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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
SALINA -- A fourth-place state finish isn't necessarily bad. In fact, there are a lot of schools across the state that would love to finish that high.
But after finishing fourth in back-to-back Class 5A state tournaments, Seaman volleyball coach Tatiana Dowling isn't a fan.
Seaman sophomore Maegan Mills (left) is congratulated by her teammates during Saturday's Class 5A state volleyball tournament. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"I'm so sick of fourth place,'' Dowling said after the Vikings' 25-16, 25-18 loss to Hutchinson in Saturday's state event at the Tony's Pizza Events Center. "That's what we said in (the locker room). It was a goal to get here. We talk about that every year, how we want to get back to state, how we want to make it an expectation that we go to state every year and now our expectation needs to change and our mindset needs to change.
"We shouldn't just be happy to be here, we should want more and be hungry for more.''
Seaman, which went 32-11 on the season, went 2-1 in Friday's pool play to earn a semifinal berth against St. Thomas Aquinas.
Seaman pushed the Saints, who went on to capture the state title, to three sets, but after splitting the first two sets Aquinas routed the Vikings in the deciding third set, 25-9.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
SALINA -- The tears of 2021 were replaced by a long, and probably still ongoing, victory celebration for the Washburn Rural volleyball team on Saturday.
Washburn Rural dogpiles on the court after winning the Class 6A state volleyball title Saturday at Tony's Pizza Events Center in Salina. [Photo by Jeff Jacobsen/Action Images Photography]
Washburn Rural's Brooklyn DeLeye, Zoe Canfield and Katie Borough celebrate after Saturday's 25-21, 26-24 win over Blue Valley in the Class 6A state volleyball championship game. [Photo by Brent Maycock/KSHSAA Covered]
After losing their final two matches of last year's state tournament to finish a disappointing fourth, Washburn Rural responded with a dominant performance on Friday and Saturday at the Tony's Pizza Events Center, posting five consecutive straight-set victories, capped by Saturday's 25-21, 26-24 win over Blue Valley in the championship match.
The Junior Blues capped a 45-1 season with their 44th straight victory while earning the school's eighth state volleyball championship.
Washburn Rural senior star Brooklyn DeLeye spikes the ball in Saturday's Class 6A state championship match. [Photo by Brent Maycock/KSHSAA Covered]
Four-year Rural star Brooklyn DeLeye, a Kentucky commit, had finished second, third and fourth in her previous three state appearances, including a loss to Blue Valley in the 2019 final and said Saturday's win was a perfect way to end her high school career.
"Especially playing Blue Valley, like we did freshman year and getting second, it was just unbelievable that we actually came out on top,'' DeLeye said. "It feels great, especially for the seniors, who had gone all four years without one, just ending it out with a state championship is really cool.''
Rural junior Jada Ingram said this year's state tournament was all about making up for last season when the Junior Blues posted 41 straight wins before the two state losses.
"I felt like we had a chip on our shoulder from last year,'' Ingram said. "I didn't think we had any pressure on us, we just wanted to go into the game and play our game so we could come out on top.
"We've been thinking about that for a year and obviously we thought about it long and hard because now we're state champs. We practiced hard every day to get to this spot.''
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Highland Park's historic 2022 football campaign ended with an 83-64 Class 5A playoff loss to its former Centennial League foe, Emporia, in a 147-point shootout at Hummer Sports Park.
This season was a special one for the Highland Park community, with the Scots starting the season snapping a 65-game losing streak and ended it with hosting a playoff game.
Highland Park senior star Tre Richardson ended his high school football career with a six-touchdown performance in Friday night's 83-64 playoff loss to Emporia. [Photo by Sarah Carson/TSN]
Highland Park senior quarterback Kei'Juan Johnson threw for four touchdowns in Friday's 83-64 playoff loss to Emporia. [Photo by Sarah Carson/Special to TSN]
One of the greatest seasons in Highland Park's history didn't go unnoticed by Highland Park coach Jermaine Monroe.
"I will never forget the team that started this all," Monroe said. "This (season) isn't just a trend. We have a lot of young guys that we will be able to build with. This is the season that our seniors made happen. I'm extremely proud of this group, and I know everyone around here is proud of them.
"I'm 100 percent confident in the younger guys coming up. For us to host a playoff game, that's huge. These young guys have been looking up to the older guys that have led them. They know exactly what our program and system is. Our young guys have found out what are weaknesses are and what we need to get better at. We can do nothing from here but keep growing."
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Friday night's Class 6A playoff opener certainly didn't start like Washburn Rural envisioned, with the Junior Blues losing standout senior tight end Lukas Hanks with a serious arm injury on their second play from scrimmage.
But although the Junior Blues were obviously shaken by Hanks' injury, which came on a 5-yard pass reception, Rural quickly regrouped on the way to a 36-0 shutout over Dodge City at Bowen-Glaze Stadium, improving to 7-2 with their fourth straight victory.
Washburn Rural junior quarterback Branton DeWeese (left) threw for four touchdowns and 214 yards and senior Ma'kenttis Adams ran for 193 yards in the Junior Blues' 36-0 Class 6A playoff win Friday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn Rural seniors Ty Weber (left) and Wyatt Conklin (29) celebrate a big defensive play in Friday's 36-0 Class 6A playoff win over Dodge City. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"It's a heartbreaker, seriously,'' Washburn Rural junior quarterback Branton DeWeese said of Hanks' injury. "He's a senior, a starter and for that to happen on the first drive of the game that brings the momentum down a little bit, but we did it for him.
"He was in our minds and all these seniors were in our minds today. We wanted to leave it all out on the field for them.''
With Friday's win the Junior Blues advanced to a second-round playoff game next Friday night at Garden City, which took a 35-14 first-round win over Campus.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn University football team can clinch its third straight winning regular season and the 15th in 20 seasons under coach Craig Schurig with an MIAA victory over Northeastern State Saturday in Tahlequah, Okla.
Senior James Letcher Jr. has set Washburn career receptions and all-purpose yardage records the past two weeks. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn senior Grant Bruner leads the nation in tackles, averaging 13.0 per game for the 5-3 Ichabods. [File photo/TSN]
The Ichabods are 5-3 overall and in the MIAA while the Riverhawks are 1-7, 1-7, but Schurig, 135-91 in his career, said his team can't afford to take anything for granted in what he feels is perhaps the most balanced the conference has been from top to bottom in recent seasons.
"There's no question, it's really even,'' Schurig said. "There's not like it's two dominant teams that are beating up on everybody. There's a lot of close scores and it depends on who you're playing, certain teams match up really well.''
Washburn, which will be looking for its 10th straight win over the RiverHawks, is coming off a 37-9 Homecoming win over Central Oklahoma last Saturday while Northeastern is coming off a 36-3 loss at No. 14-ranked Northwest Missouri, its fourth straight loss.
.NSU was held to 23 yards of offense and three first downs in its loss to Northwest Missouri, but Schurig said the Riverhawks are an improved team.
"Their O-line, D-line is a lot better than it was last year, their secondary's really good and they're much better,'' Schurig said.
Washburn beat Northeastern 35-0 last season in Topeka and rolled to a 70-13 win on Oct. 12, 2019 in the Ichabods' last trip to Tahlequah.
Washburn leads the MIAA in scoring offense at 35.4 points per game and is ranked seventh in scoring defense allowing 23.0 points a game. Washburn is second in the MIAA in total offense at 429.9 yards per game.
Ichabod sophomore quarterback Kellen Simoncic is third in the nation in passing touchdowns with 24 and 14th in the nation in total offense at 286.1 yards per game.
Senior linebacker Grant Bruner leads the nation in tackles at 13.0 per game and is first in solo tackles with 8.1 per game.
Senior James Letcher Jr. is 13th in the nation in receiving touchdowns (8), 13th in receiving yards (801), 15th in receiving yards per game (101.1) and eighth in receptions per game (7.2).
His 206 career receptions 5,216 all-purpose yards are No. 1 on WU's all-time chart.
Washburn will be back at home on Nov. 5 against Pittsburg State.
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