By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Editor's note: TopSports.news will post preview stories for all 10 Shawnee County high school football programs over the coming days, leading into the opening games of the 2026 season on Sept. 3 and 4.
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Former Washburn University football standout Trey Parker was well aware of the magnitude of the task he faced when he was thrust into the position of interim coach at Topeka West for the final three games of the 2022 season and took over as the Chargers' head coach in 2023.
Trey Parker begins his fourth full season as Topeka West's football coach in 2026 and is confident the Chargers are ready to take a step forward this fall. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
After all, Parker was taking over a Charger program that hasn't produced a winning season since 2004.
But as Parker enters his fourth full season at West, he is extremely proud of the progress the Chargers have made.
And with this year's Charger team building around a nucleus of players who have been with Parker since he took over as head coach, he believes his team is ready to take another step forward this fall after four straight 1-8 campaigns.
"It's just like anything else you do,'' Parker said. "You have a job that you work at every single day for four years, you get a lot more comfortable in your setting and your surroundings and all of that. The kids are more comfortable with me, I'm more comfortable with them.
"They love our coaching staff, we love them, so everything's just going well.''
Parker knows that wins will still be hard to come by in the tough United Kansas Conference, but the West coach feels like the Chargers have continued to make steady progress over the past several seasons and are ready to compete this fall.
"Everyone wants the wins over the losses, but we knew from Day 1 that was going to be a small growth,'' Parker said. "Every day we look for something different and if we accomplish that, then that's a win for us.
"We've stacked a lot of good days, so we're feeling like now, 'Hey, we can really compete in this tough league.' There's some other leagues that if we were in we feel like we'd do really well, but we want to play the best of the best to get our kids a chance to go to college.
"We feel like every day's been better, every single day, and we're hoping that will eventually turn into some wins.''
Nas Williams-Brown (11) is a top returner for Topeka West after earning first-team All-UKC and second-team All-Shawnee County honors last season. [File photo/TSN]
A 5-foot-9, 160-pound junior running back/linebacker, Nas Williams-Brown was a first-team All-United Kansas Conference honoree last fall as an all-purpose player and was a second-team All-Shawnee County pick.
Williams-Brown rushed for 647 yards on 66 attempts and scored six touchdowns.
Damon Webb enters his fourth season as a varsity running back for the Chargers and carried the ball 88 times for 372 yards and two touchdowns in seven games last fall.
Prince Lassiter, a 6-foot-6 senior tight end/defensive end, earned All-Shawnee County first-team honors in basketball but has also received considerable recruiting interest from Division I and Division II schools in football.
Senior Nasir Helton received All-UKC and all-county honorable mention in 2025.
Topeka West will open its 2026 season on Friday against Piper in a United Kansas Conference contest at Hummer Sports Park.
"No matter what, we just want to show a lot of grit and we're going to grind against any team that comes at us,'' Lassiter said.
TOPEKA WEST
2026 football schedule
(Home games at Hummer Sports Park)
September -- 4 Piper, 11 at De Soto, 18 at Lansing, 24 Shawnee Heights.
October -- 2 at Leavenworth, 9 Spring Hill, 16 Basehor-Linwood, 23 at Turner.
Next up: Washburn Rural.
