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Washburn University puts together solid effort in decisive 42-21 MIAA win over Missouri Southern
By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
A team effort in all three phases of the game gave Washburn University football its second MIAA victory of the season, a 42-21 win over Missouri Southern at Yager Stadium Saturday.
Six different Ichabods scored, including a defensive lineman who said he blacked out and didn’t know how he wound up in the end zone.
Washburn started fast, with several big plays by Highland Park graduate Tre Richardson providing the spark. With the defense locked in, they jumped on the visiting Lions 21-0 in the first period.
“We started out hot and then kept the pressure on,” Washburn coach Craig Schurig said. “Defense did a really good job getting the ball back. Our run game was on point. That opens up a lot of things.
“I’m really proud of our guys for playing fast and not hesitant at all. We still had some mistakes and Southern kind of clawed back in it a little bit. But I’m proud of the way we responded.”
Richardson put the Ichabods up early when he hauled in a swing pass from Keller Hurla and took it 29 yards for a touchdown.
A fumble by Missouri Southern put the Ichabods right back in business. A reverse to Richardson produced a 41-yard run to set up a second Washburn touchdown – a 4-yard run by Lucas Oitker.
Washburn quarterback Sam Van Dyne was next to find the end zone. His 7-yard run put the Ichabods up 21-0 at the close of the first period.
The Lions got on the board with a short run early in the second period when an interception set them up on the Ichabod 5-yard line.
Washburn responded with a 20-yard scoring run from Tylan Crochett and went to intermission with a 28-7 lead.
The Lions opened the second half with a score to close to 28-14. But Washburn’s Maury Sullivan took a Van Dyne pass to the end zone for a 9-yard TD on the ensuing drive.
The Ichabods pinned Missouri Southern deep with the kickoff, setting up the play of the game.
Sniffing out a middle screen, 290-pound defensive lineman Chase McCoy tipped, then reeled in, a pass and rumbled 20 yards for touchdown, the first of his career at any level.
“I got the ball and just kind of blacked out,” McCoy said. “I gave a stiff arm, got a little shifty out there and ended up in the end zone. Don’t know how that happened. The goal was just to not fall down.”
“Defensive touchdown, that just sends shock waves through everybody,” Schurig said. “(McCoy) looked good running the ball. We may have to put him at fullback. He wasn’t going to go down.”
McCoy’s touchdown highlighted a solid defensive effort by the Ichabods.
Defensively, the Ichabods were led by Jordan Finney's seven tackles and a breakup, while five other Ichabods had at least five stops. Washburn had two sacks for 15 yards and six tackles for a loss for 21 yards, adding five pass breakups.
“As a defense, this week we locked in and knew what we had to do to win this game,” said Washburn Rural graduate J.C. Heim, who recorded five tackles, including three for loss. “I think people see when we get on a roll, we can get hot. We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing in practice and take it to the next level.”
With four games remaining in the season, Washburn will look to build on the victory next Saturday at Central Missouri.
“We wanted to play well at home. We got off to a great start and the crowd got into it,” Schurig said. “I’m really proud of the guys. The practices have been good. Their effort, enthusiasm … we compete in practice and they go at it hard. It’s great to see them get reward for that.
“As a coach, you like seeing your guys happy at the end of the game. That’s part of the joy of coaching.”
WASHBURN 42, MISSOURI SOUTHERN 21
Zulueta caps dominating postseason run with third Class 4A state title as Hayden rolls to team crown
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Hayden senior tennis star Ainzley Zulueta capped one of the most dominant postseason runs in Kansas history on Saturday at Kossover Tennis Center, capturing her third Class 4A singles championship while leading the Wildcats to their second team title in three seasons.
In fact, although a rare player may equal it, no netter will ever surpass what Zulueta accomplished this fall, going through both regionals and the state tournament without dropping a single game while posting eight straight 6-0, 6-0 victories.
Zulueta finished off her undefeated season and amazing postseason run with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Buhler freshman Sofia Spies in Saturday's state championship match.
Zulueta admitted that a perfect run wasn't necessarily a goal when postseason began, but the deeper she went, particularly in the state tournament, the more realistic it became.
"That wasn't my main goal going into it, but once I started at regionals without dropping a game that was kind of my goal going into state,'' Zulueta said.
Spies came within a point of ending Zulueta's streak when she jumped out to a 40-0 lead in the first game of the final, but Zulueta battled back to win that game and was in control the remainder of the match.
"Once I got past that first game I was really set on just staying in the point and not thinking about what would happen afterwards, just so I could stop her from getting a game, I guess,'' Zulueta said. "That was my goal.''
After winning state titles as a freshman and sophomore, Zulueta had to sit out her junior high school season after attending a tennis academy in Texas.
But she said that just made her more determined to add title No. 3.
"I was way more determined to win it this year,'' Zulueta said. "I wasn't expecting to go 0 and 0 throughout the whole entire tournament, but that makes it a lot more memorable.''
Zulueta, who will play collegiately at Ferris State (Mich.), said that winning multiple state titles became a goal before she ever got to Hayden after watching former Wildcat four-time champ Brooklyn Hunter.
"I would always look up to Brooklyn Hunter and I used to watch her when she was here, so my parents kind of instilled that goal in me. They were like, 'You could definitely do it,' so that kind of made it my goal going into high school,'' she said.
"That definitely kind of made me a lot more motivated throughout high school.''
All six members of the Hayden team earned state medals on Saturday, which made the weekend that much more memorable.
Senior Emily Sheetz, a two-time state doubles champion and four-time state medalist, teamed with freshman Sophia Wichman to finish second in doubles while junior Grace Funk finished ninth in singles and juniors Izzy Glotzbach and Avery O'Bray posted an 11th- place doubles finish.
No. 2 seed Sheetz and Wichman dropped a 6-1, 6-2 decision in the doubles final to Independence's top seeds Callie Schlorholtz, a senior, and junior Brooklyn Mattix.
Funk defeated Bishop Miege sophomore Ella Daniel 9-7 in the ninth-place singles match while Glotzbach and O'Bray took an 8-2 win over Miege's Mary Jeanne Thompson, a junior, and senior Shea Coughlan in the 11th-place match.
It all added up to the team championship by a 40-28 margin over McPherson, with Independence third with 26 points.
"It is a great weekend, and that was our whole goal,'' Hayden coach Christy Sheetz said of the team championship. "I knew going into it with Zulueta being back and Emily being strong at the doubles position that we had a great chance, especially because we were just very deep this year and the goal was always the team championship.''
Ismert, Fink go one-two as Washburn Rural girls claim Centennial League cross country crown
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural senior Rylee Ismert has put together a very solid cross country career, including a Class 6A state medal as a junior and top-five finishes in city, league and regional competition.
But wins had been hard to come by for the Junior Blue standout, something she took care of Saturday with a decisive individual championship by more than 18 seconds in the Centennial League meet on Rural's home course.
Ismert clocked a five-kilometer time of 18 minutes, 02.9 seconds to lead the way as Washburn Rural placed three runners in the top five and all of its top five in the top 12 spots as the Junior Blues rolled to the league team title by a 28-54 margin over Manhattan.
Ismert said her pre-race goal was to stick as long as possible with senior teammate Payton Fink, the 2023 league champ.
"That was the plan because I knew that we would both push each other if we stayed together,'' Ismert said.
Ismert eventually took the lead about the two-mile mark and pulled away for the win while Fink finished second in 18:21.4.
"I guess I just kind of felt it,'' Ismert said. "I felt better than I thought I was going to, so I put a little surge into it and wanted to see what happened.''
Junior Emily Graf was fifth (18:52.6) for the Junior Blues while senior Brooklyn Nolte finished 10th (19:38.8) and junior Kenzie Maddox 12th (20:21.0) to round out the Junior Blues' top five.
"We've been training really hard this season and our coaches have been giving us really good workouts and it's paying off a lot for us,'' Ismert said.
Hayden got a seventh-place finish from senior Elliot Wrench (19:24.1).
Junction City senior Ethan Fontaine won the boys individual title in 15:49.4 to lead the way as the Blue Jays put five runners in the top 11 en route to winning the team championship by a 28-43 margin over Manhattan.
Washburn Rural finished third with 61 points as Henry Laubach continued his outstanding freshman season with a second-place finish behind Fontaine in 15:49.4.
The Junior Blues also got a top-10 finish from junior Brooks Kehoe (16:25.6), who placed ninth.
Hayden finished fifth in the boys standings with 127 points whle Topeka High was sixth with 158 points.
Washburn Rural and Topeka High will be vying for state berths in a Class 6A state regional meet next Saturday at Kanza Park, with the girls race at 10:35 a.m. and the boys at 11:45.
Hayden will compete in a 4A regional next Saturday at Blue Valley Southwest, with the girls running at 10 a.m. and the boys at 11:10.
State competition will be held on Saturday, Nov. 2, with 6A competing at Rim Rock Farm north of Lawrence and 4A competing at Wamego Country Club.
CENTENNIAL LEAGUE CROSS COUNTRY