- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Rossville's football team officially began defense of its Class 2A state championship Friday night, rolling to a 56-0 home first-round playoff win over Rebpublic County.
The Bulldawgs put the game away with a 24-point first quarter and were in command 35-0 at the half before adding 14 points in the third quarter and 7 in the fourth.
Kaden Brown had three touchdowns for the 9-0 Bulldawgs, scoring on runs of 9, 1 and 6 yards, while senior quarterback Corey Catron threw a pair of touchdown passes, 16 yards to Trenton Barker and 9 yards to Tagen Kippes.
Rossville, which has now won 22 straight games, also got a TD on a fumble recovery in the end zone by Raphael Cooney and a 1-yard touchdown run from Camden Horak.
Bulldawg standout place-kicker Pedro Arantes scored 12 points on the night, kicking 25 and 24-yard field goals and six extra points.
Rossville will be back at home Friday (7 p.m. kickoff) for a second-round playoff matchup with 7-2 Nemaha Central.
Central is coming off a 48-14 win over Pleasant Ridge last Friday.
HAYDEN 49, HIAWATHA 0 -- Hayden improved to 8-1 with its seventh straight victory, opening the 3A playoffs with a 49-0 home romp past Hiawatha.
The Wildcats scored the only points they would need at the 9:35 mark of the first quarter, with JC Cummings scoring on a 3-yard run and TL Thompson running for a 2-point conversion to put Hayden up, 8-0.
The score remained 8-0 at the end of the first quarter, with Hiawatha missing a field goal attempt, before the Wildcats scored a pair of second-quarter TDs to open up a 23-0 halftime advantage.
Ethan Florence scored on a 6-yard run with 6:12 left in the first half and Kaelin Rice passed to Jensen Schrickel for the 2-point conversion.
With just 46.9 seconds left in the half Cummings scored his second touchdown of the night on a 7-yard run and Schrickel kicked the extra point.
Hayden put the game out of reach with a 13-play scoring drive that took 7:16 off the clock, capped by an 8-yard touchdown pass from Gavin Arnold to Thompson (Schrickel kick).
Thompson scored his third touchdown of the night later in the quarter on an 11-yard run (Schrickel kick) as Hayden took a 37-0 lead into the fourth.
Jameson Kennedy and Dominik Ridley added touchdowns in the fourth, with Kennedy scoring on a 3-yard run and Ridley on a 17-yard run.
Hayden's defense held Hiawatha to 137 yards of offense while the Wildcats finished the night with 387 yards (334 rushing, 53 passing).
Hayden will be back at home Friday (7 p.m. kickoff) for a second-round 3A playoff game against 6-3 Rock Creek, 34-17 winner over Bishop Ward on Friday.
CAIR PARAVEL LATIN 52, MANHATTAN EAGLES 0 -- Cair Paravel Latin senior quarterback Carter Brian passed for 235 yards and six touchdowns as the Lions improved to 9-0 with a 52-0 rout over the Manhattan Eagles Friday night.
Brian completed 16 of 24 passes and hit five different receivers for touchdowns while Cair Paravel scored all 52 points in the first half (30 in the first quarter).
Sophomore Simon Everhart caught four passes for 54 yards and two touchdowns while senior Noah Hastert had three catches for 62 yards and a TD, junior Jachin Bonura two receptions for 57 yards and a score, sophomore Evan Will four catches for 34 yards and a TD and senior Max Colombo two catches for 23 yards and a TD.
Brian has now completed 98 of 139 pass attempts on the season for 1,758 yards and 42 touchdowns, while Hastert has 35 catches for 667 yards and 18 touchdowns.
Cair Paravel has outscored its opponents by a 494-58 margin this fall.
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 34, SUMNER ACADEMY 0 -- Senior Jarin Sanders carried the ball 21 times for 134 yards and scored three touchdowns as Shawnee Heights climbed above the .500 mark for the first time this season, improving to 5-4 with a 34-0 romp past Sumner Academy in the first round of the 5A playoffs.
Jacob Malcom had 36 yards and a touchdown on three rushing attempts and Ayden McDaniel carried the ball four times for 16 yards and a TD.
Quarterback Callan Carver completed 12 of 15 passes for 102 yards.
Sanders went over the 1,000-yard rushing mark against Sumner and now has 1,079 yards and 12 touchdowns on 190 attempts while Carver has completed 100 of 167 pass attempts for 1,031 yards and 11 TDs.
Malcom has a team-high 29 catches for 289 yards and four touchdowns while Sanders has 27 catches for 225 yards and four TDs.
Shawnee Heights will travel to Mill Valley (8-1) for a second-round playoff game next Friday night.
SILVER LAKE 62, ATCHISON COUNTY 20 -- Silver Lake advanced in the 2A playoffs with a decisive 62-20 win over Atchison County, improving to 7-2 on the season.
The Eagles took a 14-0 first-quarter lead and then put the game away with a 28-point second quarter, opening up a huge 42-6 halftime cushion.
Silver Lake outscored the Tigers 20-14 in the second half to close out the win.
Silver Lake advanced to a Friday night game at St. Marys against the 5-3 Bears, who are coming off a 52-0 win over Mission Valley.
DE SOTO 50, TOPEKA WEST 26 -- Topeka West ended its season with a 3-6 record, dropping a 50-26 road decision to De Soto.
De Soto advanced (5-3) advanced to a second-round playoff contest at 6-3 PIttsburg next Friday.
LAWRENCE 37, TOPEKA HIGH 7 -- Topeka High completed a 2-7 season with a 37-7 road loss to Lawrence in the first round of the 6A playoffs.
Lawrence, now 2-7, will travel to 8-1 Junction City next Friday.
MILL VALLEY 38, HIGHLAND PARK 0 -- Highland Park finished its season with a 38-0 loss at 5A power Mill Valley, completing an 0-9 season.
The Scots will open the 2022 season with a 65-game losing streak dating back to 2014.
- Details
By KYLE MANTHE
The Washburn Review
After grinding out three straight wins Washburn football returned to Yager Stadium for a Homecoming bout against Northeastern State University.
Both sides of the ball were dominant for the Ichabods early on, which propelled them to a 35-0 victory and a 7-2 record on the season.
“It was a total team effort, but anytime you get a shutout that’s a big deal,” Washburn coach Craig Schurig said.
Washburn would not match the 70 points it scored on the RiverHawks in 2019, but the offense got off to a quick start thanks to the return of senior quarterback Mitch Schurig.
After only seven plays the Ichabods were in the end zone in only seven plays, scoring on a 39-yard pass from Schurig to wide receiver Peter Afful down the right sideline.
Washburn’s defense shut down Northeastern for the entirety of the first quarter, holding them to only five yards of offense in the quarter, and 40 for the half.
“We just play sound and disciplined, you know we don’t have to take any risks,” said defensive back Marquise Manning. “We can just sit back and play our game.”
The Ichabods got into the end zone once more before halftime on a third and 18 pass to tight end Matthew Simmons who made a contested catch to make it 14-0. The play would end the day for Schurig who just returned from injury.
“I came back and I ran a corner route so it was just wide open, I was just sticking to what I know,” said Simmons.
Simmons got into the end zone again early in the third quarter, on a 14-yard pass from quarterback Kellen Simoncic to cap off a 46-yard drive that lasted under two minutes.
The game turned into a rout for Washburn later in the quarter after running back Zach Willis got into the end zone from five yards out with just over four minutes left in the third quarter.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University's soccer team celebrated Senior Night with a big win Friday night at Yager Stadium, knocking off No. 11-ranked Emporia State, 1-0.
The Ichabods posted their fifth shutout of the season while improving to 9-5-2 and taking the lead in the all-time series against the Hornets.
Coming off earning the MIAA Goalkeeper of the Week award, Washburn's Raegan Wells was outstanding, saving all ESU nine shots on goal in the first half while facing 17 shots total. Washburn took two shots on goal, but it was the second one that made the difference.
In the 28th minute, a Hornet defender fouled Washburn outside the Emporia State eighteen and. senior midfielder Makenzie Menke curved the ball into the top-left corner for the game's only goal.
Menke recorded her second goal on the season with both coming in the last three games. The Ichabods did not take another shot in the half and went to the break with the 1-0 lead.
The second half was a bit more even in production, with Emporia State shooting seven times and Washburn taking six shots. Jaedyn Johnson took four of those shots including three shots on goal. Johnson also had a near-miss on a free kick.
Wells racked up four more saves for a career-game high 13 saves on the night. She registered her fifth shutout of the season and her ninth win.
With the win Washburn clinched a spot in the MIAA tournament with one game left.
The Ichabods will travel to Fort Hays Sunday for their second matchup against the Tigers (1 p.m.)..
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Shawnee County teams didn't necessarily get the day they were looking for in Saturday's state cross country meets, but 10 county runners earned state medals and a pair of teams narrowly missed top-three finishes.
Here's a look at Shawnee County's state highlights.
-- Hayden senior Tanner Newkirk came up short in his bid for a second straight Class 4A boys state title, but Newkirk posted a county best third-place finish in a five-kilometer time of 16 minutes, 24.3 seconds at Wamego Country Club.
Newkirk earned his fourth straight 4A state medal and posted his third top-three finish, previously finishing second as a sophomore and first as a junior
Newkirk led Hayden to a sixth-place team finish.
-- Washburn Rural placed fourth as a team in Saturday's 6A girls race at the 4-Mile Creek Resort, with three Junior Blues earning state medals.
Junior Madeline Carter placed seventh individually in 18:35.2, while senior Khloi Bird was 14th (10:15.5) and freshman Payton Fink 19th (19:35.4).
Carter earned an eighth-place state medal as a sophomore.
Rural senior boys standout Alex Holmes placed 13th in the 6A boys race (16:13.3), leading the Junior Blues to an eighth-place team finish.
-- Seaman junior Bethany Druse posted a sixth-place individual finish in 19:10.4 as the Vikings finished fourth as a team in the 5A girls meet at 4-Mile Creek Resort.
Druse posted a second straight top-10 state finish, taking ninth as a sophomore.
-- Cair Paravel's girls earned a pair of state medals en route to a fifth-place team finish in the 1A state meet at Victoria.
Freshman Zahra Lewis earned a ninth-place finish in 21:29.0 while sophomore Katherine Keys placed 19th in 21:48.0.
The Cair Paravel boys also advanced to state as a team, finishing seventh.
-- Shawnee Heights sophomore Jackson Esquibel and junior Kory Sutton both posted top-20 state finishes in Saturday's 5A boys meet.
Esquibel finished 13th in 16:27.4 while Sutton was 20th in 16:38.9 as Heights finished seventh as a team.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
SALINA -- Kevin Bordewick hopes that sometime soon his Washburn Rural volleyball team will be able to appreciate what a special season they had in 2021.
But Bordewick also knows it's going to take awhile.
"If you look at the process we went through, 41-2 is pretty dad gum good,'' Bordewick said. "It's just unfortunate we had our two losses here on the last day of the state tournament.''
After running off 41 straight wins this fall, the Junior Blues' season ended with a pair of three-set losses as Rural finished fourth in Class 6A Saturday at the Tony's Pizza Events Center in Salina.
After posting a perfect 3-0 record in pool play on Friday, Rural suffered a semifinal loss to Blue Valley West before dropping another three-set loss to Olathe Northwest in the third-place match. Blue Valley West rallied for a 21-25, 25-16, 28-26 semifinal victory before Olathe Northwest also dropped the first set to the Junior Blues before rallying to take a 22-25, 26-24, 25-18 win.
"I thought we competed in the semis, but we just did some uncharacteristic things that weren't like us,'' Bordewick said. "We had some balls drop, we had some mis-fires on hits and there were just things that for whatever reason were going on, but having said that, we still battled a really good team all the way to 26-28 and it just didn't go our way.''
Washburn Rural trailed in all three semifinal sets against the Jaguars, but rebounded in the first set to put itself in position to advance to the finals with a four-point win, ending the set with a kill from junior Brooklyn DeLeye.
Rural jumped in front 2-0 in the second set and there was a tie at 3-3 but Blue Valley West took control in the middle stages of the set, opening up leads of 15-7 and 18-11.
The Junior Blues cut West's lead to 18-13 on a DeLeye service ace and got within 21-15 on a kill from junior Taylor Russell, but the Jaguars outscored the Junior Blues 4-1 to end the set and force a third set.
After falling behind 2-0 on back-to-back Blue Valley West aces Rural led most of the third set, including 20-16, 21-17 and 23-21 leads, but West scored three straight points to take a 24-23 lead.
The 24-23 advantage was the first of three match points for Blue Valley West and Rural also had a match point before the Jaguars took the 28-26 win.
Washburn Rural tried to bounce back from the heartbreak of the semifinal loss, but after winning the opening set against Northwest the Junior Blues let opportunities to end the match in the second set slip away. Rural led 20-19 and there were ties at 20, 22 and 24 before Northwest scored two straight points to take the win.
"The third-place match, I don't even know if I can talk about that,'' Bordewick said. "That's just a whole wave of emotions that went south.''
The Junior Blues led early in the decisive third set against Northwest, but the Ravens dominated the middle of the set to build a 17-10 lead and rural could not recover.
Blue Valley North went on to win the state championship with a 25-10, 25-23 win over Blue Valley West.