Sports
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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Comets’ offense and defense feels the need for Smeed
Brian McDowell Sports Editor As an athlete, Chanute senior Josh Smeed has had to deal with weather delays before. However, he has never had to wait three extra hours to play a game, like he and his Comet teammates had to do in Iola last Friday night. Because of lightning concerns, Chanute was stuck in the small and cramped locker room for four hours before coming out to defeat Iola 42-0. Smeed said the team spent that time trying to focus. “...
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Chanute spirit squad ready to pump up last regular season home game
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Members of the CHS spirit squad can usually be found after school in either the school’s cafeteria or its auxiliary gym, working on a dance routine that will be presented at halftime of the next Comets’ football game. With the team’s last regular season game coming up this Friday, the squad is busy preparing to go all out with their best routine yet. Unlike most high school or college cheerleading squads, there is...
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State-qualifying Chanute tennis players end season free from regret
Brian McDowell Sports Editor EMPORIA — Playing with “no regrets” was the motto for this year’s Chanute girls tennis team that qualified three players for last weekend’s state tournament in Emporia. Senior singles player Madison Wendt and the doubles team consisting of junior Alexis Thuston and sophomore Abby Liudahl , as well as Coach Mike De La Torre, truly had “no regrets” about the success they experienced this season. Neither Wendt nor t...
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Humboldt beats Eureka in rain-delayed match-up
Thunderstorms in the area postponed the Friday night meeting between Eureka and the Humboldt Cubs until Monday night. When the two squads were able to meet, Humboldt dominated the proceedings, winning this first game of Districts 48-8. The Cubs used an efficient offense and a tough defensive attack to their advantage in the match-up. “I was proud of our kids for executing the game plan on both sides of the ball,” Coach K.B. Criss said. Defen...
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Chanute golfers swing for sixth at State
Brian McDowell Sports Editor HESSTO — Chanute Golf Coach Bill Woodard’s fingernails will look a little bit different than normal this week. He told the players on the school’s girls golf team that if they qualified for the State Tournament as a team, he would let them do his nails. Since the team did qualify for the 4A State Tournament, held in Hesston last Monday, Woodard is spending the week with his nails painted in the latest fashion, som...
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Chanute starts Districts with late night rout of rivals
IOLA — As they have done in all their wins this season, the Chanute Blue Comets’ defense held their opponents scoreless, and their offense fired on all cylinders on Friday night. The Comets won their first District game 42-0. However, Friday night’s meeting between the Chanute Blue Comets and their Iola Mustang rivals was anything but typical. The contest took place late on Friday night in Iola under bizarre circumstances. Thunderstorms in t...
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