RHS Boys Demolish Mission Valley

    The Dawgs jumped off to a quick 14-0 lead in the first quarter and then made liberal substitutions to get a lot of players into the rest of the game.  A continuous running clock during the fourth quarter limited the scoring in that quarter.

MV     6    9   14    6    35
RHS  18  21   21    8    68

Rossville scoring:
Roduner       6 (2)      0-1      14
Schumacher 5           2-3      12
Mason          3 (2)      3-4      11
Morris           3 (2)      0-0       8
Horak            2 (1)      2-2       7
Hammes        2           1-2       5
Bradshaw       1           3-4       5
Musick           2            0-0       4
Anderson       1            0-0       2 
Totals          25 (7)     11-16   68

    Rossville will next face St. Marys,  which beat Royal Valley 67-64.   on March 3 at Council Grove.  Silver Lake will face #1 seed Osage City in the other half of the bracket.
 
    You can see video of the game at:
http://www.wibw.com/content/sports/KPZ-Mission-Valley-at-Rossville-37059.1641html

Silver Lake Teen Dies In Auto Accident

TOPEKA (KSNT) — The Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed that a Silver Lake teen injured in a car crash last Tuesday has died.

Shawnee County Sheriff Todd Stallbaumer said Superintendent Tim Hallacy with Silver Lake Schools confirmed that 15-year-old Tim othy W. Nesbitt passed away due to injuries he sustained in the crash on February 22, 2016.

The crash occurred at the east curve of NW 46th Street and Hoch Road just north of Silver Lake

According to a press release from the Shawnee County Law Enforcement Center, Nesbitt failed to navigate the curve. The car went straight through the guardrail and into a heavily wooded area about 100 feet away from the road.

Silver Lake Schools posted the following on their Facebook Monday morning:

The entire Silver Lake Schools community extends our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Timmy Nesbitt III. His smile and energy will be missed, but the memories he left with his family and friends will live on forever! ‪#‎BETHECHEETAH!

Shannon Parr (12) At KSU

    Shannon Parr,  daughter of Howard and Rhonda Parr of Rossville,  is on the KSU track team.  Her bio can be read at:  http://www.kstatesports.com/sport/c-track/2015/roster/5589bb8ae4b09d6fde8f16b1

Band & Choir Concert Mar. 7

Monday, March 7th at 7:00 pm 

is the 

7-12th Band & Choir Concert in the RJSHS auditorium. 

Come hear a wide-variety of musical performances, featuring some of the small ensembles that received high ratings at the Mid-East League Music Festival hosted at Rossville on Wednesday, February 17th.
These senior high groups, both band and choir, will be working to polish their songs in preparation for Regional Music Festival on Saturday, April 2nd. Limeades will also be returning for their encore appearance!

Sub-State Girls BB Starts Tue.

    The RHS girl's basketball team will host Hoyt-Royal Valley at 7:00 PM on Tue. evening in the first round of the sub-state tournament.
    You can view the complete sub-state bracket at:
    http://kshsaa.org/Public/ScoreCenter/Brackets/Basketball/3ASub-State.cfm?Activity=2&WeekID=1110

Sub-State Boys BB Starts Monday

    The RHS boys basketball team will host Eskridge-Mission Valley at 7:00 Monday evening.
    The complete bracket for the local Sub-State tournament can be viewed at:
http://kshsaa.org/Public/ScoreCenter/Brackets/Basketball/3ASub-State.cfm?Activity=2&WeekID=1009

Hays Dailey News Wrestling Article

    Here is an article on the 321A wrestling championships in the Hays Dailey News.
http://www.hdnews.net/sports/a-state-wrestling-norton-claims-fourth-straight-team-title/article_0bb866d4-dc20-5587-b50e-d9aad4cb9853.html

CatchItKansas Article

    Here is an article about the 321A state championships though it focuses primarily on Norton.

http://www.catchitkansas.com/sports/wrestling/norton-wins-4th-straight-championship/38236142

Final Team Standings At State

1.    Norton            121
2.    Rossville         117
3.    Marysville         73
4.    Smith Cebter     68.5
5.    Scott City          68
6.    Riley Co.           59
7.    Hoxie                58
8,    Silver Lake        52
9.    Wabaunsee       50
10.   Anthony Harper Chaperall     49
11.   St. Marys          45

For the complete list of team standings at the 2016 Kasnas State 321A   wrestling tournament,  go to:

http://s400.trackwrestling.com/tw/predefinedtournaments/MainFrame.jsp?newSession=false&loadBalanced=true&sport=wrestling&TIM=1456631264077&pageName=&ie=false&frameSize=899

Rossville Second At State

Rossville 3A wrestling title dreams dashed in finals

Bulldawgs crown champions in Luellen, Davoren, but Norton wins fourth straight state championship

By Brent Maycock

brent.maycock@cjonline.com

HAYS — The smiles worn by Isaac Luellen and Kole Davoren were genuine, and for good reason.

State championships don’t come along every day and any time you can win one, there’s a sense of accomplishment, satisfaction and exultation.

So when Luellen captured his second straight Class 3-2-1A 182-pound title, he “dabbed.” And when Davoren followed with his first state title at 220, he pumped his fists in the air and pointed to the Rossville cheering section.

But the celebrations were somewhat limited and the somber looks on the rest of the Bulldawgs told the other side of the story.

On a day where Rossville could boast two state champions, two runner-up finishers and five total placers, the Bulldawgs simply weren’t in a mood to celebrate. Not when the performance left them painfully short of ending Norton’s reign in Class 3-2-1A and delivering the program’s first state title.

“They did what they had to do all weekend long,” Rossville coach Curt Brecheisen said of Norton, which got three state champions and edged the Bulldawgs by a mere four points for the team title, 121-117. “They went three for three tonight and we went two for four. We knew it was going to be a dogfight and it was.”

Rossville held a one-point lead going into Saturday’s championship matches and had four wrestlers in the finals while Norton had three. Matching the Bluejays champion for champion was a must and if at all, Rossville needed to stay a step ahead.

But by the time Luellen and Davoren captured their titles, Norton had done its work. The Bluejays got titles from Skylar Johnson at 113, Mike Kasson at 160 and Gavin Lively at 195 with Lively’s pin in the finals clinching the title ahead of Davoren’s crown.

“They were just too much for us,” Luellen said.

That somewhat sums up Luellen’s season as well. No matter what came his way, he handled it with relative ease. A state champion a year ago despite missing the first half of the season, Luellen was at full strength as a senior and boy was he strong.

A 5-3 win over KC-Turner’s Jacob Smith was his only close call of the season and really became a turning point in his run to a 46-0 record.

“After beating him at Basehor, I was ready to go for state,” Luellen said. “I was dominating after that. I felt good all year, but after Basehor, it was over.”

The 182 title match with Lyons’ Cody Clark was over quickly as well. Luellen needed 15 seconds to get his first takedown and locked Clarke up in a cradle right away. He couldn’t get the valuable pin points and did give up a reversal, but cruised the rest of the way to a 16-3 major decision.

If Luellen was the known commodity, Davoren was the surprise champion. How much of a surprise? The senior didn’t even start wrestling until his junior year. No kids background, no nothing.

“Derek (Gentry) got me to come out because they didn’t have a 220 so I thought I’d give it a try,” Davoren said. “I went out last year and enjoyed it and it helped me in football. I really didn’t I could be this good, honestly.”

In his title match with Smith Center’s Dalton Kuhn, Davoren got a first-period takedown and appeared to be in solid position going into the third period up 2-1 and starting on bottom. Instead, Kuhn turned him for two back points, forcing Davoren to rally.

He did, getting an escape with just under a minute left and then the winning takedown with less than 40 seconds to go, taking a 5-3 win.

“It’s really amazing,” said Davoren, who finished 38-6.

The fantastic finish for the Bulldawgs was dampened by a heartbreaking start to the finals as both Bryce Gfeller and Isaiah Luellen fell short in their bids to get Rossville rolling.

Gfeller (41-6), a two-time state champion, had a known rival in his 126 final in Wabaunsee’s Riley Tubbs, a Mid-East League colleague whom Gfeller had gone 2-1 against this year. That included an 8-4 win over Tubbs in last week’s regional finals where Gfeller was able to work on his feet and rack up takedowns.

In Saturday’s rematch, Tubbs grabbed the early lead by putting Gfeller on his back for a two-point near-fall in the second period. Gfeller fought back to tie the match 3-3 less than 30 seconds into the final period and then let Tubbs up to try to get a winning takedown. It never came and Tubbs capitalized for a late takedown of his own for a 6-3 win.

“I didn’t shoot near enough throughout the whole match,” Gfeller said. “We’ve been back and forth all year and he got me when it mattered. It’s definitely motivation to get No. 3 next year.”

Sophomore Isaiah Luellen faced a tough challenge to get his first state title, meeting undefeated Christopher Ball of Hoisington in the 152 finals. The task got even bigger when Ball scored an early takedown and rode Luellen out the rest of the period.

Even though Luellen (39-7) fought back and got a takedown in both the second and third periods, Ball stayed one step ahead and took the 6-5 victory.

“I got rode a lot so if I couldn’t get up, I wasn’t going to beat him,” Luellen said. “I thought he was getting tired, but it all went back to I couldn’t get off bottom. There wasn’t really much I could do.”

Rossville also got a third at 120 from Alex Cavanaugh (41-3), who gave the team a huge shot of momentum when he beat Norton’s Ryan Johnson 3-2 in the consolation semifinals and followed with a 7-1 win over Southeast-Cherokee’s Tyler Kester for third.

But in the end, the Bulldawgs came up just short of the goal of becoming state champions.

“We should feel blessed, but we all feel the same way,” Brecheisen said. “Our expectations from Day One this season was to be No. 1. And we didn’t get it.”

Final Class Results

    The final standings of each weight class at the state tournament can be read at:

http://s200.trackwrestling.com/tw/predefinedtournaments/MainFrame.jsp?newSession=false&loadBalanced=true&sport=wrestling&TIM=1456622985588&pageName=&ie=false&frameSize=899

Final Rounds Coming Up

Thee are a few matches for third place remaining and then the championship matches will begin.  The Dawgs have four wrestlers in those matches,  and have a one point lead over Norton 108-107.

Rossville Leads After First Day

From CatchItKansas.com

After Friday’s competition, Rossville and Norton had distanced themselves from the field, though the state crown remains in doubt after Day 1 at Fort Hays State University’s Gross Memorial Coliseum. Rossville leads Norton 101-91. No other team exceeds 54 points.

“You do the math, it’s going to be tough this year, and we knew that going in,” Johnson said. “We were not the favorite by any means, but I think we wrestled well enough to put a little scare in them.”

Rossville, known for its elite talent, has four wrestlers in the finals. Norton, traditionally with excellent depth, qualified three. The Bluejays’ eight wrestlers all remain alive and five are guaranteed medals. Rossville has seven wrestlers. Each one is left with guaranteed five placers.

“We knew it was going to be hard,” senior 195-pounder Gavin Lively said. “They have got quite a few in the finals just like we do, and we are going to try and finish it off.”

Last season, Norton trailed Hoisington and Rossville after Friday but tallied 43 Day 2 points and collected its eighth title in the last 12 years. Last season, the Bluejays had just one in the final and placed seven. This year, Norton has likely less opportunity to score on the backside.

“The chances that we would score a lot more points on the back was greater last year,” Johnson said.

Rossville and Norton had some surprises, both good and bad. Overall, the Bluejays were pleased with a day that put three seniors into championships: 113-pounder Skylar Johnson, 160-pounder Mike Kasson and Lively, undefeated this winter. It marks the second final for Johnson, first for Kasson and Lively.

“That’s all I have ever worked for is to make finals,” Kasson said.

Lively and Kasson have both gone through multiple obstacles in their careers, and for Kasson, some hurdles Friday.

“He has been huge,” Lively said. “He is wrestling in the toughest bracket in the state right now I’d say.”

Lively, a Kansas State football signing, believed he could have placed at state as a freshman and sophomore, though suffered injury. Last season, Lively had a disqualification in the quarterfinals and took third. On Friday, he dominated his three matches.

“It feels great knowing I should have been there last year and making it this year,” Lively said.

Lively, Smith Center’s 220-pound sophomore Dalton Kuhn and Plainville 285-pound senior Jared Plante were the lone wrestlers to record three wins by fall. Lively spent just 5 minutes, 20 seconds on the mat.

“We know we have to wrestle good if we want to take home our fourth team title, so we are all wrestling the hardest we can, and I am just trying to get as many points as I can for my team,” Lively said.

Kasson didn’t place as a sophomore and took third at 152 last season. Kasson said he “drew the short straw” and had to face St. Marys’ Greg Tooley, the eventual champion, in the first round. This year, Kasson had one of the two high-profile first round matchups.

Kasson, ranked sixth by the Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association, faced No. 5 Jacob Stryker, a Marysville junior. Kasson had lost to Stryker twice this winter. This time, Kasson tied the match in the final seconds of regulation on a takedown and then won, 4-2 in sudden victory. Kasson collected a 4-3 decision in the quarterfinals and won 12-3 in the semifinals.

Johnson said Kasson’s performance mirrored his run through the prestigious Newton tournament last month. Kasson barely won his first round match, had a better win in the second, did well in the semifinals – and then didn’t wrestle well in the finals.

“So hopefully we can turn that around and wrestle his best match here, and he is one of those kids that he has an enormous amount of heart,” Johnson said. “He hasn’t always had the great technique, but he has developed that over the years.”

Junior 145-pounder Trenton Wright, with nine losses entering state, was unranked. Wright went 2-1 and is guaranteed a medal in his first trip.

“One of those steady kids,” Johnson said. “Between your sophomore and your junior year is when we want to see those huge gains, and he has made that big step.”

Norton had some negative surprises as well, namely sophomore Ryan Johnson, a returning state runner-up, falling in the quarterfinals at 120 pounds. Rossville won one of its key toss-up matches when Bulldog senior Kole Davoren defeated Oakley sophomore Chris Cox in sudden victory in the 220-pound semifinals.

“I really didn’t expect their 220 pounder to pull that one out, but their kids came to wrestle, and I give them credit for that,” coach Johnson said. “But our guys rose to the occasion.”

Gfeller and Tubbs Meet In Final

From the Capial-Journal

Rossville's Gfeller, Wabaunsee's Tubbs meet again, this time for 3A title

Mid-East League rivals earn fourth showdown in 126 finals of state tourney; St. Marys' Tyler gets rematch with Wabaunsee's Droegemeier for 145 crown

HAYS — As much as their previous three meetings were hyped as potential previews to a state championship showdown, Rossville’s Bryce Gfeller never really got that feeling about his clashes with Mid-East League rival Riley Tubbs of Wabaunsee.

When he steps onto the mat Saturday in Gross Memorial Coliseum to face Tubbs for a fourth time, that all changes. This time, the showdown between the friendly rivals will be just that, a battle for the Class 3-2-1A 126-pound state championship.

Both handily earned a fourth and final showdown this year during Friday’s opening day of the state meet. Gfeller won two of his three matches by major decisions and the other via pin on his way to the finals, while Tubbs opened with a 6-2 win over defending state champion David Hileman of Smith Center and cruised into the finals from there on the strength of two pins.

“It will definitely be a real state match this time,” said Gfeller, who will be seeking his third straight state title after previously winning at 106 as a freshman and 113 as a sophomore. “I knew going into those other matches that I would probably be wrestling him again at state, probably.”

The Gfeller-Tubbs final is one of two Mid-East rivalry battles in Saturday’s finals. At 145, defending champion Corey Tyler of St. Marys will take on Wabaunsee’s Kolby Droegemeier for the third time this season with Tyler dominating the previous two meetings.

“I just have to go out and do the same thing I’ve done the past couple times,” Tyler said. “The plan is just take him down, let him up, wear him out and do it again.”

Tubbs had by far the toughest path of the four to earn his second straight championship match. His opening match against Hileman was a rematch of last year’s 126-pound title match, set up when Tubbs lost in the regional finals and Hileman was upset in his regional semifinals.

In last year’s championship match, Tubbs dominated early before Hileman roared back and caught Tubbs in the third period to pin the Charger for the title.

Needless to say, that loss stuck with Tubbs all offseason.

“I’ve been waiting all year to wrestle him,” Tubbs said of Hileman. “I was pretty motivated for that match and I’m glad I got that off my back. It was huge for me.”

It showed as Tubbs came out the aggressor again and after a scoreless first period built a 3-0 lead in the second on his way to a 6-2 victory, securing the win with a late takedown in the final period.

Tubbs made quick work of Leoti’s Dylon Niswonger in the quarterfinals and pinned Hill City’s Devin Owen in the second period of the semifinals to return to the finals for the second straight year.

All that was left to set up the rematch was for Gfeller to do his part and he had no trouble doing that. After pinning Marysville’s Skylar Widmer, Gfeller got a big and dominating 16-5 win over Norton’s Kade Unterseher in the quarterfinals before handling Council Grove’s Colton Steele 11-3 in the semifinals.

Gfeller (41-5) has won two of the three meetings with Tubbs this year, handing the Charger both of his defeats — winning 6-4 in overtime at Holton and 8-4 in last week’s regional final. In between, Tubbs (43-2) dealt Gfeller a 3-1 loss at Silver Lake, winning in the final seconds.

“It’s definitely different wrestling a kid you’ve known for your whole life and it’s a great matchup between me and him,” Tubbs said. “I just need to wrestle my best and everything will be fine.”

“It’s who I wanted to wrestle the finals with,” Gfeller said. “He’s very strong and it’s going to be a good match. He’s probably out for some blood. It will be fun.”

Tyler actually had a bit of a scare on his way back to the finals after winning state last year as a junior. At least what qualifies for a scare — being taken down.

Only three guys had done that this year, but when Ellis’ Dalton Hensley did it in the quarterfinals, it snapped Tyler to life. He rebounded from the 2-0 deficit to take a 7-4 win and then toyed with Norton’s Trenton Wright in a 20-8 semifinal win.

“I had some nerves going in and when he first took me down, I was kind of mad at myself,” Tyler said. “I was OK, though.”

Droegemeier opened with a pin and then took tight wins over Scott City’s Jarret Jurgens (9-7) and Bennington’s T.J. Ragnoni (3-2), the latter coming in the semifinals to earn a third shot at Tyler.

In the previous two matches, Tyler pinned Droegemeier and took an 18-8 win, but Droegemeier (41-7) is eager for another chance at the undefeated state champ (42-0).

“I felt like I had a good chance to get there and I just had to do whatever I could to get to the finals,” Droegemeier said. “I just have to do whatever I can and wrestle my best. I’m a little more confident than the other times. He’s good, I just have to do what I can.”