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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
There's no doubt that last week's 28-24 MIAA road loss at then-No. 23-ranked Nebraska-Kearney was a gut punch for Washburn University's football team.
It's a game Ichabod coach Craig Schurig and his team knows that it could have and perhaps should have won, but now the key for 2-1 Washburn is to bounce back with a strong effort in Saturday's 1 p.m. MIAA Family Day contest against 2-1 Missouri Western at Yager Stadium.
Washburn took a 24-21 lead on a Kameron Lake field goal with 8:34 left to go in the game, but 3-0 Nebraska-Kearney got the game-winning touchdown from quarterback TJ Davis with less than a minute remaining.
"We knew it was going to be close and we knew Kearney is good,'' Schurig said. "I felt like it was a good football game live, obviously, and then afterwards you're like, 'Man, we left some points on the field,' and that ended up costing us.
"Defensively we got them in third and long, which you wanted, and they made the plays, so your hat's off to them. It was frustrating, but you're also like, 'We've got a good team, we've got to rebound.' This conference, week-in and week-out you've got to be ready.''
Washburn senior quarterback Mitch Schurig has passed for 732 yards and six touchdowns entering Saturday's home tilt against Missouri Western. [File photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Ichabod senior quarterback Mitch Schurig has completed 52 of 87 passes for 732 yards and 6 touchdowns while sophomore Taylon Peters has carried the ball 39 times for 351 yards and three TDs. Senior James Letcher Jr. has caught 14 passes for 258 yards and two scores.
Senior linebacker Jacob Anderson leads Washburn with 17 tackles (13 solo).
The Griffons, who beat Washburn 46-21 in 2019, have won their last two games, rallying from a 28-7 deficit against Emporia State with 31 second-half points to post a 38-37 win over the Hornets. It was the second straight game the Griffons trailed at the half before coming back for the win.
Missouri Western has outscored its opponents 82-23 in the second half, including a 48-10 advantage in the third quarter.
The Griffons' opponents have outscored Western 69-24 in the first half and 38-7 in the second quarter.
All tickets for Saturday's game must be pre-purchased. There will be no walk-up ticket sales at the gate on Saturday. Tickets are available at wutickets.com.
Washburn will be on the road at Emporia State on Oct. 2 (1 p.m.).
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Seaman’s goal on Thursday night was to rebound from Week 3's devastating overtime loss to Junction City and they did so in style.
The Vikings sailed past the Chargers, 57-0, extending their win streak over the Chargers to 17 straight games.
Seaman coach Jared Swafford told TopSports last week that the short week was going to be a challenge, but he believed in his guys.
“I am very proud of the dedication of our kids,'' Swafford said. "They were faced with a lot of adversity this week -- a quick turnaround, an away game and coming off of a loss wasn’t going to be an easy thing to overcome. We trusted each other and the results were great tonight. I am proud of them.”
Seaman’s defensive effort on Thursday night was poetic. The defense was running wild and making impact plays against Topeka West from the first snap to the last.
Seaman sacked West quarterback Malachi Berg seven times and Callen Barta recorded an interception and the game was all Vikings from the beginning.
![Seaman quarterback Camden Barta threw for five TDs as the Vikings rolled to a 57-0 win over Topeka West Thursday. [File photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]](/images/aa-images/Barta.jpg)
Seaman quarterback Camden Barta threw for five TDs as the Vikings rolled to a 57-0 win over Topeka West Thursday. [File photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Camden Barta threw for 149 yards and three touchdowns in the first quarter, completing a 7-yard touchdown to Casen Stallbaumer, a 40-yard TD to Brody Gormley and a 58-yard dart to PJ Vargas.
After a Week 3 injury to starting running back Aiden Polter, Seaman looked to Kaden Ireland to take the load for the Vikes and Ireland delivered a big first half with eight carries for 86 yards and two touchdowns.
At the half, Seaman had 255 total yards with five touchdowns and racked up 36 points while West accumulated a total of 46 yards in the half.
Seaman would take the ball to begin the third quarter and nice sustained rushes by Ireland and quick passes drove the Vikings down to the 29-yard line.
Camden Barta would then find Gormley again for a 29-yard touchdown.
The Chargers were handled by Seaman in the second drive of the third quarter which resulted in the Vikings getting the ball back. Just a couple plays later, Barta would throw a 71-yard bomb to Vargas, putting the Vikes up 50-0 to cap off the third quarter.
Alex Mah scoree the only touchdown in the fourth, an 8-yard run to put Seaman up 57-0.
Seaman (3-1) will hit the road to take on a tough Manhattan team next Friday while Topeka West (1-3) will travel to Junction City to take on the Blue Jays.
SEAMAN 57, TOPEKA WEST 0
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
The crosstown contest did not disappoint for Seaman's boys soccer team Thursday as the Vikings notched their second victory of the season with a 4-0 Centennial League win over Topeka West at Hummer Sports Park.
"It was great to get in the win column, but it wasn't our best performance,'' Seaman coach Jacob Kirmer said. "We have a lot more to prove.''
Seaman soccer coach Jacob Kirmer talks to his team Thursday night at Hummer Sports Park. The Vikings blanked Topeka West, 4-0. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
Senior Gavin Wilhelm’s two goals keyed the Vikings' victory, with his first goal coming on a perfectly-executed free kick to open the scoring while his second goal came on a high-flying header. Pablo Font kicked the ball from the corner and Wilhelm out-jumped a pack of Chargers crowding Wilhelm as he hit the ball in for the score.
Kyson Evans added a first-half goal to put the Vikes in front 3-0 at the half. The goal came right by the crossbar and it was two Vikings versus one Charger near the line.
Only one goal was scored in the second half, as Topeka West and Seaman’s defenses both had stellar second halves.
The one score came from Font, who had an unassisted goal with 7:33 left.
Ayden Thompson picked up the shutout in goal for Seaman, which improved to 2-7. Topeka West fell to 0-7 on the year.
SEAMAN 4, TOPEKA WEST 0
Seaman (2-7-0) 3 1 -- 4
Topeka West (0-7-0) 0 0 -- 0
Seaman -- Goals: Wilhelm 2, Evans, Font. Assist: Font. Shutout: Thompson
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After an uncharacteristic third-place finish in last year's city girls tennis tournament, perennial city power Washburn Rural found its way back to the top Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center, riding its balance to a 28-23 victory over 2020 champion Seaman.
The Junior Blues advanced their entire team to the finals to put themselves in position to win the tournament and finished the day with two titles and two runner-up finishes to claim the team championship.
Washburn Rural's girls tennis team poses for a team picture after winning the city championship by a 28-23 margin over Seaman Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural got titles in No. 2 singles from Mena DiMarzio and in No. 2 doubles from Hailey Beck and Shelby Schmutzler while Sheriden Wichman finished second in No. 1 singles and Meredith Kucera and Kate Fritz took second in No. 1 doubles.
DiMarzio captured the No. 2 singles title with an 8-1 win over Seaman's Katie Krumins while Beck and Schumutzler remained undefeated on the season with an 8-1 win over Hayden.
"It was a good team win for the girls, to have the No. 2s come through like we thought they could,'' Washburn Rural coach Kevin Hedberg said. "I really like our depth and our depth really came through today.''
Hayden freshman Ainzley Zulueta won the No. 1 singles title in her first city tournament. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Hayden freshman Ainzley Zulueta was a hit in her first city tournament, claiming the No. 1 singles championship, while Seaman senior Grace Unruh and junior Lauren Sweeney successfully defended their No. 1 doubles championship.
Zulueta claimed the No. 1 singles crown with an 8-1 win in the finals over Rural two-time city champ Wichman.
"The past two tournaments have been kind of tough and I had some tough losses, so it felt pretty good to win again,'' Zulueta said. "I was nervous going into the finals match, but it just kind of fell my way once I started getting the lead.''
Zulueta said getting out in front early was the key to the match.
"It helps a lot,'' she said. "Usually when I lose the first game I'm kind of discouraged, but after winning the first game I kind of carried on with that.''
Until recently Zulueta wasn't aware of the city meet, but was happy to get Thursday's win.
"I didn't even know there was a city meet, to be honest,'' Zulueta said. "I only knew about regionals and state, but once it was the month of September I saw the city meet and thought, 'That's pretty important.' A lot of people told me about it and it seemed like something I wanted to win.''
Seaman's Lauren Sweeney (left) and Grace Unruh won their second straight city title in No. 1 doubles Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Unruh and Sweeney swept the city, Centennial League and regional doubles titles a year ago before finishing fourth in the Class 5A state meet and are off and rolling again, improving to 17-0 with Thursday's win over Kucera and Fritz in the championship match.
Unruh captured her third city doubles title and second with Sweeney and said the experience the duo has together is a key factor in their success.
"This is my first year ever having the same partner and the confidence we have in each other is so different than playing with somebody for one year,'' Unruh said.
Sweeney agreed.
"Not only are we great doubles partners, but we're very close outside of tennis,'' Sweeney said.
TOPEKA CITY GIRLS TENNIS TOURNAMENT
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THE PENNANT PLAYER PROFILE
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
About the only stat Washburn University senior volleyball star Allison Maxwell pays a lot of attention to is the final score.
"It's pretty much the parents that pick out stats and will tell us afterwards, like, 'Oh, you had this many kills,' '' Maxwell said. "Then you're like, 'That's, cool,' but mainly we focus on winning and mostly having fun.''
Washburn senior Allison Maxwell (8) delivers a kill in Tuesday's 3-0 MIAA volleyball sweep over Emporia State. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But the 6-foot-1 middle hitter out of Jefferson City, Mo. is proud of the statistical milestone she reached last Saturday at Nebraska-Kearney, with Maxwell becoming the 23rd player in Washburn history to reach the 1,000 kill mark for their career.
Even though Maxwell knew she was getting close to 1,000, it still kind of snuck up on her.
"I think it was during preseason and I checked and I saw I had like 800 (893),'' Maxwell said. "I think that was the only time I ever checked and then I kind of forgot about it since then.''
But after recording 13 kills in a 3-1 win over the then-No. 1 ranked Lopers, a win that propelled the 11-1 Ichabods to the top spot in this week's national rankings, Maxwell found out that she had more than one reason to celebrate that huge road win.
"It was a really cool moment,'' Maxwell said. "We were in the locker room and one of my teammates looked at her phone and it was a notification on her phone and she goes, 'Oh my God, Alli got 1,000 kills tonight!' So we all just screamed and it was a good moment.''
