Welcome to Top Sports News

By VINCE LOVERGINE

TopSports.news

Seaman boys basketball remembers its Class 5A sub-state loss to Valley Center at home last season and the Vikings don’t want that to happen again this year.

 

Seaman senior KaeVon Bonner is a returning two-time All-Shawnee County Top 10 pick. [File photo/TSN]

“I’m already envisioning that scenario and trying to coach towards that when we get into late February, early March that we’re making the right decisions and not just trying something and hoping it turns out in our favor,'' Seaman coach Craig Cox said. "I really enjoyed last season, but I did not enjoy the way we finished.''

Cox will be in year 15 at the helm of the Vikings' program and wants to see how this senior group will respond when the lights are turned on, especially watching their growth the last couple of years.

 

The Vikings went 13-8 in 2024-2025 and 9-12 in 2023-2024 after winning the state championship in 2022-2023 with an 18-7 record.

“We’ve got really good team chemistry, they like each other, they support each other, they’re there for each other and that makes our job a lot easier,'' Cox said. "I don’t have to worry about a lot of distractions because they’re good students and come from good families.

“We want an environment where they (players) want to be there and they’re not dreading practice, they’re not scared about what’s going to happen, how much we’re going to have to run. We want to have a good time and try to improve and limit our mistakes and help us be successful on game night.”

Cox mentioned that the Vikings have the potential to be a high scoring team this season, but last year they were easy to score on and they have to tighten that aspect up to have more chances.

“The mistake I made as a coach is thinking we need to help them on offense so that we kind of set aside our defensive drills and when I look back to our really good defensive teams in the past, it’s because we put the time in,'' Cox said.

 

"Unfortunately, this year with tryouts and our first game on Dec. 2, we don’t have time to do a lot, so we’re going to throw it at them and hopefully as we get to Christmas break and all of those practices and then in mid-season tournament time, we can continually be better defensively.''

Cox said Landon Wiltz, Griffin Zuniga, Matthew McConnaughey and Cameron Brian are players whoe will contribute this season along with senior KaeVon Bonner, who has been a key factor for the Vikings since his freshman year.

Read more …

By VINCE LOVERGINE

TopSports.news 

The hammer and chain you might see that Washburn Rural boys basketball posts on X after every game, that’s not going away this year.

 

Senior Simon Rowley earned All-Shawnee County Top 10 honors for Washburn Rural last season. [File photo/TSN]

Junior Blues coach Alex Hutchins said that started when he started coaching in 2018 and it became an idea when Hutchins started watching baseball games and believes it came from former MLB player Carlos Beltran.

Regardless of a win or loss, the players choose who gets the hammer and/or chain based on doing it the right way according to Hutchins.

The hammer goes to the player who does things right offensively and the chain is for defense.

 

“It holds us accountable to our core values and being tough and going out there to perform every night. It just makes you have that dawg mentality when you’re out there. You want to compete for the chain and the hammer,” senior standout Simon Rowley said.

Hutchins will be in his fourth year with the Junior Blues and this senior class has been with him the whole time, with the exception of Rowley, who transferred in last season.

Last year's team finished at 18-5 and advanced to the state tournament before falling in the first round to Wichita Heights. That was Rural's first trip to the big dance since 2019 where they were the state runnerups.

“We’ve felt like we’ve hit the ground running more this year than probably any other year and part of that is the decisions as a coaching staff to stick with some things that have worked, but part of it is a deep roster of kids who have been with us through a lot,” he said.

Rowley and John Hoytal return as starters from last year's group, while Draden Chooncharoen, Brooks Ballard and Kieffer O’Connor, who’s won the JV MVP the last two years, are names to look out for, too.

Read more …

Details

Created: 27 November 2025

By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news

CLASS 1A

STERLING (12-0) vs. ROSSVILLE (11-1)

1 p.m. Friday at Hutchinson Community College

Rossville, the No. 4 Class 1A East seed, earned a shot at its sixth state championship with a come-from-behind 21-18 semifinal win at No. 2 East seed Jackson Heights last Friday while No. 1 West seed Sterling remained undefeated with a 14-6 win over previously-unbeaten Smith Center.

The Bulldawgs have won nine straight games, with Rossville's lone loss a 56-28 Week 3 loss to Nemaha Central, which is in the 2A state championship game for the second straight season. Sterling's closest game of the season was a 44-42 state quarterfinal win over Hutchinson Trinity.

Canann Mitchell, Rossville

Rossville senior quarterback Canann Mitchell has completed 109 of 164 passes for 1,578 yards and 18 touchdowns with just one interception and has rushed for 1,013 yards and 18 TDs on 139 attempts.

Cameron Miller, Rossville

Jack Donovan, Rossville

Senior Cameron Miller has 32 catches for 523 yards and eight TDs while senior Jack Donovan has 38 grabs for 543 yards and three touchdowns.

Conner Bush, Rossville

Senior Conner Bush has rushed for 685 yards and 10 TDs on 69 carries.

Andre Johnson, Rossville 

Senior Andre Johnson leads the Bulldawgs with 119 tackles (64 solo) while Bush has 99 stops (34 solo). Junior Charlie Chance has registered 49 stops (39 solo), including 14.5 tackles for loss.

Sterling senior running back Zane Farney has carried the ball 188 times for 2,047 yards and 39 touchdowns while senior Wyatt Newberry has rushed for 1,034 yards and 14 TDs and has 98 tackles (62 solo) with four interceptions.

Sophomore Jacob Lewis leads Sterling with 156 tackles (95 solo), including 15 tackles for loss.

Sterling senior quarterback Logan Isaac has thrown for 209 yards and rushed for 403 yards and 10 TDs on 56 attempts.