- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Wichita East's football team moved the ball up and down the field against Washburn Rural Friday night, finishing with an unofficial total of 426 offensive yards, including 244 passing yards from senior quarterback Daeonte' Mitchell.
But the Junior Blue defense came up big play after big play to help turn the tide, including a late-game blocked extra point by senior JC Heim that proved to the difference in Washburn Rural's 26-25 season-opening win at Bowen-Glaze Stadium.
Washburn Rural senior JC Heim came up with a game-saving blocked extra point and also starred on offense and defense in Friday's 26-25 win over Wichita East. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
"I got it with my full hand,'' Heim said. "It was a lucky block though. Originally I started on the left side, but then I was like, I'm going to try something new.' So I came from the right and I took the right angle and it just happened that God gave me a block.It was awesome.''
Washburn Rural senior Jaren Heim (27) scores on a pick six in Friday's 26-25 win over Wichita East. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Senior Jaren Heim had a 24-yard pick six for the Junior Blues while JC Heim and junior Lafayette Thompson also picked off passes and Rural also recovered a fumble and took advantage of a botched punt snap as Rural held on for the win.
"We still have a lot to work on but I think what makes us special is we didn't give up and that was important this game,'' JC Heim said. "We all gang tackled and one big play didn't affect us and we went to the next play.
"I knew they were going to bring out speed. I knew their quarterback was a great player and I knew their defense was going to be tough and it was going to be a great game.''
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
PITTSBURG – Washburn University football played No. 4-ranked Pittsburg State within six points through the first half Thursday night, but the Gorillas scored on three straight drives and added a defensive score as the Ichabods fell 34-7 in the season-opener.
Craig Schurig's Washburn football team will open its home season next Thursday after a season-opening 34-7 loss at Pittsburg State. [File photo/TSN]
Shawnee Heights product Tyce Brown caught six passes for 66 yards in Thursday's 34-7 Washburn University loss at No. 4-ranked Pittsburg State. [File photo/TSN]
The Ichabods will return to Yager Stadium to open their home slate against Missouri Southern next Thursday at 6 p.m.
The Ichabods (0-1 overall, 0-1 MIAA) trailed at the half 6-0 after the Gorillas (1-0, 1-0) connected on a 45-yard field goal to end the second quarter.
In the opening half, the Ichabods were outgained 223 yards to 91, including a 142 to 29 advantage by the Gorillas in the second quarter.
The Ichabods took the second half kickoff, but an interception on the third play of the drive inside their own 20 returned to the ball back to the Gorillas and four plays later Pitt State pushed its lead to 13-0 on a 1-yard run with 12:09 to play in the third quarter.
Washburn would then go on a 14-play, 80-yard drive, taking 7:05 off the clock, cutting the Gorilla lead to 13-7 with 4:51 to play in the third quarter.
The drive was capped on a 1-yard pass from Kellen Simoncic to D.J. Bell for the first Ichabod points of the season. The Ichabods converted a fourth-down play on the drive on a 15-yard pass completion from Simoncic to Shawnee Heights product Tyce Brown.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University soccer kicks off its 2023 season with Friday and Sunday road matches in St. Louis, Mo.
Former Washburn Rural star Belle Kennedy is a returning starter for Washburn University soccer, which will open its 2023 season at 5 p.m. Friday in St. Louis against Drury. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Washburn will face Drury in a 5 p.m. match on Friday before facing Missouri-St. Louis on Sunday at noon.
The Ichabods are coming off an 11-6-2 record in 2022, finishing sixth in the MIAA.
Drury went 6-3-8 last season and 3-2-7 in the GLVC before losing in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament.
Missouri-St. Louis was 6-7-5 in 2022 with a 3-4-5 record in the GLVC. The Tritons advanced to the semifinals of the GLVC tournament. They take on Northwest Missouri State Friday before taking on Washburn.
The Ichabods, picked sixth in the MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll, returns 19 players from last season's roster while adding two transfers and seven freshmen.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
In a game of spurts, Hayden High's boys soccer team got the final and most important one Thusday at Hayden, scoring the final two goals to pull out a 3-2 win over Centennial League foe Topeka High and improve to 3-0 on the young 2023 season.
Hayden junior Preston Meitner (13), battling Topeka High's Vador Limon for a loose ball, scored the game-winning goal in the Wildcats' 3-2 win over the Trojans Thursday at Hayden. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"It was a good win,'' Hayden coach Klaus Kreutzer said. "It was ugly. We scored on a great goal and then we gave them two and to our credit, at least they stayed with it. It's always nice to beat a (Class) 6A school for us.
"We've got a lot of younger players and they're making the effort. We've had a couple of balls bounce the right way and I'll always take that. I've had enough where they've bounced the wrong way.''
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The No. 17-ranked Washburn University volleyball team will begin its 2023 season with three matches at the Florida Southern College Volleyball Classic Friday and Saturday.
Junior Jalyn Stevenson (10), a first-team All-MIAA pick last season, returns to lead No. 17-ranked Washburn this fall. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
After schedule changes caused adjustments, Washburn will now face Flagler at 11 a.m. and Florida Southern at 6 p.m. on Friday before finishing the tournament against No. 6 Barry at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
Friday's scheduled match against Grand Valley State was cancelled, with the Lakers not making the trip due to incoming inclement weather anticipated in Florida. The change resulted with Barry being added to the Ichabods' schedule and the match against Florida Southern being moved up to Friday evening.
After reaching the Division II national championship game in 2021, the Ichabods finished last season 24-8 with a fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearence while also capturing the first MIAA Tournament Championship in program history.
Washburn went through an up and down campaign early last season before catching fire late and veteran coach Chris Herron thinks a faster start could be in store this fall.
Junior Jalyn Stevenson returns to lead the Ichabods after earning All-MIAA first-team recognition and All-America honorable mention as a sophomore.Stevenson registered 386 kills in 2022 while hitting .214 from the outside. Stevenson alos made 392 digs with 41 combined blocks while starting 31 of 32 matches.
"Because we graduated so many the year before last year was getting acclimated to new leaders and how everybody was going to react to how they were and all of that stuff,'' Herron said. "We don't have that now. Jalyn is our leader. Jalyn has been the leader all summer and some of the other kids have done a great job to help her.''
