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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
It seemed unanimous around CJ Hamilton Field that Silver Lake played its best football against Wellsville Friday night, with players, coaches and fans respecting the Eagles and how good of a squad they are after the Eagles advanced to next Friday's Class 2A semifinals round with a 33-27 victory.
“This was one of the best victories I’ve seen in a long time,'' Silver Lake assistant coach Loren Ziegler said. "Wellsville is good. They are good in every phase of the game. They have a great line, great backs and a great quarterback. They were 10-0 for a reason.
“We played solid football for all four quarters. We played great offense and our defense was able to get some key stops.''
Going into Friday night, Wellsville’s defense had only allowed 6.4 points a game. Defensive end Kaleb Green went into the contest with 11.5 sacks and Wellville’s linebacking core and defensive front have made opposing offenses uncomfortable throughout the entirety of the 2021 season. The Wellsville defense was going to impose a challenge Silver Lake hasn’t seen all year long. How would Silver Lake take advantage of a defense with seemingly no weaknesses?
![Silver Lake quarterback Daigan Kruger helped lead the Eagles to a 33-27 Class 2A playoff win over previoiusly-unbeaten Wellsville Friday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]](/images/2024/08/Kruger2.jpg)
Silver Lake quarterback Daigan Kruger helped lead the Eagles to a 33-27 Class 2A playoff win over previoiusly-unbeaten Wellsville Friday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
It started with the passing game. In the Pioneer League (where Wellsville plays), teams do not pass as effectively and as often as Silver Lake does and Eagle quarterback Daigan Kruger was able to spread the ball out from sideline to sideline to five different receivers and put Wellsville in tough situations.
In the first half, fans got a true glimpse of Wellsville’s defensive front. Dez Winton muffed the opening kickoff and allowed Silver Lake to recover the football at the Wellsville 21-yard line.
Silver Lake was not able to move the ball far enough in the red zone, however, and Wellsville forced a four and out. At this point, Silver Lake knew that to win this game, its defense was going to have to be as powerful as Wellsville’s.
Silver Lake’s defense answered the ball in a big way in the first half, containing Eagles star running back Nash Money. Money came into Friday night’s contest with 1,497 yards rushing, 29 touchdowns and averaging 8 yards a carry. He was only able to put together 35 total yards in the first half due to outstanding blitzes by the Lake linebacking corps.
Silver Lake’s defense led the Eagles to a 13-6 lead going into the half, holding Wellsville’s offense to 73 total yards.
Silver Lake senior Brogan Renfro tries to pick up extra yardage in the Eagles' 33-27 Class 2A playoff win over Wellsville Friday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The second half wasn’t as defensive-heavy as the first. Silver Lake would make a powerful statement by scoring a rushing touchdown by Brogan Renfro on the opening drive of the third quarter.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
ROSSVILLE -- Rossville senior star Torrey Horak was feeling really good Friday night, which was really bad for Riverton.
Coming off a shoulder injury Horak entered the game at quarterback late in the first half and immediately gave the Bulldawgs a lift on the way to a 56-14 romp past the Rams in a Class 2A quarterfinal.
"I feel good, I feel really good,'' said Horak, who saw his first action at quarterback in four games after being injured in Week 7 against Silver Lake. "Coach (Derick) Hammes and I had talked that I wasn't going to play much quarterback this week and then he goes, 'Hey Torrey, you're at quarterback.'
"The first play was a pass play and I think I had a little bit of jitters and then kind of settled in after that and we started playing really well.''
Horak immediately led Rossville on a scoring drive to open up a 21-6 halftime lead and the Bulldawgs outscored the Rams 35-8 in the second half to turn the game into a rout.
Corey Catron scored four touchdowns in Rossville's 56-14 Class 2A playoff romp past Riverton Friday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Horak's return at quarterback allowed senior Corey Catron to return to his natural position at running back and Catron scored four touchdowns to lead the Bulldawgs to their 11th straight win this season and 24th overall.
"It was really hard (being out), but we had all the trust in the world in Corey,'' Horak said. "Obviously he got us to this point and has played really well and he's finally back in his element where he can really shine. He played real well.''
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By KYLE MANTHE
The Washburn Review
After a perfect 5-0 road trip Washburn volleyball returned home for a final weekend of regular-season action starting with a match against Missouri Western State University to keep its MIAA regular-season championship hopes alive. That goal is all the team is focused on heading into its final matches before the MIAA Championship Tournament.
“If we can win tomorrow that might be a thing where we can keep hosting but I don’t know, I’m going to worry about that next week, I've got to worry about tomorrow first,” said Washburn coach Chris Herron.
The focus paid off as Washburn won in dominant fashion, 25-9, 25-15, 25-11. The win moved the team to 17-2 in conference play.
Washburn's volleyball team celebrates a point during Friday's 3-0 sweep over Missouri Western at Lee Arena. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/The Washburn Review]
Washburn seniors Allison Maxwell and Allison Sadler (12) celebrate a kill in Monday's MIAA sweep over Missouri Western. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/The Washburn Review]
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University's football team stated its case for an NCAA Division II playoff berth with a 38-28 Senior Day win over Missouri Southern Saturday at Yager Stadium, notching its sixth straight win to finish off a 9-2 regular season.
On Sunday the Ichabods will find off if it was enough.
Washburn will learn its postseason fate with the NCAA selection show scheduled for 4 p.m. at ncaa.com. Only the top seven teams in the final regional rankings will advance to the playoffs and the Ichabods are among a group of 9-2 bubble teams. The Ichabods were No. 9 in the most recent regional rankings.
Washburn would also be in line for a possible bowl game berth and coach Craig Schurig said it would be unfortunate if the Ichabods don't get the chance to play another week.
"Hopefully we play on and I would be real disappointed if we don't get another game with these guys because they're just a great group,'' Schurig said. "They handle practice right, everything they do is right and it's nice to have a reward, so hopefully we do.
"Hopefully we have another set of practices and we're preparing to play a game.''
Washburn's Chase Ast sacks Missouri Southern quarterback Dawson Herl in Saturday's 38-28 Ichabod win at Yager Stadium. [Photo by Phil Anderson/Special to TSN]
Missouri Southern (3-8) jumped out in front 7-0 on a 31-yard touchdown pass with 10:20 left in the first quarter, but the Ichabods responded with 38 straight points to take a 38-7 lead with 9:38 in the third quarter. Southern scored 21 straight points to end the game, but the Lions were never able to get any closer than the final margin.
Senior Zach Willis got the Ichabods on the board with a 2-yard run at the 5:38 mark of the first quarter and Washburn took the lead for good at 10-7 when freshm Trenton Brehm hit a 34-yard field goal.
Washburn pushed the lead to 17-7 when senior Mitch Schurig hit junior Peter Afful for a 60-yard touchdown strike with 11:28 to go in the first half and Schurig connected with senior Jace Williams with 33 seconds to play in the half on an 11-yard TD pass as Washburn took a 24-7 lead into the break.
Washburn had the opening possession of the second half and Schurig scored his second career rushing touchdown with a 1-yard sneak as the Ichabods went up 31-7.
"We stalled on our first possession, had it inside the 50 and we need to put up points, but then we got rolling with 38 unanswered and we played complimentary football,'' Mitch Schurig said. "You don't do that without the defense getting stops and special teams helping out with field position, so that's always fun.''
Washburn senior offensive lineman Colton Dunkle is congratulated after scoring the first touchdown of his career in Saturday's 38-28 win over Missouri Southern. [Photo by Phil Anderson/Special to TSN]
Than, after a Missouri Southern fumble on a punt attempt gave the Ichabods the ball at the Missouri Southern 1, senior Colton Dunkle moved from the offensive line to fullback and scored his first career touchdown on his first career carry to put the Ichabods up 38-7.
"We practiced it twice on Thursday,'' Dunkle said of his scoring play. "I've been lobbying for it for about six weeks now.
"I actually made a bet with my mom that I would score this season so I won that and now she has to buy me an iron set.''
Sophomore Taylon Peters had 123 rushing yards on just 11 attempts (11.2 yards per carry) and Willis finished with 74 yards on 20 carries.
Schurig was 20 of 27 passing for 225 yards and two scores. James Letcher, jr. had eight catches for 73 yards.
Defensively, the Ichabods were led by Peyton Lane with 10 tackles (eight solo) while Christian Clark and Grant Bruner both were in on six stops. Chase Ast had two sacks.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
OK, so Washburn University's men's basketball season-opener didn't go exactly as planned Friday afternoon, but the end result was exactly what the No. 11-ranked Ichabods were looking for, notching an 86-65 win over No. 15 Northern State at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.
Washburn was without key returners Jonny Clausing and Tyler Nelson and lost All-American point guard Tyler Geiman two minutes into Friday's game with an ankle injury, but junior Jalen Lewis turned in a big game and several Ichabod newcomers turned in solid contributions as the Ichabods pulled away in the second half for the 21-point victory.
Lewis led Washburn with 18 points, including four 3-pointers, while McNeese State transfer Jeremy Harrell hit five 3-pointers and finished with 17 points.
Jalen Lewis
Jeremy Harrell
Freshman Michael Keegan added 13 points while freshman Jaden Monday had 10 points and five assists and freshman Andrew Orr had six points and grabbed a team-high five rebounds.
The Wolves jumped out to a six-point lead at 11-5 before the Ichabods used a 12-1 run to go up 17-12. The Ichabods stretched their lead to as many as six points in the opening half after a 3-pointer by Harrell with 7:32 to play in the half but the Wolves (1-2) rallied to tie the score at 24 before the Ichabods again jumped out to a five-point lead after another trey by Harrell.
Keegan hit a layup with 67 seconds left in the first half to send Washburn to the break with a 2-point lead at 31-29.
The Ichabods scored the first seven points of the half to force a timeout by Northern State and the Ichabods would build their lead to 14 (46-32) after a layup by Orr with 15:15 to go.
Northern State trimmed the lead back to as few as four at 52-48 before a 16-3 run by the Ichabods pushed the lead to 17 with and the Wolves did not mount a threat the rest of the way.
Cole Bergan and Jacksen Moni each had 11 to pace the Wolves.
The Ichabods shot 49 percent from the field for the game, hitting 19 of 32 shots in the second half for a 59 percent clip. Washburn was 14 of 29 overall from 3-point range and hit 8 of 11 free throws.
Northern State was held to 37 percent shooting by the Ichabods and were forced into 18 turnovers while the Ichabod committed just six turnovers.
Washburn will play Augustana on Saturday in Kansas City.
