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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University football returns to Yager Stadium for Hall of Fame Day Saturday, hosting Fort Hays State in a 1 p.m. MIAA contest.
The 3-2 Ichabods are coming off a 35-30 loss at Emporia State, with Washburn's late-game rally coming up short. Fort Hays State, meanwhile, rallied from a 21-point halftime deficit to beat previously-unbeaten and No. 12-ranked Nebraska-Kearney, 42-35, improving to 3-2 with its third straight win.
Washburn holds a 44-27-3 lead over Fort Hays State in the all-time series, but the Tigers have won three straight over the Ichabods.
After a year off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Washburn's 2021 Hall of Fame class which will be enshrined Saturday in a morning breakfast ceremony.
The induction class includes Kate Hampson (volleyball), Matt Cahill (football), Joe Hastings (football), Zach Watkins (football), Sam Sissom (football) and Logan Stutz (basketball), who will join the 149 former student-athletes, coaches and administrators who have been honored for their contributions to Washburn Athletics.
The six former Washburn greats will also be recognized at halftime of the football game against the Tigers.
"It's a big deal to be playing at home and playing another in-state rival,'' Washburn coach Craig Schurig said. "It's the Hall of Fame game and with coach Watkins (current Washburn assistant) getting inducted that should be a big boost for us.''
Mitch Schurig and the Washburn Ichabods will be looking to bounce back from last week's 35-30 loss to Emporia State in Saturday's Hall of Fame game against Fort Hays State. [File photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn senior quarterback Mitch Schurig threw for a career-high 410 yards and four touchdowns last week against Emporia State, completing 34 of 53 passing attempts. His 34 passing completions tied the school record set in 1980 by Mike Atkins against Wayne State and his 400 passing yards was the first by an Ichabod quarterback since Dane Simoneau threw for 424 against Abilene Christian on Nov. 19, 2011 in the first round of the NCAA Playoffs.
Schurig has passed for 5,769 yards in his Washburn career, ranking fourth on the Ichabod career chart, and his 53 touchdown passes are third all-time at WU.
Junior James Letcher Jr.'s 26.36-yard average on kickoff returns is third all-time at Washburn.
Letcher finished with 233 all-purpose yards against Emporia State and topped the 100-reception mark in his Washburn career.
"I still feel really confident in our team,'' Craig Schurig said. "And you know, in this conference you have to play your A-game to win and hopefully we're on our A-game this week.''
Fort Hays State coach Chris Brown was the defensive coordinator for Washburn for nine years.
Fort Hays State quarterback Chance Fuller has passed for 1,525 yards and 12 touchdowns while Adrian Solo is averaging 87.4 rushing yards per game with six touchdowns.
Former Highland Park standout Will White, a sophomore defensive back, is Fort Hays State's fifth-leading tackler with 19 tackles (12 solo) while Washburn Rural product Tyler Cummings, a sophomore defensive back, has registered five tackles (three solo).
Fort Hays State topped Washburn 41-38 in overtime in the 2019 meeting between the two schools.
Washburn will also be at home on Oct. 16, hosting No. 2-ranked Northwest Missouri (1 p.m. kickoff).
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THE PENNANT PLAYER PROFILE
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Bayonne, N.J. will always be home for Washburn University defensive back Marquise Manning.
But after six years with the Ichabods, Topeka is definitely a strong 1-A.
"I came with Malick Fall and we went to the same high school and that made it a bit easier because we had each other,'' Manning said. "We would go out and experience things and talk to people. Guys like (teammate) Jacob Anderson and Phil Anderson (Jacob's father) and Mitch and the Schurigs showed us a lot of hospitality and we were just shocked at how nice and genuine people are here.
"They genuinely care about you.''
Washburn senior defensive back Marquise Manning returns a pass interception 41 yards earlier this season in the Ichabods' win over Central Missouri. [File photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
And as he spent more and more time in Topeka and with the Washburn football family he learned to love it even more.
"My home became the team and my mentors became the older players,'' Manning said. "There was Zach Franklin and Corey (Ballentine) and you'd pick a couple of guys you wanted to imitate and be like.
"I gravitated towards Josh Wright and me and Josh got close and I figured out how he was doing things and I started copying and did the same things he did because I wanted to be the player he was. I'm just trying my best now.''
Manning gets back to New Jersey, about a 20-hour drive, once or twice a year, but spends the bulk of his time in Topeka, at least through this year.
"I'll go home for about a week, but I don't want to be home for too long because this is where I should be, with the team,'' he said.
Slowly but surely the 6-foot, 195-pound Manning has become an Ichabod leader himself.
After redshirting in 2016 and seeing action in three games in '17 and five games in '18 Manning earned All-MIAA honorable mention in '19, registering 28 tackles (24 solo) and intercepting three passes.
Manning has continued to be an Ichabod standout this fall, registering 15 tackles (12 solo) with two tackles for loss and two interceptions for Washburn, which will take a 3-2 record into Saturday's home MIAA game against Fort Hays State.
"I've had six years to get comfortable, so that's a lot of practice and a lot of preparation towards just being your best player,'' Manning said.
"I can't even think about how many times I've been yelled at, how many times you messed up, but the more you mess up eventually you'll cut that out. You learn from your mistakes and that's really what I did.''
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THE PENNANT PLAYER PROFILE
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Jalyn Stevenson's senior high school volleyball season was a nightmare.
Comparatively, her first college campaign has been a dream, with the 5-foot-10 freshman outside hitter helping Washburn University's volleyball team achieve a No. 1 national ranking and a 14-1 record entering Friday's MIAA 6 p.m. home match against Missouri Southern.
Stevenson's 2020 season at Spring Hill was one she had waited her entire career for, but a freak on-court collision with a teammate early in the season resulted in a fractured ankle and put her on the sidelines for the remainder of the season.
"It was heartbreaking because I had played on that team for three years up until then and it was my senior year and I was like, 'Here we go,' '' Stevenson said. "The year before we were really, really good. We were very successful and we made it to state for the first time and we had another chance and then I got hurt.''
Stevenson still attended all of the Broncos' practices and games after her injury, but it wasn't easy.
"That was even worse, to sit and watch,'' she said. "I tried to help as much as I could. I shagged balls on my crutches and things like that, but it was tough.''
Fortunately Stevenson, who played for former Shawnee Heights and Washburn standout Erica Cowhick at Spring Hill, had already orally committed to Washburn so her college plans were set, but she had to presevere through a long rehabilitation period.
Jalyn Stevenson has bounced back from an injury as a senior in high school with a strong freshman season for the top-ranked Washburn volleyball team. [File photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Fast forward to this fall and Stevenson is well on her way to replacing all bad memories with good ones.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Coaches in all sports talk about what a thrill it is to be able to build a program from the ground up.
Ottawa University bowling coach Geoff Poston has had that rare opportunity not once but twice and wouldn't trade the experience.
Poston launched Topeka West's program in 2006 in the infancy of high school bowling in Kansas and then got the same chance in the 2017-18 season at Ottawa, when the school instituted college bowling.
With Ottawa set to open its fifth season next week in Wichita, Poston, who coached state championship boys and girls teams at Seaman after his stint at West, said that coaching the Braves has been everything he thought it could be.
"Being able to start it from scratch was huge and in college you get to pick the kids that you want, which is a lot of different from high school obviously, so we've been able to build the team with good quality kids and we've gotten better each year,'' Poston said before Wednesday's practice.
Coach Geoff Poston (left) and returning NAIA All-American Jared Freed have helped put Ottawa University bowling on the map. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Walt Alexander has never been afraid to take on a rebuilding project in more than three decades as a high school football coach.
In fact, the former Topeka High coach has made a career of it.
Now, after a year at William Chrisman in Independence, Mo. as an assistant, Alexander is back in Kansas and back in charge, intent on turning around an Ottawa program that produced just three total wins over the last four seasons before Alexander took over this fall.
"I was enjoying Chrisman totally,'' Alexander said Wednesday after Ottawa's practice. "I loved Matt (Perry, the Bears' head coach) and loved a lot of things about it, but I'm closer to home now and when you've done it your way for so long, you just want to keep doing it your way and I really enjoy running my own program.''
Former Topeka High coach Walt Alexander talks to his Ottawa Cyclones after Wednesday's practice. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
