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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
A disputed call in a scoreless match marred a soccer battle between Washburn Rural and Shawnee Heights that eventually went the way of the Junior Blues 5-0 Tuesday night at Bettis Family Sports Complex.
Washburn Rural junior Brandon Hamilton had a goal and two assists in Tuesday's 5-0 non-league road win over Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Midway through the first half, the Shawnee Heights goalkeeper was issued a red card for an unsafe tackle in front of the goal. When a T-Bird defender was similarly penalized for his reaction to the call, Shawnee Heights found itself down two key players at the 15:41 mark.
After T-Bird coach Nic Simons was red-carded for arguing his displeasure, the game took on a different tone.
To their credit, the T-Birds didn’t give up despite Washburn Rural’s Brandon Hamilton banging home the penalty kick. But the Junior Blues added a second goal just before halftime – a Brodye Kocher-Munoz score assisted by Hamilton – and gradually pulled away.
“I actually thought that while we created more opportunities, it was a fairly even game the first 20 minutes before the (penalty kick),” Washburn Rural coach Brian Hensyel said. “Shawnee Heights had good effort. When you come to their home field, they are always going to bring energy, and if we don’t match that, it’s going to be a tough game.
“For the first 20 minutes they had the better energy, and I thought, ‘This is going to be a tough one tonight.’ But then that call broke the game open. That just changes the complexion of the game. Give them credit, down two guys, they still played real hard all night.”
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Josh Kutter's young Topeka West soccer team, which has 13 underclassmen and four freshmen on its varsity roster, will no doubt face some growing pains at times this fall.
Topeka West freshman Valentin Del Real (3) scored the game-winning goal in Tuesday's 2-1 non-league soccer win over Hayden. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
But Kutter is confident the Chargers have the talent to overcome their youth and West showed evidence of that in Tuesday's 2-1 non-league season-opening road win over city rival Hayden.
"We're young, but very talented,'' Kutter said. "To have this kind of competitive game against a solid team, it really helps us see what we've got to work on but also build that confidence that they're going to need.
"We have quite a few freshmen and sophomores in that lineup that have skill on the ball and they're smart and they play intense, so they're ready to jump right in.''
Freshman midfielder Valentin Del Real scored West's game-winning goal with 4 minutes, 42 seconds remaining, snapping a 1-1 tie, before the Charger defense held the Wildcats out of the goal the rest of the way.
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
Former Seaman and Kansas University standout Ryan Zeferjahn’s dream of pitching in the Major Leagues has come true, with Zeferjahn promoted to the Los Angeles Angels on August 22.
Ryan Zeferjahn's dream of pitching in the Major Leagues came true late last month when he was promoted by the California Angels. [Photo by Los Angeles Angels]
Prepared to pitch in a AAA game for the Angels’ affiliate in Salt Lake that day, Zeferjahn was summoned from the bullpen to the dugout.
“When that call comes, you don’t know if it’s going to be a good or a bad thing. You never know,” Zeferjahn said in a phone interview. “The manager and everyone was looking at me and he said, ‘You’re no longer needed here. You’re going to the big leagues.’ It was like my heart dropped and I was like ‘Oh my.’ ”
Zeferjahn quickly packed and took an overnight flight to Toronto in time for a three-game series with the Blue Jays. The whirlwind didn’t allow much time for reflection.
“You can always expect it, thinking, ‘Hopefully my chance is going to come soon.’ So, I thought the call might come. But it was cool to finally get my chance,” said the 2016 Seaman grad.
Once in Toronto, Zeferjahn waited two days to be summoned from the bullpen, which he noted helped calm his nerves and allowed him to settle in.
The call came on August 25, in the seventh inning, with the Angels trailing by a substantial amount. Adding to the excitement of his Major League debut was a unique game circumstance.
With two strikes on the Toronto batter, Angels’ pitcher Matt Moore suffered an elbow injury. Zeferjahn was called in to complete the at-bat, and in just one pitch, recorded a strikeout.
“I was pretty warm so when I got out there, I was ready to go,” Zeferjahn said. “And what better way to start than to have my first career pitch be a strikeout?”
The feat might just be the first of its kind in Major League Baseball history. Pitch tracking doesn’t go back very far, but according to the limited data available, no pitcher has every recorded a strikeout on his first big league pitch.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's football team graduated one of the most talented senior classes coach Steve Buhler has had in his 36-year coaching career from last fall's 11-1 Junior Blue team that came within a late Derby field goal of advancing to the Class 6A state championship game.
Veteran Washburn Rural football coach Steve Buhler is starting his 12th season at Rural, with the Junior Blues coming off an 11-1 record last fall. [File photo/TSN]
But the Rural cupboard is far from bare and the Junior Blues' goal remains the same this season, to play for a state title.
"The expectations shouldn't change and we talked about that in our team meeting before we started,'' said Buhler, who is starting his 12th season at the school. "We usually pick goals and this year I took a little liberty and I said, 'I'm picking the goal and the goal is we're going to go one more game than we did last year and you guys don't have a say. That's what we're doing,' and the seniors, they want to be there, too, and they want to take the next step.
"As bad as it was not getting to the state championship game and losing on the last-second field goal and all of that stuff, for this year's team it left the door open for saying, 'Hey, we can go one step further than the other groups we had before them and be the guys that get there,' so it's good incentive.''
Washburn Rural returns 25 lettermen from last year's Centennial League championship team, including six starters on both sides of the ball and 11 returners who earned TopSports.news All-Shawnee County recognition (Top 22, Second 22 or honorable mention) a year ago.
Washburn Rural senior defensive back King Leonard earned All-Shawnee County Top 22 laurels last season after picking off nine passes. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn Rural senior cornerback Wilson Miller (2) was named the Shawnee County defensive newcomer of the year last fall. [File photo/TSN]
That group includes returning senior Top 22 pick King Leonard, a 5-foot-9, 175-pound free safety, and Shawnee County defensive newcomer of the year Wilson Miller, a 5-11,180 senior cornerback.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Editor's note: TopSports.news has finished its tour of preseason football practices at all 10 Shawnee County high schools and will post preview stories over the coming days leading into the opening games of the 2024 season on Sept. 6.
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Trey Parker served as Topeka West's interim football coach for the final three games of the 2022 season before guiding West for his first full campaign last fall.
Trey Parker is entering his second full season as Topeka West's football coach, with the Chargers' looking to improve on back-to-back 1-8 seasons. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
And with that 12 games of experience and two offseasons with the Chargers under his belt, Parker thinks his team is ready to take a step forward this fall after back-to-back 1-8 campaigns.
"This summer we started to see them turn the corner,'' said Parker, a former Washburn University standout. "We just kept preaching CCA. I said it from Day 1 and we've been consistent with that message: They've got to be committed, they've got to be consistent and now we're holding each other accountable and I think that's a good thing to see.
"This summer, the few camps we went to we started to see those leaders pop out of the group and now they're doing pretty good.''
Parker said he's also seen an increase in the Chargers' numbers and progress in the weight room.
"It started in our school,'' Parker said. "We had a bunch of athletes walking the halls that just don't play any sports at all, so first we had to persuade them to play. Then they all got in the weight room and now they're starting to feel themselves, they're starting to see their body changing and now they're walking around looking like athletes.''
Now Parker is banking on those two factors translating into progress on the field this fall.
"I can't put a number on the amount of wins we want to see this year, but we definitely want to see those steps to where we're now competitive, that we're in games where people don't think we should be in, where we're a possession away from a win and things like that,'' Parker said. "We feel like if we can get ourselves in a position we have the athletes to win some of those games, so we're looking for that big jump this year.
"It's just like with anything you do in life, the more you do it the more you feel comfortable. We've gotten more comfortable with each other. They know who I am now and they know I love to joke and have a good time, but when it's time to work it's time to work.''
