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Prep FB roundup: Highland Park improves to 2-0 with 42-0 Meadowlark romp past KC-Sumner
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Highland Park improved to 2-0 overall and in the Meadowlark Conference with a 42-0 road rout over Kansas City-Sumner Friday night.
Scot junior quarterback Dontrail Fox went 9 of 16 in the passing game for 112 yards and three touchdowns while Highland Park rushed for 231 yards on 37 attempts as sophomore G'honi Montgomery picked up 78 yards on 15 attemps and senior Jamon Wilson gaining 75 yards on nine carries.
Wilson caught seven passes for 76 yards and also returned a punt return for a 59-yard touchdown, one of three punt-return TDs for the Scots.
Highland Park also got an 80-yard punt return from senior CJ Brown and a 23-yard score from junior Genesis Cooper.
Senior Ricky Crawford led the Highland Park with nine tackles, including five solo stops.
Highland Park will be back on the road next Friday against Meadowlark Conference foe KC-Schlagle.
SHAWNEE MISSION EAST 35, SEAMAN 7 -- Seaman (1-1) and Shawnee Mission East (1-1) were tied at 7-7 before the Lancers took control of the non-league contest with the final 28 points of the night.
Seaman scored its lone touchdown on a touchdown pass from quarterback Max Huston to Kaden McKinney.
The Vikings will play their home opener next Friday, hosting Topeka West in a United Kansas Conference contest.
Topeka High football improves to 2-0 with 27-14 win over Wichita Heights
By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
Big plays more than smoothed over the rough edges Topeka High showed in a 27-14 win over Wichita Heights Thursday at Hummer Sports Park.
The Trojans scored two non-offensive touchdowns and forced five turnovers to collect their second victory of the season, matching their win total from 2022 and 2023 combined.
First-year High head coach Jason Filbeck pointed to athletic and opportunistic players who made plays despite some breakdowns in fundamentals throughout the night.
“We are blessed to have some kids who can really run, and they can step up at the right times,” Filbeck said. “We’re lucky that we’re athletic, so we can win some of these games while we’re still learning.”
The game was bookended by a defensive score in the first quarter and a kickoff return in the fourth quarter when the outcome was in doubt.
Linebacker Payton Stevicks picked up a fumble and raced 42 yards to stake Topeka High to a lead late in the first quarter. The play inspired the defense, which forced two more Falcon fumbles in the first half.
“We worked hard in practice, and we were pumped for the first home game of the season,” Stevicks said. “We practiced for their flexbone offense and were ready for it.”
Senior running back Tevante Ewing got rolling in the second period, carrying for 31 yards in one drive which ended with him rushing 3 yards for a score.
Smelling blood, the Trojans dipped into their bag of tricks late in the second period.
Quarterback Zane Smith fumbled the ball in the backfield, but kept his presence of mind to pitch to Saron Carter to trigger a designed halfback pass. Carter had time to find receiver Jayden Norman, who slipped behind the Falcon defense undetected. Norman ran out the 67-yard scoring strike to put Topeka High up, 21-0.
Dvorak finds a home with Herron's Washburn University volleyball program
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
With a lot of volleyball talent in the Midwest region to pick from, veteran Washburn University volleyball coach Chris Herron opted not to recruit Alex Dvorak out of Park Hill South (Mo.) High School.
But when Herron got a second chance to land Dvorak after the 6-foot-1 middle hitter played two seasons at William Jewell, he didn't hesitate -- a decision that has paid early dividends for both WU and Dvorak.
"I knew her in high school, I knew her in club, and I kind of hesitated and I never really recruited her out of high school or out of club,'' Herron admitted. "But then when she went to William Jewell I saw her work ethic, I saw that she had gotten better her freshman year and had gotten way better her sophomore year.
"And then when I found out the coach was leaving, the coach actually called me and asked if I would be interested in Alex and I jumped on that immediately because I felt like Alex could come in here and start.''
Dvorak, who transferred to Washburn for the spring semester, made an immediate impact for the Ichabods in last week's season-opening Kansas City Classic, helping WU post three straight wins while leading Washburn with 31 kills (2.82 per set) and hitting .472. She also leads the squad with 11 combined blocks and ranks 24th in the nation and third in the MIAA in hitting percentage and is eighth in the conference in blocks per set. She hit over .300 in all three matches.
"She played exceptionally,'' Herron said. "Offensively she was just really unstoppable. She just did whatever she wanted to do pretty much the whole way.''
Dvorak said the move to Topeka has worked out very well from both a personal and volleyball standpoint.
"I love it here,'' Dvorak said. "I hate to say that I'm so glad that I transferred, but I'm so glad that I transferred.''