Varsity Kansas - The Blog

by joanna

I wrote a Garrett Gould story for today’s paper, and it was in the paper because of this blog. I like to think that I have a pretty good handle on the top athletes and top teams and the goings-on around here just because I talk to so many different people through my job. But there’s no doubt that there are things that I just don’t know about.

And that’s where you, the loyal readers and posters of this blog come in. I do pay attention to what you guys say, I note the players that you mention, I check into the story lines you talk about. Which is where the Garrett Gould story came from.

So thanks to you. Man, I’ve got a tear in my eye. This is embarrassing.

Want to know more about Gould? Check out below.

(more…)

Goddard 6, SM South 2
Goddard’s first four batters walked, and all four scored as the Lions took an early lead.
WSU signee Dalton Banwart was the winning pitcher.

Softball
Andover Central 2, Clay Center  0
Nikki Armagost pitched a three-hitter. Heather Borg broke a scoreless tie with a seventh inning double to move Andover Central into the semifinals.

Class 6A
Maize 3, Blue Valley North 1
Tia Stovall scored three goals and Maize remained unbeaten.
The Eagles allowed a goal for the first time all season, but never trailed. Stovall had a first-half goal, then scored again early in the second half to make it 2-0.
Maize will play for the Class 6A championship at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Blue Valley Complex in Overland Park.

Class 5-1A
Lenexa St. James 8, Andover 3
Lenexa St. James took a 5-0 lead in the first half and built it to 8-0 in the second half. Kelsey Clifton, Kortney Clifton and Amanda Just score Andover’s goals.

I grew up playing baseball. Started at the age of five and played until I was 18. The team names and uniforms changed quite often for the most part, however one thing always stayed the same - high socks.

Basically everyone in our little league played with high socks. It wasn’t the law, but one of those things  that you just did.

I don’t know what happened, but now players wear their pants like jeans except without the sagging. Seriously, in all of the baseball games I’ve been the majority of the players have worn their pants down to their cleats. I didn’t even really notice it until I visited McPherson oops, I mean Mc-Phur-son  because as I was told a couple of times yesterday there is no fear in McPherson. Most of the Bullpups were rocking the uni’s the old skool way and it was a refreshing sight to see.

And while I’m talking about McPherson, head coach Gordon Peck looks like a skipper. Not a coach, not a manager, but he could be described simply as a skipper. Haven’t figured out it what it is. Don’t know if it’s because he looks like hes a seasoned vet over on the third base line or the way he carries himself. But it’s something.

by joanna

I wrote a story for last Friday on how Maize is splitting into two high schools for the 2009-10 school year. It will be Maize High and Maize South High.

What so interested me is that there will be no boundaries. None. Instead the district will rely on its parents to state their preferences for which school they want their children to attend.

When I first spoke about this to Maize athletic director Marc Haught — and now the district AD — the first thought that popped into my head was what about recruiting. Maize really feels that it has a handle on how to deal with this, though. The district will rely on its coaches to build successful programs and also focus on keeping its students that are within its feeder pattern.

It’s kind of like a Northwest High making sure that kids at Wilbur are going to Northwest, not choosing to go elsewhere. Wilbur is Northwest’s feeder school, so those kids live in the Northwest district, so it’s not recruiting. It’s keeping your kids in the system.

I don’t know how this will work, though, at Maize. I think there could be problems with recruiting. At the same time, I know Haught is focused on this issue and has no qualms about squashing anything that resembles recruiting. Frankly, recruiting hurts an entire district.

What are your thoughts? Can this work? Could it possibly work in a bigger district? Fill me in. I know you have opinions.

Check out a full complement of game coverage in Wednesday’s paper. I’m not sure if Kirk’s glad I’m back, since I scheduled a full eight games of coverage tonight. Then again, is it my fault that there’s some outstanding games tonight? Heck no!

In the City League, I’m checking out Goddard at Carroll, because I want to see this Goddard girls team, winners of the Free State tournament, take on Carroll, which got handled by Andover Central in the finals of the Newton tournament.

East at Northwest boys is intriguing because it’s East, and Northwest is always dangerous.

Heights at South has promise for boys and girls. Girls might not be as interesting as the first time the teams met, when it was a nail-biter. I did think South would be more dominant with the addition of Christine Elliott, but she will cause problems for Heights. On the boys end, Heights won the season opener by 12, but  South has had quite a stretch since then, only losing to Southeast.

The undefeated Andover boys travel to Andale, which is on its own winning streak. This game precedes Friday’s Andover at Andover Central game.

Then there’s the Rose Hill at Andover Central girls game, with Andover Central ranked second overall and Rose Hill at 12-1. Wow. What a matchup.

Can’t beat Wichita Trinity vs. Belle Plaine boys, either. Trinity’s lone loss was to Belle Plaine to start the season. And these teams are averaging 66-plus points each.

Anyone have any picks for these games?

I’ll try to blog after deadline tonight, so come on back.

Many games have already been postponed because of ice (or expected ice). We’ll update our list here and on Kansas.com/sports. To report a postponement, call 316-268-6251 or e-mail stats@varsitykansas.com.

Basketball

City League

Bishop Carroll at Southeast, 6 and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday

East at South, 6 and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday

Heights at Kapaun Mount Carmel, 6 and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday

Northwest at North, 6 and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday

West at Andover, 6 and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 13

Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail League

Arkansas City at Winfield, Jan. 29

Clearwater at Circle, no makeup date

El Dorado at Buhler, Dec. 13

Kingman at Andale, no makeup date

Maize at Hutchinson, no makeup date

Salina Central at Goddard, 5 and 6:30 p.m. Dec. 20

Salina South at Derby, Dec. 18

Valley Center at Newton, no makeup date

Wellington at Andover Central, girls Jan. 15, boys Jan. 22

West at Andover, 6 and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 13

Central Plains League

Cheney at Belle Plaine, no makeup date

Conway Springs at Garden Plain, Jan. 7

Smoky Valley at Sterling, Dec. 20

Mid-Central Activities Association

Halstead at Hillsboro, no makeup date

Haven at Collegiate, no makeup date

Nickerson at Hoisington, Dec. 18

Other area games

Caldwell at Udall, no makeup date

Kinsley at Norwich, Dec. 17

Pratt at Larned, no makeup date

Shidler (Okla.) at Cedar Vale, no makeup date

Around the state

Topeka Hayden at Spring Hill, boys Jan. 22, girls Jan. 28

Gotta admit, I love the concept behind the conference-vs.-conference series that seem to dominate college basketball these days. It started with The Big East vs. ACC, then the Big Ten filled in for the Big East (and seemingly never bests the ACC), and now the other four BCS conferences are doing it (SEC vs. Big East, Big 12 vs. Pac-10).

It got me thinking: Wouldn’t it be great to have a City League vs. AV-CTL challenge? I haven’t worked through the details of finding space in the schedule for this extra game, though for most every school it wouldn’t be all that difficult. But think about these matchups:

Maize vs. Northwest — Imagine the smack talk across 21st Street on game day.

Derby vs. Southeast — A once-great football rivalry goes indoors.

Valley Center vs. Heights — Winner take all . . . of Park City.

Andover (or Central) vs. Kapaun Mount Carmel — We’re pretty sure this would get some backyard blood boiling.

Campus vs. South — We’d get Ron Meyer and Ricky Ross to be honorary captains.

Goddard vs. Bishop Carroll — Another west-side story waiting to happen.

Hutchinson vs. East — Two traditional basketball powers (who already meet almost yearly).

McPherson vs. North — Matchup of two of the state’s best gymnasiums.

Newton vs. West — Why? Because Mike Bonczyk coached at both places.

When I saw Logan Watkins playing baseball with Goddard this spring, he struck me as a little bit cocky. This isn’t exactly a criticism — when I played baseball, I was usually the most cocky player on the field and about the seventh or eighth best. Watkins can back up his swagger because he’s pretty awesome at baseball, as evidenced by the fact that he has signed with Wichita State.

I don’t really know if cockiness helps you as a baseball player, but I know it helps Watkins on the football field. He’s a little small to play quarterback in the rough AV-CTL, but don’t tell him that. He’s the best player I’ve seen this season not necessarily because of what he has done on the field, but because when you watch him, you can tell losing is unacceptable. He just won’t lose and he can will his team to victory, much like he did last week against Junction City.

Watkins isn’t a refined passer — he’ll never put up big numbers staying in the pocket. But he knows his limitations and he knows, more importantly, what he does well — run. He’s shifty and quick, so he can make a big gain out of what appears to be a busted play. He’s the perfect quarterback for the style of play coach Roger Robben prefers.

He’s also a good quote — a “go to” quote, and there aren’t many of those in high school sports. The last personal one I remember is Dupree  Lucas, a Southeast basketball player. I don’t know if Goddard has quite enough to beat Hutchinson on Friday. But the Lions have a leader in Watkins, and that just might be enough to get past the Salthawks.