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Prep FB roundup: Hoytal, Roth power Junior Blues to thrilling 31-30 win over Blue Valley
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Senior quarterback John Hoytal threw for four touchdowns, including three to senior Kellan Roth, capped by the game-tying strike with 7:15 left, as Washburn Rural pulled out a 31-30 non-league win over Blue Valley Friday night at Bowen-Glaze Stadium.
Washburn Rural senior quarterback John Hoytal threw for four touchdowns Friday night as the Junior Blues edged Blue Valley, 31-30. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Senior Kellan Roth caught three touchdown passes in Washburn Rural's 31-30 win over Blue Valley Friday night. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Hoytal connected with Roth for 13 and 9-yard TD strikes before hooking up for the 9-yard score that tied the game at 30-30. Junior Ryan Austin broke the tie with the extra-point kick and the Junior Blues held on the rest of the way to improve to 2-0.
Hoytal also hit junior Gavin Vantuyl for a 15-yard touchdown while Austin kicked a 31-yard field goal in the first half.
Roth's first touchdown of the night put the Junior Blues up 7-0 and Austin's field goal broke a 7-7 tie.
Vantuyl's score at the 1:04 mark of the second quarter put Rural in front 16-14 at the half and Hoytal's 9-yard TD pass to Roth and a subsequent 2-point conversion gave the Junior Blues a 24-22 advantage midway through the third quarter.
Blue Valley regained the lead at 30-24 before the Junior Blues came through with the game-winning points.
Washburn Rural will host Platte County, Mo. next Friday.
Rossville senior quarterback Canann Mitchell ran for two touchdowns and threw for two TDs in Friday's 40-34 win over St. Marys. [File photo/TSN]
Rossville senior Andre Johnson (1) scored the game-winning touchdown in the Bulldawgs' 40-34 win over St. Marys Friday night. [File photo/TSN]
Bulldawgs rally for 40-34 win over Bears
Rossville trailed much of the night and the game was tied with a minute left before senior Andre Johnson scored on a 4-yard run with 55 seconds remaining as the Bulldawgs pulled out a 40-34 Big East road win.
Rossville, now 2-0 overall and in the league, trailed 8-0, 16-6, 22-13 at the half and 28-20 after three quarters before pulling out the win with a 20-point fourth quarter.
Bulldawg senior quarterback Canann Mitchell ran for 56 and 3-yard runs and threw for an 11-yard TD to senior Jack Donovan and a 10-yard TD to senior Cameron Miller.
Johnson had a pair of touchdowns on the night, also scoring on a 3-yard run.
Rossville will be at home next Friday to host 2-0 Nemaha Central.
Ichabods' second-half rally falls short in 41-27 loss to Orediggers
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn Ichabod football team put together a strong second-half rally, but could not overcome a big rushing day from No. 24-ranked Colorado School of Mines, falling 41-27 on Saturday afternoon in Golden, Colo.
Zach Watkins put together a strong second half but fell at Colorado School of Mines 41-27 on Saturday in Golden, Colo. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn and Mines were forced to withstand more than four hours of lightning delays in the second half.
The Ichabods dropped to 1-2 overall while the Orediggers moved to 2-0 on the season.
Mines jumped out to a 27-7 lead at halftime, leaning on a ground attack that piled up 365 rushing yards and five touchdowns on the day.
Washburn struggled to contain the Orediggers' explosive plays, but the Ichabods battled back after the break with 20 second-half points, including a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns that narrowed the deficit.
Quarterback, Logan Madden, playing near his hometown of Arvada, Colo., completed 11 of 17 passes for 150 yards and two touchdowns in his first action as an Ichabod.
Justin Lewis added 106 yards through the air on 9 of 20 passing with two scores of his own.
Combined, the duo accounted for all four Ichabod touchdowns, throwing passes to eight different receivers.
Tourney MVP Broadie leads way as No. 12-ranked Ichabod volleyball caps 4-0 weekend
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Veteran Washburn University volleyball coach Chris Herron isn't necessarily known for passing out praise freely.
So Herron's comments about Ichabod 6-foot senior rightside hitter Austin Broadie Saturday night after the Ichabods wrapped up a perfect 4-0 weekend in the Washburn Invitational should carry some real weight.
"Austin Broadie's playing like an All-American,'' Herron said. "She's hitting the crap out of the ball.''
Senior Austin Broadie (23) is congratulated by her Washburn teammates after one of her 17 kills Saturday against William Jewell in the Washburn Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Broadie was named the tournament most valuable player after helping 12th-ranked Washburn cap off a dominating weekend with 3-0 wins over Newman and William Jewell in the final day of the tournament.
Shawnee Heights product Taylor Rottinghaus was one of four Washburn players named to the Washburn Invitational All-Tournament Team after the Ichabods went 4-0 on the weekend. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Broadie was joined on the all-tournament team by WU teammates Taylor Rottinghaus, Bella Limback and Brynne Topolski after the Ichabods beat Newman 25-10, 25-16, 25-20 and William Jewell 25-22, 25-16 and 22-12.
"I felt good,'' Broadie said. "We started out a little rusty and then everyone started flowing. I felt like the setters were doing a really good job reversing the flow, so that's helpful.
"We did what we wanted to do. We know some stuff we need to work on now and I feel like that's going to give us an objective for the next weekend.''
Washburn is now 8-0 on the season, the first time the Ichabods have done so since the 2022 season that began 11-0.
The Ichabods started slowly against winless William Jewell (0-8) in the tournament finale, trailing as late as 18-17 in the opening set, but the Ichabods rallied for the three-point win and got stronger as the match wore on.
Herron admitted that he was not happy with the Ichabods' play out of the gate against the Cardinals.
"Absolutely, I was upset,'' Herron said. "This is something I try to tell these kids all the time, 'You're going to get people's best shot,' and that's the best they played all weekend, that team we just played. They were scrappy, they were hitting the crap out of the ball, they were finding holes and doing things that they hadn't done all weekend and good for them.
"But we didn't respond in kind. We were just like, 'Oh, they'll make mistakes and we'll beat them in the end,' and that's the way we played for all of Set 1. In Set 2 we kind of found ourselves at the end and it carried into Set 3.''
With the second set score at 20-16, Washburn started a run of five straight kills, three coming from Broadie to end the set with a nine-pont win.
The Cardinals got out to a 7-6 lead in the third set until a Topolski kill started a 6-1 Washburn rally.
The Ichabod offense took over shortly after, hitting .481 as a team in the set, including a 7-0 burst to create some separation at 20-11. The momentum carried over into a streak of five points to end the set and match on a Sydney Conner ace.
Washburn celebrates a match-ending ace from Sydney Conner (15) against William Jewell in Saturday'sWashburn Invitational. Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn tallied 49 kills across the three sets to hit .388 while William Jewell hit .128 and managed just 26 kills. The Ichabods nearly doubled the assist total at 46-24 while each team picked up exactly 37 digs.
Broadie started the match hot and stayed hot, registering a team-high 17 kills while hitting .607 for the match, good for the 17th highest attack percentage in a game in program history with a minimum of 20 attempts.
Corinna McMullen led the way with 23 assists while Rottinghaus snagged 10 digs from the back row.
The Ichabods set the tone early in Saturday's first match against Newman, rolling to a 15-point win in the first set before securing 25-16 and 25-20 victories in the next two sets to top Newman (2-5).
A 9-1 run highlighted the beginning of the match and was capped off by a kill from Natalie Hedlund that put Washburn up 10-2.
Newman was able to keep the match close until a 6-0 Ichabod burst pushed the lead to double figures, ending at 20-7 with an Abby Leaf block. Washburn's offense highlighted the first set, hitting .516 as a team with 18 kills.
After leading just 5-4 in the second set, a 6-0 run for the Ichabods was capped off by an ace from Autumn Gibbs to create separation at 11-4.
As Washburn worked its bench into the game the lead continued to grow, reaching 10 at 21-11 after Shannon Frakes set up Josie Cleveringa for a kill. Washburn closed out the set shortly after with three straight points.
Both teams split the first 10 points in the third set before the Ichabods took six of the next seven, with kills by four different players in the stretch.
