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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Three-set matches were the order of the day for Silver Lake's volleyball team in Saturday's 10-school Rossville Invitational, with the Eagles playing four three-setters on the day, including a win over rival Rossville in the semifinals.
But after coming out on top in three straight three-setters, the Eagles' good fortune ran out in the championship match against Tonganoxie, which outlasted Silver Lake, 25-17, 16-25, 25-23 to cap a perfect 6-0 day, including two wins over Lake.
Silver Lake volleyball coach Sarah Johnson talks to her team during Saturday's Rossville Invitational. The Eagles went 4-2 on the day to finish second. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Silver Lake junior Alana Brewster goes up for a kill in Saturday's Rossville Invitational final against Tonganoxie. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"These girls don't give up on themselves and they know they've got it in them so we might go on a roller-coaster ride, but they know they can finish, they know their capabilities and their skill set so we just kept fighting to the end,'' said Silver Lake coach Sarah Johnson, who team is 13-4 on the year.
Tonganoxie opened up 17-10 and 21-12 first-set leads over the Eagles in the final before closing out the eight-point win, but Silver Lake answered with a strong performance in the second set.
Silver Lake went up 3-0 on a service ace from junior Alana Brewster and took a 6-1 lead on a kill from sophomore Jaiden Wise.
Later in the set the Eagles broke a 12-12 tie with three straight points, including kills from Brewster and Wise and Silver Lake forced a third set with six straight points, getting a long service run from senior McKinley Kruger and a pair of kills from senior Makenzie McDaniel to close out the nine-point victory.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
A change in racing strategy led to Washburn Rural cross country standout Payton Fink's first individual victory of the 2023 season in Saturday's Shufelberger Top City Classic at Rural.
Washburn Rural junior Payton Fink (600) runs with Junction City senior Lorna Rae Pierce (310) and Seaman sophomore Ryin Miller (498) in Saturday's Shufelberger Top City Classic at Rural. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Instead of jumping out in front early, the Rural junior held back a little in the early stages of the five-kilometer event before taking control over the final mile en route to a nine-second win in 18 minutes, 10.1 seconds, one of three runners in the top 10 for the second-place Junior Blues.
"We talked about this before the race how the last meets I've kind of gone out too fast and then fallen behind so I just tucked myself behind and about the two-mile where all the uphills were I decided to make my move and tried my best to hold it,'' Fink said.
Junction City senior Lorna Rae Pierce was the individual runnerup in 18:19.6 while Seaman sophomore Ryin Miller finished third in 18:36.6.
Fink said she felt comfortable with her new strategy.
"I felt really relaxed about the two-mile,'' Fink said. "My legs felt good, like they had something left in them, so it was nice to have a little left for the last mile.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Undefeated Washburn Rural set up next week's Centennial League showdown with Manhattan with a 51-15 non-league road romp past Piper Friday night.
Washburn Rural senior quarterback Branton DeWeese had a big passing night in the Junior Blues' 51-15 non-league romp past Piper. [File photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
The Junior Blues, who improved to 3-0, will host Manhattan, also 3-0, next Friday night at Bowen-Glaze Stadium.
Manhattan, the reigning Class 6A state champion, stayed unbeaten with a 49-7 win over Hays.
Washburn Rural built a 30-15 halftime advantage over the Pirates and added three second-half touchdowns, all on TD passes from senior quarterback Branton DeWeese.
DeWeese connected with senior Titan Osburn for a pair of touchdowns and also connected with senior Rylan Armstrong for the Junior Blues final score of the night.
Junior running back Jamon Wilson and the Highland Park football team are 3-0 on the season after Friday's 26-13 win over KC-Sumner. [File photo/TSN]
HIGHLAND PARK 26, KC-SUMNER ACADEMY 13 -- Highland Park is off to a 3-0 start for the second straight season after Friday night's 26-13 Meadowlark Conference road victoryover winless Kansas City-Sumner Academy.
The Scots will return to action next Friday night, traveling to Kansas City-Harmon.
CAIR PARAVEL LATIN 62, MARAIS DES CYGNES VALLEY 8 -- Cair Paravel Latin won its second straight game Friday night, rolling to a 62-8 road victory over Marais des Cygnes Valley.
The game was stopped by way of the 45-point spread rule, CPLS's second straight mercy rule victory. as the Lions improved to 2-1 on the season.
The Lions will host Lyndon next Friday night at Highland Park.
SILVER LAKE 29, ST. MARYS 28 -- Silver Lake rallied from a 12-7 halftime deficit to earn a 29-28 Mid-East League decision at St. Marys.
Tanner Martin, Eli Barnes and Logan Cathcart all had big games for the Eagles, who bounced back from a Week 2 loss to Hayden.
Silver Lake, 2-1 on the season, will host Rock Creek next Friday.
DE SOTO 59, TOPEKA WEST 0 -- De Soto bounced back from a Week 2 non-league loss to Washburn Rural with a 59-0 United Kansas Conference victory over Topeka West at Hummer Sports Park.
The Chargers, 0-3 on the year, will play a UKC game at Piper next Firday.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University freshman quarterback Sam Van Dyne envisioned easing into his college football career while learning from Ichabod veteran Kellen Simoncic.
Sam Van Dyne
But all that changed in last week's home-opener against Missouri Southern when Simoncic went down with a season-ending broken collarbone that required surgery.
And suddenly, in just the second game of his college career, the Ichabod offense was Van Dyne's to run.
"You hate to see a teammate get hurt, but Kellen went down and I'm standing right there and coach goes, 'Kellen's shoulder's messed up,' and I was like, 'Alright, I guess we're doing this,' '' said Van Dyne, a 6-3, 210-pounder out of Liberty North, Mo. "I went and got warmed up and went in and got hit, then I was good. I just had to kind of get the jitters out.''
Van Dyne, who will make his first college start in Saturday's 6 p.m. non-conference game at Lincoln, said he and the WU offense have just been working on making sure they're on the same page in the nine days since a 30-23 loss to Southern.
"It's a little different when you go from high school, where you've been running the same offense for like four or five years,'' Van Dyne said. "You're running a completely new offense, so you're still on the learning curve a little bit and it's not where it's second nature yet.
"We've got a lot young players, so really this week we've been working on getting the signals in and getting lined up properly and things like that because we had a couple of penalties last week for not being lined up properly and not running the right play, things like that.''
But Van Dyne expects to be a lot more at ease in Saturday's game at Lincoln and said he's ready to go.
"Football's football at the end of the day,'' he said. "It's 11 guys on each team and you're trying to score, they're trying to stop you. Really there's not much more to it than that. There's more than goes into it, but that's kind of how I ike to look at it.''
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
Hayden weathered the elements and a stubborn Rossville team to improve to 3-0 Friday, going on the road to beat the Bulldawgs 49-23.
Hayden senior Finn Dunshee (33) rushed for 170 yards and two touchdowns and also had a pick-six in Friday's 49-23 win at Rossville. [File photo/TSN]
The Wildcats rolled over Olpe and Silver Lake in their first two games. Things were more challenging on the wet field at Rossville.
The Bulldawgs pinned Hayden deep in its own territory for most of the first period, claiming a 3-0 lead midway through the quarter.
The Wildcats rallied to mount a 28-10 lead by halftime, but they knew they were in a fight.
“(Rossville) coach (Derick) Hammes always does a great job getting his guys ready each and every week,” Hayden coach Bill Arnold said. “We told our kids all week long that this was going to be the best team we’ve played up to this point and would be the most physical team that we’ve played up to this point. None of it came as a surprise to me. Now some of our kids may have showcased that early on.”
