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Central Oklahoma taps Topekan Robbie Rea to take Bronchos' baseball reins
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Former Seaman star Robbie Rea has been named head baseball coach at Central Oklahoma after serving as an assistant coach for the Bronchos the previous three seasons.
Robbie Rea
"Robbie Rea is ready to become a head coach, and I'm thrilled that he will get that opportunity at UCO," Central Oklahoma vice-president for athletics Stan Wagnon said in a UCO release. "Robbie's background as an accomplished player and his broad experience coaching throughout the region are tremendous assets that will help him to recruit and maintain relationships with student-athletes in college baseball's changing climate.
"I look forward to supporting Robbie in this new role, along with his wife Rachel and their young family."
Rea was a three-time Class 5A state champion for Seaman and was named Kansas State Player of the Year.
He went on to earn All-Big 12 honors as a second baseman for the Oklahoma State Cowboys after earning All-American honors at Cowley during his junior college career.
Rea guided the pitching staff at Central Oklahoma as an assistant coach, with the Bronchos winning 105 games since Rea joined the staff and qualifying for the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship in each of the past two seasons.
Central Oklahoma went 32-19 in Rea's first season as an assistant coach, then 37-16 the following year in 2024. Last spring, Rea and the Bronchos went 36-17 and won the MIAA postseason championship for the first time since joining the league 13 years ago.
UCO has ranked in the top three in the MIAA in staff ERA each of the past three seasons. The Bronchos were second in 2023 (5.12), first in 2024 (4.60), and third this past season (5.21).
UCO's pitching staff has put up 1,274 strikeouts, 8.5 per nine innings, in three seasons with Rea at the helm.
Prior to going to UCO, Rea made stops at MIAA schools Newman and Northeastern State. He also spent time at Cowley College in Kansas as well as Abiline Christian in Texas.
Central Oklahoma returns 22 players from last year's squad, including two-time All-MIAA pitcher Brett Pense. The Bronchos will return to the field in February. A complete schedule will be announced later this fall.
Robbie's younger brother, Butch Rea, is an assistant coach for the Bronchos.
Ichabods rally from 10-point deficit, hold on late to give Watkins first win, 20-17 over Bulldogs
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University football opened the Zach Watkins era with a hard-earned 20–17 win non-conference win over Truman State Saturday afternoon at Yager Stadium.
Washburn (1-0) had to overcome a 10-0 first-quarter deficit and scored 20 unanswered points to take a 20-10 lead before using a clutch drive to run the final 4 minutes, 20 seconds off the clock and close out the victory in front of 4,025 fans.
Zach Watkins picked up his first win as a head coach on Saturday, with Washburn topping Truman State 20-17 in Yager Stadium. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"Wins will never come easy, especially in the MIAA and with a quality, playoff-caliber opponent like Truman State, so that was a great game for us to overcome some early adversity, battle back when things weren't going our way, and then to end the game with the offense on the field closing the game out was really special,'' Watkins said.
Saturday's win was not only a successful debut for Watkins as a head coach but was a big day for quarterback Justin Lewis and place-kicker Aidan Battle in their first games as Ichabods.
Justin Lewis passed for 352 yards and two touchdowns in Washburn's 20-17 season-opening win over Truman State Saturday. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Lewis, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound graduate transfer from Merrimack, completed 33 of 42 passes for 352 yards and two touchdowns on the day and at one point completed a school and MIAA single-game record 20 straight passes.
Battle, a 5-6, 170 Butler Community College transfer, was also a difference-maker for Washburn, contributing eight points on the day with two field goals and two extra points, including a 51-yard field goal with 10:27 remaining that proved to be the difference in the game.
"We knew he had the leg strength and a little bit of wind and we knew we could get there, so I'll never shy away with him back there,'' Watkins said.
Former MIAA foe Truman State (0-1) struck first, marching 68 yards in nine plays before quarterback Dylan Hair found Jackson Overton for a 23-yard touchdown at the 8:22 mark of the opening quarter.
Truman added to its lead later in the quarter on a 32-yard field goal from Vinni Calvaruso to go up 10–0, but Washburn dominated the second quarter behind Lewis and junior wide receiver Chase Allen-Jackman.
Lewis connected with Allen-Jackman for a 16-yard touchdown to put the Ichabods (1-0) on the board.
Then, after Battle connected on a 37-yard field goal to tie the game at 10–10 midway through the second quarter, Lewis and Allen-Jackman connected again with 55 seconds left before halftime, this time from 27 yards out to give Washburn a 17–10 halftime advantage.
"That guy's unbelievable,'' Lewis said of Allen-Jackman. "He's done an awesome job since the spring, just me and him having communication on the field. I trust him that he's going to get open every single time, he's a tough guy to guard.''
Neither team was able to break through in the third quarter before Battle connected on his clutch 51-yard field goal early in the fourth stanza to give WU its biggest lead of the game at 20-10. Battle's 51-yarder was one yard shy of the school record of 52 yards set in 1972 by Russ Hill against Northern Colorado and Charles Goodnight against Emporia State in 1985.
Prep parade: Washburn Rural looking to bounce back from tough 2024 campaign
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After posting an outstanding 27-6 record over a three-year span from 2021-2023, Washburn Rural football struggled to a 3-6 mark last season.
Veteran Washburn Rural football coach Steve Buhler is starting his 13th season at Rural, with the Junior Blues coming off a 3-6 record last fall after going 11-1 and advancing to the Class 6A semifinals in 2023. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
This fall Steve Buhler's Junior Blues will be out to prove that last season was an simply an anomoly and that Rural is ready to get back on track.
"The previous three years were really good for us,'' said Buhler, who is starting his 13th season at the school. "You kind of hope you have something that's going to be continuous, then you hit a road bump.
"Part of that's the schedule, part of it's some other issues, but it wasn't as good as we hoped. But at the same time, you still want to live off the previous three years.''
And with a veteran cast returning, including 26 seniors, Buhler thinks the Junior Blues know what it's going to take to get the job done this season.
"There's enough kids on this team that have been around and that were part of that previous group and the success they had,'' Buhler said. "This year's seniors, they know.
"They had a really good offseason in the weight room and we saw some good senior leadership so far in the summertime, so hopefully they learned from the negative part of last year record-wise and couple that with their knowledge of what it takes to be really successful and they'll put the two together for us.''
Buhler said that the 2024 Junior Blues had their moments where they played very solid football, but were plagued by inconsistency, something they'll need to change moving forward.
