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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn University football team can clinch its third straight winning regular season and the 15th in 20 seasons under coach Craig Schurig with an MIAA victory over Northeastern State Saturday in Tahlequah, Okla.
Senior James Letcher Jr. has set Washburn career receptions and all-purpose yardage records the past two weeks. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn senior Grant Bruner leads the nation in tackles, averaging 13.0 per game for the 5-3 Ichabods. [File photo/TSN]
The Ichabods are 5-3 overall and in the MIAA while the Riverhawks are 1-7, 1-7, but Schurig, 135-91 in his career, said his team can't afford to take anything for granted in what he feels is perhaps the most balanced the conference has been from top to bottom in recent seasons.
"There's no question, it's really even,'' Schurig said. "There's not like it's two dominant teams that are beating up on everybody. There's a lot of close scores and it depends on who you're playing, certain teams match up really well.''
Washburn, which will be looking for its 10th straight win over the RiverHawks, is coming off a 37-9 Homecoming win over Central Oklahoma last Saturday while Northeastern is coming off a 36-3 loss at No. 14-ranked Northwest Missouri, its fourth straight loss.
.NSU was held to 23 yards of offense and three first downs in its loss to Northwest Missouri, but Schurig said the Riverhawks are an improved team.
"Their O-line, D-line is a lot better than it was last year, their secondary's really good and they're much better,'' Schurig said.
Washburn beat Northeastern 35-0 last season in Topeka and rolled to a 70-13 win on Oct. 12, 2019 in the Ichabods' last trip to Tahlequah.
Washburn leads the MIAA in scoring offense at 35.4 points per game and is ranked seventh in scoring defense allowing 23.0 points a game. Washburn is second in the MIAA in total offense at 429.9 yards per game.
Ichabod sophomore quarterback Kellen Simoncic is third in the nation in passing touchdowns with 24 and 14th in the nation in total offense at 286.1 yards per game.
Senior linebacker Grant Bruner leads the nation in tackles at 13.0 per game and is first in solo tackles with 8.1 per game.
Senior James Letcher Jr. is 13th in the nation in receiving touchdowns (8), 13th in receiving yards (801), 15th in receiving yards per game (101.1) and eighth in receptions per game (7.2).
His 206 career receptions 5,216 all-purpose yards are No. 1 on WU's all-time chart.
Washburn will be back at home on Nov. 5 against Pittsburg State.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman's girls and Shawnee Heights' boys, who claimed regional team championships, and regional individual champs Lenny Njoroge of Topeka West and Payton Fink of Washburn Rural headline a large Shawnee County contingent going into Saturday's state cross country meets.
Eight county schools will be represented in Saturday's state meets at Rim Rock Farm and Wamego Country Club. The Class 6A, 5A and 3A meets will be run at Rim Rock, north of Lawrence, while Hayden will have boys and girls individual competitors in the 4A state meet at Wamego.
Seaman's girls and Shawnee Heights' boys swept the team titles in last Saturday's 5A regional at Kanza Park, with the Viking girls placing all of their top five runners in the top 10 en route to a 22-46 victory over Lansing while the T-Bird boys placed three runners in the top eight places en route to winning the team title by a 53-61 margin over Lansing and Njoroge, a senior, posted a 30-second individual win.
In 6A regional competition at Manhattan' Warner Park, Washburn Rural sophomore Fink and senior Madeline Carter finished one-two in the girls race and the Junior Blues finished second as a team in both the girls and boys divisions.
Here's a class-by-class look at Saturday's state meets involving Shawnee County teams and individual qualifiers:
CLASS 6A
Washburn Rural came up short in its bid for regional team championships last Saturday at Manhattan, finishing second to Free State in both the girls and boys divisions, but the Junior Blues will be out in full force Saturday at Rim Rock Farm.
Rural's girls finished just two points behind Free State (45-47) while the Firebirds claimed the boys title by a 35-61 margin over the Junior Blues.
Fink completed a sweep of individual city, Centennial League and regional titles with a win in a five-kilometer time of 18:49.90 while Carter was second in 19:08.40.
Rural's girls, fourth in 6A as a team in 2021, also got a 12th-place finish from sophomore Rylee Ismert (20:46.20) while freshman Vilde Tronstad (21:08.30) was 14th and sophomore Brooklyn Nolte (21:34.10) 21st to complete the Junior Blues' top five. Senior Christine Gutierrez (21:54.50) and junior Sydney Laster (22:07.70) added 26th and 27th-place finishes.
Senior Easton Dial paced Rural's boys, finishing second in 16:49.20, while seniors Davin Johnson (17:18.60) and Grayson Fink (17:21.10) also posted top-10 finishes.
Johnson placed seventh and Fink ninth, while junior Hayden Keller (17:51.70), sophomore Conner Olsen (17:54.30) and senior Trevor Cain (18:04.30) finished 21st, 22nd and 23rd and junior Max Gutierrez was 26th (18:19.00).
Topeka High senior Michael Christopher finished 13th individually in 17:26.00 to earn an individual berth in the state meet.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Senior linebacker Ty Weber and 6-2 Washburn Rural will open the Class 6A playoffs against 4-4 Dodge City Friday night. [File photo/TSN]
CLASS 6A
DODGE CITY (4-4) at WASHBURN RURAL (6-2)
Washburn Rural, the No. 6 West seed, is coming off an 81-12 non-league romp past Topeka West while No. 11 seed Dodge City, coached by former Seaman coach Glenn O'Neil, beat Wichita Southeast 42-23 to snap a three-game losing streak.
Rural quarterback Branton DeWeese went 7 of 9 passing for 124 yards and a touchdown in limited playing time against Topeka West while senior Ma'kenttis Adams had 205 yards and four touchdowns on just five carries.
The Junior Blues picked off five passes and held Topeka West to negative rushing yards on the night.
The winner of Friday's Rural-Dodge City game will advance to face the first-round winner between 6-2 Garden City and 1-7 Campus.
Topeka High senior quarterback Peyton Wheat has passed for 1,397 yards and seven touchdowns this season entering Friday night's Class 6A playoff game at Derby. [File photo/TSN]
TOPEKA HIGH (1-7) at DERBY (6-2)
Topeka High is the No. 15 West seed and will be facing perennial 6A power Derby, the No. 2 West seed and the winner of five state titles since 2015.
Topeka High dropped a 56-6 home non-league decision against Hays last Friday while Derby, led by Notre Dame commit Dylan Edwards, took a 49-20 win over Newton. The Panthers' two losses came against unbeaten Manhattan and Maize by a total of four points, including an overtime loss to Centennial League champ Manhattan.
Topeka High senior Peyton Wheat has thrown for 1,397 yards and seven TDs entering the Derby game while sophomore Jayden Norman has caught 55 passes for 756 yards and five TDs. Normn caught 12 passes for 136 yards against Hays.
The Topeka High-Derby winner advances to face the winner of the first-round game between Lawrence (5-3) and Wichita Heights (4-4).
CLASS 5A
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
The 2022 soccer campaign for the Shawnee Heights Thunderbirds ended in Thursday night's 3-0 regional championship loss to St. James Academy.
Nic Simons' Shawnee Heights soccer team saw its 2022 season come to an end in Thursday's 3-0 loss to St. James Academy in a Class 5A regional final. [File photo/TSN]
The T-Bird team that didn't lose a single game in the United Kansas Conference fell one game short of the state quarterfinals for the second straight year at the Bettis Family Sports Complex.
Although the Thunderbirds didn't achieve its big goal, Shawnee Heights had another successful year, finishing with an 11-6-1 record.
"I don't think this one game should define who our kids are," Heights coach Nic Simons said. "From the seniors all the way down to our sophomore goalkeeper, I couldn't be more proud of the season this group had. We had a lot of goals set this year, and one of our goals was playing in front of a home crowd at state this year, and we came up just a bit short of that.
"These kids are an amazing group. These type of days is the worst part of my job. I absolutely hate this part of my job. But, I mean, darn, I have to be proud of these guys. They have gone through a lot as a group."
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's soccer team had plenty to celebrate Thursday night at McElroy Field.
First and foremost, the Junior Blues continued their season with a 5-1 regional rout over Wichita Northwest, advancing to next Tuesday's Class 6A state quarterfinals to host Derby (14-4-0), a 2-0 winner over Garden City Thursday night.
Washburn Rural senior Easton Bradstreet scored two goals in Thursday's 5-1 regional win over Wichita Northwest, earning a share of Rural's career scoring record with his 57th goal. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural senior Benett Hallauer advances the ball during Rural's 5-1 regional win over Wichita Northwest as Northwest sophomore Elijah Benning defends. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural, now 15-3-0, dominated Thursday's regional final against Northwest, which had come within an eyelash of tying the Junior Blues in Rural's third game of the season.
"It just shows growth,'' Washburn Rural coach Brian Hensyel said. "We just told the guys, on Sept. 1st it was an even game that we won at the very end, but probably should have been a tie and over seven or eight weeks we're here with a 5-1 victory.
"We're really young. We've got a lot of young guys playing and now that they've got a whole season under their belt obviously they've kind of turned the corner so I'm proud of them.''
