NFL offers turkey contests

Sports Scope

By Thomas A. Kvamme

While the weather outside continues to be rather nice, the football season continues to roll along.

With the state playoffs now complete, the attention on the prep level for most will turn to the winter activities, with those events to be played indoors.

Meanwhile, fans continue to concentrate on the National Football League with favorite teams and fantasy leagues.

It appears the Minnesota Vikings won't be involved in the postseason festivities this season, then again, stranger things have happened.

About the time one sells a team short they tend to rebound.

One can only hope.

As much as we dislike the Dallas Cowboys we must tip our hat to those folks for upending the Indianapolis Colts to derail any thoughts of any unbeaten season.

That says something about the parity in the NFL.

At the same time it tends to make things rather difficult in making predictions.

With Thanksgiving upon us this means early games this week with the turkey day contests on the table.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

On that note, on behalf of the Herald sports staff, including Sean Pitman and William Highley, we extend a most blessed Thanksgiving.

This is the time of year to pause and reflect on how good we have it.

While we will always have something to complain about, there is a need to give thanks.

Enjoy your day but remember to give thanks.

HERALD GRID CONTEST

Following Monday Night NFL play, the field was trimmed and Bob Hanson comes out as the winner of the weekly Herald Football Contest.

A number of entries were in contention, but with Jacksonville's win, it came down to the tie-breaker.

With the win Hanson pockets $25 in Herald Bucks, which tends to come in handy this time of year.

Others that gave it a good run included Michael Wheeler, Shae Klug, John Fougner, Larry Rosencrans, Mark Andre and Jim Klug.

You are reminded, due to the holiday contests, the deadline to enter is moved up to Wednesday.

OHIO FOOTBALL

While we're on the subject of football we can tell you plenty was served up in the state of Ohio last weekend.

On Friday, the high school playoffs featured a key game with Coleraine knocking off state power St. Xavier in the battle of the larger schools.

That set the stage for Saturday when the Ohio State Buckeyes remained unbeaten and held their No. 1 ranking in the college ranks.

It's hard to believe but the game ended in a score of 42-39 and a few minutes after the game the Pick 4 lottery numbers came out to be 4239.

That's kind of spooky.

A total of 401 $1 bets were placed on that combination which led to each winning $5,000.

Hey, whatever works.

Then Saturday night the Cinncinati Bearcats posted an upset win over No. 7 ranked Rutgers, followed by the Cincinnati Bengals winning out on Sunday for a clean sweep.

In a state that lives and dies by the pigskin, this proved to be one those folks will remember and talk about for years to come.

TETONS ON ROAD

Turkey day will find the Williston State College basketball squads feasting in another climate as the Tetons are slated to take part in the Garden City Thanksgiving Classic Friday and Saturday.

That action will take place in Garden City, Kan., with the next home action set for Dec. 1-2 with the El Rancho Classic set for “The Well.”

Remember you can tune in to broadcasts of the Coyotes and Tetons on the Web with KEYZ providing the play-by-play action.

SALUTE THE SPIKERS

A Scope Salute is in order for Ticinie Heller and her coaching staff, along with members of the Williston High School volleyball team, on a strong showing at the state Class A tournament.

The Coyotes had another excellent season that was capped off with a third-place finish.

We say a job well done and this gives the program a strong base from which to build.

scope@willistonherald.com/572-2165