Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 13, 2020, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A13 A 13SPORTS I SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020 ? WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM BRIEFS MANCHESTER, England - The People's Club welcomed back its fans and Chelsea felt the full force. With 2,000 supporters allowed back into Goodison Park after nine months, Everton won 1-0 on Saturday to end Chelsea's 17-match unbeaten run in all competitions. It means third-place Chelsea can be overtaken - if Leicester beats Brighton today - and front-runners Tottenham and Liverpool can pull further away at the top of the Premier League. "I don't think we were at our best," Chelsea manager Frank Lampard said. "We have been on a really good run and we knew what was coming with Everton physically and we didn't han- dle that well. We didn't show enough to break them down." It was an uncharacteristic mis- take by Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy - bringing down Dominic Calvert-Lewin - that allowed Gylfi Sigurdsson to score a penalty in the 22nd minute and spark home celebra- tions as Everton rose to seventh. "The impact was really strong - we were really pleased," Everton man- ager Carlo Ancelotti said. "It is really important to have the support. It's a totally different environment, com- pletely." And totally different about 48 ki- lometres away in Manchester, which remains in a higher level of coronavi- rus restrictions so no supporters were allowed into the city's derby match for the first time. There was no atmosphere, no inten- sity and no goals as Manchester United and Manchester City drew 0-0 in the 183rd derby. The rivals are both unusually low in the Premier League, too. United is eighth and City, which has won the league three times since its neighbour last lifted the trophy in 2013, is a point and place behind. "We're not happy to draw 0-0 at home at Old Trafford," United captain Harry Maguire said, "and not create any big chances for fans to get off their seats and get excited about." There has been little joy for them watching from home this season - with United failing to score in three games at Old Trafford. After exiting the Champions League on Tuesday, a draw against its big- gest rival is helpful for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. "I was very, very pleased with it - exceptional attitude," he said. "Of course, we had some moments where we had to defend... or there were times that they really pegged us back. But we stuck at it, defended really well. So attitude-wise, recovery, mental recov- ery, they've done brilliant." SPEEDY NEWCASTLE Newcastle's 2-1 victory at West Bromwich Albion began with Miguel Almiron scoring the fastest goal this season at 19.98 seconds. After Darnell Furlong scored a 50th-minute equalizer in the empty St. James' Park, Dwight Gayle headed in the winner off the crossbar in the 82nd to lift Newcastle up to 11th place. West Brom is next-from-last in the stand- ings. LATE SHOW Just like in Manchester and New- castle, Wolverhampton also remains unable to bring fans back as part of efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Wolves fans missed losing a derby. Anwar El Ghazi scored a penalty in the fourth minute of stoppage time - following Nelson Semedo's foul on John McGinn - to give Aston Villa a 1-0 win in a game that ended with two players sent off . Villa had Douglas Luiz sent off in the 85th minute after being shown a second yellow card for catching Daniel Podence with an elbow. Wolves was also reduced to 10 men moments after the penalty when Jacob Ramsey was fouled and Joao Moutinho was booked again by referee Mike Dean. Villa is 10th in the standings after 10 games, while Wolves is 12th after losing five of its 12 games. - The Associated Press ROB HARRIS GEORGIA COACH FACES CHILD ABUSE CHARGES A Georgia youth football coach will be charged with child abuse for hitting one of his players in the head twice Monday, knocking him to the ground the second time. Gerrel Williams was identified as the coach in a video that has been viewed more than 4 million times on Twitter and caught the atten- tion of LeBron James and Shannon Sharpe, among many others. In the video, Williams can be seen striking the child in the head as he comes off the field. After milling around for a few seconds, Wil- liams walks back over to the child and hits him again, this time hard enough to knock him to the ground. Williams' team from Savannah, Ga., was in the south Orlando suburb of Kissimmee, Fla., for the American Youth Football national championships, Savannah ABC affiliate WJCL reported. Williams was coaching a team of kids age 7 and under. As the video spread, Williams was ex- pelled from the league and prohibited from attending future games, according to an incident report from the county sheriff's office in Florida. He also lost his job in Savannah. Williams responded to the outrage in Facebook video, which has since been deleted, WJCL reported. "I was wrong," Williams said, according to WJCL. "There is no excuse for my actions. He forgives me and his parents have forgiven me, so nobody else should be bashing me." Plenty of horrified viewers continued to bash Williams, including Pro Football Hall of Famer Sharpe, who went to college at Savan- nah State. "IF that's my child. I've got to have him, I'm going to carry his punk a--," Sharpe wrote in an Instagram post. "Even IF that's his kid, I'll whip him." James also criticized Williams in a temporary Instagram post, Newsweek reported. The police called Williams' actions "despic- able" and brought the case despite the parent's decision not to press charges. FULLER FIRST WOMAN TO SCORE POINT NASHVILLE - Sarah Fuller became the first woman to score in a Power Five conference football game by kicking an extra point for Vanderbilt on Saturday. The goalkeeper for Vanderbilt's Southeast- ern Conference women's soccer champs didn't get a chance on the Commodores' first two drives against in-state rival Tennessee. But the Commodores drove late in the first quarter, running for a first down on fourth-and-1. On the next play, Ken Seals threw an 18-yard pass to Cam Johnson for a touchdown. Fuller, listed second out of three available kickers on the depth chart, came out for the extra point, which tied the game at 7 with 1:50 left in the first quarter. CANADIAN RB HUBBARD ENTERING NFL DRAFT WACO, Texas - Canadian running back Chuba Hubbard has chosen to enter the 2021 NFL draft, his college coach said. Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy told the school's radio pre-game show that the 21-year-old from Sherwood Park, Alta., would not play in the team's regular-season finale Saturday against Baylor because he has "chosen to go to the NFL." Hubbard was the 2019 NCAA rushing leader, but has been plagued by injuries this season and missed Oklahoma's last two games with an ankle injury. It's been a disappointing season for the Cowboys, who were expected to contend for the Big 12 championship this year, but have lost three of their last five outings. Oklahoma State was 6-3 entering the game against Baylor. The six-foot, 208-pound Hubbard has 625 rushing yards and five touchdowns in seven games this season. Last year, he tallied 2,094 yards en route to becoming a unanimous all-American selection and the Big 12's offensive player of the year. KUCHAR, HARRIS LEAD IN GOOFY TOURNAMENT NAPLES, Fla. - Matt Kuchar and Harris English took a five-stroke lead Saturday in the QBE Shootout, opening and closing with long birdie runs for an 11-under 61 in modified alternate-shot play. "I feel like our games really fit this format well," English said. "He does a lot of stuff that I'm not great at and maybe I do some stuff that he's not great at. It's just fun. It's very relaxing out there." Kuchar and English birdied the first five holes on Tiburon Golf Club's Gold Course, then ran off six in a row on Nos. 12-17. They had a 25-under 125 total after opening the 12-team event Friday with a 58 in the scramble format. The final round will be better ball. Kevin Na and Sean O'Hair, the first-round leaders at 56, were second after a 68. - from the news services JON SUPER, POOL / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Everton's Yerry Mina (left) duels for the ball with Chelsea's Olivier Giroud at Goodison Park in Liverpool, Saturday. Everton rides home crowd to victory CHRIS CARLSON / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet shoots around Charlotte Hornets forward PJ Washington during NBA preseason play in Charlotte, N.C., on Saturday. C HARLOTTE, N.C. - If Malachi Flynn was feeling any nerves in his NBA debut, they were gone by the time the Raptors rookie guard knocked down back-to-back three-pointers in the third quarter on Saturday. Matt Thomas had 16 points, Terence Davis had 13, and Flynn had three three-pointers and four assists in a promising debut as the Raptors opened the pre-season with a 111-100 victory at Charlotte. "It felt good, just getting out and playing," Flynn said. "I haven't played a game since March, so definitely some nerves, excited, but it was good to get back out there." OG Anunoby had 11 points, while Pascal Siakam had nine points - all on three-pointers - in only about 20 minutes of action apiece. Miles Bridges had 12 points to top Charlotte, while rookie LaMelo Ball had 10 boards. Nate Darling of Halifax had three assists and a pair of re- bounds in his NBA debut. All-star point guard Kyle Lowry didn't make the trip to Charlotte and Fred VanVleet sat the second half, so coach Nick Nurse got a great look at Flynn - and came away impressed. The 22-year-old out of San Diego State missed a layup and his first two free throws. But the guard drafted No. 29 overall last month played with confidence the rest of the way, at one point finding Thomas with a beautiful wrap-around kickout pass. "Really good handles, he can move around in tight spaces, good vision, and he's got some patience," Nurse said. "He's waiting and making the right read. It's kind of a progression thing you come through there and somebody is helping and pieces are moving and you got to find the right guy. He's got some vision to do that, and again it's decision making. Good decision maker." He was also excellent on the defen- sive end, holding his own against some key Hornets players. "Similar to Fred, he's got great side- to-side feet and he's got a toughness and he's got a want to and he's kind of got an attacking mindset at the defen- sive end and that's good to see, that's how we like to play," Nurse said. Thomas, who had a terrific second half to last season in the bubble, was similarly impressed by the rookie. "Malachi's been great," he said. "He's caught on to the system and everything that we do here very very quickly. He's obviously an extremely smart and skilled player. He's fun to play with, too. He's a pass-first point guard, and he sees the floor really well... (And) defensively, he's just a smart, high-basketball-IQ player." Lowry, meanwhile, stayed back at the team's temporary home in Tampa, Fla., for "load management," Nurse said. Lowry would barely have played regardless. This shortened three-game pre-season is Nurse's chance to gauge where the newcomers are before Toronto tips off the real season on Dec. 23. The game was held in front of no fans, and the empty blue seats of Spec- trum Center painted an eerie back- drop. Missing also was the giant video board of virtual fans from the NBA bubble at Walt Disney World. - The Canadian Press Raptors draft pick drains three treys in NBA debut Rookie could be in like Flynn The Raptors drafted guard Malachi Flynn out of San Diego State in November. RAPTORS 111 HORNETS 100 A_13_Dec-13-20_FP_01.indd A13 12/12/20 10:56 PM ;