Sports
Cubs coast into home date for playoffs
BURLINGTON — Humboldt’s 61-14 win at Burlington Thursday night claimed the 7-2 Cubs’ first District championship since 1995. Tuesday’s home game will be Humboldt’s sixth playoff appearance of the past 11 years. “I am very proud of our entire team for setting out and accomplishing their goal of being District champions and having the opportunity to host a first round playoff game.” said Cub Coach K.B. Criss. “I thought we played extremely wel...
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View from the Sports-Desk Armstrong should still Live Strong
It is not often that a sports editor in the middle of football season and a local volleyball squad going to State would devote page space to a guy famous for riding a bicycle. However, Lance Armstrong was thought to be one of the most inspiring athletes of my generation, someone who exemplified many of the things we seek from following sports. He was tough, persistent, and in his brave battle against testicular cancer, overcame the greatest o...
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NCCC women’s basketball hosting last scrimmage
The NCCC women’s basketball team will host its last scrimmage of the preseason on Saturday at the school’s gymnasium at 2 p.m. The Panthers will be taking on the Kansas Nuggets semi-pro team of the WBCBL. The Kansas Nuggets, which are both co-owned and coached by Panthers Coach Kelley Newton during the season, went 13-1 this year. Assistant coaches will take over coaching duties during this match-up, while Newton helms the Panthers. The Nugge...
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Races cancelled this weekend at Humboldt
The Mo-Kan Nationals races that were scheduled for this weekend at the Humboldt Speedway have been cancelled to due to forecasted bad weather. “We hate to end the season this way, but have no choice,” race track owner Rhenda Whitworth said.
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Dispensa and Summers ready to go to Wamego
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Two Chanute sophomores will be headed to Wamego this weekend to represent the school at the State cross country meet. Madison Dispensa and Chandler Summers both qualified for the event as individuals even though both the school’s boys and girls cross country teams fell short of qualifying for the event this year. Dispensa earned her second trip in a row to State at the Regionals event last weekend in Anderson Cou...
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Playoff-bound Comets’ comeback falls short at Fort Scott
Brian McDowell Sports Editor FORT SCOTT — Even though the Chanute Blue Comets football team did not meet its goal of either winning District or spoiling Fort Scott’s season-long unbeaten streak on Thursday night, players on the team proved that they always fight through adversity and never quit. That is what Coach Don Simmons took away from Chanute’s heartbreakingly close 24-18 loss to Fort Scott in both teams’ final District game and final c...
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Panther women end season with playoff loss
The season ended for the NCCC women’s soccer team with a 2-0 loss on the road to Barton County in a first-round playoff game on Monday night. Coach Damon Solomon’s Panthers squad possessed the ball for about 65 percent of the game, just couldn’t score. Offense has been an issue for the team all season, and if it had scored more, Solomon feels that the Panthers could have been a top two team this year. “Our defense and our goal keeper were so ...
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Marmaton steamrolls St. Paul
ST. PAUL — St. Paul ran into a buzz saw with visiting Marmaton Valley Thursday night. The undefeated Wildcats rolled to a 52-6 win to claim the Eight-man District title. The Indians ended their season at 6-2, falling on the last two weeks of the season. “We won our first six games and in half we probably weren’t favored,” Coach Doug Tuck said. “We only had 14 out and not a lot of depth. “The last two games were frustrating, but it was a fun y...
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Meet the Panthers wrestling team on Saturday evening
The Panther wrestling squad will begin its season this Saturday with the Black and Orange varsity wrestle-off scrimmage that is free to the public. An introduction of the team will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the college’s gymnasium, followed by the dual at 7 p.m. These matches will determine varsity spots for the upcoming season opener against Arkansas Baptist next Wednesday, Oct. 31. In addition, the wrestling team will also be hosting the secon...
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First-seeded Chanute prepares to dominate at State
Brian McDowell Sports Editor For the second year in a row, Chanute’s volleyball team is preparing to participate in the State Tournament in Salina. However, this year is much different than last, because now the 31-1 Comets head into State as the number one seed, and have less losses than any high school volleyball team in Kansas. Last year’s state experience, in which Chanute was eliminated in three straight games, and the strength of the de...
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Underclassmen shine spotlight on Chanute’s bright football future
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Many seniors have been in the spotlight for their contributions to Chanute’s success this season, but underclassmen have also had an important role to play on this year’s team. For instance, kicker A.J. LaRocca has been one of the most important part of the Comets’ offense this year, scoring XX extra points and a field goal, for XX points so far this year. Coach Don Simmons praised LaRocca for being a good kicker,...
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Comets prepared for season’s biggest challenge at Fort Scott
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Chanute’s football team finds itself in a good position heading into the final District game on Thursday, decisively winning its first two District games and already clinching a playoff spot. However, the Comets will face their biggest challenge of the season in Thursday’s night’s game, playing on the road against undefeated Fort Scott. Coach Don Simmons is heading into this District Championship match-up encourag...
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Chanute receiving to ‘Sharp-en’ up against Fort Scott
Brian McDowell Sports Editor A few underclassmen have broke through in a big way for the Chanute Blue Comets football team this year, and made key contributions to the success that the team has experienced so far in District play. One sophomore, Derek Sharp, is the leading scorer on the Comets, catching nine touchdown passes for 54 points. He doesn’t really pay attention to statistics like this, and doesn’t have much to say when asked about i...
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Determined Comets volleyball squad headed to State
Brian McDowell Sports Editor EL DORADO — For the second year in a row, the Chanute Blue Comets volleyball team is headed to State. The Comets, 34-1, will head into that prestigious event this weekend as the number one seed, with more wins than any high school volleyball team, at any level, in Kansas. Chanute earned another trip to the 4A State Tournament in Salina by fighting its way through a tough sub-state bracket in El Dorado on Saturday,...
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Two Chanute sophomores go the distance for State
Two Chanute sophomore cross country runners finished in the top 10 at the Regionals in Garnett on Saturday to advance to this weekend’s State meet in Wamego. A sixth place finish by Madison Dispensa in the varsity girls race and a 10th place run by varsity boys runner Chandler Summers is sending the two runners to State for the second year in a row. The rest of the athletes of Chanute’s cross country teams ended their season with the Saturday...
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Humboldt beats Fredonia in second District game
The Humboldt Cubs scored another victory on Friday night, beating Fredonia 44-14 on the second night of Districts. This means the Cubs are 2-0 in their District heading into the team’s Thursday match-up with Burlington. “I was proud of our kids effort and happy that the seniors were able to win their last regular season home game on Senior night,” Humboldt Coach K.B. Criss said. Humboldt heavily relied on the throwing talent of quarterback N...
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Cross country regionals and volleyball sub-state this weekend
This will be a busy weekend for area sports teams that are trying to qualify for State tournaments. The Chanute varsity boys and girls cross country teams will be traveling to Anderson County for their regional event at Garnett Country Club. The girls will start running at 1:30 p.m. and the boys race will immediately follow. Chanute’s volleyball team will be playing its sub-state event at El Dorado High School starting at 2 p.m. Fans that ca...
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Marais Des Cygnes bests St. Paul
The St. Paul Indians couldn’t quite keep on the scoreboard and fell 52-40 to Marais Des Cygnes Valley Friday night. The loss was the first for the season for St. Paul, 6-1. The winners are 5-3. St. Paul had trouble holding the home team offense and fell behind 28-18 at the half. Riley O’Brien scored from 7 yards out and Alex McCracken added a 40-yard TD. The final points of the half were on a 17-yard strike from Anthony Diskin to O’Brien. The...
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Neosho men picked four in BB poll
The Jayhawk Conference released its preseason basketball polls this week. The Neosho Community College men’s basketball team was picked to finish fourth in the Jayhawk East. The NCCC women’s team was picked to finish ninth in the Jayhawk East. On the men’s side, Coffeyville was picked to win the East, with Cowley second, Independence third and Neosho County fourth in the poll. Labette was fifth, with Johnson County sixth, KCK seventh, Highla...
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Victory tonight should put Comets in playoffs
Brian McDowell Sports Editor In his long coaching career, Don Simmons has never dealt with circumstances like those faced by the Chanute Blue Comets last Friday. “That’s one of the weirdest ones I’ve been a part of,” Simmons said. The team’s scheduled road contest against rivals from Iola was delayed for three hours due to thunderstorms. At one point, it was announced to the crowd and to the media that the game was cancelled, before the decis...
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