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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University freshman quarterback Sam Van Dyne envisioned easing into his college football career while learning from Ichabod veteran Kellen Simoncic.
Sam Van Dyne
But all that changed in last week's home-opener against Missouri Southern when Simoncic went down with a season-ending broken collarbone that required surgery.
And suddenly, in just the second game of his college career, the Ichabod offense was Van Dyne's to run.
"You hate to see a teammate get hurt, but Kellen went down and I'm standing right there and coach goes, 'Kellen's shoulder's messed up,' and I was like, 'Alright, I guess we're doing this,' '' said Van Dyne, a 6-3, 210-pounder out of Liberty North, Mo. "I went and got warmed up and went in and got hit, then I was good. I just had to kind of get the jitters out.''
Van Dyne, who will make his first college start in Saturday's 6 p.m. non-conference game at Lincoln, said he and the WU offense have just been working on making sure they're on the same page in the nine days since a 30-23 loss to Southern.
"It's a little different when you go from high school, where you've been running the same offense for like four or five years,'' Van Dyne said. "You're running a completely new offense, so you're still on the learning curve a little bit and it's not where it's second nature yet.
"We've got a lot young players, so really this week we've been working on getting the signals in and getting lined up properly and things like that because we had a couple of penalties last week for not being lined up properly and not running the right play, things like that.''
But Van Dyne expects to be a lot more at ease in Saturday's game at Lincoln and said he's ready to go.
"Football's football at the end of the day,'' he said. "It's 11 guys on each team and you're trying to score, they're trying to stop you. Really there's not much more to it than that. There's more than goes into it, but that's kind of how I ike to look at it.''
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
Hayden weathered the elements and a stubborn Rossville team to improve to 3-0 Friday, going on the road to beat the Bulldawgs 49-23.
Hayden senior Finn Dunshee (33) rushed for 170 yards and two touchdowns and also had a pick-six in Friday's 49-23 win at Rossville. [File photo/TSN]
The Wildcats rolled over Olpe and Silver Lake in their first two games. Things were more challenging on the wet field at Rossville.
The Bulldawgs pinned Hayden deep in its own territory for most of the first period, claiming a 3-0 lead midway through the quarter.
The Wildcats rallied to mount a 28-10 lead by halftime, but they knew they were in a fight.
“(Rossville) coach (Derick) Hammes always does a great job getting his guys ready each and every week,” Hayden coach Bill Arnold said. “We told our kids all week long that this was going to be the best team we’ve played up to this point and would be the most physical team that we’ve played up to this point. None of it came as a surprise to me. Now some of our kids may have showcased that early on.”
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights was down, but certainly not out in Friday's United Kansas Conference clash with city rival Seaman at Wetter Field.
Down by 21 points early in the third quarter, the T-Birds mounted an impressive comeback, capped by a 10-yard touchdown run from senior quarterback Ryeki Tuley that gave Shawnee Heights a 33-30 overtime win over the Vikings.
Shawnee Heights senior Jayden Holly heads upfield after hauling in a pass from T-Bird quarterback Ryeki Tuley Friday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Shawnee Heights sophomore David Wakes looks for running room Friday night against Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"We had a designed QB keeper to the left side and I had my running back blocking for me and he told me to just hit that edge and go,'' Tuley said. "I had some fantastic blocking by my tight end and my running back and it was wide open. Anybody could have ran it in, really. It was fantastic.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Freshman Ty Weber didn't know exactly what to expect when he got called into Washburn University head football coach Craig Schurig's office a couple of weeks ago.
Ty Weber
But that meeting ended up providing the former Washburn Rural star linebacker with a fast track to the Ichabod starting lineup on the other side of the ball at tight end.
"Coach Schurig called me into his office and I went in and honestly at first I was a little scared,'' Weber admitted. "I didn't know what I was getting called in for, but he told me, 'We have some injuries and we need somebody to play the spot.' He said he liked my physicality and he thought I'd be good for the position.
"He kind of explained to me what I needed to do and I got a crash course in it and that's how I came to be a tight end. He gave me the decision and I told him I would do whatever I could to get on the field.''
The quick switch ended up with the 6-foot-3, 225-pounder in Washburn's lineup for last Thursday's home game against Missouri Southern and he has continued to get more familiar with the position leading into Saturday night's MIAA contest at Lincoln (6 p.m. kickoff).
"It's been a process, but I've embraced it,'' Weber said. "I've enjoyed the process of becoming a tight end. Coach (Josh) Osborn has helped me a lot to move over and I love the physicality of the position and being able to catch the ball.''
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
Though at less than full strength, Topeka High found some positives to take away from a 51-13 non-league defeat at the hands of undefeated Liberal at Hummer Sports Park Thursday.
Topeka High junior Tevante Ewing scored both of the Trojans' touchdowns in Thursday's 51-13 loss to Liberal at Hummer Sports Park. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Trojan head coach Carlos Kelly was unavailable for the game for an undisclosed reason according to Topeka High administrators. Filling his place was assistant Brandon Mitchell.
The Trojans faced a number of obstacles on the night.
Not only was Kelly absent, but Zane Smith, starting quarterback the first two games of the season, was in street clothes on the sideline. Star defensive end BJ Canady exited the game early, apparently due to injury.
“We got a couple of big-game guys who weren’t able to go for us,” Mitchell said. “We were missing our starting linebacker and a starting defensive lineman. That really hurts defensively. And on offense, we were trying some different things out, had some different guys at different positions. We have quarterback issues with our quarterback being out.
“It’s just one of those things. You just live with what you have. We rolled with it.”
