w/ Jim Field

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STATS LLC.- From general manager Scott Pioli and defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel to injured quarterback Matt Cassel, the Kansas City Chiefs have plenty of connections to the New England Patriots.

On-field success isn’t currently one of them.

Coming off a critical road victory that left them alone atop the AFC East, the Patriots return to Foxborough on Monday night to face a reeling Chiefs team that will have unproven Tyler Palko under center.

As Bill Belichick’s czar of player personnel, Pioli helped build the Patriots (6-3) into a powerhouse last decade before coming to Kansas City in 2009.

Pioli traded for Cassel — who emerged in 2008 with New England after then-Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard ended Tom Brady’s season with a hit to his knee in the season opener — and prior to 2010, hired Crennel, New England’s defensive coordinator during its run of three Super Bowl victories in four seasons.

Cassel had a Pro Bowl season in 2010 and Kansas City rode an improved defense under Crennel to a surprising AFC West title, but a repeat playoff berth is looking unlikely. After bouncing back from an 0-3 start with four straight wins, the Chiefs were outscored 48-13 in consecutive home losses to Miami and Denver.

To make matters worse, Cassel suffered what coach Todd Haley called a “significant” hand injury in last Sunday’s 17-10 loss to the Broncos and could miss the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery Monday.

Palko, who’s thrown 13 NFL passes — 26 fewer than Cassel had when he took over for Brady in 2008 — will be under center for the foreseeable future.

“Tyler is the next in line, and he’s done a terrific job, like I said, of keeping himself ready,” Haley said. “That’s what the No. 2 quarterback has to do, because you don’t know. At a moment’s notice, you could be in there playing, just like any other position.”

Despite having been outscored 157-40 in their losses, the Chiefs (4-5) are still just a game out in the West.

The Patriots, meanwhile, have first place in the East all to themselves — a reality that was tough to imagine after back-to-back losses to Pittsburgh and the New York Giants left them tied with Buffalo and the New York Jets. 

Kickoff is set for 7:30pm.  We will join the broadcast after high school basketball.

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State’s Chelsea Poppens and Hallie Christofferson posted strong performances to lead the Cyclones past Northern Arizona 65-41 Sunday evening at Hilton Coliseum. The win improves Iowa State to 3-0 while NAU drops to 2-3.

It was an all-around strong performance by the Cyclone post players. Poppens finished the game with 18 points and 11 rebounds for her ninth career double-double. Christofferson posted 16 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots. Fallon Ellis was also strong for Iowa State off the bench with five points and six rebounds.

Freshman Nikki Moody was busy for the Cyclones, posting career-highs in assists (nine), rebounds (four) and steals (three). Brynn Williamson came off the bench to post seven points.

Iowa State will travel to Reno, Nev. Later this week to compete in the Nugget Classic. The Cyclones take on Penn State Friday at 6 p.m. CST and will then play either Butler or Nevada the next day.

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) – Johnny Moran shot 6 for 6 from the free-throw line and finished with 17 points to lead Northern Iowa past Northern Colorado 78-69 on Sunday. The Panthers (2-1) went ahead for good midway through the second half when Jake Koch hit a 3-pointer to break a 54-all tie. They went on to lead by as many as 10 points in the final minute. Koch finished with 15 points while Deon Mitchell and Marc Sonnen added 12 each and Anthony James scored 10. The Bears (0-3) led throughout much of the first half, shooting 40 percent from the field and making 5 of 8 from beyond the arc. But they sent the Panthers to the free-throw line 14 times in the second half and the Northern Iowa made 12 of those tries. The Bears’ Paul Garnica led the game with 22 points, including six 3-pointers, while Tate Unruh added 12 points.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State’s football victory over then-No. 2 Oklahoma State Friday night carried over to the hardwood. Sunday’s 92-60 victory over Western Carolina was helped by a pre-practice showing of football coach Paul Rhoads’ locker room speech after the Cyclones’ 37-31 double-overtime upset of the heavily-favored Cowboys. Basketball coach Fred Hoiberg was inspired by Rhoads’ message of team unity and hopes that his players buy into that as well. “The guys walked out of the locker room (on Saturday) pumped up,” Hoiberg said. “Hopefully it has a great impact on our guys. (Rhoads) has got every single one of those guys to buy in.” On Sunday, Iowa State (2-1) looked nothing like the team that was utterly lost earlier in the week in an ugly defeat at Drake. The Cyclones had four players score in double figures and shot 65.3 percent from the floor – their most accurate shooting effort in nearly two seasons. Guard Chris Baab led the way with 18 points, hitting all five of his attempts from 3-point range. The game was played as part of the South Padre Island Invitational. Iowa State continues tournament play Tuesday at home against Northern Colorado before heading to South Padre Island for games Friday and Saturday.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa native Doug McDermott scored 25 points in his return to Des Moines and Creighton rolled past Iowa 82-59 on Sunday. Gregory Echenique added 15 points and nine rebounds for the Bluejays, who are 4-0 for the first time in four years. Creighton quickly turned what was expected to be a close game into a rout. The Bluejays pushed a 16-point lead to 68-39 midway through the second half and outrebounded the Hawkeyes 43-27. McDermott, playing on the floor where he won a pair of state titles for Ames High, was 10-of-15 shooting from the field. Freshman Josh Oglesby had 14 points and Matt Gatens added 13 for Iowa (3-1).

The Iowa Women’s basketball team had a four point lead at the half over UNI and that proved to be the margin of victory as Iowa defeated UNI 78-74 on Saturday in Cedar Falls.

Morgan Johnson lead the Hawkeyes with 23 points , 5 rebounds and 4 Blocks.  Iowa improves to 3-1 on the young season.  Katelin Oney lead UNI with 20pts as the Panthers fall to 2-1.

Union scored on a 36-yard touchdown pass from Jay Scheel to Bradley Gallup with 6:12 remaining in the game to win the class 3A state football championship over Decorah 21-14 on Saturday evening in Cedar Falls.  Scheel also ran in the two point conversion to cap that final scoring possession.

Wes Burnside carried 25 times for 127 yards and a touchdown for Union in the win, who finished the championship season at 12-2. 

Decorah was led by Josey Jewell who rushed for 67 yards and 2 touchdowns in the loss.  Decorah finished the season at 11-3.

Iowa City Regina defeated Spirit Lake 24-20 Saturday afternoon at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls to cap off an undefeated 14-0 state championship season in class 2A.

Regina trailed 10-3 at halftime but bounced back with a huge 21 point 3rd quarter to take a lead they would not let go of.  Quarterback Nate Streb threw for 160 yards and a touchdown and Jacob Vollstedt rushed for 80 yards and a score to lead the way.

Spirit Lake was led by 201 yards passing and one touchdown by quarterback Paul Brown.  Spirit Lake finished the runner-up season at 13-1.

St. Ansgar jumped out to a 12-0 lead in the first quarter and held on to beat previously unbeaten St. Albert of Council Bluffs 25-15 in the 1A State Championship game at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls on Saturday morning.

St. Albert held the advantage in nearly every statistical category but had three turnovers in the ballgame that helped St. Ansgar take the victory.  John Sievert had 25 carries for 125 yards and 2 touchdowns in the win.

St. Ansgar finishes their championship season at 12-2, while St. Albert ended at 13-1.