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A game-by-game look at Friday's Shawnee County football games for Oct. 17
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
(All kickoffs at 7 p.m.)
FRIDAY NIGHT'S GAMES
LEAVENWORTH (5-1, 5-1 UKC) vs. TOPEKA WEST (1-5, 1-5 UKC)
At Hummer Sports Park
Topeka West picked up its first win of 2025 last Friday, rallying for a 42-27 United Kansas Conference victory at Kansas City-Turner, while Leavenworth posted its fifth straight win, a 27-14 UKC decision over De Soto.
OSAGE CITY (6-0, 2-0 Class 2A District 3) at SILVER LAKE (4-2, 2-0 Class 2A District 3)
Osage City and Silver Lake will square off in a game that is likely to decide the Class 2A District 3 championship. Osage City remained unbeaten last week with a 49-14 district win over St. Marys while Silver Lake ran its winning streak to four straight games with a 42-8 district win over Riley County.
John Hoytal, Washburn Rural [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
WASHBURN RURAL (5-1, 2-0 Centennial League) at JUNCTION CITY (4-2, 2-0 Centennial League)
Washburn Rural will put its three-game winning streak on the line in a game that will give the winner a leg up in the Centennial League race. Washburn Rural is coming off a 38-0 league road win at Emporia while Junction City took a 44-6 league win over Topeka High.
TOPEKA HIGH (3-3, 1-2 Centennial League) at MANHATTAN (4-2, 1-1 Centennial League)
Topeka High is coming off a 44-6 Centennial League loss to Junction City while Manhattan dropped a 40-13 non-league decision to Wichita Northwest last week. The Indians will be looking to keep their Centennial League title hopes alive while the Trojans will be trying to snap a two-game league losing streak.
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS (2-4, 2-3 UKC) at LANSING (2-4, 2-3 UKC)
Shawnee Heights posted its biggest win of the season last Friday, riding an outsanding defensive effort to a 20-3 United Kansas Conference road win at city rival Seaman, while Lansing dropped a 44-13 UKC decision to Piper.

Silver Lake defense comes up big late in 28-21 win over previously-unbeaten Indians
By TODD FERTIG
TopSports.news
Silver Lake is known as a team that throws the ball all over the yard, putting up points in flashy style. But when a game with immense playoff implications was on the line, the Eagle defense was the star. The Eagles turned back an Osage City drive to win 28-21 Friday at CJ Hamilton Field.
Freshman Kip Kruger passed for 200 yards and three touchdowns in Silver Lake's 28-21 district win over Osage City. [File photo/TSN]
Osage City took possession of the ball with 7:17 remining, trailing by one score. The Indians mounted an 11-play drive that chewed up nearly six minutes. With 1:20 remaining in the game, the Indians faced fourth and two at the Eagle seven-yard line.
Reed Silver, the Indians’ quarterback, had already carried eight times on the drive. He crashed over the right tackle on his ninth carry and was stopped cold by junior Myles Fisher and sophomore Dom Monhollon, effectively ending the contest.
“We figured they would try to run it outside because they got us on a few plays before,” said senior Grady Bergmann. “Our D-line made a great play, our linebackers made a great play, and our safety came up and tackled him. It was a great play all around.”
“People think we’re an offensive school, but to go out in the red zone and stop them…(Osage City is) a good team, they’re big. So proud of those kids,” said Silver Lake coach Logan Pegram “We got up 14 and it kind of got the momentum back on their side. To see our kids respond with the goal-line stop was something that, as a coach that’s focused on offense, it was awesome to see.”
Bergmann was the star of the first half, hauling in two touchdown passes and intercepting a pass to squelch an Osage City drive.
“Last year, (Osage City) beat us down there, and with them coming up here, we felt like we had to make a statement against an undefeated team, and we did that tonight on Senior Night,” Bergmann said.
Bergmann’s two first half-touchdowns were matched by the Indians, sending the teams to halftime tied, 14-14. Silver Lake grabbed the lead early in the third period on a long pass from Kip Kruger to Owen Rottinghaus. The Eagles then went up 28-14 late in the third period on a 31-yard dash by Monhollon.
Osage City quickly took back the momentum, however. A long catch-and-run by the Indians cut the lead to 28-21 early in the fourth period. Silver Lake was unable to respond, leaving plenty of time for Osage City to finish the comeback. Only the heroic stop on fourth down saved the Eagles.
Monhollon provided 152 yards rushing on just eight carries. Rottinghaus exploded for long receptions of 78 and 42. Bergmann and Dayne Johnson produced 58 and 52 yards receiving from quarterback Kruger, who completed 18 of 22 throws for 200 yards.
Silver, one of the Indians’ leading receivers this season, was forced to step into the quarterback position in place of injured starter Kasen Parsons. Silver passed for 183 yards and rushed for 84 yards. The Indians put the ball in his hands when the game was on the line.
“We looked him up and saw (Silver) was going to have to play (quarterback) and I was very impressed,” Pegram said. “He’s a heck of an athlete. He’s a junior so we’ll get to play him again next year in district.”
For this year, Silver Lake is now in command of Class 2A District 3.
“It gives us the driver’s seat without knowing what happened around the state,” Pegram said. “We don’t measure success by district championships, but it’s always nice when you’re the one seed and you get to hopefully keep playing at home.”

Ichabods' Weber thankful to be back on field after fighting through rare medical affliction
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Like most football players, Washburn University junior Ty Weber has battled his share of injuries over his career.
Washburn tight end Ty Weber, who will wear No. 0 this fall, missed the Ichabods' first five games of the season while battling a rare illness. [File photo/TSN]
But nothing prepared the 6-foot-4, 230-pound tight end and former Washburn Rural star for what he's been forced to deal with this fall, a condition that forced the Ichabod captain to miss Washburn's first five games of the season.
"I developed something called amyloidosis,'' Weber said. "To put it in laymen's terms, it's like your body loses proteins and eats away your muscles a little bit, and it just came from dehydration as well as probably something underlying, like an illness or what not.
"It's something that took me by shock. You're weren't expecting it at all. It was crazy, something I never experienced before because it was just cramps everywhere, all over my body. I've been through a lot of injuries before and that was by far the worst ever.''
The illness put Weber in the hospital before he began a frustratingly slow process to get back to 100 percent.
"I was there for probably a day and a half and stayed overnight and they probably pumped 10 bags of fluids into me to get me back to where I was before,'' Weber said.
The initual prognosis was that Weber, who developed his condition well into fall camp, might only miss a game or two but then he got the news that his return would be delayed.
"The trainers did a great job with my return to play program and I practiced and went and got a blood test and the blood test wasn't very positive,'' he said. "There were a lot of issues with my kidneys and liver and they wanted to give me a couple of options and said we could go through another four weeks and see if by that point I'd be able to play, and if I was I could play out the remainder of the season, so I decided to do that.
"My cutoff was (Pittsburg State last Saturday) because everything before that's when you have the option of a medical redshirt and at Pitt I got to play and probably played 12 snaps, which was awesome to be back out there. It was a great environment, just not the result we wanted obviously (a 34-10 loss).''
Weber has steadily gotten closer and closer to being back to full speed and expects to be 100 percent for Saturday's 2 p.m. Hall of Fame game against Central Missouri.
This fall's battle has made Weber appreciate the opportunity he's been given to play college football even more.
"I can't even emphasize how blessed I am and I give all the glory to God because he gave me the perspective of, 'This is your life without football,' and it totally just changed my perspective on leadership and the ability to play the game I love,'' Weber said. "Without him it wouldn't be possible for me.''
Ichabods set to host Mules
Washburn returns to Yager Stadium for the first time since Sept. 27 to host Central Missouri on Saturday at 2 p.m. as part of Washburn Athletics Hall of Fame Day.