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Created: 12 January 2026

By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news

Six Shawnee County senior football standouts, who all earned spots on TopSports.news' 2025 All-Shawnee County football team, have been invited to play for the East in the 2026 Kansas Shrine Bowl, which will be played on June 27 at Emporia State's Welch Stadium.

Invited to play in the Shrine Bowl are Seaman's Cameron Brian, Washburn Rural's Brody Haas, Rossville's Andre Johnson, Silver Lake's Dayne Johnson, Hayden's Kade Mitchell and Highland Park's Tremaine Savage.

Rossville coach Derick Hammes was named earlier to serve as an assistant coach for the East.

Here's a look at the six local Shrine Bowl picks: 

Cameron Brian, Seaman

CAMERON BRIAN, Seaman

A 6-foot-1, 210-pound senior linebacker, Brian was one of six All-Shawnee County Top 22 repeat picks and received All-United Kansas Conference first-team honors for the second straight season. Brian was in on 111 total tackles this past fall with eight tackles for loss, three sacks, one pass interception, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.

BRODY HAAS, Washburn Rural

A 5-foot-11, 195-pound senior linebacker, Haas registered 114 total tackles with 80 solo stops for the 6-4 Junior Blues. Haas recorded 14 tackles for loss with a sack and had two pass interceptions, returning one for a touchdown, while forcing two fumbles and recovering two fumbles and recording eight quarterback pressures.

Andre Johnson, Rossville  

ANDRE JOHNSON, Rossville

A 5-foot-11, 185-pound senior fullback/linebacker, Johnson moved up to the All-Shawnee County Top 22 this past season after being a Second 22 pick as a junior. Johnson was in on 133 tackles for the 11-Bulldawgs (74 solo), with two tackles for loss, one sack and one interception. Offensively, Johnson carried the ball 58 times for 365 yards. Johnson was a second-team All-Big East League pick on defense.

 Dayne Johnson, Silver Lake

DAYNE JOHNSON, Silver Lake

Johnson, a 6-foot-4, 185-pound senior wide receiver/defensive back, was an All-Shawnee County Top 22 repeat selection in 2025 after catching 75 passes for 1,053 yards and eight touchdowns and registering 59 tackles with two pass interceptions. Johnson earned first-team All-Big East League recognition on offense and second-team honors on defense this past fall. 

Kade Mitchell, Hayden

KADE MITCHELL, Hayden

Mitchell, a 5-foot-9, 180-pound senior running back/defensive back, was an All-Shawnee County Top 22 repeat pick this past season and was named the Shawnee County co-offensive player of the year. Mitchell carried the ball 106 times for 1,003 yards, caught 23 passes for 471 yards and scored 22 total touchdowns this season for the 12-1 Wildcats while being in on 34 tackles and compiling 372 kickoff and punt return yards as Hayden advanced to its third straight Class 3A title game..

Tremaine Savage, Highland Park  

TREMAINE SAVAGE, Highland Park

Savage, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound senior wide receiver/defensive back, was named the Meadowlark Conference co-defensive player of the year in 2025 after helping lead Highland Park to a 5-1 on-field record and a conference championship. Savage averaged 6.6 tackles per game and registered 15 pass breakups. Offensively, Savage caught six passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns, earning second-team all-conference honors at receiver. 

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Brooks Ballard

BROOKS BALLARD, Washburn Rural

A 6-foot-2 sophomore boys basketball standout, Ballard connected on 7 of 10 field goal attempts, including six 3-pointers, and went four of four at the free throw line for a career-high 24-point night in Friday's 79-62 home Centennial League victory over Hayden, helping the Junior Blues improve to 7-2 on the season overall and 2-0 in the league.

KaeVon Bonner

KAEVON BONNER, Seaman

Bonner, a 6-foot-4 senior, had a monster week as Seaman boys basketball improved to 6-1 overall and 5-1 in the United Kansas Conference with a pair of road victories. Bonner reached the 1,000-point milestone for his career with a 27-point performance in Wednesday's 60-57 non-league victory at St. James Academy and scored a career-high 42 points in Friday's 65-46 United Kansas Conference win at Lansing.

Cianna Graves 

CIANNA GRAVES, Shawnee Heights

After being named Shawnee Heights' Queen of Courts the previous night, the senior 155-pound standout wrestler claimed an individual championship in Saturday's Shawnee Heights Invitational, helping lead the T-Birds to the team championship by a 262-164 margin over Wichita South. Graves, now 18-0 on the season, went 4-0 in the tournament with four pins, in 1 minute, 20 seconds, 1:31, 1:01 and 3:44. 

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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Hayden star wrestlers Jude Krentz and Caleb Menke will face a lot of tough opponents over the 2025-2026 season, but very few any tougher than they see every day in practice when the two Wildcats square off against each other.

Hayden senior Jude Krentz (top) captured the 190-pound title in Saturday's Shawnee Heights Invitational while improving to 15-0 on the season. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Hayden senior Caleb Menke (top) captured the 175-pound title in Saturday's Shawnee Heights Invitational while improving to 16-0 on the season. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

And both Krentz, a senior 190-pounder, and Menke, a junior 175-pounder, feel like that regular competition in practice has helped them post a combined 31-0 record this season after both Hayden wrestlers claimed championships in Saturday's Shawnee Heights Invitational.

"It's awesome because we both push each other all the time, all the time,'' said Krentz, who posted a fourth-place finish in Class 4A as a junior.

Menke, a returning state qualifier, agrees. 

"Jude, honestly, is probably one of the best training partners that I could ever ask for,'' Menke said. "We push each other every day in practice, sometimes even getting to the point where we get after each other a little bit and get into a couple of scuffles, but at the end of the day it makes us better and we love each other for it.''

Both Krentz and Menke, who helped Hayden's football team advance to the 3A state football championship game for the third straight season, said it takes them awhile to transition from the gridiron into football mode.

But now both Wildcat standouts said they feel like they're ready to make a run at state titles later this winter.

"Normally it probably takes me probably about three weeks because in football you're trying to maintain all your weight and you're trying to stay in shape to where you can go really hard for a short period of time where wrestling you've got to go hard for a long period of time,'' Menke said. "So typically it takes me about three weeks to a month to get ready, but normally after Christmas break I'm good and ready to rock and roll.''

"I'd say it's about one to two, maybe even a three-week progress of just constantly drilling hard, and it's more of a constant movement in wrestling where you always get a few seconds between plays in football,'' said Krentz, named the Shawnee County defensive player of the year in football. "Wrestling is contant, it's in-fighting and you're always pushing the pace.''

And after suffering both of his losses at state in a 42-2 season a year ago, Krentz feels like a state crown is in reach this season.

"It was in reach last year,'' Krentz said. "There were some mental mistakes, little mistakes that can easily be fixed. It's just a matter of pushing through and keep pushing every day instead of getting complacent.'' 

Both Hayden wrestlers were in top form in Saturday's Shawnee Heights meet, with Menke going 5-0 with four pins en route to improving to 16-0 on the season while Krentz, after receiving a first-round bye, posted two straight wins by fall and a 17-1 technical fall to improve to 15-0.

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