Sports
Chanute boys lose to Parsons on last-second shot
Brian McDowell Sports Editor After his team’s latest razor-thin game on Friday night, Chanute boys basketball coach Max Ruark joked that if the Comets keep playing in games like this, he is going to need to get one of those home blood-pressure reading machines. This has been a season marked by thrilling last-minute wins and wild escapes for the Chanute boys. Half of their victories this season have come at a span of three points of less. How...
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Comet girls cruise to 51-point victory
Brian McDowell Sports Editor “It was one of those nights where we were the better team, and we played like it.” Those were the thoughts of Chanute girls basketball coach Dustin Fox after the Comets put together a 68-17 home rout of Parsons on Friday night. “A lot of times high school kids have a tendency to play down to their competition,” Fox said, “but we didn’t do that.” Before the game, Fox and the Comet players talked about keeping thin...
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Softball pitcher Johnson signs with NCCC
Meaghan Thompson signed a letter of intent on Wednesday to play softball for NCCC. Her mother, Laura, was born and raised in Humboldt, so Thompson will have her own built in fan club, with many aunts, uncles and cousins waiting in the wings to come and watch her play. Most importantly, Thompson’s beloved grandmother will be close by for guidance, support, love and some home cooking. “I think Meaghan is going to come in and be an immediate i...
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Chanute football’s Gilmore, Fairchild and Howell sign letters of intent
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Three Chanute seniors signed letters of intent on Wednesday morning to play football for two-year colleges in the area. Comet quarterback Brock Gilmore and receiver Seb Fairchild both signed to play for Coffeyville, while a standout on both offense and defense and Shrine Bowl honoree Cody Howell will be playing for Butler County next year. These three players were all captains of this year’s football team, which w...
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Humboldt stays unbeaten in Neodesha
The Humboldt boys basketball team faced a challenge in Neodesha on Tuesday night, but the undefeated Cubs escaped with a 49-43 win. Noah Thornbrugh scored 12 points in the victory while both Tanner McNutt and Hunter Murrow had 11. Humboldt will next put its 17-0 record to the test on Friday night in Fredonia. Humboldt 15 5 19 10-49 Neodesha 6 11 9 17-43
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Comet boys escape with two-point win in Indy nailbiter
Brian McDowell Sports Editor INDEPENDENCE — Once again, the Chanute boys basketball team managed to survive a roller coaster of a defensive battle, and escape with a razor-thin victory. The Comets scored a 54-52 road win over Independence on Tuesday night. Chanute was leading by five headed into the game’s final stretch when Independence hit two free throws to cut the lead down to three. Chanute sophomore Derek Sharp was then fouled and hit t...
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Chanute girls overcome poor early shooting to put together big victory
Brian McDowell Sports Editor INDEPENDENCE — The mark of a truly good basketball team is that it wins even when it doesn’t play its best. That is what Chanute girls basketball coach Dustin Fox took away from the Comets’ Tuesday night 47-30 road victory over the Independence Bulldogs. It was a game marked by sloppy offensive play at times, and shooters missing several easy baskets, yet the Comets’ defense played lights-out enough that Chanute ...
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Fritch leads 7th grade Rockets past Coffeyville
The Royster 7th grade A basketball team hosted Coffeyville Monday night, where the Rockets’ own Todd Fritch dominated the game. Coffeyville simply didn’t have an answer for Fritch, especially inside the paint. Fritch scored a season best 21 points and added eight rebounds as well. Also, solid defensive performances from Jake Fiscus and Jacody Hockett helped the Rockets to shut down Coffeyville’s Manning, who is a sharpshooter for the Nado. T...
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Royster eighth grade teams beat Coffeyville
The Royster eighth grade basketball teams have struggled a bit this season, but both teams were able to put together big wins at home against Coffeyville on Monday. The B team earned a convincing 31-5 win for its second victory of the year, and the A team benefitted from late free throws to win its match-up 52-48 in overtime. “I’m so happy for the guys,” Coach Steve Slane said. “While the A team has worked hard all year, they started playing ...
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Humboldt boys number five in statewide KBCA rankings
The Humboldt Cubs boys basketball team was the only area team featured on the statewide KBCA rankings, which were released on Monday. The undefeated 16-0 Cubs were voted the number five boys 3A team. Scott City was selected as number one. A loss to Labette County last week seemingly knocked the Chanute girls basketball team (13-3) out of the top 10 statewide 4A rankings, which were released Monday by the KCBA. Prior to this week, the Comets w...
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Albertini hits 29 in St. Paul win
ST. PAUL — The St. Paul Indians settled for a split with the Oswego Indians Friday night. St. Paul won the girls contest 70-58 and Oswego nipped the St. Paul boys 53-50. Freshmen Josie Albertini and Jordyn Tuck led the girls to victory. Albertini shot for 29 points including 6 three-pointers. Twelve of those points came in a 27-point first quarter. Tuck chipped in with 13 points including a pair of three-pointers. Oswego’s boys drained a tri...
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Chanute wrestling wins two SEK duals in Parsons
PARSONS — The Chanute wrestling team scored decisive dual victories over SEK opponents Independence (56-24) and Parsons (60-9 ) on Thursday night at Parsons High School. The Comets accomplished this despite some key athletes being kept out of this event due to injuries, illness and disciplinary issues. “Overall, I’m pretty pleased with how the night went,” Chanute Wrestling Coach Andy Albright said. Sophomore Chase Cole and senior Cody Howell...
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Second half runs cost Comets in Coffeyville
Brian McDowell Sports Editor COFFEYVILLE — After lagging behind Coffeyville for much of the first quarter of its Friday night road match-up, the Chanute boys basketball team was able to forge a second quarter comeback. However, big Coffeyville runs in the third and fourth quarters ultimately overwhelmed Chanute. “They played a little tougher than we did in the second half, I thought,” Chanute Coach Max Ruark said. ”I thought they stepped up t...
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Big second half boosts Chanute girls over Coffeyville
Brian McDowell Sports Editor COFFEYVILLE — 6’3 Chanute sophomore Macy Flowers had 15 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks in the Comet girls’ Friday night match-up with Coffeyville. “Macy had a big game for us,” Coach Dustin Fox said. “She was doing a good job of locating herself right around the rim, and the other girls were doing a good job of finding her.” After a close-knit first half, Flowers and the Comets dominated the second half of th...
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Poor first half shooting dooms Panthers against Highland
Brian McDowell Sports Editor It has been a year of change for the NCCC Panthers men’s team. At the end of last season, Coach Jeremy Coombs decided to only bring back one returner, D’Marco Smith, and fill the rest of the roster sports with a mix of transfers and talented freshmen. Now, a couple of NCCC’s new players, Jalen Jones and Mark Gray, are no longer a part of the team, after being removed from the roster last week for unspecified “disc...
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Lady Panthers’ 14-point lead vanishes in loss to Highland
Brian McDowell Sports Editor The struggling NCCC Lady Panthers basketball team demonstrated an improved style of play early in their Wednesday night home match-up with Highland. Neosho County was making consistent defensive stops, making baskets, and had established a 14-point lead early in the second half. However, Highland mounted a comeback late in the game, eventually powering its way to a 65-59 win. Before joking that anything he said ab...
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Twelve bowling strikes in a Rowe
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Ever since his early teens, Chanute resident Kyle Rowe has been bowling, pursuing the perfect score of 300. “It is something that I always wanted to do,” Rowe said. “I just wasn’t sure I’d ever get there.” Last week, while bowling in the Tuesday night City league at C & H Lanes, Rowe pulled off perfection by rolling 12 consecutive strikes. Rowe, an assistant manager at Sherwin Williams, bowls once a week these day...
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Coach Simmons announces resignation
Brian McDowell Sports Editor After nine years at the helm of the Blue Comets football program, Don Simmons will be leaving Chanute High School at the end of the school year to accept a head coaching position at Shawnee Mission North High School. Simmons has statistically been the most successful head football coach in Chanute’s history, with a 65-32 record while here, and a career coaching record of 194-95. He has coached 24 winning seasons i...
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Comets’ comeback effort falls short in Labette
Brian McDowell Sports Editor ALTAMONT — The Chanute boys basketball team trailed by 14 points in the second quarter of its Tuesday night road match-up, but the Comets were able to push momentum enough on their side in the second half to give themselves a legitimate chance to win the game late. This comeback effort put the Chanute squad up by one point with less than 30 seconds to go in the game, when several defensive Comets made some key bl...
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Chanute girls get out- played in Labette rematch
Brian McDowell Sports Editor ALTAMONT — “We just didn’t play very hard.” That was Dustin Fox’s simple explanation for how his Chanute girls basketball team lost 68-53 Tuesday night to a Labette County squad that they beat early in the season. “When you don’t play hard against a good team, that’s going to bite you,” Fox said. Fox doesn’t know why some Chanute players seemed so listless at times in this crucial contest. “We’ve got to get better...
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