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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
The 2021 Kansas high school football campaign has officially begun!
The Topeka High Trojans played host to Junction City Thursday night at Hummer Sports Park in the season-opener for Shawnee County football, with the Blue Jays rolling to a 34-0 Centennial League win in a game that was shortened due to inclement weather in the area.
Tylan Alejos
Junction City got '21 off to a scorching hot start, taking the opening kickoff and driving down the field for an 11-yard rushing touchdown by Tyree Holloway.
Topeka was stumped on the offensive side of the ball, with constant pressure from the Blue Jay defense early in the first quarter.
Later in the first, quarterback David Rowell connected with TJ Jones for a 19-yard touchdown to put the Blue Jays up 13-0 with 2.8 seconds to go in the opening quarter.
Early in the second quarter, Rowell threw a perfectly-placed pass to Holloway for 59 yards that led to another Junction City touchdown. The score became 20-0 with 9:25 to go in the first half.
With no answers from the Topeka High defense or offense, the Blue Jays took advantage of the Trojans to take control of the game.
Xavion Felton rushed for a 3-yard touchdown to put the Blue Jays up 27-0 with 6:22 left in the second and Rowell ran in a 1-yard touchdown minutes later to put Junction City up by its final 34-point margin.
Topeka High picked up some momentum on a 58-yard run by senior Tylan Alejos with 2.2 seconds left in the half, but Junction City's Tyre Smith picked off a Peyton Wheat pass to end the threat.
The game went into a lightning delay at 8:34 p.m. and multiple lightning strikes forced the game to be called.
Junction City (1-0) will take on Manhattan next week and Topeka High (0-1) will travel to Emporia.
Alejos rushed for 95 yards to lead Topeka High while Rowell passed for 129 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 55 yards and a TD to lead Junction City.
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- After losing the 2020 football season to COVID-19, Washburn University kicked off 2021 in grand style Thursday night, scoring the final 55 points of the game in a 76-12 road rout over the Lincoln Blue Tigers.
Washburn (1-0, 1-0 MIAA) rolled to its fifth-highest single-game point total in program history in the 64-point win.
After a punt snap was muffed by the Blue Tigers, it took the Ichabods just two plays to score their first points of the season as Taylon Peters scored on a 2-yard run with 13:01 to play in the first quarter.
After a Lincoln punt, Washburn marched 68 yards in five plays, capped by a 20-yard touchdown pass from Mitch Schurig to Jace Williams as Washburn went in front, 14-0.
Lincoln got on the board on its next drive on a 74-yard touchdown pass from Zamar Brake to Chrissuhn Robinson.
Washburn’s Zach Willis scores a second-quarter touchdown in the Ichabods’ 76-12 season-opening win over Lincoln Thursday night in Jefferson City, Mo. [Photo by Phil Anderson/Special to TSN]
The Ichabods used a five-play, 71-yard drive to push their lead to 21-6, with Zach Willis scoring on a 1-yard plunge. WU coughed the ball up on its next drive and the Blue Tigers cut the WU lead to 21-12.
Kameron Lake connected on a 23-yard field goal with 4:35 to play in the first half to put Washburn up 24-12.
Then, after the Ichabods forced a punt, Washburn went 61 yards in six plays for a 1-yard Connor Searcy TD to open up a 31-12 advantage.
Washburn blocks a second-quarter punt in the Ichabods’ 76-12 season-opening win at Lincoln on Thursday night in Jefferson City, Mo. [Photo by Phil Anderson/Special to TSN]
Washburn's special team unit blocked a Blue Tigers' punt to take over at the Lincoln 15 and Schurig found Williams for his second score of the game as Washburn took a 38-12 lead into the halftime break.
The second half was all Wasburn as the Ichabods outscored Lincoln by a 38-0 margin.
In the third quarter Washburn got a 31-yard scoring run from Peters, a 29-yard touchdown pass from Kellen Simoncic to JJ Letcher and a second scoring pass from Simoncic to Washburn Rural product Hunter Browning on a 15-yard pass as the Ichabods led 59-12 at the end of three quarters.
WU got a career-long 41-yard field goal from Lane and a pick six from Micah Skebo before Percy Mitchell ended the scoring with a 4-yard TD with 7:36 remaining.
Schurig finished 16 of 22 passing for 269 yards and the two scores to Williams while Letcher led the Ichabods with 116 receiving yards and one touchdown and Williams had 75 yards receiving on four catches. Peters led the Ichabod ground attack with 75 yards on 10 carries.
Defensively the Ichabods were led by Topeka High product Jacob Anderson's five stops as Washburn held the Blue Tigers to 203 total yards.
Washburn finished with 28 first downs compared to Lincoln's six.
The Ichabods will make their home debut next Thursday, hosting Central Missouri at Yager Stadium.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Traditionally, Washburn Rural loads up its early-season non-conference volleyball schedule with quality opponents, with veteran Junior Blues coach Kevin Bordewick figuring that win or lose the tough mathes will make his team better in the long run.
The 2021 campaign has been no different, with Rural taking on a Missouri state champion as well as perennial Kansas powers St. James Academy and Bishop Miege over the first week of the season.
So far the Junior Blues have passed each and every test, however, including an impressive sweep in Thursday's home triangular, improving to 5-0 on the season.
Washburn Rural's volleyball team celebrates a point during Thursday's triangular sweep at Rural. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Washburn Rural opened Thursday night's home opener with a 25-19, 25-14 victory over 25-time state champion Bishop Miege before taking a 25-6, 25-16 win over Gardner-Edgerton.
"Just in a week's time we've had five matches and I think we've had a lot of improvement with every match in some area,'' Bordewick said. "Now we've had some where we kind of regressed a little bit, but I thought against Gardner we were passing well, setting well, defending well.
"That first set against Gardner I thought we were pretty sharp all the way around.''
Washburn Rural senior Katelynn Brogan (9) makes a return as teammate Jada Ingram stands by Thursday night at Rural. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
While happy with the Junior Blues' start to the year, Bordewick knows that there are still plenty of challenges coming up.
"Even over the next two or three weeks we've got Olathe Northwest, Blue Valley West,'' Bordewick said. "We've still got a tough schedule ahead of us so whatever is done is done. We've got to look to the future and that starts tomorrow in practice.''
Washburn Rural junior star Brooklyn DeLeye goes up for a kill Thursday night at Rural. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Bishop Miege, the defending Class 4A state champion, led 9-7 in the first set against Rural, but 6-foot-2 Junior Blue junior star Brooklyn DeLeye, who has orally committed to defending NCAA national champion Kentucky, took over the match at that point.
A DeLeye kill ended a Miege mini-run and then DeLeye delivered five straight service aces during a long service run as Rural opened up a commanding 17-9 lead.
The Stags fought back to get as close as 21-18, but got no closer as the Junior Blues closed out the win on a DeLeye kill and a dink from junior Chloe Carlgren.
Miege hung around for awhile in the second set but Rural turned a 10-7 lead into advantages of 15-7 and 21-11 en route to the 11-point win.
The Junior Blues put on a clinic in the first set against Gardner-Edgerton, ending the rout with a long service run from 5-11 senior Katelynn Brogan.
The Trailblazers put up more of a fight in the second set, but Rural was never seriously challenged after opening up an early 14-4 advantage.
Gardner-Edgerton topped Miege 25-23, 27-25 in the middle match of the night.
MATCH RESULTS
Washburn Rural def. Bishop Miege, 25-19, 25-14; Gardner-Edgerton def. Bishop Miege, 25-23, 27-25; Washburn Rural def. Gardner-Edgerton, 25-6, 25-16.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Tylan Alejos
Tylan Alejos, Topeka High
A 5-foot-9, 195-pound senior running back and strong safety, Alejos was a standout on both sides of the ball for Topeka High in the 2020 season, earning All-City honors at running back while receiving All-Centennial League honorable mention.
Camden Barta
Camden Barta, Seaman
A senior quarterback/free safety, Barta played free safety for the 7-2 Vikings last season and backed up All-City Top 11 quarterback Reid Cowan. Barta is expected to move into the starting quarterback position for Seaman this fall.
Malachi Berg, Topeka West
Still just a junior, Berg is starting his third season as Topeka West's starting quarterback. The 6-3, 195-pound Berg received All-City honorable mention last season and will be looked on to provide leadership for the Chargers this fall.
Robby Bolin
Robby Bolin, Washburn Rural
A 6-2, 190-pound senior wide receiver/safety, Bolin was an All-City Top 11 selection last fall, catching 29 passes for 863 yards and eight touchdowns. Bolin received second-team All-Centennial League recognition on offense and honorable mention on defense and also received All-6A honorable mention.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
A layoff of 656 days will end Thursday night for Washburn University's football team, with the Ichadods traveling to Jefferson City, Mo. to face Lincoln in WU's 2021 MIAA season-opener (6 p.m. kickoff).
Washburn has been idle since ending the '19 season with a 57-41 win over Nebraska-Kearney.
Prior to the 2020 season being canceled due to the COVID pandemic, 1895 was the last time the Ichabod football team had a season in which no games counted toward its record.
And although the Ichabods have continued to practice off and on over the last year-plus, Washburn coach Craig Schurig said it's way past time to play a game.
"If you look at all the practices we've had, it was around 25 in the fall, 25 or so in the spring plus the 20-plus we've had now, so that's about 75 practices without a game,'' Schurig said. "That's a lot of practice, so even the coaches are like, 'Yeah, we're ready to play.'
"Usually coaches are like, 'We could use another week,' but we're ready.''
Schurig said he feels like his team is coming off a very productive fall camp.
"We feel like our practices went well,'' Schurig said. "We have a pretty veteran group, so it was pretty smooth. We just feel like we're prepared and hopefully we play well.''
James Letcher Jr. is top returner for Washburn's football team, earning honorable mention All-America honors in 2019 for the 6-5 Ichabods. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
