Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Substate volleyball -- JCN qualifies for 3A state

The hometown Jefferson County North Chargers found a way to the state tourney for the third time in four years at the 3A substate in Winchester Saturday.

The top-seeded Oskaloosa Bears started the day’s action with a relatively easy 25-13, 25-14 win over eighth seed Horton and ACCHS followed by downing fifth seed McLouth, 25-17, 26-24. The Bulldogs led, 21-15, in the second game but the Tigers came back to win the game and end McLouth’s season at 14-22.

The Chargers defeated Maur Hill Mount Academy, 25-18, 25-13, to coast into the semifinals, which were set with Oskaloosa taking on ACCHS and JCN facing Sabetha.


Game one of the Oskaloosa-ACCHS matchup was tightly played as ACCHS squeaked out a 25-23 game win. Game two started out the same but ACCHS built a 20-13 lead only to see Oskaloosa come back to tie it at 20. ACCHS went back ahead but the game was tied at 22-22 when the Tigers got a late push to take a 25-23 game win and the match. The Bears finished the season 28-9.

JCN faced a foe in Sabetha that had previously beaten them this season but dug out a 25-23 game one win and then led,
22-14, before holding off the Blue Jays for a 25-19 match win.

In the championship versus ACCHS, JCN grabbed the early advantage in game one at 10-5 only to watch the Tigers come back and take the lead at 13-11. JCN came back to take a 20-18 lead before nailing down the 25-20 game win. Game two saw ACCHS grab the early momentum and hold on for a 25-15 win to force a third and deciding game in the match. Game three would play out completely different as the Chargers built a 7-1 lead and the Tigers couldn’t seem to get in synch. JCN's lead grew to 17-4 and the Chargers scored the final four points of the match to take a 25-7 win and set off a celebration of the school’s third state bid in the last four years.

The 28-11 Chargers will be the seventh seed at state in Salina this weekend. They enter pool play with second seed Hutchinson Trinity, third seed Silver Lake and sixth seed Jayhawk Linn Friday. Should JCN qualify for the semifinals, those matches and the championship and consolation matches would take place Saturday.

At the 4A substate in Tonganoxie, second seed Jefferson West knocked out Perry-Lecompton in the first round, 25-19, 25-20, to end the Kaws’ season at 4-27. West defeated Piper in the semifinals, 25-23, 25-15, to move into the finals versus the fourth seed hosts from Tonganoxie but lost to the Chieftains in the championship, 25-9, 25-11, to end the season at 29-10.

At the 2A substate in Lyndon, fourth seed Valley Falls lost to fifth seed Jackson Heights in the first round, 25-13, 25-12, to end the season at 20-15.

Odds and ends from county sports

Cross-country runners qualify for state meet

The county will send three high school cross-country runners to the state meet Saturday morning in Wamego after regional action Oct. 20.

At the 4A regional in Marysville, Jefferson West freshman Taryn Brees qualified as the lone West runner to make state with a fourth-place individual finish in the girls’ race.

At the 3A regional in Riley County, Jefferson County North had two boys qualify for state as Riley Noll was 10th and Spencer Wilson was 11th.

No runners from Valley Falls, Oskaloosa, McLouth or Perry-Lecompton qualified for state this season.


North boys finish second at Heights

The Jefferson County North boys’ cross-country team placed second Oct. 16 at the Jackson Heights Invitational.

Leading North were Riley Noll in sixth, Jon Peres in 11th, Dalton Speer in 13th, Spencer Wilson in 14th and Matt Finley in 15th. Landon Noll and Scott Noll also competed for North. In girls’ action, Lincoln Kingman was 14th and Sara Polson was 15th. Gavin Trexler was second and Cody McMahon was third in the junior varsity race.



Weeks 7 and 8 county football update

Week 7 games (Oct. 12)

Perry-Lecompton 34, Tonganoxie 13
• The Kaws took a 21-7 lead in the first quarter and took off from there to move to 6-1. Junior Shane Gimzo scored on runs of 10 and 5 yards and also connected on two touchdown passes – one to junior Joel Gantz for 17 yards and another to senior Dillon Harrell for 14 yards. Senior Caleb Denton scored on a 57 yard run. Junior Neng Artwichai added 4 extra-point kicks.

Atchison 26, Jefferson West 14
• Atchison took a 13-7 halftime lead and held on to win by 12 in the first game of district play. West scored on a 20-yard run by junior Garrett Stewart and a 10-yard pass from junior Kyle Sanders to junior Cole Buckman. West dropped to 3-4 with the loss.

JCN 35, McLouth 28
• JCN scored two touchdowns with time dwindling in the first half and held off the Bulldogs in the fourth quarter to move to 2-5. McLouth fell to 1-6. McLouth scored on 2-yard and 15-yard runs by senior Ryan Smith, and senior quarterback Mark Stewart connected on a 35-yard TD pass to junior Derrick Crouse as well as a 43-yard TD pass to Smith on the final play of the game. Junior Phillipp Wnuck added 2 extra points while Stewart and Crouse converted a 2-point conversion pass. North scored on runs of 11, 3 and 22 yards by senior Vince Foulk and a 7-yard pass from senior Luke Noll to Foulk. Sophomore Austin Gaspard also scored on a 7-yard run with Foulk adding 5 extra points.

Silver Lake 63, Oskaloosa 0
• The Bears dropped their fourth straight game to fall to 3-4 on the season as the top-ranked Eagles cruised to the win.

Valley Falls 21, Jackson Heights 6
• The Dragons moved to 4-3 as all the scoring came in the fourth quarter. The Dragons scored on runs of 1 and 9 yards by sophomore Chance Gier and a 2-yard run by sophomore Tyler Wynkoop. Sophomore Mitchell Streeter added 3 extra points. Junior Josh Kearney had 21 carries for 112 yards for Valley Falls while Gier ran 19 times for 104 yards.


Week 8 games (Oct. 19)

Perry-Lecompton 39, Jefferson West 0
• The Kaws clinched a 4A playoff spot by blanking West to move to 7-1. West dropped to 3-5 and was eliminated from the playoff chase with the loss. The Kaws held West to 55 yards of offense and got scores from senior Caleb Denton on runs of 4 and 5 yards as well as an 11-yard TD catch on a pass from junior Shane Gimzo. Senior Aaron Brooks scored on a 43-yard run and Gimzo connected with Joel Gantz on a 4-yard scoring play. Senior Brandon McMullin also returned an interception 73 yards for a score as junior Neng Artwichai added an extra-point kick and junior Kyle Morgison scored a 2-point conversion.

Oskaloosa 20, JCN 0
• Oskaloosa moved to 4-4 in snapping a four-game skid by dropping JCN. North fell to 2-6 with the loss.

Silver Lake 90, McLouth 14
• Silver Lake was up, 56-0, at halftime en route to dropping McLouth to 1-7. McLouth scored on a 10-yard run by senior Mark Stewart and a 75-yard run by senior Ryan Smith. Derrick Crouse and Aaron Roberts connected for a 2-point conversion pass. Smith had 25 rushes for 141 yards and a TD in the loss.

Immaculata 14, Valley Falls 13
• The Dragons moved into a must-win situation with this week’s game at Wathena after dropping to 4-4 at Immaculata. The Dragons scored on a 1-yard run by sophomore Mitchell Streeter and a 72-yard fumble return by T.J. Breese. Streeter added an extra-point kick as all of the Dragons’ points came in the fourth quarter.