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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's football team graduated one of the most talented senior classes coach Steve Buhler has had in his 36-year coaching career from last fall's 11-1 Junior Blue team that came within a late Derby field goal of advancing to the Class 6A state championship game.
Veteran Washburn Rural football coach Steve Buhler is starting his 12th season at Rural, with the Junior Blues coming off an 11-1 record last fall. [File photo/TSN]
But the Rural cupboard is far from bare and the Junior Blues' goal remains the same this season, to play for a state title.
"The expectations shouldn't change and we talked about that in our team meeting before we started,'' said Buhler, who is starting his 12th season at the school. "We usually pick goals and this year I took a little liberty and I said, 'I'm picking the goal and the goal is we're going to go one more game than we did last year and you guys don't have a say. That's what we're doing,' and the seniors, they want to be there, too, and they want to take the next step.
"As bad as it was not getting to the state championship game and losing on the last-second field goal and all of that stuff, for this year's team it left the door open for saying, 'Hey, we can go one step further than the other groups we had before them and be the guys that get there,' so it's good incentive.''
Washburn Rural returns 25 lettermen from last year's Centennial League championship team, including six starters on both sides of the ball and 11 returners who earned TopSports.news All-Shawnee County recognition (Top 22, Second 22 or honorable mention) a year ago.
Washburn Rural senior defensive back King Leonard earned All-Shawnee County Top 22 laurels last season after picking off nine passes. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn Rural senior cornerback Wilson Miller (2) was named the Shawnee County defensive newcomer of the year last fall. [File photo/TSN]
That group includes returning senior Top 22 pick King Leonard, a 5-foot-9, 175-pound free safety, and Shawnee County defensive newcomer of the year Wilson Miller, a 5-11,180 senior cornerback.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Editor's note: TopSports.news has finished its tour of preseason football practices at all 10 Shawnee County high schools and will post preview stories over the coming days leading into the opening games of the 2024 season on Sept. 6.
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Trey Parker served as Topeka West's interim football coach for the final three games of the 2022 season before guiding West for his first full campaign last fall.
Trey Parker is entering his second full season as Topeka West's football coach, with the Chargers' looking to improve on back-to-back 1-8 seasons. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
And with that 12 games of experience and two offseasons with the Chargers under his belt, Parker thinks his team is ready to take a step forward this fall after back-to-back 1-8 campaigns.
"This summer we started to see them turn the corner,'' said Parker, a former Washburn University standout. "We just kept preaching CCA. I said it from Day 1 and we've been consistent with that message: They've got to be committed, they've got to be consistent and now we're holding each other accountable and I think that's a good thing to see.
"This summer, the few camps we went to we started to see those leaders pop out of the group and now they're doing pretty good.''
Parker said he's also seen an increase in the Chargers' numbers and progress in the weight room.
"It started in our school,'' Parker said. "We had a bunch of athletes walking the halls that just don't play any sports at all, so first we had to persuade them to play. Then they all got in the weight room and now they're starting to feel themselves, they're starting to see their body changing and now they're walking around looking like athletes.''
Now Parker is banking on those two factors translating into progress on the field this fall.
"I can't put a number on the amount of wins we want to see this year, but we definitely want to see those steps to where we're now competitive, that we're in games where people don't think we should be in, where we're a possession away from a win and things like that,'' Parker said. "We feel like if we can get ourselves in a position we have the athletes to win some of those games, so we're looking for that big jump this year.
"It's just like with anything you do in life, the more you do it the more you feel comfortable. We've gotten more comfortable with each other. They know who I am now and they know I love to joke and have a good time, but when it's time to work it's time to work.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural got its 2024 boys soccer season off to a rousing start while also earning an early leg up in the Centennial League race with Friday's 7-0 win over Manhattan at McElroy Field.
Rural, which will be shooting for its 30th straight league crown (outright or shared) this fall, scored the only goal it would need 3 minutes 45 seconds into the match, took a commanding 3-0 lead at halftime and continued to pad its advantage with four second-half goals.
Junior Brandon Hamilton led the way with a three-goal hat trick as Washburn Rural opened its 2024 soccer season with a 7-0 Centennial League win over Manhattan. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"Two months of summer workouts, school starting, all the heat issues the last few weeks, everybody just wanted to play a game,'' Washburn Rural coach Brian Hensyel said. "As a coach you always feel like you have to be in a game to really know what you have to work on. You can do drills, you can do all this stuff, but eventually you've got to play a game so we were just anxious to play.''
And to draw Manhattan, one of Rural's top competitors for the Centennial League crown year-in and year-out, added lustre to the opener.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Editor's note: TopSports.news has finished its tour of preseason football practices at all 10 Shawnee County high schools and will post preview stories over the coming days leading into the opening games of the 2024 season on Sept. 6.
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New Topeka High football coach Jason Filbeck knows that building the Trojan program to where he wants it to be is a work in progress, but with the Sept. 6 season-opener on the near horizon, Filbeck continues to gain confidence that a turnaround is definitely possible.
Jason Filbeck enters his first season as Topeka High's football coach after 10 years at Augusta. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"If you had asked me (earlier) I would have probably been optimistic because I need to be, but once we had shoulder pads on and got to butt heads a little bit, now I'm excited,'' Filbeck said. "Football season is like the best time of the year and we're finally getting closer and closer to it.''
Filbeck, who played at Baker University, began his coaching career as an assistant at the middle school level in the Blue Valley district and spent a decade as an assistant coach at Shawnee Mission East before taking his first head coaching job at Class 4A Augusta, where he posted a 45-51 record in 10 seasons.
The Orioles posted six .500 or better seasons under Filbeck, including a 7-3 season and a pair of 6-4 campaigns. Augusta went 2-7 last fall.
Filbeck takes over a Topeka High program that has posted back-to-back 1-8 seasons and hit the ground running this summer.
"We moved up from the Wichita area on June 1st and started weights on June 3rd,'' Filbeck said. "The summer was good for us. The core group of kids gets it now and now it's just getting them to spread the word to all the other kids who maybe didn't come much this summer because we've got a culture we're trying to get established. The kids have done a good job of recruiting others.''
Filbeck is also very happy with the way he's been accepted by the Trojan players.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EMPORIA -- Opening week for Washburn University football got off to a rough start when Ichabod starting sophomore quarterback Sam Van Dyne, who passed for 2,002 yards and 15 touchdowns last fall, was ruled out for Thursday night's season-opener and the foreseeable future with a knee injury.
Washburn junior Jordan Finnesy (1) moves in for the tackle on Emporia State quarterback Gunnar Gundy Thursday night. Gundy passed for 292 yards and three touchdowns while Finnesy was in on seven tackles and had an interception in ESU's 30-14 win. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But the Ichabod defense gave Washburn a chance at an upset when WU held Emporia State without a touchdown until the final play of the third quarter, but the Hornets scored three touchdowns in a span of 8 minutes, 37 seconds to take control in a 30-14 MIAA win at Welch Stadium.
"Defensively, the first half and really the first three quarters, we stiffened when we had to and showed some real toughness and some clutch plays and hit hard,'' Washburn coach Craig Schurig said. "It was good football and then we kind of had some brain lapses in the fourth quarter.
"But we just could never get on track offensively, so we were sputtering around.''
Washburn limited Emporia State, 9-3 a year ago, to just two Caden Dodson field goals -- 29 and 38 yards -- in the opening half and Dodson made it a 9-0 game on Dodson's third field goal of the game at the 12:19 mark of the third quarter after a Washburn turnover.
The Ichabods, looking to bounce back from last fall's 2-9 record, scored the first touchdown of the night with 7:14 left in the third quarter on a 4-yard run from freshman Cam Robinson (Trenton Brehm kick) to cut the Hornets' lead to 9-7, but Emporia State scored the next 21 points of the game to put the game out of reach.
"We had that nice drive and got a touchdown and got it to 9-7 and we felt pretty good but they drove down and scored and we just could never get anything going on offense,'' Schurig said. "We'd have a good play and a bad play and nothing consistent.''
Oklahoma State junior transfer quarterback Gunnar Gundy hit All-American receiver Tyler Kahmann for a 3-yard TD on the final play of the third quarter and hit Ethan Schultze for a 27-yard score with 12:45 remaining and hit Trenden Collins for a 57-yard strike with 6:23 left to put the Hornets in front 30-7. Dodson added the extra point on all three ESU scores.
"We got it done,'' Emporia State coach Garin Higgins said. "We've got a lot of room for improvement, but our kids kept battling and we felt good. Hats off to Washburn. They played their tails off and I knew they would. It was the first game for them, too, as well and it's a good win for our players. I'm proud of them.''
