The Kansas City Kansan - Sports

Big third quarter sinks Sumner against Seaman

Nick Sloan — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:48:34 +0000

Through the first half, the Sumner Academy Sabres were in a back and forth battle with Topeka Seaman on the road Friday night.

But a 21-0 third quarter for Seaman carried them to a 53-34 victory against the Sabres, who conclude the season 6-4.

Seaman's Spencer Vanderbogart kicked off the scoring quickly, scoring from eight yards out.

Sumner responded the quickest way possible – returning the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown. As he has most of the season, returner Benny Parker provided Sumner a spark with a 92-yard kickoff return.

Sumner would take its first lead of the game after Eli Alexander scored on a 60-yard touchdown pass from Armand Brisbane. Brisbane was 18-32 for 338 yards and three touchdowns.

Trailing 12-7 after Sumner failed to convert on both two-point conversion attempts, Seaman's Nathan Stanley scored from 23 yards out.

Sumner would punch back one more time.

Running back Torrel Saffold scored from seven yards out, giving Sumner its last lead at 20-15 following a two-point conversion from Vernon Vaughn.

From there, Seaman scored 28 unanswered points.

Kyle Dunham was on the receiving end of a 25-yard touchdown pass from Jacob Hurla. Seaman's Stanley punched it in from three yards, providing Seaman its first two possession lead at 29-20.

An interception return from Hurla added to the lead at 36-20.

Sumner's Vaughn scored the Sabres' final touchdown, narrowing Seaman's lead to 50-34.

Gardner-Edgerton rushing attack too much for Schlagle

Nick Sloan — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:43:17 +0000

The Gardner-Edgerton Trailblazers handed Schlagle a shutout loss to close out the season.

The Trailblazers rushed for over 300 yards, defeating Schlagle 49-0.

Quarterback Bubba Starling led the way with 163 yards on just eight carries. He scored three touchdowns, including the game's opening seven points on a 70-yard touchdown run.

Brett Jensen added 111 yards on 12 carries, scoring the second touchdown of the game.

Leading 21-0 at halftime, Gardner-Edgerton scored 14 points early on in the third, including a 24-yard touchdown pass by Starling to Alex Knorr.

Starling scored the game's two final touchdowns from five yards out and 18 yards out, both on the ground.

Schlagle finishes 5-5 on the season, while Gardner improves to 10-0 on the season.

Turnovers doom Turner in heartbreaking defeat

Nick Sloan — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:36:06 +0000

David Gauntt (#7) led Shawnee Heights to an upset victory on the road against Turner Friday night.

Mistakes and a few bad breaks led to an upset loss for the Turner Golden Bears football team.

Shawnee Heights defeated Turner 14-10 Friday night at Piper High School, eliminating the second seeded Wyandotte County team from the Kansas 5A Playoffs.

Both teams scored in the first half behind big running plays.

On the opening play of Shawnee Heights' second drive, running back Donnie Lockhart scored from 71 yards out, giving the Thunderbirds a 7-0 lead.

Turner, who only had one first down in the opening quarter, got things going in the second quarter despite faulty coaching head-sets through the first half.

Rashon Thames, who had 162 yards on the ground on 24 carries, rushed for 71 of them on one play early in the second quarter to set up Turner's opening score.

From the nine, David Bernal scored, tying the game up at seven.

The defenses stepped up in the second quarter, with each team throwing interceptions inside the other's red zone.

But Turner's key mistake came in the third quarter. The Bears were deep in Thunderbird territory when Thames fumbled, turning over the ball back to the Thunderbirds.

Two red zone turnovers were the difference in the game.

"Usually the team that makes the fewest mistakes wins," said Allen Terrell, head coach of the Golden Bears. "We had a lot of things go wrong in the game. It took us longer to adjust without headsets and we had a wrong call on the long score early."

Despite the mistakes, Turner would hold a lead late into the fourth quarter, as kicker Nick Rodriguez drilled a 34-yarder midway through the fourth.

However, quarterback David Gauntt came back and delivered Shawnee Heights a game-winning drive.

He connected on two key plays on the drive, passing for 174 yards in the game. He capped off the drive with a five-yard touchdown run with just over two minutes left.

Turner responded with one more opportunity.

Quarterback Nick Bloomer connected with Thames on a screen pass on a fourth and five. Thames scrambled for a nice chunk of yardage, driving the ball near the red zone.

The Golden Bears were unable to convert a second fourth down, as a a gadget play did not fool the Thunderbirds.

Concluding the season 8-2, Terrell said the Golden Bears senior class stepped up.

"We're very proud of how far they came," he said. "If people had seen this group four years ago, they would be very proud of how it turned out. We had a great run last year and we didn't want to take a step back this year."

All three local teams eliminated

Nick Sloan — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:06:38 +0000

The high school football season in Wyandotte County is officially over.

After Piper was eliminated on Tuesday, Turner, Schlagle and Sumner Academy were all defeated.

Turner lost a tough thriller to Shawnee Heights 14-10 at Piper High School. The Sabres of Sumner Academy lost a shootout with Topeka Seaman 53-34. Schlagle, meanwhile, was banked 49-0 by Gardner-Edgerton.

Recaps soon.

Wizards' Conrad named 2009 U.S. Soccer Foundation/MLS W.O.R.K.S. Humanitarian of the Year

Nick Sloan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:32:22 +0000

Kansas City Wizards defender and captain Jimmy Conrad has been named the 2009 U.S. Soccer Foundation/MLS W.O.R.K.S. Humanitarian of the Year Award.

While this is the first time Conrad has won the league award, he's been named Kansas City's Team Humanitarian of the Year three times.

"It's an incredible honor to be thought about in these terms,” Conrad said, “and I know my parents will be very proud of me."

Conrad works with local schools, youth organizations and MLS W.O.R.K.S initiatives in the Kansas City area. He speaks with students about teamwork and presents information to them on setting goals.

“The best gift someone can give is themselves and their time,” Jennifer Currier, Midwest Regional Walk Director for Autism Speaks said. “Jimmy is busy in the community, spreading awareness about Autism and promoting healthy activity among children. He honestly cares about the kids and helps them have fun at clinics and other events.”

Conrad shares the award with Chicago's Logan Pause.

Final regular season high school football rankings

Nick Sloan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:09:11 +0000

Turner quarterback Nick Bloomer, left, and Rashon Thames (behind him) led Turner to an 8-1 record this year.

The regular season has finished and the 4A State Playoffs have began. Friday's slate of games will include Turner, Schlagle and Sumner Academy.

A look at the final high school football regular season rankings for Wyandotte County.

1. Turner: The Golden Bears go wire to wire in The Kansan's power rankings. At 8-1, the Bears host Shawnee Heights tomorrow night at Piper High School. Running back Rashon Thames has led Turner all season.

2. Piper: While the Pirates were knocked out of the playoffs on Tuesday, they improved five games from last year and defeated Bishop Ward and Sumner Academy, thus giving them the second spot to close the regular season. Jasper Sanders was the team's MVP, as he led the Pirates through the air and on the ground.

3. Bishop Ward: Although the Cyclones missed the playoffs, they finish third in the rankings. Led by a very impressive rushing attack all season, the Cyclones finished 6-3 and because of being placed in a tough district with Piper and Basehor-Linwood, they missed out on postseason play.

4. Sumner Academy: The Sabres go back to state for the second straight year. The Kansas City, Kan., League champs look to defeat Topeka-Seaman on the road Friday evening.

5. Schlagle: Finishing 6-3, the Stallions have the biggest challenge of any school in Wyandotte County, playing Gardner-Edgerton Friday night. Gardner-Edgerton is 9-0 on the season.

6. Harmon: The Hawks, losing their final two games, pushed KCK champion Sumner Academy and the Golden Bears to the limit the last two weeks. Defensive improvements for the team were very noticeable this season.

7. Bonner Springs: The Braves were up and down all season long.

8. Wyandotte: The Bulldogs snapped a lengthy losing streak this season, but lost were unable to get their second win of the season.

9. Washington: Finishing 1-8 and 0-4 in KCK play, the Wildcats were the season's biggest disappointment.

KCKCC off to good start in basketball

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:01:52 +0000

By ALAN HOSKINS, Kansan Contributor

Kansas City Kansas Community College got the 2009-10 basketball season off to a winning start with a sweep of Saint Mary JV Tuesday but the road gets a whole lot tougher in a hurry in the Sixth Annual Keith Lindsey Classic here this weekend.

The Lady Blue Devils take on Cottey College Friday at 6 p.m. and then face an early season showdown with arch-rival Penn Valley Saturday at 4 p.m. while the KCKCC men go up against Haskell JV Friday at 8 p.m. before a big early season test against North Arkansas Saturday at 2 p.m.

Four other games are also on tap. Johnson County and Penn Valley women square off in the tournament opener Friday at 2 p.m. with Penn Valley and North Arkansas colliding at 4 p.m. On Saturday, Johnson County will play Cottey at noon with Penn Valley meeting Saint Mary JV in the tourney final at 6 p.m.

KCKCC women’s coach Valerie Stambersky unveiled a promising corps of freshmen in the Lady Blue Devils’ 94-46 win over Saint Mary as a trio of frosh forwards combined for 40 points and 33 rebounds.

Former Piper standout Michelle Selbe had 15 points and 10 rebounds, Melanie Phipps of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, 13 points and 11 rebounds and Laci Schreiber of Shawnee Heights 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Guard Jerae David of Burlington, Colo., also had 15 points, soph Shannon Carlin of Tonganoxie 12 points and 5 rebounds, frosh Alyssa Rushton of Rochester, Minn. 9 points and 9 rebounds and veteran Sarah Craft of Lawrence Free State 8 points and 5 rebounds.

“We had a lot of players do a lot of good things but there’s a lot we need to work on,” said Stambersky, whose team shot 48.6 percent from the field and 86.7 percent from the foul line and grabbed twice as many rebounds (62-31) but committed 19 turnovers.

Blue Devil men’s coach Jon Oler was not as happy with a 79-56 win in the nightcap. “Not with 25 turnovers,” said Oler, whose Blue Devils put up only 55 shots to 59 for Saint Mary although hitting 45.5 percent while holding the Spires to 30.5 percent.

Freshman Dennis Tinnon of Green Bay, Wis., led the way with 18 points and veteran Jonathan Wright of St. Joseph’s LeBlond was perfect from the field in a 12-point effort. Veterans Melvin Gatson and Scott Fruehling added 9 points each.

Tinnon also had 11 rebounds as KCKCC controlled the boards 54-30 with soph Andre Metoyer and frosh Hal Payne of Bishop Miege adding eight each.

Piper's season ends

Nick Sloan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:02:21 +0000

The Piper Pirates were defeated 37-21 last night by the Holton Wildcats.

Holton, entering the game undefeated, improved their record to 10-0. Piper finishes the season at 6-4.

A longer recap will be available later in the day.

KCKCC soccer wrap-up: Five named to All-Jayhawk team, coach resigns

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:07:41 +0000

By ALAN HOSKINS, Kansan Contributor

The naming of five Kansas City Kansas Community College players to the All-Jayhawk Conference team highlighted an otherwise disappointing end to the Blue Devil soccer season.

No. 12 ranked Garden City ended the Blue Devils’ season with a 3-2 overtime win after a controversial call stripped KCKCC of a go-ahead goal with five minutes left in regulation. The loss also ended the KCKCC coaching tenure of Dayton Owens, who has announced he will not return next season.

Sophomore Reon Thomas of London, England, repeated as a forward on the first team while sophomore defender Shemiah Davis of SM North and goalkeeper Kyle Joseph of Trinidad Tobago were named to the second team. Sophomore midfielder Ted Wunderlich of Twin Falls, Idaho, and freshman defender Jamie Darroch of Glasgow, Scotland, received named honorable mention.

Playing nine nationally ranked teams on a schedule Owens called the most difficult in the nation, KCKCC defeated four of them including Garden City and No. 9 Barton County, which went on to win the NJCCC district title by defeating Garden City 3-0 and Cloud 2-1. Also, KCKCC prevented Jayhawk champion Johnson County from finishing 10-0 in conference play by battling the Cavaliers to a 2-2 draw at JCCC.

However, numerous injuries and illness plagued the Blue Devils, who were 9-3-1 at one time only to lose six of their final eight and finish 11-9-1. Six players missed the playoffs because of injuries or the flu. “Our bench players really came through and worked incredibly hard so to have the go-ahead goal taken away on a questionable call was very frustrating and disappointing,” said Owens.

Arnaldo Miranda pulled KCKCC into a 1-1 tie with a goal into a strong wind in the first half and then Thomas gave them the lead 2-1 early in the second half. Taking advantage of KCKCC playing with just 10 men, Garden City tied it with 18 minutes left.

“With about five minutes left, Reon took a punt from Kyle Joseph and ran onto it with two defenders all over him as he go to the 18-yard box,” said Owens. “The goalkeeper also broke out to stop him as well but poked the ball through the keep as the defenders were pulling him down to score what we thought was the potential game-winning goal. Instead, a foul was called on Reon for running into the goalie and the goal was not allowed.”

Winning the flip, Garden City got the wind in overtime and scored five minutes into the extra period.

KCKCC finished sixth at 4-5-1 in Jayhawk play and 5-5-1 in the district in Owens’ third and final season as head coach. “It did not go as we had hoped but it was a team KCKCC should be very proud,” said Owens. “The team worked very hard and did quite well with the toughest schedule in the nation. No one else played nine nationally ranked teams.”

Today's Poll: Who are you rooting for in this weekend's 'Sunflower Showdown?'

Nick Sloan — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:49:41 +0000