded San Francisco. Rodgers, who went 16 for 27 for 243 yards in his 17th career postseason start, Rodgers has 38 touchdown passes in the playoffs. That’s good for fifth in league history.
Russell Wilson carried the Seahawks (12-6) on yet another comeback, this time from a 21-3 halftime deficit, but the Packers forced a punt shortly before the two-minute warning on the second sack of the game by Preston Smith. That was Green Bay’s fifth of the game. Rodgers sealed the win with two third-down throws: a 32-yard strike to Adams on third-and-8 with 2:19 left and then for 9 yards to Jimmy Graham on third-and-9 right after the two-minute warning to take down a Seahawks team that was 8-1 on the road this season entering the game.
Rodgers exacted some payback for five years ago, when the Packers blew a 16-0 halftime lead in the NFC championship game at Seattle and were beaten 28-22 in overtime. The Seahawks lost their next game to New England when Wilson was infamously intercepted late at the goal line and haven’t been back to the conference title game since then.
Racking up 64 yards rushing on seven scrambles and completing 21 of 31 passes for 277 yards, Wilson directed touchdown drives of 69, 84, 79 right out of the gate after halftime. Lynch finished two of them with scores, and Wilson threw on the run to Tyler Lockett, who had 136 yards on nine receptions, for the other one. Lynch’s second touchdown with 9:33 left cut the lead to 28-23, but Jaire Alexander blew up the 2-point conversion attempt with a sack on an unblocked blitz. The Packers gave the ball back to the Seahawks with a second consecutive punt, this time with 4:54 left at the Seattle 22, but Wilson ran out of tricks in his seemingly bottomless bag of them. Lynch, who has 12 rushing touchdowns in 13 career postseason games to tie for fourth in NFL history, had only 26 yards on 12 carries.
The Packers had three touchdown drives of 75 yards apiece over the first three quarters, plus a 60-yard march preceded by a missed 50-yard field goal try from Jason Myers.
Right tackle Bryan Bulaga, one of six players the team reported this week as being limited by illness, was active for but did not play. Jared Veldheer replaced him.
The Packers advance to their third NFC championship game in six years. They lost 37-8 on Nov. 24 to the 49ers, who beat Minnesota 27-10 on Saturday in their divisional round game. All four of Green Bay’s appearances in the NFC title game with Rodgers at the helm have been on the road. They won at Chicago after the 2010 season to reach his only Super Bowl.
In the AFC Divisional game, Kansas City scored 41 unanswered points and routed Visiting Houston, 51-31. The Texans shot out to a 24-0 lead before the Chiefs and quarterback Patrick Mahomes got the offense rolling. Mahomes threw five touchdown passes, three to Travis Kelce, who had ten catches for 134 yards. Kansas City will host the Tennessee Titans in Sunday’s first game.
NFC Divisional Game (Sat.)
San Francisco 27, Minnesota 10
AFC Divisional Game (Sat.)
Tennsesse 28, Baltimore 12
Men’s College Basketball (Sat.)
Micah Potter scored 18 of his 24 points in the first half and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead Wisconsin over No. 20 Penn State 58-49 on Saturday.
Brad Davison had 11 points and 13 rebounds for the Badgers (10-6, 3-2 Big Ten), who bounced back nicely after losing 71-70 to Illinois on Wednesday night. Kobe King added 10 points.
It was a successful start to a key stretch for Wisconsin, which hosts No. 12 Maryland on Tuesday night and visits No. 8 Michigan State on Friday.
Lamar Stevens had 19 points and 13 rebounds for the Nittany Lions (12-4, 2-3), who had won 13 in a row at home. Isaiah Brockington scored 15 points. Wisconsin never trailed and led by as many as 12 with 14:13 to play.
Falling for just the third time in the last 10 games against in-state rival Milwaukee, Green Bay came up short on Saturday night at the Resch Center 87-80. The Phoenix (7-11, 2-3 HL) trailed by nine at the half, but came back in the second half to get within one before the Panthers (8-9, 3-2 HL) seemingly had every answer.
Green Bay got a combined 51 points from Amari Davis (28 points) and JayQuan McCloud (23 points), but it wasn’t enough to combat the 31 points from Milwaukee’s Te’jon Lucas and 23 more points from Brandon Roy. The Panthers shot 50 percent (30-for-60) in the game, including 55.6 percent in the second half alone and also went 6-for-9 from 3 in that half.
(Men’s) Ripon College 104, Grinnell College 101
(Women’s) Ripon College 81, Grinnell College 53
In NBA G-Leauge action Saturday, the Wisconsin Herd beat Canton 131-123. Six Herd players scored in double figures with three of the six tallying 20 points or more. Jaylen Adams scored a game-high 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting and Frank Mason and D.J. Hogg tallied 21 points apiece. Cameron Reynolds had 17 points and six rebounds, while Luke Maye tallied his fourth double-double of the season and posted 14 points and 10 rebounds in his return from injury. Jemerrio Jones fell just short of a triple-double and recorded 10 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists in just under 25 minutes played.
Boys BB (Mon,)
Ripon @ Lourdes Academy-Tipoff around 7:15 on AM1600/93.1FM, WRPN
Girls BB (Mon.)
Central Wisconsin Christian @ Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah
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