Sports
Victory gets Chanute girls’ season off to a rollicking start
Brian McDowell Sports Editor BURLINGTON — After last year’s postseason run that sent the Comets to the State tournament, expectations have been high for the Chanute’s girls basketball team heading into this season. On Tuesday night, the squad proved that it could live up to this kind of pressure in a big way, as the Chanute girls scored a thunderous 49-23 tournament victory over Anderson County at Burlington Middle School. “It was a good way ...
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Eighth grade team struggles through tough week
The eighth grade basketball teams were very active last week, traveling to Pittsburg, Independence and Burlington, to face some tough competition. The B team brought its record to 5-1 by beating Pittsburg 24-22 and Independence 23-21. The A team struggled a bit. falling 32-16 to Pittsburg and 28-18 to Indy. The team then lost two games at last weekend’s Burlington tournament, which brought its record this season to 2-9. “It’s not hard to see ...
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Humboldt boys score season-opening victory
The Humboldt boys started their season with a 53-48 road victory over Eureka on Friday night. The match-up started out close knits, but the Cubs outscored their opponents in both the second and fourth quarters to earn the five-point victory. Tanner McNutt scored 17 points to lead Humboldt’s offense, while Noah Thornbrugh had 14. Blake Crawford, Nathan Whitcomb and Caleb Vanatta each ended up with six. Humboldt will next be hosting a tournamen...
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St. Paul girls start season with win
Brian McDowell Sports Editor ST. PAUL — The St. Paul girls basketball coach Doug Tuck was dealing with a lot of unknowns coming into the first game of this season on Friday night. The Indians’ roster features a lot of younger players, and he wasn’t sure how well they would mix with St. Paul’s group of older returners. The first game put his mind at ease, as St. Paul started its season with a 49-31 home victory over Galena. “I was concerned ab...
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Chanute basketball season starts tonight at Burlington tourney
Both the Chanute Blue Comets varsity boys and girls basketball teams will be starting their seasons tonight at a tournament in Burlington. In addition to Chanute, this tournament features Burlington, Baldwin, Iola, Louisburg and Anderson County. The Comets boys team will be taking on Anderson County tonight at 6 p.m., which will be immediately followed by the girls’ showdown with Anderson County at approximately 7:45 p.m. These games will o...
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Seventh grade caps off busy week with tourney win
It was a busy week for the 7th grade girls basketball teams from Royster. On Thursday, the school’s B team improved its record to 3-5 by beating Independence 6-5. Emily Larkin, Kasynda Eubanks, and Kaylea Richards each scored two points in the effort. The Rockets scored four points in the first quarter and didn’t score again until the fourth quarter to regain the lead. The A team fell to Independence 14-22, making its record 5-6. Scoring for ...
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St. Paul boys’ fourth quarter comeback falls just short
Brian McDowell Sports Editor ST. PAUL — The St. Paul Indians trailed Galena by nine points halfway through the fourth quarter of their first game of the season on Friday night. However, a 11-0 run paved the way for an Indians comeback. Unfortunately for St. Paul, a couple of calls went against the Indians at the end of the contest, and the Indians fell 50-48. “I couldn’t be happier,” first-year coach Keith Wiatrak said. “My kids fought and th...
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View from the Sports Desk: Charles should work on his own pedigree
After last Sunday’s loss to the Broncos on Sunday, Kansas City Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles was spotted stopping Denver quarterback Peyton Manning in the parking lot and asking for his autograph.¬†For a player in the National Football League to ask Manning for his autograph an hour after losing to Manning’s team is the height of amateurism. ¬† Manning is certainly worthy of admiration. He is one of the top three quarterbacks of my lifet...
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Chanute wrestling aims to surpass State success this season
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Last year, the wrestling team at CHS sent eight wrestlers to State, and saw one of its athletes, Sam Son, win a state title. Head coach Andy Albright knows that last year went well for the squad, and it makes him excited for Chanute’s prospects this year. “We paid the price this summer,” Albright said. “We had our own home camp and a lot of kids showed up.” He also took 10 Chanute wrestlers to a camp at Big 12 wre...
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Royster 7th launches fourth quarter comeback in Pittsburg
The Royster 7th grade girls A team improved its record to 5-5 with a win in Pittsburg on Tuesday. The Rockets team had previously lost two close games to the tough Pittsburg squad, but got revenge by beating them 20-19 on its home court. This was accomplished with offensive help from Keeley Tallent and Madisyn Thompson, who each had six points. Kaitlyn Newton and Jayci Vietti each contributed four points to the effort. “My girls really st...
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Improved Lady Jets inspiring coach’s optimism
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Heading into this season Altoona-Midway girls basketball coach Kynda Faythe is more optimistic about her team than she was last year. Last year, the Lady Jets’ roster only included seven players, and only three who could show up to practice on a consistent basis. This year’s Lady Jets will have 12 players, enough to allow Faythe to create a JV and a varsity squadl. Only two or three of these players are completely...
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St. Paul girls aim to improve offensive efficiency
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Helming a young team with no seniors last year, St. Paul girls basketball coach Doug Tuck still managed to guide the Indians to a 12-9 record. “We won a lot of games ugly and we lost a lot of games ugly,” Tuck said. “Our girls didn’t give up. We tried to work last year on fundamentals and understanding the game.” Last year, Lady Indians players had some trouble understanding what to do in certain situations. “We’...
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New coach ‘pleasantly surprised’ by talent of Jets boys
Brian McDowell Sports Editor New Altoona-Midway boys basketball coach Ryan Cummins arrived at the school with low expectations. However, after practicing with the Jets for the last couple of weeks, Cummins said that he is pleasantly surprised by the abundance of athletic talent in the small community. “It’s just really surprising to have so much talent packed in such a small area,” Cummins said, “because you figure most of these kids would en...
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Chanute wrestling falls in first dual tiebreaker
Brian McDowell Sports Editor FREDONIA — A loss early in the season can sometimes be the best motivation for a team that is hungry to succeed. That is how Chanute wrestling coach Andy Albright is hoping that the Comets will react to the heartbreakingly narrow 34-33 loss that the team experienced in its first dual meet in Fredonia on Tuesday night. The two squads were tied at 33 when action between the two teams ended. Each team had three fall...
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New coach, new league, new season for Erie boys
Brian McDowell Sports Editor For the last three weeks, Erie boys basketball players have been working hard in practice, under the watchful eye of their new coach, Nick Pfeifer. He is pushing the Red Devils extra hard this year, as they prepare to play their first season in the Tri-Valley League. “We need to be able to compete with everybody in our league,” Pfeifer said, “and it is going to be a new league, and we do have a new coaching staff ...
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Erie girls aiming to be competitive in Tri-Valley
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Erie girls basketball coach Brianna Volmer hopes that the success that she achieved helming the school’s volleyball team this year can carry over onto the basketball court. Most of the impactful volleyball players are part of this squad. “They know my expectations, and they know how hard we have to work to attain those goals,” Volmer said, “and they know how hard we had to work in volleyball to get those goals, a...
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Royster wrestlers win medals at Labette
The Royster wrestling team competed at the Labette Community College tournament on Tuesday, an event at which no team scores were kept. Several Royster wrestlers won medals, including Jack Richard, Matt DeVoe, Braden Robinson, Huntyr Schwegman, Gage Matlock, Zack Dean, Trystan Pringle, Gage Leedy, Brodey Silcox, Logan Cook, Jake Fiscus, Preston Bogle and Dawson Taylor. The final event for the Royster wrestling team will be at home today, as t...
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New coach aims to make St. Paul boys competitive
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Keith Wiatrak watched the St. Paul Indians boys basketball team last year as its assistant coach. St. Paul got off to a 1-6 start, and racked up a few injuries before Christmas. The Indians turned things around somewhat late in the season, improving the record to 9-13. Now, as he takes over the team’s head coaching position for the first time, Wiatrak wants the Indians to be competitive right away. “We had a long...
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Senior leadership and defense to carry Chanute boys
Brian McDowell Sports Editor There is an old basketball maxim that says ‘If you can’t talk it, you can’t guard it.’ So far, the wisdom of this advice has given confidence to Chanute boys basketball coach Max Ruark, who praised the way this year’s Comets squad has talked while working on defense on the court during its first two weeks of practice. “There were a lot of times last year when we were pretty quiet on the floor,” Ruark said, “and th...
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Eighth grade basketball steps up in Parsons
The Royster 8th grade girls A team had to juggle its lineup due to injury and illness this week, and lost a match-up with Iola 28-6. Coach Steve Slane said this game was ‘not pretty.” However, the coach said he was really proud of the girls at their next match-up, on Monday afternoon in Parsons. “We stayed in the game until the last few minutes and some girls really stepped up,” Slane said. In the Parsons A game, Royster came back within 5...
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