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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Senior Rylee Ismert followed up her Centennial League individual cross country title with a Class 6A regional win on Saturday at Kanza Park, leading Washburn Rural to the team championship.
Washburn Rural senior Rylee Ismert claimed the individual title in Saturday's Class 6A cross country regional. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Ismert took individual honors with a five-kilometer time of 18 minutes, 06.7 seconds, one of four Junior Blues in the top eight spots as Rural took the team title by a 45-55 margin over Lawrence Free State.
Washburn Rural senior Payton Fink finished third in Saturday's Class 6A cross country regional, helping the Junior Blues win the team crown. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Rural senior Payton Fink finished third in 18:17.3 while junior Emily Graf was fifth (18:58.9) and senior Brooklyn Nolte eighth (19:32.6). Junior Kenzie Maddox finished 29th (21:55.2) to round out the Junior Blues' scoring runners.
Ismert used the same strategy Saturday that had produced a league title a week earlier, staying with Fink early before taking control of the race over the final mile.
"My goal was pretty much the same as last week, to run together and then just to see when it felt right to push,'' Ismert said.
Ismert said she feels like she's running the best she's ever run over the past few weeks.
"Honestly, I just really started having more faith in myself and I've been training really hard all week,'' Ismert said.
Rural's girls have now swept city, league and regional team titles and are on the short list of state title contenders next Saturday at Rim Rock Farm, north of Lawrence.
"That's where we want to be, that's the plan,'' Washburn Rural coach Matt Swedlund said. "We have a few things to figure out. We'll work on tweaking some stuff this week and want to be competing for that title next Saturday.''
The Junior Blue boys tied Manhattan for second place with 86 points and finished third on a tiebreaker to garner the final team berth for state. Centennial League champion Junction City earned the team championship with 60 points, led by senior individual champion Ethan Fontaine, who clocked a time of 15:51.1.
Washburn Rural freshman Henry Laubach (1935) posted a third-place individual finish in Saturday's Class 6A regional cross country meet, helping the Junior Blues earn a Class 6A state berth. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Freshman Henry Laubach finished third in 16:06.0 to pace Washburn Rural while junior Brooks Kehoe finished eighth (16:24.3), senior Bodie King 15th (16:33.7), freshman Clayton Fink 28th (17:09.1) and senior Chris Quarles 32nd (17:20.0).
"It's survive and advance,'' Swedlund said. "We got a good look at Junction City and Manhattan last week at league, so we knew if we could be competitive with those two teams and stay as close as possible that would give us a good shot. I felt we ran well, I was happy with that.''
The 6A girls race is scheduled for an 11:10 a.m. start next Saturday at Rim Rock while the boys race is the final race of the day at 12:55 p.m.
CLASS 6A REGIONAL CROSS COUNTRY
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
Silver Lake made big plays down the stretch to ward off a challenge from visiting Council Grove with playoff implications on the line, winning 29-12 at home Friday.
Eagle quarterback Dysen Schooler shook off a second-quarter injury to complete 22 of 27 passing attempts for 242 yards. He also ran for a 31-yard fourth-quarter touchdown to seal the victory.
Silver Lake senior quarterback Dysen Schooler passed for three touchdowns and also ran for a TD in the Eagles' 29-12 win over Council Grove. [File photo/TSN]
With the win, the Eagles claimed second in Class 2A District 3. They will await the matchups for the first round of the playoffs to be announced Saturday. Council Grove, however, saw their hopes of playing on dashed with the loss at Silver Lake.
Eagle coach Logan Pegram was quick to credit the seniors who made sure their last regular-season game would be a good one.
“I told the kids before we came out that it’s a special night,” Pegram said. “I love seeing seniors compete. At this time of the year when the sand runs low in the hourglass, it’s fun to see them show up and we had that all night.”
Silver Lake quickly drove to a touchdown to open the contest on a short pass from Schooler to fellow senior Logan Cathcart.
Council Grove then dominated time of possession for the rest of the first half, running 30 plays to just 17 for Silver Lake. But the Braves had just six points to show for it and trailed 7-6 at the break. When the visitors scored on their opening possession on a catch and run of 48 yards by Ace Monihen, the tide seemed to have turned against the Eagles.
On the ensuing possession, a pass by Schooler was batted into the air by a Silver Lake receiver and intercepted by Council Grove at the Eagle 36-yard line. Looking to pad their 12-7 lead, the Braves reached the 13-yard line before their drive stalled. They turned the ball over on downs.
“It’s been in that defense all year,” Pegram said. “I think we finally saw tonight where it all clicked and we got off the field, forced some turnovers and earned the privilege to get after the quarterback a little bit, which helped us in the second half.”
The Silver Lake offense responded to the stop by the defense, going 81 yards to finish with a second touchdown pass from Schooler to Cathcart, reclaiming the lead,15-12.
The Silver Lake defense then took over the game for good. The Eagles harried the Braves’ quarterback into interceptions on back-to-back plays, with a short Eagle touchdown drive sandwiched in between. They forced a third interception a few minutes later, slamming the door on the Braves’ chances.
“The kids really responded in the second half,” Pegram said. “I thought our seniors really stepped up and made some plays. It’s fun to see, when it got hard, I thought our kids got together for the first time and just leaned into it, which is what we talk about as a program.”
Schooler was nearly perfect, throwing to six different receivers for three touchdowns and a 2-point conversion.
“My receivers were getting open. Huge shout out to them,” Schooler said. “The play calls were good. I was just seeing it really well.”
The senior quarterback led the Eagles to improve to 6-2 on the season. He said he believes the team has even bigger things ahead.
“I think we’re capable of going all the way,” Schooler said. “I think we can play with any team in the state on any given night when we’re at our best. So, I’m really excited to see how this thing unwinds.”
Gritty senior running back Monihen provided most of the attack for Council Grove in his final game. He rushed for 79 yards and a touchdown and caught two passes for 60 yards and the Braves’ other score.
SILVER LAKE 29, COUNCIL GROVE 12
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
A year ago, Seaman pulled off a major upset over top seed De Soto in the second round of the Class 5A playoffs.
The Wildcats gained a measure of revenge in Friday's rematch, building a 28-7 halftime lead and thwarting a second-half Seaman rally to take a 42-28 United Kansas Conference win over the Vikings on Senior Night at Seaman.
Senior Max Huston threw for 208 yards and three touchdowns in Seaman's 42-28 UKC loss to De Soto Friday night [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Seaman junior Kaden McKinney scored one of his two second-half TDs in Friday's 42-28 UKC loss to De Soto. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"The first half falls squarely on me,'' Seaman coach Jared Swafford said. "I didn't do a good enough job and the kids played hard, the coaching staff did a nice job, it's on me. You play a team of that caliber you definitely can't put yourself in that kind of deficit early.
"Things like that happen. It's sports, that's life, so you've got to be able to move on from it and grow, but I thought our effort in the second half was phenomenal and the kids really bonded together. It would have been real easy to quit and we didn't, so I am proud of the guys from that standpoint and, again, the first half's on me.''
Friday's Viking loss left Seaman, De Soto and Basehor-Linwood all tied atop the UKC standings at 6-1 but the conference does not recognize co- or tri-champions and Seaman was declared the league champion as a result of the conference's tiebreaker formula.
But Swafford said the Vikings' focus now is on getting ready for next week's playoff opener, which Seaman will host. The Vikings are the No. 3 West seed and will host city rival Topeka West (1-7), the No. 14 West seed.
"Let this one soak in a little bit, it won't feel so good, but plenty of learning moments and plenty of opportunities to get better and to grow and I think that's exactly what we'll do and now you get into the playoffs and it's win or go home time,'' Swafford said.
"I think we can still be a very scary team and I think we've shown that throughout the year and now we're at that point.''
Seaman senior Bryer Finley had 145 receiving yards and two touchdowns in Friday's 42-28 UKC loss to De Soto. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Seaman, which fell to 6-2 overall, drew first blood on its opening drive of the night, with senior quarterback Max Huston hitting senior Bryer Finley for a 58-yard touchdown (Ethan Geiger kick).
But the rest of the opening half belonged to the Wildcats (7-1), who scored on all four of their first-half possessions.
De Soto senior Jayden Lang scored four touchdowns in Friday's 42-28 UKC win at Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Senior Jayden Lang capped De Soto's first drive with a 23-yard TD pass from senior quarterback Drew Parks. The Wildcats then took the lead to stay on a 2-point conversion run from Lang at the 6:29 mark of the first stanza. De Soto lined up to kick the extra point but Seaman jumped offsides to move the ball inside the 2 and the Wildcats opted to go for 2.
De Soto added to its lead with three second-quarter scores -- a 26-yard pass from Parks to Joe Meehan, a 16-yard Lang run and a 7-yard pass from Parks to Will Morton.
Seaman came out firing in the second half, getting within seven points on two occasions (28-21 and 35-28), but an 80-yard Lang kickoff return and a late interception clinched the Wildcats' victory.
Seaman got second-half TDs from junior Kaden McKinney on a 26-yard run, Finley on a 9-yard pass from Huston and a 27-yard pass from Huston.
Huston rushed for 136 yards on 15 carries and passed for 208 yards on a 16 of 24 performance while Finley had seven catches for 145 yards and McKinney rushed for 83 yards on 18 carries and caught three passes for 36 yards.
Lang rushed for 133 yards on 16 carries for De Soto and caught two passes for 56 yards and scored four touchdowns while Parks threw for 120 yards on a 6 of 6 performance.
DE SOTO 28, SEAMAN 7
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Fresh off its most dominant performance of the season, Washburn University football will be shooting for its second straight win on Saturday, going on the road for a 1:30 p.m. MIAA road contest at Central Missouri.
Washburn is coming off a dominating 42-21 home win over Missouri Southern last Saturday and heads to Central Missouri on Saturday. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Washburn (2-5 overall, 2-4 MIAA) is coming off a 42-21 home win over Missouri Southern last Saturday at Yager Stadium while Central Missouri (4-3, 2-3) topped Northwest Missouri, 35-30, in Maryville last time out.
Washburn never trailed against Missouri Southern, scoring on its first three possessions of the day, and also blocked two field goals and had defensive lineman Chase McCoy return an interception for a score en route to the 21-point win.
"It was nice to go out and play a complete game where we were kind of just dominating the whole entire game and really just showcase the resilience of this team and the continual fight,'' said WU standout junior safety Jordan Finnesy.
"That was really good to see and above all to be able to get a win at home in front of our fans, who have been showing out week after week for us.''
The Ichabods opened the game with a six-play, 58-yard drive, capped by a 29-yard touchdown pass from redshirt freshman Keller Hurla to former Highland Park star Tre Richardson.
Ichabod freshman JC Heim, a former Washburn Rural star, forced a Missouri Southern fumble on the Lions' opening drive that was recovered by Julius Jackson. Two plays later Lucas Oitker followed up a Richardson 41-yard reverse with a 4-yard run for the score and a 14-0 lead 5:51 into the game.
Washburn then forced the Lions to punt and Ichabod quarterback Sam Van Dyne moved the Ichabods 65 yards in eight plays, finishing it off with a 7-yard run up the middle for the score as Washburn led 21-0 with 4:13 to play in the first quarter.
Van Dyne tied a school record in the win over Southern for completion percentage with at least 10 attempts as he was 9 for 10 for a .900 percentage, tying a program record that has stood since 1980 when Jerry Raushelbach was 9 for 10 against Missouri Valley.
Washburn averaged 7.0 yards per carry against the Lions, rushing for 279 yards on 40 carries -- the ninth-best average in program history.
"We're going to keep working and just continue to fight the rest of the year and hopefully win these last four games,'' said Finnesy, the Ichabods' second-leading tackler with 48 stops on the season while also contributing an interception and a blocked kick.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman junior cross country standout Brody Anderson and Hayden junior golf standout Lauren Borjon have been selected by the Dan Key Farmers Insurance Agency as the Rising Stars of the Week.
The Dan Key Agency will recognize top Shawnee County underclassmen throughout the bulk of the 2024-2025 school year.
Here’s a brief look at the accomplishments of Anderson and Borjon over the past week:
Seaman junior Brody Anderson has been named the Dan Key Farmers Insurance Agency male Rising Star of the Week after winning the individual title in last week's UKC cross country championships. [File photo/TSN]
BRODY ANDERSON, Seaman
Anderson followed up his city championship with the individual title in last Thursday's United Kansas Conference meet at Pierson Park in Kansas City, Kan.
Anderson won the UKC title in a five-kilometer time of 16 minutes, 21.42 seconds, leading the Vikings to a second-place team finish behind conference champion De Soto.
In just his second year of high school cross country, Anderson captured his first UKC title after winning his first city crown a week earlier and has posted five individual wins on the season.
Hayden junior Lauren Borjon has been named the Dan Key Farmers Insurance Agency female Rising Star of the Week after leading the Wildcats to their second straight Class 4A girls golf title. [File photo/TSN]
LAUREN BORJON, Hayden
Borjon posted a career-best third-place individual finish in Tuesday's Class 4A girls golf tournament at Hesston, leading Hayden to its second straight double-digit team championship.
Borjon finished third with a 36-hole total of 157, carding rounds of 76 and 81 as the Wildcats repeated as the team champ by a 15-stroke margin over runnerup Wellington (698-713).
The Hayden standout is now a three-time state medalist, finishing 20th as a freshman for the third-place Wildcats and placing 15th as a sophomore as Hayden won the team crown by 37 strokes.
