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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
A wild night from start to finish ended with a 38-28 Highland Park win over Kansas City-Washington that gave the Scots second place in the Meadowlark Conference.
Senior Jamon Wilson had a huge night for Highland Park in Thursday's 38-28 Meadowlark Conference win over KC-Washington. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Sophomore G'Honi Montgomery (35) celebrates a touchdown with Highland Park teammate Tremaine Savage Thursday night in the Scots' 38-28 win over KC-Washington. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Late in the first period, with the Scots leading 6-0 on a touchdown run by G’Honi Montgomery, both teams were sent to the locker rooms and fans were sent to their cars by a severe thunderstorm. They returned at 8:55 p.m. after an hour and a half delay.
Highland Park coach Jermaine Monroe praised the Scots for how they handled the disruption.
“At first, because we thought it was only going to be 30 minutes, we told the boys to be quiet, leave your cell phones away, just stay focused on the game,” Monroe said. “But when we knew it was going to be longer than an hour, we let them take their shoulder pads off, call their parents to make sure everything was OK.
"Then we put some music on, had everyone jump around and have some fun, just keeping the energy high. And that’s what they did. They came out with a lot of energy after that.”
Jamon Wilson sent a jolt of energy throughout the stadium whenever he touched the ball.
When Highland Park needed a big play, Wilson came through. After recording his first score from 14 yards out, he bailed the team out of a jam midway through the second period. Following a botched kickoff return, the Scots found themselves pinned at their 1-yard line. But after giving the Scots some breathing room on his first carry of the drive, Wilson outraced the Wildcats 94 yards to the end zone on the second play of the drive.
Wilson took a short pass from Dontrail Fox 25 yards for the Scots’ fourth touchdown of the first half, increasing the lead to 26-6 as the clock struck 10 p.m.
Early in the second half, the Scots increased their lead to 32-6 on a 10-yard touchdown run by Wilson. Even when the Wildcats responded with a touchdown late in the third quarter, it appeared the Scots would cruise to an easy victory. Both teams began inserting substitutes in the fourth quarter.
But with Highland Park leading 38-12 midway through the final period, things went a little crazy. KC-Washington quarterback Savion Stone began throwing and running for big chunks of yardage, racking up two Wildcat scores in just a few minutes time.
With the outcome no longer in doubt, the point spread became the issue. Both teams were battling for playoff seeding. The battle raged until 11:30 p.m., with the Wildcats attempting on-side kicks and the Scots throwing long passes rather than taking a knee to run out the clock.
“I wanted us to just focus on the down that we’re in, not focus on championships or seeding or anything like that. Just think about the next play,” Monroe said. “But then when it got down to where they cut it to 10 and we needed to win by 13, that’s when we started thinking playoffs.”
The Scots failed to gain the desired 13-point margin and will await their playoff seeding. But with second place in the Meadowlark Conference locked up, Wilson took a moment to reflect on how far the Highland Park program has come.
The Scots went 0-9 in Wilson’s freshman season and owned a losing streak that stretched back eight years. The fact they are concerned at all about playoff seeding is monumental.
“It’s been a great experience changing history,” Wilson said. "When I first got here, it was definitely tough. The buy-in was tough. And then we finally got guys to buy in and we changed the culture. This was a big win for the seniors being our last game with playoff seeding playing a huge factor.”
HIGHLAND PARK 38, KC-WASHINGTON 28
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural and Blue Valley North battled to an 0-0 deadlock over 80 minutes Thursday at McElroy Field before Mother Nature won the overtime.
With severe storms rapidly approaching, the Junior Blues and Mustangs completed regulation before the decision was made to call the game, resulting in a scoreless tie.
Washburn Rural senior Ben Buesing (right) and Blue Valley North's Will Matthews follow the flight of the ball Thursday night at McElroy Field. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural senior Tyler Faurot (3) pressures Blue Valley North's Beau Chiaverini in Thursday's 0-0 tie at McElroy Field. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural finished its regular season 11-2-3 while Blue Valley North finished 6-8-2 on the year.
The Junior Blues will either be the No. 3 West seed in Class 6A and will be at home for a regional semifinal at 6 p.m. on Monday. Rural's Senior Night festivities were pushed back to Monday.
Obviously, Washburn Rural coach Brian Hensyel would have preferred to have had a chance to pull out a victory in overtime Thursday, but he understood the decision.
"We played 80 minutes, that's a full game,'' Hensyel said. "Yeah, the overtime is nice to try to settle it but it was a pretty fair, even battle and each team had their chances with the wind and neither team could find the back of the net .
"It was a good challenge for us right before the playoffs to play a good Kansas City team, so we're happy with it.''
Washburn Rural senior Ryder Nikkel advances the ball in Thursday's 0-0 deadlock with Blue Valley North. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Senior Matthew Houser executes a header in Thursday's Washburn Rural 0-0 tie with Blue Valley North. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Now the Junior Blues, third in 6A last season, will try to gear up for the start of postseason.
"I still feel like we haven't reached our peak and haven't put it all together for an entire game yet,'' Hensyel said. "You know the performances are fine, but in the playoffs we've got to find another gear.
"We kind of play in spurts and I'm not sure we've played a full 80 minutes the entire season, so we're going to have to do that next week. It's a brand new slate and it doesn't really matter what our record is. You go to the tournament and see what happens.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University volleyball will face Emporia State for the second time in 18 days at 3 p.m. on Saturday to finish a five-match road trip.
Washburn volleyball will close out a road swing at Emporia State on Saturday. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The Ichabods are 15-4 overall and 6-3 in the MIAA after overcoming a pair of 0-1 deficits last weekend to come away with a 3-2 win over Missouri Southern and a 3-1 victory against Central Missouri.
Senior Jalyn Stevenson leads Washburn with 217 kills while hititng .219 across 19 starts. She is also second on the squad in digs with 221 and in aces with 24.
Stevenson is eighth in the MIAA in kills and 15th in kills per set while ranking 18th in total digs. She has seven double-doubles on the year and 12 matches with 10-plus kills.
She ranks 19th in program history with 1,208 career kills. She will move into 18th with four more kills. She is also eighth on the program charts in aces and 20th in digs. She needs four aces to move up to eighth.
Alex Dvorak leads the Washburn defense at the net with 93 blocks on the year. She sits third on the team in kills with 140 and is second with a .363 hitting percentage.
The junior leads the MIAA in both blocks and blocks per set while ranking seventh and 16th nationally, respectively. She is also 39th in the nation and third in the conference in hitting percentage. In 13 of 19 matches she has recorded at least five blocks.
Shawnee Heights product Taylor Rottinghaus has a team-high 343 digs across 19 matches. She has contributed 70 assists and served 18 aces. The sophomore is eighth in the MIAA in digs per set while ranking eighth among conference players in total digs. She has at least 10 digs in every match.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Former Washburn Rural star Belle Kennedy feels like the vibe among the Ichabod soccer team is starting to feel a lot like it did last season when WU posted a runnerup finish in the NCAA Division II national tournament.
Washburn junior midfielder Belle Kennedy (12) leads the 9-2-2 Ichabods with three game-winning goals. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
And that could spell continued bad news for future opponents of the Ichabods, who have not suffered a loss over their last 11 games entering MIAA road games against Central Missouri and Fort Hays State this weekend.
Washburn opened its season with back-to-back non-conference losses but have not allowed a goal since, establishing a school-record shutout streak while improving to 9-2-2 overall and 6-0-1 in the MIAA.
The Ichabods, who cracked the top 15 in the latest USC National poll, will make the trip to Warrensburg, Mo. to battle the Jennies in a 6 p.m. Friday contest before heading to Hays to face the Tigers in a 2 p.m. contest on Sunday.
The Ichabods remain in a tie for second place in the MIAA with Central Missouri with 19 points, three points behind Missouri Western.
"It feel like it's the same rhythm as last year where we struggled a little bit in the beginning but throughout this season we're getting to the point where we're approaching it like each game could predict where we end up within the national poll, within the MIAA,'' said Kennedy, a returning All-MIAA first-team pick who is tied for 19th nationally with three game-winning goals.
"It's not necessarily like we're taking it more serious, but we're making our journey more specific. In the beginning it's more about figuring out, 'OK, how do we want to play this year? Do we want to play a certain style? Do we want to switch our style?' And right now we've figured out our style, we're narrowing it down and perfecting it more so that each game we're getting better and better.''
Kennedy, a junior midfielder, said the Washburn hot streak has been fueled by its defense.
"Our defense is insane,'' Kennedy said. "You could put any forward against our defense and we are still strong. We're really resilient. The beginning of the year was a little rough but it always is when you're still trying to figure everything out, but at this point now, we can handle any forward and any duo or any three sets of forwards they put against us.''
Kennedy is also very proud of how her former Washburn Rural teammate, Hailey Beck, is performing for the Ichabods in her first season as WU's starting goalkeeper.
Beck is tied for first nationally with 10 shutouts posted in goal. Beck's 0.313 goals against average is good for fifth in Division II and her 0.879 save percentage ranks 15th in the country.
"I'm very, very proud,'' Kennedy said of Beck. "She's done an incredible job, honestly, stepping up and taking on the role of being our goalkeeper. She's been doing amazing.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After four previous double-overtime ties, Hayden's boys soccer team looked as if it might be headed towards another deadlock Wednesday.
But this time the Wildcats found a way to get the game-winner, with senior Preston Meitner scoring off a pass from junior Aiden Roberts with 5:17 left in the second 10-minute extra session to give Hayden a 2-1 non-league win over Leavenworth on Senior Night at Hayden.
Hayden senior Preston Meitner (13) scored the game-winning goal in Wednesday's 2-1 double-overtime soccer win over Leavenworth. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Hayden coach Klaus Kreutzer admitted that the Wildcats, who finished the regular season at 5-7-4, were getting a little tired of the string of OT contests.
"It takes its toll, but having said that, it shouldn't come to that,'' Kreutzer said. "You've got to do the work early and we had opportunities.''
But Kreutzer said Wednesday's come-from-behind victory should give Hayden momentum entering Class 4A-1A regionals next week.
"At least we ended the season on a good note, so I'm feeling good about what we're going to do next week,'' Kreutzer said.
