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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Rossville, last season's Class 1A state runnerup, opened Distict 2 play Friday night with a 49-0 home romp past Wabaunsee.

Junior quarterback Landen Lewis ran for four touchdowns and threw for a TD as the Bulldawgs improved to 4-2 on the season.

Lewis ran for 17, 2, 9 and 9-yard TDs and hit Cale Horak for a 23-yard score while Cael Horgan opened Rossville's scoring with  for a 1-yard TD and Gavin Sumner scored the final TD on a 1-yard plunge.

Austin Dohrman kicked five extra points and the Bulldawgs got a 2-point conversion on a pass from Cole Graves to Michael Cooney.

Rossville led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter and 28-0 at the half before adding 21 points in the second half to complete the shutout.

The Bulldawgs will travel to Mission Valley on Friday to face the 1-5 Vikings, who are coming off a 48-6 district loss to St. Marys

Eagles remain unbeaten with 89-0 district rout

Silver Lake continued its dominant 2026 season Friday night, improved to 6-0 Friday with a 89-0 home Class 2A District 3 rout over Maranatha Academy.

The Eagles will travel to Holton Friday night for a Big East League game.

Holton is 1-5 after a 43-0 loss to Nemaha Central.

Lions drop 54-50 district thriller to Tigers

Cair Paravel Latin gave host Lyndon a battle down to the wire Friday, falling 54-50 in an Eight-Man I District 3 game.

The Lions, now 4-2, will host Chase County in a district matchup Friday at Seaman.

Chase County is coming off a 46-0 district victory over Northern Heights.

Vikings stretch winning streak to four games

Seaman posted its fourth straight United Kansas Conference victory Friday night, rolling to a 55-0 road rout over Leavenworth.

The Vikings, 4-2 overall and in the UKC, will face a tough test Friday, going on the road to face 6-0 Spring Hill.

The Broncos are coming off of a 57-0 win over Topeka West.

Scots get back on track with 26-6 road win

Highland Park picked up its second victory of the season Friday night, posting a 26-6 Meadowlark Conference win at Kansas City-Harmon.

Now 2-4 on the year, Highland Park will be back at Hummer Sports Park on Saturday to host KC-Schlagle in a 12 p.m. Meadowlark game.

The Stallions are 2-4 on the season after a 30-26 loss to Atchison. 

T-Birds fall 59-28 at Piper

Shawnee Heights fell to 1-5 overall and in the United Kansas Conference Friday night, dropping a 59-28 decision at Piper.

The T-Birds will be back at home Friday, hosting 6-0 De Soto in a conference matchup.

The Wildcats are coming off a 45-6 UKC win over Turner.

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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn Rural's cross country team turned in a dominating performance in Saturday's city championships at Shawnee Heights, sweeping the top three individual places in both the girls and boys events while rolling to the team titles.

Sophomore Alyson Hinck (right) captured her first city girls cross country title for team-champion Washburn Rural on Saturday at Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Washburn Rural junior Duke Graf reacts as he crosses the finish line to win the city boys cross country title Saturday at Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

"I'm happy with it for sure,'' Rural coach Matt Swedlund said. "City is a good start to championship racing. You kind of get in the mindset and this is when you start talking about trophies and wanting to be our best in October, so this is a nice start to that process.''

Rural sophomore Alyson Hinck won the girls title in a five-kilometer time of 19 minutes, 32.7 seconds while junior Duke Graf took control early in the boys race on the way to a win in 16:42.6.

Rural sophomore Morgan Munson (19:35.8) and junior Reese Beardslee (19:47.3) finished second and third behind Hinck in the girls race, while freshman Kenadee Booher (21:14.7) was fifth and freshman Avery Kennedy (21:32.3) sixth to round out the Junior Blues' top five as Rural captured the team title by a 17-40 margin over Seaman.

Hinck earned her first city individual girls title after finishing second as a freshman. She ran with the top four runners for much of the race before pulling away down the stretch to win by 3.1 seconds over teammate Munson.

"I just wanted to stick with the people in front and not to go out too hard,'' said Hinck, also a state medalist in the 800 meters in track as a freshman. "I definitely locate where I need to start to kick.''

Hinck said a highlight of the day was Rural's one-two-three finish.

"That's so much fun,'' she said. "I'm so happy to run with my teammates and finish with them. It was a blast.''

Juniors Jaxson Adams (16:57.2) and Clayton Fink (17:05.8) posted second and third-place finishes behind Graf for the Junior Blues in the boys race while sophomore Julius Wood-Nichols (17:15.4) finished fifth and senior Bennett Wells (17:19.5) sixth to complete the top five scoring runners for Washburn Rural, which won the title by a 17-59 margin over Seaman.

Graf, who had finished third in the city meet as a sophomore before helping Rural win the Class 6A title, took the lead early in Saturday's race and ended up winning by nearly 15 seconds.

"I kind of had the mentality of either come with me or don't,'' Graf said of his strategy. "It seemed to work pretty well. I went out pretty hard the first mile and got a good gap and kind of just held.

"I fell off a little bit towards the end, but overall, first place, I'm pretty happy with it.'' 

Seaman's girls got a fourth-place individual finish from senior Brynn Spencer (20:07.8) while senior Kinley Robinson (21:46.9) placed seventh, freshman Brinley Cochran (21:57.2) eighth, freshman Morgan Ranson (22:22.6) 10th and senior Hannah Wempe (22:59.5) 11th.

Freshman Charlotte Richards (23:12.1) led third-place Shawnee Heights with a 12th-place finish while junior Emily Womack (23:14.2) paced fourth-place Topeka High with a 13th-place finish. 

Sophomore Trindon Jones (17:10.7) paced the runnerup Seaman boys with a fourth-place finish while sophomore Weston Kennedy (17:23.6) finished seventh.

Hayden junior Nick Newkirk (17:43.3) finished 10th. 

Washburn Rural, Topeka High and Hayden will compete in the Centennial League meet next Saturday at Kanza Park while Seaman, Shawnee Heights and Topeka West will run in the United Kansas Conference meet at De Soto on Thursday and Highland Park will compete in the Meadowlark Conference meet at Atchison on Thursday.  

CITY CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn University junior quarterback Keller Hurla is known primarily for his running ability, but it was Hurla's arm that provided the biggest play of the day Saturday in Yager Stadium as the Ichabods snapped a four-game losing streak to Pittsburg State with a 16-9 MIAA victory.

Washburn, which improved to 4-1-1 overall and 3-1 in the MIAA, never trailed Saturday, but the game was tied at 3, 6 and 9 as the Ichabods' Aidan Battle and the Gorillas' Austin Schmitt both kicked three field goals.

Washburn's Aden Canty (84) hauls in the game-winning touchdown catch in Saturday's 16-9 MIAA win over Pittsburg State. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Washburn's Aden Canty (84) celebrates his game-winning TD catch in Saturday's 16-9 victory over Pittsburg State. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Schmitt tied the game for the final time with a 27-yard field goal at the 9:27 mark of the fourth quarter before Hurla and sophomore Aden Canty hooked up for the game-winning 7-yard TD with 1:19 remaining.

"We knew that they liked to stack the box when I'm in the game, they're expecting quarterback runs, so I had my eyes on the safety and as soon as I saw him take a step downhill I knew we could get it over the top to Canty,'' Hurla said. "And Canty made a great catch in the end zone.

"We knew they were going to give us that look, and once we saw what we needed to see, I dumped it over the top and it was there. It was a great call and a great executed play.''

Canty agreed.  

"We've been practicing it all week, so we were ready for it, we were prepared,'' Canty said. "My coach told me to be ready for the call so when they called it we just executed it and I was ready for the pass.

"We knew that we needed a touchdown to put the game away. We knew we couldn't win by only field goals, so we knew we just had to go down there and score and when we got it everybody on the sideline had the confidence that we were going to win the game.''

Washburn's defense then clinched the win with a Reese Watkins interception with 25 seconds remaining ending the final possession for the Gorillas (1-5, 1-3).

The Ichabods' game-winning 15-play, 75-yard drive took 8:08 off the clock.

The march included crucial third-down conversions on a 7-yard pass from Logan Madden to Nathan Lewis Jr. and an 8-yard completion to Canty.

Washburn junior quarterback Keller Hurla picked up a key first down on a 4th-down carry and threw for the game-winning TD in Saturday's 16-9 win over Pittsburg State. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

A personal foul also helped extend the drive and the Ichabods converted a 4th-and-1 when Hurla rushed for six yards to the PSU 14.

After moving inside the 10, Hurla found Canty over the middle for the 7-yard TD strike and Battle's extra point provided the final 16-9 margin.

"Our entire model is we're going to be aggressive and going for it on fourth down to even set that up and not kicking the field goal and Keller picks it up and coach (Dane) Simoneau called a great play (on the TD) and we executed it and that's what good teams do is they go win games,'' Washburn coach Zach Watkins said. "They don't hope another team loses.'' 

After a scoreless first quarter, Washburn broke through midway through the second period with a 14-play, 84-yard drive that chewed nearly six minutes off the clock and produced a 25-yard field goal with 5:46 remaining in the half for a 3-0 lead.

Washburn's defense then forced a three and out, but Pittsburg State capitalized on a late interception and drove 23 yards in the final 33 seconds of the half, tying the game on Schmitt's 41-yard field goal as time expired.

The Ichabod defense came up with one of its biggest stands of the day to start the third quarter, stopping Pittsburg State on a 4th-and-1 pass at midfield.

Washburn turned the stop into points when Battle drilled a 34-yard field goal with 4:21 left in the third quarter but Pitt State answered late in the third after a 54-yard run by T.J. Starks set up Schmitt's 21-yard field goal, tying the game at 6-6 with 26 seconds remaining in the period.

After Battle's third field goal of the afternoon, a 25-yarder with 13:12 remaining, gave Washburn a 9-6 lead, the Gorillas managed only a 27-yard Schmitt field goal despite taking over at the Washburn 41 following an interception as the Ichabods held on third and 14 from the Washburn 19.

Washburn junior JC Heim (9) was in on a game-high 11 tackles in Saturday's 16-9 win over Pittsburg State. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN] 

Washburn sophomore Jaren Heim recovers a fumble in Saturday's 16-9 MIAA win over Pittsburg State. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Junior JC Heim registered a game-high 11 tackles and recorded a sack while his twin brother Jaren came up with the game's only fumble recovery. 

Washburn limited Pittsburg State to 251 yards of offense and just 52 rushing yards as the Ichabod defense increased their streak of not allowing a touchdown to nine quarters dating back to the third quarter of the win over Central Oklahoma on Sept. 19.

"Coach (Kaleb) Koch is an elite defensive coordinator and our defensive staff and players know our system, they believe in our system and I'm just so proud that those guys are part of our staff and the way those kids play and the heart they play with just shows that,'' Watkins said.

Madden completed 20 of 41 passes for 209 yards, while Hurla threw the game-winning TD strike on only his second pass attempt of the day. Lewis Jr. caught seven passes for 72 yards and Tre Calhoun added five receptions for 86 yards.

Cam Robinson led the ground game with 58 rushing yards.

Washburn finished with advantages in total offense (321-251), first downs (21-16), time of possession (32:48-27:12) and third-down conversions, converting 10 of 18 opportunities compared to 5 of 17 for Pittsburg State.

The Ichabods return to action next Saturday at Central Missouri (1:30 p.m. kickoff) in Warrensburg. The Mules are coming off a 42-21 loss at Northwest Missouri last time out.

WASHBURN 16, PITTSBURG STATE 9

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