By TODD FERTIG
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural gave a sendoff to a group of seniors who don’t figure to finish their high school careers anytime soon. The group of 12 seniors dominated Seaman 9-1 in their final regular-season game at McElroy Field, but they figure to host several more games come playoff time.
Senior Dylan Willingham netted four scores and added two assists to lead the rout.
Senior Dylan Willingham had four goals and two assists in Washburn Rural's 9-1 Senior Night win over Seaman Thursday night. [File photo/TSN]
“I love this group,” Willingham said. “We’ve worked really well together, and our chemistry is really tight. We are all really good friends and we all love coming out here and playing together.
“I think as a group we’re a really good team and we have got a shot this year at winning the whole thing.”
Willingham put the Junior Blues up early at 34:11 in the first half. Seaman locked down the net for the next 20 minutes, however, until Willingham scored again.
Even then, the Vikings weren’t going away. Seaman senior Kaelon Taylor broke through the Junior Blue defense to cut the Washburn Rural lead to 2-1.
But at that point, the home team poured it on, scoring three more times in the remaining eight minutes of the period. The Junior Blues came back with four goals in the first 16 minutes of the second period to induce an early exit.
Washburn Rural improved to 11-1-1 with two games remaining – at Hummer Sports Park to face Topeka High next Monday and at Blue Valley North next Thursday.
“Every time we’ve had really successful teams here, we’ve had big, strong, successful senior classes, and this one’s as good as we’ve had,” said Washburn Rural coach Brian Hensyel. “I told the guys before the game that one of the great parts of my job is when you have a really good senior class that make your job easy.
"They promote being good teammates. They work hard. They buy into what their coaches are telling them. Over a four-year time period, they can really develop into some really good soccer players.''
This group of seniors arrived in high school when the program had already set a high standard. They carried on the tradition, reaching the Class 6A Final Four each of the past three years, finishing third twice and fourth once. Five of the 12 members of this graduating class have played significant roles since their freshman season.
“It’s pretty rare for us to put one freshman on the team, and five of these guys made it as freshmen,” Hensyel said. “A lot of them played right away, and they’ve been huge parts of our team for all their career. They were really talented kids when they came in and we knew that. But they’re even better teammates, better people.”
WASHBURN RURAL 9, SEAMAN 1
Seaman (6-8-0) 1 0 — 1
Washburn Rural (12-1-1) 5 4 — 9
Seaman -- Goal: Taylor.
Washburn Rural — Goals: Willingham 4, Kocher-Munoz, Hamilton, Didde, Moore, Morrison. Assists: Willingham 2, Un 2, Schroeder, Grogan, Chooncharoen, Hamilton.
