Varsity Kansas - The Blog

I know we have so many avid fans of cross country — they all come to this blog — so I wanted to let you know why we were missing a promised story in today’s paper.

It was my mistake to say the story would run — that’s a crucial error on my part. As I was told as young pup many moons ago, never say when a story will run because something could change and then you’ve upset people because they believe you’re lying. I thought I was pretty safe, though, because every year at this time, we run volleyball and cross country previews heading  into the state meets (volleyball started today, while cross country is Saturday).

Well, we ran into an unexpected space crunch and we held a feature I did — it will run next week — and we held cross country, because it doesn’t start until tomorrow. I am so sorry to come across as “lying” or “not caring” to our cross country folks, but I’ve learned my lesson. No more telling ya’ll when a story will run. But Duane Frazier did write a story, so check it out Saturday morning. Oops. I just did it again.

Here’s the schedule we’ll run Saturday

When: Today
Where: Class 6A and 5A at Rim Rock Farm, five miles northwest of Lawrence; Class 4A, 3A, 2A and 1A at Wamego Country Club.
Rim Rock times: 6A girls at 10 a.m.; 5A boys at 10:30; 6A boys at 11; 5A girls at 11:30.
Wamego times: 2A boys at 9 a.m.; 1A boys at 9:30; 2A girls at 10; 1A girls at 10:30; 4A girls at 11; 3A girls at 11:30; 4A boys at noon; 3A boys at 12:30 p.m.

Enjoy the state meets!

There was a small knot of college coaches on the north sideline by the east end zone during Thursday’s South-East football game.
Oklahoma assistants Brent Venables and Kevin Wilson were there, along with assistants from LSU and Miami.
They were likely there to see Bryce Brown, as well as make the face-to-face with Arthur Brown, who didn’t play because of an ankle injury.
But there is talk that South’s do-everything Marky Nolen is starting to get some serious looks. Understandable. The kid has nice hands as a receiver and is tough when he’s running the ball.

The biggest news of the night, according to yours truly, is Rose Hill advances in the Class 4A playoffs (props to my co-worker Duane Frazier on calling this one). Rose Hill did what it needed to do with a big win over Augusta, then got some help from Andover Central, which beat Andover by 11. Not bad for a team that’s 4-5. I know I still wouldn’t want to play Rose Hill, despite the struggles the Rockets have had. Too much experience in this program with playing in the postseason.

Bryce Brown breaks the City League rushing record — which he set last year as a sophomore — by rushing for 178 yards. He didn’t play in the first quarter, for what was termed “internal issues,” and played one series of the second quarter. He had a 67-yard touchdown run to open the second half, got the record on a 19-yarder. He also threw a 48-yard touchdown pass.

Collegiate beats Independent 34-27 to advance to the playoffs.

Hesston wins big again, as does Garden Plain. Dare I even say anything about these two teams? There’s sure a lot of comments on the Garden Plain vs. Hesston post. Loving the interaction, and this game, if it happens (which it should) will be outstanding to watch.

Soccer – Kapaun beats Winfield to advance to the 5A quarterfinals, and Anthony Cantele scores twice. He’s a god. Heights advances to the 6A quarterfinals for the first time in three years. Not a bad year for first-year coach Brent Lewis. Southeast beats Northwest to advance, as well — Colin Lawter scored on a penalty kick for the win.

I’ve heard the rumors, just like many of you have, that Bryce Brown, a junior, won’t be back at East next year. It has been said that he’ll transfer to a high school in the same city as the university his brother, Arthur, a senior, commits to.

So, I asked Bryce tonight if his City League-record breaking game against South was his last as a Blue Aces’ player.

Shockingly, I got a no comment. But he did say that he plans to sit down with his family and discuss it, while also looking at where Arthur plans to go to college.

If this was his last game, he made it memorable, running for 178 yards on 14 carries, despite sitting out the first quarter because of an “internal issue.” He only played one series in the second quarter before cramping up. He beat his own record in the second half on a 19-yard run (he only needed 127 to beat the record of 1773 that he set last year).

Before Friday’s game at Carpenter Stadium — which Arthur didn’t play in because of an ankle injury — it was announced that he had been selected to play in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. That game is Jan. 5 at San Antonio’s Alamodome.

This is quite an honor for Arthur, although I’m sure some of you will post that somehow he backed into this. Actually, I have no idea what you guys will write, but I guarantee a few will be extremely negative. Go figure.

This all-star game is one in which the nation’s top 84 seniors are chosen to play. Quite a few players in the past have used this game as the time to announce their college choices. I don’t think Arthur will being that he’s graduating in December and will have already made his choice by then.

Props to Arthur, but no surprise on the selection.

Alright, I want to know who YOU think will win.

Let’s start with tonight’s football games:

Andover vs. Andover Central. I’m taking Andover Central, but Andover desperately needs a win. Still, I think Andover Central wins.

Augusta vs. Rose Hill.  Rose Hill wins here, but will it get the Rockets in the playoffs? It’s a close call. (Duane’s prediction: Rose Hill not only wins, Andover Central beats Andover by enough points that Rose Hill gets in.)

East at South. You have to predict two things here — How many yard will Bryce Brown get rushing (he needs 126 to tie his City League record last year) and who wins. I’m guessing he gets at least 200 and East wins big.

Onto Friday’s games:

Manhattan at Heights. I’m taking Heights. No question.

Southeast at Derby. Oooh, this is a toughie. Southeast wins. The Buffaloes are on a roll and too tough to stop right now.

Dodge City at Goddard. I don’t care about the scenarios that could put Dodge City in the playoffs. Goddard wins.

Maize at Northwest. Northwest win. Garrett Gould still puts up big numbers passing for Maize, but Northwest’s running game is too tough.
Give me your predictions!

This is from David:

Far from perfect? You’re being mighty kind. Pathetic is a better word, but I can’t really say how I feel on these boards.

C’mon, David. I hate the system, too. If it were up to me, there would be only three classes and only the district winner would make it to the playoffs. What makes this week interesting is the fact that so many teams don’t know whether they’re in our out.

As far as the current system goes, I’d blow the whole thing up and start over. First-round playoff games are especially brutal. Nothing says playoffs like a 49-6 first-round game, right? Be prepared for quite a few of those.

But this system isn’t changing any time soon, so enjoy the highlights when you can. That’s what I’m trying to do.

This is always one of the best weeks of the football season. It’s also one of the most confusing two days of the season. Every team will be trying to win their last regular-season games, and many of them also will be paying attention to what’s going on at other games.

Some teams won’t know if they’ve reached the playoffs until they find out the score from another game in their district.

That means a lot of phone calls and a whole lot of tension.

Take a look into any press box on Thursday or Friday night, and you’ll probably see at least one person on the phone. Chances are, they’re not ordering a pizza.

The Kansas high school football district plan is far from perfect, but this part is actually pretty interesting.

Once again, working to make this blog interactive, here’s some comments from you, our faithful readers.

From Overrated, regarding Bryce Brown’s 5-star rating by Scout.com:

This is the same website that ranked notre dame’s last two recruiting classes as top 10 classes..we see how good they are. Brown is a d1 player and a good player but he’s not great. I’ve seen better backs in high school.

You say, “I’ve seen better backs in high school.” My question is where? Are you talking out of state, out of the area, where? Because in my 12 seasons of covering high school football here, he’s definitely one of the best I’ve seen. Darren Sproles is obviously one of the best backs I’ve seen in Kansas, Jake Sharp, too. Brown is up there. Does he fumble too much? Yep, but he’ll fix this. This kid has speed and he’s got great vision and is physical.

From Jack:

“State cross country is this weekend… “

You’re right. We’ll be covering all six classes. Check out Friday’s paper for a preview and Sunday’s paper for all the coverage.

From Billy BOB regarding the Can’t-miss events:

“It is Mac at Hays. Oh yeah and if it were basketball season you would have moved us up to number one after beating the number one team.”

Thanks for the correction, Billy BOB. Gentle reminder (since I’ve covered this topic before in an earlier post): Rankings are subjective, merely a talking point as they don’t affect anything such as seeding. But glad to know that they’re still a topic of conversation.

Regarding Garden Plain vs. Hesston blog: I think I need to write about these teams more often. Man, the number of hits and comments is excellent.

One point to make to Pronk, who wrote “I wont take anything away from Smith Center’s talent. Just keep it amoungst yourselves and keep playing in your small class.” From me — It was only in the past decade that Garden Plain moved up from Class 2-1A to 3A.

In an aside to the poster (Catfan 1971) talking about Houlik who redshirted. I’m pretty sure, Pronk, that he means John Houlik, who’s having an excellent season for the Wildcats. He’s Joseph’s brother.

Keep the comments coming, and remember, I’m always looking for interesting topics, so e-mail me at joanna@varsitykansas.com or comment on one of the blog posts.

According to Scout.com, East running back Bryce Brown is part of the site’s first 10 5-Star prospects for 2009. Here’s what it says on Bryce:

 At 6-foot-0, 205 pounds, Bryce Brown is a powerful runner that also has nice speed. The one thing that is most overlooked when projecting running backs is vision, and Brown seems to be able to “feel” the defenders and make moves accordingly. He is everything that you want a running back to be wrapped up in one package.
- Greg Powers, Scout.com Midlands

Bryce has a chance Thursday night against South to break his own City League rushing record. He currently has 1,647 rushing yards, and needs 126 to tie his record that he set last season.