By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
It was a tough 49-0 loss for Topeka West in Saturday morning's United Kansas Conference football matchup against Piper.
The United Kansas Conference is proving to be one of the tougher high school football leagues in the state, with schools such as Piper, Shawnee Heights, Seaman, De Soto and Basehor-Linwood making every week a slugfest.
Topeka West was met with a well-balanced Piper team on Saturday that presented the Chargers with more problems than one.
Topeka West huddles up after Saturday's 49-0 loss to Piper. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
Topeka West had some opportunities to gain momentum before Piper went on a roll early in the game. Unfortunately for Topeka West, turnovers and penalties had an immense impact on the outcome of the game going forward.
“It starts with me and I dropped the ball,” Topeka West coach Russell Norton said. “49-0 is not acceptable and I’ll take responsibility for that. We will go back and watch the film. We will critique and grade it. We have to continue to move forward in the process and do all of the little things right.”
The Pirates punched the ball away from Topeka West five times. Each time that Piper gained possession of the Chargers' fumbles, they scored. This was all before the halftime break.
“The defense flew around like crazy today,” Piper coach John Black said.
Piper’s ground game was stellar from the opening snap. Seven different Pirates combined for 312 yards and five touchdowns before the halftime break. Kansas State offensive line commit Camden Beebe was leading the charge.
“Offensively we got some things done that we needed to do that we haven’t been doing lately,” Black said. “Our running backs ran the ball well. I was pleased with how the offense looked today.”
Not a lot went right for Topeka West against the Pirate. Although the scoreboard didn’t show the results the Chargers wanted, they once again got a solid performance from senior quarterback Malachi Berg.
“I love the guy,” Norton said. “He will always be our guy here at Topeka West. The system goes where he goes. As a team, we have to trust the system and process. He’s making it easier for everyone to buy into what we are doing.”
Before the halftime break, Berg rushed for 104 yards averaging seven yards a carry. Despite Piper’s solid pass rush, Berg was able to throw it for 73 yards before the break.
“That young man (Berg) is amazing,” Black said. “It seemed like every time he scrambled out of the pocket he found a guy open. He is a special ball player. I’ll do anything I can to help that kid do whatever he needs to. He’s an extremely mobile player and I was impressed with what he did today.”
The running clock started ticking at the half with a 49-point advantage from Piper. Topeka West didn’t have much time to operate with the running clock, but they wanted to make some strides with the time that they did have.
West saw sparks from Berg, Xavier Alexander, Kamen Jones and Mason Jones offensively. The Chargers moved the ball down the field against Piper’s younger guys but were unable to put any points on the board.
Defensively, the Chargers were able to hold the Pirates to zero points in the second half. It was difficult for Topeka West tackling anybody in the backfield in the first half, but collected tackles for losses in the second half.
Topeka West (0-4) will hit the road to take on Lansing (1-3) next Friday.
PIPER 49, TOPEKA WEST 0
Piper (2-2) 21 28 0 0 – 49
Topeka West (0-4) 0 0 0 0 – 0
Piper – Martin 58 run (Busick kick)
Piper – Pudenz 9 run (Busick kick)
Piper – Pudenz 37 fumble recover (Busick kick)
Piper – L’Heureux 29 pass from Ladish (Busick kick)
Piper – ReAir-Jarrett 67 run (Busick kick)
Piper – Ladish 88 run (Busick kick)
Piper – Little 24 run (Busick kick)
Individual statistics
Rushing -- Piper: Little 4-61, Pudenz 4-38, Ladish 3-95, Martin 2-69, Pollard 2-4, ReAir-Jarrett 1-67, Bakarich 1-7, Paulakovich 1-7, Eskridge 1-5, Anderson 1-5, Roth 1-2, Carter 1-1. Topeka West: M. Berg 16-107, Alexander 7-5, Coffman 2-2, Jones 1-10.
Passing -- Piper: Ladish 2-3-1 55 yards, Roth 2-2 34 yards. Topeka West: M. Berg 12-23 115 yards, E. Berg 1-3 8 yards.
Receiving -- Piper: L’Heureux 1-38, Collete 1-25, ReAir-Jarrett 1-9, Eskridge 1-7. Topeka West: K. Jones 4-40, Alexander 4-21, M. Jones 2-39, Engel 1-10, Tisdale 1-5.
