by joanna

It’s my final recap of the football season, and we’re just days away from recapping my first night of basketball season.

What a day it was across the state as the western half of the state dominated in the championships.

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by joanna

Conway Springs made a fairly boring game through three quarters into an exciting one. The Cardinals scored 14 fourth-quarter points, winning 22-14 over Silver Lake.

Jaydan Bird had both touchdowns, including a 37-yard run with 3:24 to go. Conway forced two late fumbles, which sparked the offense.

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by joanna

It’s now 14-14 with 5:07 to go in the game. Jaydan Bird just scored on a 1-yard run, then ran it in for the two-point conversion.

by joanna

OK, it’s halftime here, and I’d say it’s more of a defensive game than I figured it would be here between Conway Springs and Silver Lake. Neither team moved the ball real well in the first half, with the defenses trading stops for four straight possessions.

Finally, Silver Lake started moving the ball late in the first quarter. The Eagles opened the second quarter with Tyler Roberts completing two passes, including a 25-yard pass to Quin Bruce. Bruce made a nice catch in the left corner of the end zone

Conway Springs answered, moving the ball to the Silver Lake 45, but after a holding penalty, the Cardinals were facing third and 17 at its own 45. Austin Pauly took the handoff and then found a wide-open Dustin Green over the middle of the field for a 55-yard reception and score. Conway missed the point-after, however.

Conway’s defense has been impressive. Jaydan Bird has been all over the field, chasing down quarterback Tyler Roberts several times.

Smith Center is leading Olpe 28-7 in Class 2-1A, while Hutch is up 24-0 over St. Thomas Aquinas in 5A.

By J. Long

Emporia- 2:26 left in the first half.

The Hutch defense is handling St. Thomas Aquinas. The Salthawks have given up one first down and 14 yards of total offense. The Salthawks have also intercepted two passes.

Offensively, Todd Schultz has rushed for 102 yards and Josh Smith has 23 carries for 94 yards and two touchdowns.

It’s not looking good for STA. Hutchinson is moving the at will and they’ve seem to have already broken the spirits of Aquinas.

by joanna

It’s 7-6 Silver Lake with 3:38 to go in the first half. Interestingly, both touchdowns came on passes. Silver Lake scored on a 25-yard pass from Tyler Roberts to Quin Bruce with 10:44 to go. Then Conway Springs follows with an 80-yard drive, capped by a 55-yard pass from Austin Pauly to Dustin Green.

by joanna

It’s the end of the first quarter and it’s 0-0. Neither team moving the ball real well.

by joanna

Well, I’m in one of the nicest press boxes in the state of Kansas. No chairs from the 1960s for Hutchinson’s Gowans Stadium. No, these are comfy blue, high-backed chairs. I’m loving life. (For those of you not familiar with this line of conversation — I wrote a post on how press box chairs are generally broken down. Likely brought out to the press box in 1965 and forgotten about.)

Anyway, There’s a fair to decent crowd here for the game. Nothing like the two years ago when Andale beat Paola for the 4A title here. It was packed, long lines up through the second quarter. Amazing.

We are less than two minutes from game time. I’ll keep you updated.

by joanna

Wrestling season is starting (so is swimming and basketball, for that matter). So let’s get a discussion going on wrestling.

As you can see from our wrestling stories posted on varsitykansas.com, there should be some outstanding teams in the area. I like the idea of a tight race in the City League, likely between Carroll, Northwest and Heights. Derby will be good again, but for the Panthers to win the 6A title, they’ll have to knock off Goddard.

Andover Central looks to have a good team, as well. Maize should be tough — the addition of Trent Cox certainly helps.

What other teams are out there that we need to check out? How about individual wrestlers? What duals/tournaments do we just need to cover?

by joanna.

I don’t know if I need to get into rehashing everything I wrote earlier this week about these teams or even get into previewing the title games in the various classes because we did that in today’s paper (you can see it on the VK front page, too).

I’m going to be at Class 3A in Hutchinson, and I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve seen Conway Springs once this year, and it was enjoyable. I love the running game that the Cardinals have and I always enjoy watching Jaydan Bird. As for Silver Lake, I’m a big fan of coach C.J. Hamilton — what a nice guy — and I like the style of offense.

I think Jonathan’s going to enjoy watching Hutchinson against Aquinas in 5A. Hutchinson is a machine offensivley and defensively, and he’s never seen the Salt Hawks play, so I’m banking on us having a good conversation come Monday.

In 6A, I think it could be a tight game with Junction City and Free State, but I still give the edge to Junction. In 4A, I think it’s Hayden all the way. Same in 2-1A with Smith Center. Yep, it’s a western Kansas sweep for my picks. We’ll have to see what happens.

So will you be out at any of these games? Or will you be in the house catching that Missouri-KU game? Either way, enjoy.