This particular week each year is stacked with vocational and avocational peaks. Instead of my thoughts covering one topic in nearly 1,000 words, I find myself full of snippets to share with you today.

Patrick Mahomes, the quarterback for the AFC champion/Super Bowl LVII-bound Kansas City Chiefs, was a warrior in Sunday evening’s 23-20 AFC title game win over the Cincinnati Bengals. As much as I wanted to see a NFL team from Ohio in the Super Bowl (it sure won’t happen in Cleveland in this decade at least), I couldn’t help being so happy for Mahomes.

Mahomes limped his way through the entire contest, then punctuated a 300-plus-yard passing performance converting a third down to a first down with a very brave run. I can barely imagine the pain of sprinting to the sideline with a high ankle sprain while a massive, quick Cincinnati Bengals D-lineman was in hot pursuit. Joseph Ossai, the aforementioned defensive end, added 15 yards to the Chiefs’ field position with a hit on Mahomes after he was clearly ruled out of bounds.

I hope Andy Reid earns a second Lombardi Trophy against the team (Philadelphia Eagles) who let him go after the 2012 season. I’m also happy to see the two Kelce brothers – Travis, a Chiefs tight-end, and Jason, an Eagles center – battle for the Lombardi trophy.

Better yet, I like the fact the Kelce brothers are products of the Ohio high school football factory. I enjoy, even more, that these boys did not get recruited by one of several powerful Catholic high school programs like Benedictine (very close to their Cleveland Heights neighborhood), Saint Ignatius (near the Ohio City neighborhood), or Lakewood Saint Edward.

Televised football these days gives the viewer a very crisp picture, and – these days – a very crisp sound. Field mics pick up so much. You could clearly hear some colorful language from the Cincinnati fans after two consecutive official’s calls and there was nothing the producers could do about filtering it.

For those people who – in recent years – wondered what the retirements (over the last handful of seasons) among elite quarterbacks Payton Manning, Drew Brees, Tom Brady (possibly), Andrew Luck, and Ben Roethlisberger would do the overall talent of the remaining QBs in the lead, it appears there are plenty of young guns (most under 30 in fact).

I look forward to several more years of watching Cincy’s Joe Burrow (hmmm… another kid from the Buckeye state) and Mahomes battle for AFC title stakes as frequently as Manning and Brady met for the Hunt Trophy.

Jalen Hurts, the Eagles QB who awaits the Chiefs in eight more days, Tua Tagovailoa (Miami), Justin Herbert (L.A. Chargers), and Lamar Jackson (Baltimore) are among the best quarterbacks under 30 years old who will keep fans glued to the television… or whatever medium you use to watch NFL action.

Good luck to numerous area wrestlers who will advance to regional action.

Wawasee wrestlers will be wrestling in the Penn regional today starting at 9 a.m. 11 Warrior grapplers qualified for the regional and the team hoisted the Plymouth sectional trophy racking up 258 points over runner-up Plymouth, avenging a second place finish to the Rockies decided by the final 285-pound match last year.

Wawasee had five wrestlers take their weight class’s title while 4 additional wrestlers earned second place finishes.

Warsaw will travel to Penn with 10 athletes in tow to the Penn regional. The Tigers racked up 182.5 points last Saturday, and the Tigers’ program continues to make strides and increase their number of grapplers standing on the championship podium in postseason action.

The Tigers had one champion and two runners-up in the Plymouth sectional, but scored big points among wrestlers scoring points and earning trips to Penn among seven other weight classes.

The Penn regional will also include wrestlers from Tippecanoe Valley (1 champion, 1 runner-up, 4 additional qualifiers), and Triton (1 champion, 1 additional qualifier).

Manchester, 5th place at the Peru sectional, will advance four runners-up and three additional qualifiers to the Peru regional. Whitko advances one wrestler to Carroll regionals (from the Carroll sectional) this morning.

My potpourri of thoughts are due before a handful of area high school girls’ basketball sectional finalists were determined last night, but three teams – Warsaw (Class 4A, Concord), Tippecanoe Valley (Class 3A, Bremen), and Lakeland Christian Academy (Class 1A, Southern Wells) – might be battling for a sectional title tonight.

My Hall of Shame moment is - in the spirit of selecting the honorees, and the completion of last week’s conference title frays – being born in Cleveland, and spending most of my childhood in a small town between Cleveland Akron but only going to the Pro Football Hall of Fame once, July 1990.

I need to make a trip there this summer. I’m attending a wedding in Wheeling, West Virginia. All I need to do is find my way to Interstate 77 North. It’s a little out of my way from a straight trip home, and once I’m in Canton I can take US 30 the entire way westward and homeward.

I’ve been covering some games this week due to the volume of postseason action, and I added a few sectional preview articles to boot, but it’s funny to hear people say – since I’ve taken things down a notch in winter sports – how my presence has a lighter feel to it.

Anyone keeping track of Jaxson Gould’s number of charges he draws, take note he drew about seven charges in his junior season, and he drew three charges in a single game last Saturday. Sprinkle a pinch of pain to the ingredients this year when you consider his charges taken are already in double digits if not near 20 (not including the other ones where he hit the floor and wasn’t awarded a charge), and you gain a great appreciation of the expression, “the great ones play in pain.”

I hope each of you, whether you’re in a natatorium, a gymnasium, or in an indoor track facility, enjoys a fun-filled, action-packed scholastic sports weekend.

Remember, girls’ basketball, wrestling, and swimming each take place on Saturdays only today and hereafter… then suddenly they don’t.

Enjoy and appreciate every moment.