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By KEVIN HASKIN
TopSports.news
Musings at the mid … dang, February flies by:
• Kinda enjoy hearing all the whiners sick of the Chiefs.
• The complaints don’t stand up to scrutiny. Like …
• How can you call defensive holding for the first time … inside the 2-minute warning?.
• How can you call Patrick Mahomes one of the all-time great QBs … when he looks so lucky?
• How can you call bad footing equal for both teams … when Kansas City’s own George Toma plays a role in preparing the turf?
• You can’t revise rules as you go. I won’t try to explain the accepted norms behind this.
• It ain’t luck; it’s precision. Mahomes belongs in the Hall of Fame. Now. Especially after posting a second Super Bowl win on one ankle.
• At 94, Toma is an American legend, but yes, the field was bad. But for both teams, not just one. Be good enough as a staff to figure out the right cleats.
• The week I spent before writing this gave me time for additional Superlatives:
• Biggest whiff: The unanimous Eagles picks by everyone on the Fox crew who desperately wanted their conference, the NFC, to win.
• Worst announcer: Terry Bradshaw. He’s not funny. Nor do I don’t want any of his money.
• Best coach: Andy Reid. In part for putting up with Bradshaw.
• Dumbest stat emphasized: Time of possession. Psst, Fox, the Chiefs scored a defensive touchdown, so yes, the Eagles controlled the ball longer.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
It's no big secret that the bats have been a tad cold for the No. 21-ranked Washburn University softball team, including a 5-0 shutout loss on Saturday.
Jaycee Ginter (12) is congratulated by her Washburn teammates after a three-run home run in Sunday's 6-1 first-game win over Concordia-St. Paul. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn coach Brenda Holaday congratulates Jaden LaBarge after her two-run home run in Sunday's 6-1 first-game win. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But the Ichabods took a couple of big steps towards curing those ills on Sunday going 2-0 in the second day of the ESU Classic at Gahnstrom Field with a 6-1 win over Concordia-St. Paul and a 9-0 win over Winona State.
In addition to scoring 15 runs on the day, the 10-3 Ichabods lashed out 18 hits and five extra-base knocks, including first-game home runs from Jaycee Ginter and Jaden LaBarge.
All-American Ginter, a former Shawnee Heights star, threw nine shutout innings to pick up the pitching wins in both games and also got Washburn off to a hot start offensively with a mammoth three-run shot in the bottom of the first inning of the opener.
LaBarge addded her two-run blast in the third and the Ichabods were off and running.
"We haven't been hitting very well so it was very important that we came out today and hit like we did,'' Ginter said. "I feel like everyone was hitting the ball much better than we have been the whole time we've been out this season.''
Washburn coach Brenda Holaday agreed.
"We're very fortunate to have the record that we have because we really haven't hit the ball much this year,'' Holaday said. "We've had some timely hitting but we haven't strung anything together and we've been hard on our kids in practice the last couple of weeks about just doing the little things right so you can move runners along and good things will happen.
"We were ready for that to happen yesterday and it just didn't, but I thought today they played really good softball in both games.''
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Washburn University baseball's doubleheader sweep over Concordia-St. Paul on Sunday extended its win streak to four games, and the Ichabods clinched the series with their third straight win over the Golden Bears in a four-game series which will conclude on Monday.
Washburn's Ike Book (33) is congratulated by his teammates after a second-game home run in a 5-4 win over Concordia-St. Paul. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn's Trey Adams (3) is mobbed after his game-winning hit in Sunday's 5-4 second-game win over Concordia-St. Paul. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The Ichabods had suffered a brutal stretch in early February, winning just one of their first eight games with four of their seven losses in that stretch decided a single run.
Washburn found its stride after taking its bumps and bruises earlier in the month and the Ichabods are now only two games below .500.
"We've been put together with arguably the toughest schedule in the country early on," Washburn coach Harley Douglas said. "We knew that we were going to have it tough. We had to go down and play some really good (Great American Conference) teams and had some tough games in Florida. They're outside every day, and it's always tough there.
"When you lose four games by one run, we start to question if we are doing this right or not. But now that we are two weeks settled into the season, we can get back to playing some teams at home and feeling more comfortable. This (series) gave us some resilience to get going and not second guess ourselves."
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
A day that could have turned out much, much worse turned out to be one of the most satisfying days of Easton Broxterman's high school wrestling career.
Broxterman, Washburn Rural's star sophomore 113-pounder, briefly lost consciousness while locked in a hold during Saturday's Class 6A regional championship match against reigning state champion of Ezekiel Witt of Junction City in a rematch of last year's 106-pound state title match.
Washburn Rural star wrestler Easton Broxterman (facing) bounced back from a scary incident to post a 15-3 major decision over Junction City's Ezekiel Witt in a rematch of a 2022 state title match. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural 113-pounder Easton Broxterman improved to 45-3 with a Class 6A regional championship Saturday at Rural. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
But after receiving immediate attention from Washburn Rural coach Josh Hogan, Rural athletic trainer Brad Parry and Broxterman's parents, Broxterman quickly recovered, resumed action and dominated the rest of the match, rallying from a 2-0 deficit to take a 15-3 major decision over Witt.
Hogan admitted that it was a scary situation for himself and everybody involved.
"He passed out and he was out for at least about five seconds,'' Hogan said. "It was at that point I thought, 'I probably ought to get more people down here to make sure we're making the right decisions.' But he didn't hit his head or anything.
"The first thing he said when he came to was, 'What's the score?' ''
The best news was that Broxterman pronounced himself 100 percent physically after the match.
"I'm fine,'' Broxterman said. "There's like a fog, but once it goes away I was fine.''
Ironically, Witt experienced a similar situation later in the match and had to be tended to, but like Broxterman, Witt was able to continue.
Broxterman, who improved to 45-3, said he has great respect for his Juntion City rival, now 34-2.
"I've been wrestling great all year and it's great to have someone like him to push me because I know wrestling him makes me a better wrestler and I would asume it's the same thing the other way around,'' Broxterman said. "If things are hard I'm thinking of him and what he's doing that I could be doing.
"I know he's making me a whole lot better wrestler, that's for sure.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn men's basketball team led for 37 minutes, 25 seconds of the 40 minutes as the Ichabods picked up their seventh straight win over Central Missouri, a 65-53 MIAA decision Saturday in Warrensburg, Mo.
Sophomore Andrew Orr scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds in Washburn's 65-53 MIAA win at Central Missouri on Saturday. [File photo/TSN]
After the Mules (11-15 overall, 6-13 MIAA) scored the first four points of the game, the Ichabods (13-13, 10-10) came back with eight straight points, doubling up Central Missouri.
Washburn led the Mules at 21-20 with 7:33 in the first half and then outscored Central 13-6 to take a 34-26 lead into the break.
The Mules outscored the Ichabods 14-9 over the first eight minutes of the second half, cutting the Washburn lead to 43-40, but a 16-4 spurt by Washburn stretched the lead to 15 at 59-44 and UCM would get no closer than 11 the rest of the way.
Washburn was led by Andrew Orr, who scored 17 points on seven of 12 shooting while adding eight rebounds. Six of Orr's rebounds were on the offensive end.
Tyler Nelson had 12 points and Jarmell Johnson 10 points off the bench.
