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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Highland Park's football team is very proud of its offensive firepower.
But the Scots may be ever prouder of their work on the other side of the ball, with undefeated Highland Park pushing its shutout streak to four games with Friday's 48-0 Meadowlark Conference romp past Kansas City-Harmon at Hummer Sports Park.
Highland Park's defense gang tackles KC-Harmon's Nino Howard en route to its fourth straight shutout, a 48-0 win over the Hawks. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"That was 100 percent the goal when I came here to this school,'' Highland Park coach Jermaine Monroe said. "There were a bunch of guys who wanted to play offense, nobody wanted to play defense and we wanted to build a defense, build a love for defense and get guys who strictly just want to play 'D.'
"We've got about 15 guys on the team who just want to be defensive guys and those guys are flying around, making big plays, and our defensive coordinator, Jacob Kessler, does a great job of keeping it simple for the boys so they can fly around and not complicate things and I think that's what makes it fun for our boys.''
Highland Park (4-0 overall, 4-0 conference), which has now outscored its opponents by a 174-0 margin, limited Harmon (1-3, 0-3) to just 33 total yards Friday night, with the Hawks getting no further than their own 45-yard-line.
Senior Craig Sipple is helping spearhead the Scots' defense at linebacker this fall after starting at quarterback as a junior.
"I'm having a lot of fun playing defense, flying around making tackles,'' Sipple said.
And Sipple said the Scots are savoring their shutout runs.
"It's crazy,'' Sipple said. "I'm telling you, I've never seen it been done here. This is literally the first time I've ever seen it be done, the first four games and no points let up. This is amazing.
"We have a big senior class and everybody wants to win. This is our last year, this is my last year, so everybody is really just trying to win.''
Highland Park senior Jamon Wilson leaves the Harmon defense in his wake on the way to a touchdown in Friday's 48-0 Scot win over the Hawks. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Offensively and on special teams Highland Park got another huge night from senior Jamon Wilson, who scored on a 55-yard run, a 48-yard run, a 50-yard punt return and an 89-yard kickoff run.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn football will hit the road for the second time this season on Saturday as the Ichabods travel to St. Joseph, Mo. to face the Missouri Western Griffons at 2 p.m.
Sophomore receiver D.J. Bell had six catches for 117 yards in last week's 39-31 MIAA loss to Pittsburg State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Highland Park product Tre Richardson had four catches for 107 yards in Washburn's 39-31 loss to Pittsburg State last Saturday. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Washburn (0-3 overall, 0-2 MIAA) is coming off a 39-31 loss to No. 10-ranked Pittsburg State, as for the second-straight week the Ichabods took a Top 10 team down to the wire with a chance to tie the game on the final drive. The week before against Colorado Mines the Ichabods took the Orediggers down to the end of the game, but a 44-yard potential game-tying field goal came up short.
"You've got to get over the hump,'' Washburn coach Craig Schurig said. "We look back and we've played three good teams and we feel like we've gotten better each week and don't have much to show for it except that we've improved and each game was a little different.
"But I think our kids have grown from it and I think we've gotten a little tougher from last week. The effort was really good and we're going to need that on the road versus Western and hopefully we can get over the hump.''
Schurig believes that the Ichabods are on the brink of a breakthrough victory.
"We had a great week of practice last week and we want to show that that's the standard that we've got to push to do that,'' Schurig said. "You know how hard you've got to play to win, so get yourselves geared towards that each week and the things you can control are how you play, cutting down on the mental mistakes and the penalties and the games will start to go our way if we continue to play that way.''
The Ichabods will be facing a Missouri Western team (2-2, 1-2) that is coming off a 30-27 overtime loss at No. 13-ranked Emporia State last Saturday.
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By NICHOLAS GAINEY
Special to TopSports.news
The Topeka High boys soccer team earned its seventh win in a row with a 3-0 Centennial League victory over visiting Emporia on Thursday night at Hummer Sports Park.
Topeka High senior Ian Martinez scored his 12th and 13th goals and also had an assist in Thursday's 3-0 Centennial League win over Emporia. [File photo/TSN]
The Trojans controlled possession for most of the first 10 minutes, but nearly fell behind when the Spartans made a run down the left wing. A cross into the box led to a close-range shot attempt, but the offside flag went up to put an end to the threat.
Topeka would get on the board in the 17th minute, when senior Antonio Aguirre found the back of the Spartan net off a corner kick from classmate Ian Martinez.
The Trojans would keep up the offensive pressure, with Martinez scoring his team-leading 12th goal of the season in the 29th minute, giving Topeka a 2-0 advantage at halftime.
The Trojans would continue to get most of the ball to begin the second half, and earned an opportunity to extend their lead when Martinez was taken down on the left side of the box for a penalty kick in the 59th minute.
Martinez converted the attempt for his second goal of the match and 13th of the season, giving Topeka a 3-0 lead that it would not relinquish.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Hayden girls tennis coach Christy Sheetz had very little doubt that Thursday's race for the city championship would go down to the wire.
Hayden poses for a picture after winning the city girls team tennis championship Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
And that's exactly what happened, with the come-from-behind win from the Wildcats' No. 2 doubles team of Izzy Glotzbach and Avery O'Bray in the final match of the night clinching Hayden's second city team title in three seasons by a 32-29 margin over Seaman. Washburn Rural finished third with 26 points.
"It always that way,'' Sheetz said of the close battle. "It's the way the scoring is, so you have to anticipate that it's going to be really, really tight and especially with Seaman and Washburn Rural. We're the little guy coming in.''
Hayden took a one-point margin into the No. 2 doubles final, but the Wildcats needed a win by Glotzbach and O'Bray to hold off the Vikings and got down early before rallying for an 8-4 win over Seaman's Kaylyn Hiebsch and Camryn Lux.
Hayden also got a city title from senior star Ainzley Zulueta in No. 1 singles while senior Emily Sheetz and freshman Sophia Wichman posted a second-place finish in No. 1 doubles and junior Grace Funk finished second in No. 2 singles.
"I feel really good about where the girls are right now,'' Christy Sheetz said. "We have three dual-sport athletes on our top six. We've got a volleyball player (Wichman), we've got a golfer in Izzy Glotzbach and Grace Funk also does debate so it's kind of a chess match sometimes putting partners together and figuring out where things are.
"Having Ainzley Zulueta back (after missing her junior season) is a huge part of it, Emily Sheetz coming on with a new partner who's a freshman, that was really, really important and Grace Funk doing what she did in the No. 2 singles spot but this last match (the No. 2 doubles final) was pretty amazing.''
Hayden senior Ainzley Zulueta won the city title in No. 1 singles on Thursday, helping the Wildcats capture the team championship. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Zulueta, a two-time Class 4A state singles champion, took an 8-0 win over Seaman sophomore Emma Sweeney in the No. 1 singles final, capping a dominating day.
Zulueta had to sit out her junior high school season due to an eligibility issue after attending an out-of-state tennis academy but returned to win the third city title of her career.
"I'm glad to be back,'' Zulueta said. "It's nice to be with the team again, traveling and all of that. I kind of missed it. That was the thing I missed most.''
Washburn Rural seniors Izzy Haggard (right) and Emerie Catlin won the city No. 1 doubles title Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center after winning the No. 2 crown in 2023. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural seniors Emerie Catlin and Izzy Haggard, who won the city No. 2 doubles title in 2023, won the No. 1 doubles championship on Thursday with an 8-6 win over E. Sheetz and Wichman.
Catlin and Haggard trailed 3-0 at the start of the match before rallying to claim the championship.
"We just weren't being aggressive at the net and then we clicked and started being aggressive,' Catlin said.
"We got down a little bit and she (Catlin) helped pick us up,'' Haggard said.
Haggard and Catlin have been doubles partners throughout their high school careers and Haggard said it felt good to win the No. 1 title in the duo's final city meet.
"It's a good feeling,'' she said. "I think it's the best we've ever played together.''
Seaman junior Molly Gorman won the city title in No. 2 singles Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Junior Molly Gorman won the No. 2 singles title for Seaman, taking an 8-4 win over Funk, while the Vikings also got a third-place finish in No. 1 doubles from Sidney Chinn and Peyton Henry.
CITY GIRLS TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Hayden moves back to Class 4A for the 2024-2025 school year in all sports except football in the latest classifications released by the Kansas State High school Activities Association on Thursday while Rossville will move down to 2A.
Hayden is back in its accustomed spot in 4A after a brief stint in 3A while longtime 3A school Rossville moves down to 2A in all sports except football. Hayden is a 3A school in football while Rossville is in its first season in 1A on the gridiron.
Hayden, with 333 students is the third smallest 4A school in the state while Rossville is the fourth largest 2A school with 170 students.
The other eight Shawnee County high schools remained in the same classifications -- Washburn Rural and Topeka High in 6A, Seaman, Shawnee Heights, Topeka West and Highland Park in 5A, Silver Lake in 3A and Cair Paravel Latin in 2A.
KSHSAA 2024-2025 CLASSIFICATIONS
