New Atlantic Head Football Coach Mike McDermott is looking for maximum effort from his players as they begin the 2016 season. “We’ve talked recently with our team that hey we want you compete. Just like we’ve done in practice, we want you to go out and compete. We want you to go hard and play hard.” McDermott said.  “We can correct missed assignments but it’s a little bit tougher to correct if you’re not playing hard. The opportunity is going to be there Friday night in our scrimmage to get some guys on film and see what we have, then get ready for Clarinda next Friday night.”

Coach McDermott takes over a program that won just one game last year but suffered through numerous injuries and was forced to play a lot of young players.  McDermott said he has been pleased with the effort from his players in summer workouts and early on in practice.  He said they were shooting for 70 players on the roster and fell just short of that with 61 players out this year.  That number is an improvement from last season and the Senior class is larger this year as well.

McDermott himself is a former player in Atlantic and was a long time member of the coaching staff previously.  He was Offensive Coordinator for the 2002 State Championship team under Head Coach Gaylord Schelling and he has spent time coaching numerous levels of the program.

Many familiar faces will be on McDermott’s staff including the former Head Coach he worked with.  Gaylord Schelling is coaching Junior Varsity and working with the Offensive Line.  Lee Saathoff is back as Defensive Coordinator after working with McDermott for many years under Schelling.  Justin Williams will work with the Running Backs and Outside Linebackers. Alan Jenkins will coach the Freshman team and will work with Wide Receivers and Defensive Backs. Brandon Crouse will work with the Defensive Line and Offensive Line. Coach McDermott said it’s been a smooth transition bringing those familiar coaches back together. “We a lot of discussions before the season of what kind of my vision was for them, and they were all on board with ‘Yep, that’s kind of where I fit in’. So we have really hit the ground running.” McDermott said.

Coach McDermott says there has been good competition for position battles and there are still some spots that are up for grabs. He said Zac Stork and John McConkey will be the stalwarts leading the charge on the Offensive Line. Garrett Franken and Jaxson Eden are battling for the Quarterback spot. Eden will spend some time at Running Back early due to a summer injury to last year’s starter Drake Roller.  They plan to ease Roller back into the mix. Noah Bruckner is looking to start at Fullback.  The Tight End position has Grant Podhajsky coming back. The guys battling for outside skill position playing time are Chase Mullenix, Austin Alexander, Dillon Sonntag, and Gratt Reed.

The Trojans have a scrimmage scheduled tonight at Red Oak and then will open up their 2016 campaign at home against Clarinda on August 26th.

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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The video review rule in college baseball is being expanded to cover regular-season games starting in 2017. The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel Wednesday approved a proposal that allows conferences and schools to implement the rule, which has been available for use on an experimental basis at the College World Series since 2012 and in super regionals the past two years.

Among other plays, reviews can be done to determine if an apparent home run is fair or foul, if a batted ball left the playing field for a home run or a ground-rule double, fan interference, if a batted ball is fair and if a fielder made a catch on a fair ball hit into the outfield or on any foul ball.

HOUSTON (AP) — Carlos Martinez took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, Jeremy Hazelbaker and Brandon Moss hit home runs and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros 8-2 Wednesday. The Cardinals have won four straight and have a slim hold on the second NL wild-card spot over the Pirates and Marlins.

Martinez (11-7) pitched seven innings of three-hit ball, allowing a run while striking out seven. He retired 15 of the first 16 batters before giving up a leadoff double to Teoscar Hernandez in the sixth. Martinez leads St. Louis pitchers with 11 starts of seven or more innings.

Martinez had allowed 14 runs over his previous three starts. Doug Fister (11-8) allowed four runs in four innings for Houston.

w/Chris Parks.

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HOUSTON (AP) — Tommy Pham and Jedd Gyorko each homered to help the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros 8-5 on Tuesday night. The Cardinals roughed up Astros ace Dallas Keuchel (7-12) to overcome a rocky outing from starter Jaime Garcia (10-8). Garcia gave up five runs and seven hits in five innings, including three home runs.

The Astros dropped their third straight, and the Cardinals won their third in a row on the day they learned outfielder Matt Holliday and reliever Seth Maness are headed for the disabled list. Holliday will have surgery on his right thumb and could miss the remainder of the regular season, while Maness will have Tommy John surgery, likely sidelining him until 2018.

Seung Hwan Oh pitched a scoreless ninth, striking out three, for his 12th save of the season.

HOUSTON (AP) — St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday will have surgery today (Wednesday) on his right thumb, an injury that could sideline him for the rest of the regular season. Holliday was hit by a 94 mph fastball from the Chicago Cubs’ Mike Montgomery last Thursday. Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak says Holliday could be sidelined through September.

The 36-year-old Holliday, a seven-time All-Star, is batting .242 this season with 19 home runs and 60 RBIs in 107 games. He would be eligible for free agency after the World Series if the Cardinals declined a $17 million option for next year and chose to pay a $1 million buyout.

Tommy Pham and Brandon Moss have seen time in left field in Holliday’s absence. Reliever Seth Maness was put on the 15-day disabled list and will have Tommy John surgery, which likely will sideline him until 2018. The Cardinals recalled right-hander Sam Tuivailala from Triple-A Memphis.

ST. LOUIS, Mo., August 16, 2016 – The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that they have placed right-handed pitcher Seth Maness (right elbow strain) on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to August 14, and recalled right-handed pitcher Sam Tuivailala from Memphis (AAA).

Maness, who missed time while on the disabled list earlier this season (May 13-June 18) due to right elbow inflammation, is 2-2 with a 3.41 ERA in 29 relief appearances (31.2 IP).  He had a career-best 14.1 scoreless inning streak over 11 appearances from July 9 to August 12.

Tuivailala is joining the Cardinals for the second time this season.   He allowed three runs in 3.0 IP with three strikeouts in four relief appearances from July 3-26.   The 23-year-old Tuivailala is 3-2 with a 5.44 ERA in 39 games (43. 0 IP) for Memphis, striking out 66 and walking just 19.   He ranks tied for 3rd in the Pacific Coast League with 17 saves.

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) – Kansas City Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles has made his training camp debut.

Charles had been on the physically-unable-to-perform list the first three weeks of camp. He underwent surgery last season after tearing the ACL in his right knee in Week 5 against Chicago. He was at practice Tuesday.

Charles missed the Chiefs’ preseason opener Saturday against the Seattle Seahawks, and it’s not clear whether he will play against the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday.

The four-time Pro Bowl running back worked out a bit during the offseason program, and Charles said all along that he expected to be ready for the season opener against San Diego on Sept. 11.

w/Chris Parks.

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AMES, Iowa (AP) — Jake Campos, Iowa State’s only offensive lineman with significant experience, is out indefinitely. Coach Matt Campbell says junior tackle Campos injured his leg Monday in practice. Campbell didn’t disclose details but said there isn’t a timetable for Campos’ return.

Losing Campos for an extended length of time would be a blow to the Cyclones. Campos accounted for 23 of the 24 returning starts along Iowa State’s offensive line, and he was expected to blossom into an All-Big 12 type player. Iowa State opens the season on Sept. 3 against Northern Iowa.