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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Emporia State linebacker, a former Rossville standout, has earned MIAA Football Defensive Player of the Week honors for his play in the Hornets' 15-12 come-from-behind win at Fort Hays State last Saturday.
Emporia State's Dawson Hammes, a Rossville product, has been named the MIAA Defensive Player of the Week after registering 12 tackles in the Hornets' 15-12 win over Fort Hays State. [Photo courtesy of ESU Photography]
Hammes led Emporia State's defense with 12 tackles against Fort Hays State, with two of his tackles coming on the Tigers' final drive while they were driving for a potential game- tying or winning score.
Hammes had a touchdown-saving tackle after a 29-yard gain on second down with under a minute left and then was in on the third down stop with 25 seconds left.
As a team the Hornets held the Tigers, the second-ranked passing team in the MIAA, to under 150 passing yards.
Northwest Missouri’s Mike Hohensee was named the offensive athlete of the week and Pittsburg State’s Cross Holmes was named the special teams athlete of the week.
Hohensee passed for 270 yards (14 of-18, three touchdowns) and rushed for 68 yards and a touchdown as he led Northwest to a 66-13 Homecoming win over No. 17 Nebraska-Kearney.
Holmes tied the Pittsburg State single-game record for the second time this season by booting four field goals in Pitt State’s 26-20 victory over Central Oklahoma. The freshman kicker matched his season long kick by connecting on a 54-yard field goal with 2:24 to play in the first quarter. He converted four of five field goals on the day, also making kicks from 25, 35 and 49 yards in the game.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural and Hayden will be out to turn good 2021 boys soccer seasons into great ones Tuesday night.
Unbeaten Rural (17-0-0) will host Derby (15-1-2) in a 6 p.m. Class 6A state quarterfinal at McElroy Field, while Hayden (13-6-0) will go on the road for a 6 p.m. 4A-1A quarterfinal at Augusta (16-2-0).
With wins the Junior Blues and Wildcats will advance to the final four in their respective state tournaments Friday and Saturday at Olathe's College Boulevard Activity Center (6A) and Hummer Sports Park (4A-1A) and assure themselves of top-four state finishes.
Coming off an uncharacteristic 5-11-0 season a year ago, Klaus Kreutzer's Wildcats have bounced back this season to earn a berth in the state quarters with a 4-0 win over Independence last Thursday at the Sunflower Soccer Complex.
"It's a tribute to (the team),'' Kreutzer said. "We had a really tough year last year and I think they've worked hard and have been aggressive about it. Hopefully we can go make it count.''
Junior Chris Hayes scored a pair of goals in Hayden's win over Independence, while the Wildcats also got goals from juniors Jake Muller and Nick Padilla and senior Gabe Rankey recorded the shutout in goal.
Other 4A-1A state quarterfinals include Wichita Trinity (13-5-0) at Coffeyville (14-4-0), Bishop Miege (10-8-0) at Kansas City Christian (13-4-1) and Tonganoxie (11-6-1) at Eudora (13-4-1).
Washburn Rural is in familiar territory after finishing fourth at state last season.
The Junior Blues got a tough battle from Wichita East in their regional final, but advanced on an own goal and a dominating defensive effort. Senior Wyatt Arnold recorded the shutout in goal.
Washburn Rural coach Brian Hensyel was not surprised that Thursday's game was a nail-biter.
"Once you get past the first round the games are going to be tight and everybody who's left has found ways to win games,'' Hensyel said after Thursday's win. "We expected a tough game (Thursday) and we're just glad to advance. We didn't play our best but we played good enough to win.''
Senior Porter Schafersman leads undefeated Washburn Rural in goals and assists heading into Tuesday's state quarterfinal against Derby. [File photo by Doug Walker/TSN]
Senior Porter Schafersman leads the Junior Blues with 23 goals and 13 assists while Arnold has posted nine shutouts.
Other 6A quarterfinal matchups include Blue Valley Northwest (7-10-1) at Olathe Northwest (14-3-1), Olathe West (10-7-1) at Shawnee Mission West (11-4-3) and Wichita North (16-1-1) at Dodge City (17-0-1).
State tournament semifinals will be played at 5 and 7 p.m. Friday followed by the third-place and championship games at 12 and 2 p.m. on Saturday.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Five Shawnee Heights volleyball players have earned All-United Kansas Conference recognition for the 2021 season, led by junior first-team selection Emily Loy.
Shawnee Heights seniors Kali Henry and Taryn Dial were named to the All-UKC second team and juniors Ellie Curry and Taylor Rottinghaus earned honorable mention.
Class 5A state champion Lansing put three players on the first team, including UKC player of the year Caitlin Bishop, a senior.
Lansing's Lindsay Zych was named the coach of the year.
ALL-UNITED KANSAS CONFERENCE VOLLEYBALL
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Camden Barta
CAMDEN BARTA, Seaman
Barta, a senior quarterback, scored the game's first touchdown on a 77-yard run and went on to a huge night in Seaman's 57-6 Class 5A home playoff win over Emporia Friday night. Barta finished the game with 318 passing yards and four touchdown passes on an 18 of 22 performance and added 87 rushing yards on just four carries as Seaman improved to 6-3 on the season.
Carter Brian
CARTER BRIAN, Cair Paravel Latin
A senior quarterback, Brian completed 16 of 24 passes for 235 yards and six touchdowns as Cair Paravel moved to 9-0 on the season with Friday's 50-0 win over the Manhattan Eagles. Brian has now passed for 1,758 yards and 42 touchdowns on the season while completing 98 of 139 attempts without an interception.
Madeline Carter
MADELINE CARTER, Washburn Rural
Carter completed an outstanding junior season with a seventh-place individual finish in Saturday's Class 6A state cross country meet in a five-kilometer time of 18 minutes, 35.2 seconds. A two-time state medalist, Carter led the Junior Blues to a fourth-place team finish.
Bethany Druse
BETHANY DRUSE, Seaman
A two-time Class 5A state medalist, Druse completed her junior season with a sixth-place finish in the Class 5A state cross country meet in a time of 19:10.4. Druse, who led Seaman to a fourth-place team finish on Saturday, finished ninth at state as a sophomore.
Giles Frederickson
GILES FREDERICKSON, Washburn Rural
A senior place-kicker, Frederickson went 7 of 7 on extra-point kicks in Rural's 52-7 Class 6A playoff victory over Wichita West Friday night. After suffering a bite from a copperhead snake four weeks ago, Frederickson has returned to kick 13 of 13 PATs the past two weeks and is 89 of 91 in his career.
Tanner Newkirk
TANNER NEWKIRK, Hayden
Newkirk, a senior, earned his fourth Class 4A state medal with his third top-three finish in Saturday's state cross country meet, taking third place individually in 16:24.3. Newkirk, who captured city, Centennial League and regional titles this fall, previously posted state finishes of 12th as a freshman, second as a sophomore and first as a junior.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
High school coaches worry about just about everything -- illness, injury, academic issues -- anything that could adversely affect their team.
But veteran Washburn Rural football coach Steve Buhler still never expected the Sunday call he got from Junior Blues standout senior place-kicker Giles Frederickson a few weeks back.
"That was a new one for Chapter 10 of the book we're all going to write someday,'' Buhler said after Friday's 52-7 Class 6A playoff win over Wichita West.
Washburn Rural senior kicker Giles Frederickson (6) is congratulated by teammates after kicking an extra point in last Friday's 52-7 Class 6A playoff win over Wichita West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Buhler, Frederickson and the Junior Blues can smile about the situation now, but there were more than a few tense moments after Frederickson's one-for-the-books experience.
"I was playing catch with the football in my own driveway,'' said Frederickson, who lives in the Lake Pomona area. "The ball went over my head and I was running back to get it and I kind of felt like an electric shock on my left ankle. I was like, 'That was kind of weird.'
"I have been seeing copperhead snakes since I was young and then I looked down and there was a copperhead right there. I ran inside and the initial bite wasn't too bad, but then when the venoms kicked in I could just kind of feel them in my leg and it just felt like it was going to explode.''
Frederickson ended up spending three nights in the hospital, and things got scarier during his hospitalization.
"I think it was like Monday night when I was in the hospital and they were talking about maybe amputating my toes,'' Frederickson said. "It's like when you press on your skin the color comes back, but it wasn't coming back on my toes, so that was my scariest night.''
Fortunately, Frederickson's situation started to improve over the next several days and has continued to improve.
