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 2023 season Sept. 1.
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If there was a high school football team in Kansas that had a tougher schedule than Topeka High did last fall they'll have to prove it to Trojan coach Carlos Kelly.
Carlos Kelly's Topeka High Trojans will be looking to improve on last fall's 1-8 record despite an extremely tough '23 schedule. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
And Topeka High, coming off a 1-8 season in 2022 while facing teams that posted a 72-29 combined record, will face that same gauntlet of a schedule this fall.
"We open up the season in Weeks 1 and 2 with the 2022 (Class) 5A state runnerup, Maize (12-1), and 6A state champion Manhattan (13-0),'' Kelly said.
The Trojans will also take on Hays (10-2 last fall), Washburn Rural (8-3), Wichita Northwest (8-3) and Junction City (7-3).
But although he knows the Trojans will face a tough challenge again this fall, Kelly is counting on four-year starters BJ Canady and Isaiah Kincade to lead the way as Topeka High aims to make progress in '23.
"It's still going to be a tough season but BJ and Isaiah and guys like that are really hungry,'' said Kelly, who is starting his fourth season as High's head coach. "This senior class, and there's very few of them, there's like four, but those four have have pulled the younger classes together so we had a really, really great summer.
"We were able to take 38 kids to Pitt State (camp) and that was a great experience because they were automatically thrown into the fire against teams like Bartlesville, Okla. and all those schools that already have spring ball and we step off the bus with only two practices. A lot of daubers went down and heads went down, but we just had to pick ourselves up. We had three days there and it gave them a good wakeup call about how they needed to prepare this summer.''
BJ Canady, a 6-foot-7, 255-pound senior, is a top returner for Topeka High. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Canady (6-foot-7, 255-pound quarterback/defensive end) and Kincade (6-0, 195 running back/defensive back) have started for the Trojans since they stepped on Topeka HIgh's campus while wide receiver Jayden Norman (6-0, 180) is one of the state's top juniors, catching 61 passes for 879 yards and five touchdowns a year ago.
Canady, who started for the Trojans at quarterback as a freshman, will return to that position this fall after the graduation of Peyton Wheat (1,718 passing yards, eight touchdowns) and is also regarded as a Division I college prospect, possibly at defensive end.
Another budding star for the Trojans is 6-0, 185 receiver/defensive back Malicah Murph, a sophomore.
Kelly has also beefed up his coaching staff, which includes Tobian Thomas and Tony Canacari, who along with Kelly, were members of Walt Alexander's staff during a highly-successful run in the 1990s.
"A lot of our kids don't get a chance to play any organized football before they get to us and they're raw so there's just so much support that's needed,'' Kelly said.
Topeka High will open its season on the road at Maize Friday night before playing its home opener on Sept. 8 against Manhattan at Hummer Sports Park.
"We just want to be solid,'' Kelly said. "We want to make sure that we don't give anybody a gimme win but that it's a hard-fought game and they know they played somebody that Friday night.''
TOPEKA HIGH
2023 football schedule
(Home games at Hummer Sports Park)
September -- 1 at Maize, 8 Manhattan, 14 Liberal, 22 at Emporia, 29 Wichita Northwest.
October -- 6 at Washburn Rural, 13 Junction City, 20 at Hays, 27 Playoffs.
Next up: Topeka West.
