Sports – Monday, August 31st, 2026

The Salem Football Tigers fell to St. James Friday night by the score of 23-8 in their season opener. Salem trailed at halftime, 7-0 on a Gavin King 3-yard touchdown run after a 71-yard kickoff return by Patrick Lonning to open the game but controlled most of the half after that with a stifling defense. The Salem offense could not score on a 4th and goal pass and hurt themselves with some untimely offensive penalties during the first half. In the second half, Salem fumbled the ball away in their own zone on their first possession, and St. James capitalized on the short field as King scored his second touchdown from five yards out. On the ensuing possession, Salem sent a punt snap over the head of Will Land back near the ten-yard line, where he kicked the ball out of the back of the end zone for a safety. St. James got the ball back on the safety kickoff and went on almost a ten-minute drive with Owen Spurgeon scoring from a yard out to make it 23-0. Salem did get on the board on a late drive with Sylis Dubois going in from a yard out followed by a two-point conversion. Salem will host Linn Friday night at Bill Schuchardt Stadium starting at 7:00.

The Salem JV Football Tigers will be at St. James for their opening game tonight starting at 5:30.

The St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates finished up their three game series yesterday afternoon at Busch Stadium. The Pirates got out to a four run lead before the Cardinals responded in the bottom of the fifth inning with a pair of one-run singles from Iván Herrera and Alec Burleson. Another two-run inning in the seventh put the Red Birds within one but the Pirates were able to hang on for the 5-4 final and 2-1 series win over the Cardinals. The Cardinals are off today and will travel to Los Angeles tomorrow to face the Dodgers.