Out of the 32  teams in the National Football League, only four teams are still playing. Twenty teams saw their seasons end without making it to the playoffs and eight teams were eliminated from playoff contention this past weekend. After next Sunday, that number will drop to two and we will have our Super Bowl matchup.

The defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots defeated the Kansas City Chiefs at home 27-20 to advance to their fifth AFC Championship game in a row. The return of Julian Edelman for the Patriots was a huge factor as the absence of Edelman with a broken foot hurt the Patriots’ offense in the latter half of the season. The Patriots defense played well as did the offense, converting on many 3rd downs which allowed them to extend drives into points. The Chiefs seemed overwhelmed defensively trying to slow down Tom Brady and that lead to 27 points which the Chiefs could not match.

Another matchup was the Arizona Cardinals versus the Green Bay Packers in Arizona. The game was absolutely wild with Aaron Rodgers throwing one pass about 50 yards to set up the hopeful Hail Mary pass which was then caught for a touchdown as time expired to send the game to overtime. The first pass for the Cardinals offensive was caught by Larry Fitzgerald and run for 75 yards down to the three-yard line. The run set up Fitzgerald for a touchdown and a trip to the NFC Championship game. Arizona’s defense fooled Rodgers and the Packers offense by disguising coverage and forcing turnovers. Carson Palmer, Arizona’s quarterback, played poorly from everything I saw, missing elementary throws and just making too many mistakes. But Rodgers’ mistakes helped Palmer by giving him chances to score and the Cardinals ultimately pulled out the win to advance.

The next game was easily the most intriguing matchup as it was the Carolina Panthers hosting the Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks represented the NFC in the Super Bowl the past two seasons but the Panthers only lost one of 16 regular season games. The Panthers were winning 31-0 and in absolute control of the game, but let their guard down and the Seahawks made a major comeback. All the Seahawks troubles in the first half consisted of poor run defense and bad blocking by Seattle’s offensive line. In the second half, both were fixed and in fact thrived resulting in the Seahawks down 7 and going for an onside kick with just over a minute left in the fourth quarter. A great kick by Steven Hauschka gave Seattle a chance to get the ball but an even better catch by Carolina linebacker Thomas Davis sealed the win for the Panthers.

Lastly, the Pittsburgh Steelers traveled to Denver to take on the Broncos. Without Antonio Brown, the Steelers star wide receiver, the odds were not in Pittsburgh’s favor. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger also was playing through a shoulder injury. Denver’s defense is its strongest unit and it showed as it held a top-three offense in Pittsburgh to a dismal 13 points. Broncos QB Peyton Manning managed the game well as he always does and led their offense to enough points to secure the win.

Now that the conference championship games are set, here are my predictions for the winners and why. From the AFC, the Patriots will win in Denver 28-24. The most prolific offense in football is the New England offense. There’s not a team that can cover the best slot receiver in Julian Edelman and the best tight end in Rob Gronkowski as well as stopping the best quarterback in league as well. Most likely this will be the last Manning versus Brady game, which is definitely one to watch as it’s a historic rivalry coming to an end.

The NFC Championship game is obvious in my mind, with Carolina beating Arizona 35-21. Arizona’s Carson Palmer struggled against the Packers man to man largely. Carolina plays a lot of zone defenses so Palmer should play better than he did against the Packers as decision-making is much easier against a zone. Still, I don’t think Arizona will be able to pull off the win. Carolina’s Cam Newton will be the NFL MVP for the 2015-16 season and is playing at too high of a level for the Panthers’ season to end.

The AFC championship game can be seen Sunday on CBS at 3:30. The NFC championship is at 6:40 on FOX.

Senior co-captain Stephanie Flynn became only the third girls basketball player in Hanover High history to score 1,000 points. Steph hit the milestone Jan. 5 in a 74-43 win over Silver Lake. The game was the team’s first home contest of the season, and the Indians were excited that Steph might hit the mark on her home court.

Hanover fans packed the gym for the game, cheering as Steph scored 18 points throughout the game. Her 19th point of the night became the 1,000th of her career. It came on a free throw with 2:10 remaining in the third quarter, and the game was briefly stopped as fans ran onto the court. Steph was then honored in a ceremony with her family.

“To be a part of her amazing accomplishment is just great, ” said Coach Brian Fisher, who has coached Steph on varsity since she was a freshman. “She is a super student and a great athlete and such an integral part of the program. She is a true leader and a role model for all to look up to and has worked very hard to get where she is.”

The team has had a lot to celebrate so far this season is going strong, having gone undefeated in its first seven games. Hopes are high that the team will continue its winning ways and do well in tournament play. Regardless of how the season turns out, though, Steph’s milestone will live in HHS history.

Steph will continue to play basketball in college. In November, she signed her National Letter of Intent to attend Columbia University.

Reactions on Twitter:

To understand how  quickly value drops in the NFL, you only have to look at the career of Peyton Manning. Once the most awarded player ever, Manning is now a backup quarterback with little value as an NFL player. At 39 years old, with a long list of major injuries, not many teams want to build their roster around him. That’s quite a fall from back in 1998, when he was the most decorated and sought-after quarterback to enter an NFL Draft in years.

In that draft, Manning was taken first overall by the Indianapolis Colts and began his NFL career at the age of 22.

Manning was an 11-time Pro Bowl selection while playing for the Indianapolis Colts and the face of the Colts franchise. He has the most Pro Bowl appearances and MVP awards (5) of any NFL player. In 2006, Peyton and the Colts won Super Bowl XLI against the Chicago Bears 29-17 and he was named Super Bowl MVP. In 2011, Manning had neck surgery to repair displacements within his neck. Without Manning for the 2011 season, the Colts finished 2-14 and had the number one overall draft pick.

The last time Indianapolis had the number one overall pick, they took Manning. While they had it once again for the 2012 draft, they wouldn’t have Manning. Manning and the Colts mutually agreed to part ways as the Colts had publicly said they would be drafting quarterback Andrew Luck. The Colts planned to start Luck right away, leaving Manning — who still felt he still had something to give to a team –on the bench. So arguably the greatest quarterback to ever play the game became a free-agent, something that rarely ever happens as teams sign their star players before they even hit the free-agent market.

The top three teams interested in Manning were the Houston Texans, Arizona Cardinals and Denver Broncos. Manning signed with the Broncos. In Denver, Manning asserted himself as the greatest regular-season quarterback ever. (You may notice how I said regular-season, and not greatest quarterback ever. That title belongs to Tom Brady.) From 2012 to 2015, Manning has thrown for 140 touchdown passes in Denver, led them to a Super Bowl but came up very short in that game against the Seattle Seahawks, losing 43-8.

The last game Manning played this year was on November 15th and he then was benched. He threw for only 35 yards with four interceptions before being benched in the second quarter. Brock Osweiler replaced Manning, and virtually took Manning’s job. Manning has missed the past six games with a lingering foot and rib injury and replacement Osweiler had emerged as the starter. Manning was active for the final regular season game this past weekend versus the San Diego Chargers, the first time since being benched six weeks ago.

Manning also has been accused of using HGH, a human growth hormone, during the recovery from his neck surgeries in 2011. HGH is an illegal substance in the NFL but because the alleged offense was several years ago, and Manning took a long list of medications for his surgeries, it’s unlikely the league will try to suspend Manning for illegal substance use. It adds a new factor to the legacy for the great Peyton Manning.

Like I said, value can drop very quickly in the NFL. Although Manning made it back onto the field for the Chargers game, I believe the end of his career is near. No doubt when he was put it to the game on Sunday against the Chargers, he created a spark that led Denver to victory. The Broncos are the number one seed in the AFC and have a bye in the first round of the playoffs. But Manning has a losing record of 11-13 in the playoffs and is known to play very poorly in the postseason. Denver is going to start Manning against whoever comes out victorious from wildcard weekend, likely putting their season in his hands for the final time. If Brock Osweiler is truly Denver’s quarterback for the future, I don’t understand why they wouldn’t allow him to play and grow and get experience in the postseason. It’s not like Osweiler is so bad that they’re just throwing away the number one seed if they start him. Osweiler gives them a legitimate chance to succeed in the postseason. Broncos coach Gary Kubiak needs to review the NFL history books and learn that teams led by Manning usually don’t go too far into the playoffs. That’s certainly not going to change this year.

The NHL had an amazing event to kick off the new year of 2016: one of the most historic rivalries in all of sports, the Boston Bruins versus the Montréal Canadiens, except with one little change. The rivalry was taken outdoors as Gillette Stadium’s turf — home to the New England Patriots — was converted to an ice rink for the 2016 Winter Classic. It was the eighth year that the NHL has held an outdoor game on January 1st.

The hype to the game was a very strong. Two rivals who dislike each other playing outdoors is intriguing not just to hockey fans but to sports fans in general. The game itself, though, was a bit of a disappointment. Obviously everyone watching wanted to see a great game but on this given day, one team was just significantly better than the other. The Montréal Canadiens outshot the Bruins 14 to 3 in the first period, giving them a two goal lead going into the second period. The Canadiens  then expanded on that lead by scoring a third goal. David Desharnais, Paul Byron and Brendan Gallagher accounted for the three Habs goals.

The Bruins showed some life after a goal by Boston forward Matt Beleskey, making the score 3-1. The worst lead in hockey is known to be a two goal lead because the leader feels comfortable but it can disappear very quickly. But poor Boston defense led to another Paul Byron goal in the third period. Canadiens left winger Max Pacioretty put the nail on the coffin by scoring another goal with only 3 minutes left to play, making it 5-1.

Despite the high number of goals, it was the defense rather than the goal tending that was to blame for this loss. The Bruins also had few shots on net. Still, several Bruins players like Ryan Spooner expressed how great it was to play in the Winter Classic regardless of the outcome.

The Bruins sit in fourth place in the Atlantic division, three points away from the Canadiens and six points away from the division-leading Florida Panthers. Hopefully the next time Boston faces off against Montreal, there’s a better fight from the Bruins because the Canadiens not only dominated the Winter Classic, but dominated the Bruins.