Mike Williams' Highland Park Scots opened their 2024-2025 season with a 31-point win

[File photo/TSN]

Junior Maddie Gragg (32) scored a game-high 21 points in Seaman's UKC win Friday night.

[Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Junior KaeVon Bonner led Seaman with 25 points in Tuesday's 70-50 UKC win over Lansing.

[Photo by Kyle Manthe/Special to TSN]

Jaxon Cowdin, Topeka High

{File photo TSN]

Luke Lemke, Washburn Rural

[File Photo TSN}

Hayden's Dwayne Anthony picked up his first win as a head coach in Thursday's 62-47 win over Wichita Trinity.

[Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Silver Lake coaching legend CJ Hamilton will be inducted into the KSHSAA Hall of Fame in 2025

. [KSHSAA Covered]

Former Seaman baseball coach & athletic director Steve Bushnell to be inducted into the KSHSAA Hall of Fame

[File photo/TSN]

Rising Stars Intro 002AA

RyleeDickRossville2024mug

JackDonovannewmug 1

Rylee Dick Jack Donovan

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

In his long college coaching career, Washburn University football coach Craig Schurig has learned to accept the good, bad and in between and move on.

DJBellWU 2Washburn sophomore D.J. Bell returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown in last Saturday's 31-28 loss to No. 5-ranked Colorado School of Mines. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

TreRichardsonWU 1Highland Park product Tre Richardson had 168 all-purpose yards, including an 85-yard touchdown reception, in Washburn's 31-28 loss to No. 5-ranked Colorado School of Mines on Saturday. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

But some games are a little harder to forget, and last Saturday's 31-28 home loss to No. 5-ranked Colorado School of Mines is likely to be one of those.

The Ichabods took the Orediggers, the national runnerup the past two seasons, down to the end before a missed 44-yard field goal allowed CSM to avoid overtime and escape with the win.

"Obviously we played a very good team and we did enough good things to possibly win the game and when you come away not winning the game it does hurt,'' Schurig said. "But it hurts in a good way in the sense that we played a lot better and you take away some positives and you hope it makes the guys and coaches focused on, 'OK, now the details really matter between those wins and losses.' ''

Washburn (0-2 overall, 0-1 MIAA) will be back in Yager Stadium on Saturday, hosting its second straight top-10 opponent as No. 10-ranked Pittsburg State comes to town for a 1 p.m. kickoff on Washburn's Family Day.

The Gorillas (2-1, 1-1) will also be looking to bounce back after falling to No. 21-ranked Emporia State 24-21 last Saturday at PSU.

Schurig said he feels like his team has recovered well from last week's heartbreaker.

"It seems like practice-wise they've done really good,'' Schurig said. "We still have some things that we have to correct to win those style of games but I think they have confidence in the sense that toe to toe they can handle personnel-wise going up against anybody.

"We've played two really good teams and you try to win individual battles and we feel like we've won a lot of individual battles.''

Against Colorado School of Mines, Ichabod sophomore D.J. Bell returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown while sophomore Tre Richardson, a former Highland Park multi-sport star, had four catches for 99 yards, including a first-quarter 85-yard touchdown reception from Hayden Clark.

HaydenClarkWU 2Hayden Clark (left) passed for 166 yards and a touchdown in last week's 31-28 loss to No. 4-ranked Colorado School of Mines. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

KellerHurlaWU 1Washburn Rural sophomore quarterback Keller Hurla threw for two touchdowns in last week's 31-28 loss to No. 4-ranked Colorado School of Mines.''

The Ichabods' two-quarterback system out-passed the Orediggers 258 yards to 255, with Clark going 6 of 11 for 166 yards and a score and Keller Hurla going 13 of 17 for 92 yards and two TDs

Jordan Finnesy led the Ichabods with eight tackles against the Orediggers and is second on the team with 15 tackles behind team-leader L.J. Minner Jr., who has 16 stops while adding two tackles for loss.

The Ichabods trail the all-time series with the Gorillas, 64-28-1, after having their four-game winning streak snapped in 2022. WU has won nine of the last 16 meetings, including four of the last five in Pittsburg.

The Ichabods will return to the road for the first time since their season opener when they will face Missouri Western on Sept. 28 at 1 p.m. in St. Joseph.

Washburn will be back in action at home hosting Northwest Missouri on Oct. 5 on Hall of Fame Saturday in Yager Stadium.
 

Gold Partners

Community Partners

Gold Partners