Sports

The last time the Rock Bridge football team played Marshall, quarterback Paul Wayne Thomas wasn’t a factor.

Thomas, the son of Marshall coach Paul Thomas, threw two touchdown passes at last week’s Higginsville jamboree and led an offense that successfully converted all seven third-down attempts.

For Hickman football coach Gregg Nesbitt, it’s always a challenge preparing for a season opener, especially against an opponent he has never faced.

EAGLE, Colo. — The Kobe Bryant case collapsed Wednesday as prosecutors said they had no choice but to drop the sexual assault charge against the NBA star because his accuser no longer wanted to participate.

The spotlight returned to the Missouri football program this season, with the team ranked in preseason polls for the first time since 1980. The team has a Heisman Trophy candidate at quarterback and nine starters back on defense, creating high expectations for the team.

Many questions remain, though, and here are 20 Missourian reporters have tried to answer.

Jenny Duitsman and Lindsey Hunter have taken different paths to their roles as leaders of the Missouri volleyball team.

After her team’s victory against Lindenwood University on Wednesday, Columbia College volleyball coach Melinda Wrye-Washington had a lot to say about the play of her team.

By BRENDAN SHEA

sports@columbiamissourian.com

For a team to have a good defense, it needs a strong front four.

For Missouri’s season to be a successful one, it needs its front four to excel on a consistent basis.

Every player has a bad day.

For Rock Bridge tennis player Kara Hickey, Tuesday wasn’t one of those days.

It wasn’t his first choice, but Rickey Paulding will play pro basketball overseas next season.

Paulding’s agent, Doug Neustadt, said on Tuesday that Paulding signed a one-year contract to play basketball in Jerusalem.

The Rock Bridge boys’ soccer team sent a message to the rest of the state: We can beat you.

Striker Michael Ferguson scored the game’s only two goals and the Bruins knocked off state runner-up Chaminade Tuesday at Cosmopolitan Park.

If there were a pill for golfing consistency, the Rock Bridge girls’ golf team must have filled the prescription on Tuesday.

Rock Bridge finished second at a tri-meet with solid rounds from each of its top four golfers, for a total of 173. The Bruins finished one stroke behind Rolla and four ahead of Hickman at L.A. Nickell Golf Course.

The Rock Bridge volleyball team dug hard for its first victory Tuesday against Jefferson City but came up empty-handed.

The Bruins won the first game 25-22 but dropped the next two, 26-24, 26-24, because of their inconsistent play and the inability to hold several leads.

Fans of the Missouri Tigers who subscribe to Sirius Satellite Radio can get their fix on a new program.

The commercial-free satellite radio company has joined with College Sports Television to offer live play-by-play coverage of 23 universities, including games from the 2004 Tigers’ football season.

At game time, the sparse crowd of 924 clearly reflected the state of Mavericks baseball in Columbia.

When the team left the field after Monday night’s game, a 9-1 season-ending loss against the Rockford RiverHawks, it did so in last place in the independent Frontier League, and with the second-lowest total attendance of any of the league’s 12 teams.

Everybody on the Missouri defense has spent the preseason working on run defense, even the unit that is chiefly responsible for stopping the pass.

The Tigers’ secondary hasn’t stood idle after the defense allowed a combined 667 yards rushing against Kansas State and Arkansas, the final two losses in 2003. To help improve the run defense, the secondary has focused on the concept of leverage.

JEFFERSON CITY — The Rock Bridge volleyball team could not deliver the perfect welcome gift to its new coach Beth Newton, but did manage the next best thing.

Although the Bruins fell 25-11, 25-23 in their season opener to Helias on Monday, Newton said the team’s play pleased her.

One thing every generation of young people has in common is their popular music’s ability to frighten and confuse the older generation.

Baby boomers lamented their parents’ denouncement of rock ‘n’ roll as noise and not music.

To some, it might appear Big 12 Conference schools have decided to ease into the new season. The Big 12’s coaches don’t think that is the case.

When Oklahoma State plays at UCLA this weekend, it is the only Big 12 team playing a major conference opponent. That doesn’t mean, though, the Big 12 teams will get a week off. Teams’ scheduling philosophies were topics of discussion during the first Big 12 coaches’ teleconference of the season.

The Rock Bridge softball team fell to Smith Cotton 5-3 on Monday night in Sedalia.