Sports
Chanute hosts Fields of Faith event
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Chanute was one of nine Kansas communities chosen to host the Fields of Faith event on a windy night Wednesday. Fields of Faith has been helping high school athletes in 35 states express their Christian beliefs since 2004. Students travelled from as far away as Iola to attend the voluntary event, to hear Christian music, a sermon by D.J. Dangerfield of Chanute’s First Baptist Church, and testimony from fellow hi...
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Chanute tennis mates ready for state
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Chanute junior Madison Wendt was paired with Jade Gardner on last year’s Chanute girls’ tennis team’s number one doubles team. Although Wendt indicated that the pair had some off-the-court personality conflicts, they found some success, making it to the state tournament. However, when Gardner left town over the summer, coach Mike DeLaTorre took an unusual step to fill in the gap. He turned to a player that had onl...
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Chanute football works to address its ‘second half problems’
Brian McDowell Sports Editor For the first time in his over 20-year coaching career, Chanute Coach Don Simmons refused a post-game interview with a reporter after last Friday’s loss to the Golden Tornado from Coffeyville. While sitting in his office apologizing for the incident, Simmons explained that he was very angry following the game, and was afraid he’d be too negative and say the wrong thing. His emotions at that game were understandabl...
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Chanute’s Blake Kisner off to a surprise start
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Blake Kisner did not expect he would be starting for the Chanute Blue Comets this year. The runningback role on the team was firmly in the hands of standout Jared McComb headed into his senior year. However, when Kisner heard that McComb had moved to Texas with his family, giving his coach no notice, Kisner viewed it as a chance to be seen. Kisner has made the most of this unexpected opportunity, rushing for 388 y...
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Fall substate assignments listed
Next week, teams focus on postseason competition, volleyball substate tournaments and cross country regional meets. Both competitions are on Saturday, Oct. 22. On the line are trips to state tournaments and meets. The Kansas high school state volleyball tournaments and cross country meets are on Saturday, Oct. 29. Chanute’s volleyball team is in a Class 4A substate at Garnett. The CHS cross country teams are in the 4A regional meet at Ottawa....
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St. Paul turns back Colony-Crest 38-24
ST. PAUL — The Indians resorted to their third string quarterback in the first quarter when Anthony Diskin went down with a shoulder injury, but the wheels didn’t fall off and St. Paul defeated a potent offensive team in Colony Crest Friday night, 38-24. Freshmen Preston Jacquinot opened the scoring with a 19-yard pass to Paul Schibi. Jacquinot then found Willie Westhoff for a 14-yard passing TD. Colony-Crest returned the kickoff 73 yards for...
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Lyndon blanks Humboldt
HUMBOLDT — A high-powered Lyndon team rolled into town Friday and blanked Humboldt 46--0 at Homecoming. The Cubs had a minus-6 rushing total on the night and only three first downs. “They are one of the better 2A teams,” Cub Coach Mike Miller said of the Tigers. “It was one of those games they were too much.” Noah Thornbrugh was the top rusher with 18 yards on 8 carries. Tanner McNutt grabbed three passes for 47 yards. On defense, Jacob Carpe...
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Girard sends Erie to 2-4
ERIE — The Erie High School football team was looking to get back to .500 on Friday night, but the Red Devils lost their homecoming game to Girard, 32-0. Erie coach Travis Hurley said senior Keith Marquardt, a running back who started the game as the No. 3 quarterback, left the game on the opening drive with an ankle sprain. Brett Thompson filled in for Marquardt. Hurley said the freshman played well, but the offense was limited in what it co...
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Coffeyville hands the Comets a 35-0 second-half bitter pill
Brian McDowell Sports Editor COFFEYVILLE — Before Friday night’s SEK showdown between Chanute and Field Kindley-Coffeyville, the second year coach of the Golden Tornado, Murray Zogg, made an prescient observation. He pointed out that, for two years in a row, he has watched film of games where Pittsburg has achieved victory over their rivals from Chanute by completely shutting down the Comets’ offense in the second half. He surmised that Chanu...
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Golden Tornado prepare to strike the Comets
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Murray Zogg, the second-year coach of the Golden Tornado of Field Kindley High School in Coffeyville, admits that his team has had an up and down season. The team, which hosts a crucial contest with the Comets tonight, only has 42 members and 4 seniors. “It’s just a small class,” Zogg said, “and it seems like it’s hard to get kids to come out for football here. They’d rather do anything but go out and sweat for t...
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Player of the Week Noely Perez Steals the ‘Sho’
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Even though the Wednesday night NCCC volleyball tailgate party offered guests hamburgers, hot dogs and an opportunity to interact with the school’s mascot and spirit squad, most local fans showed up to get a glimpse of the school’s newest star, Noely Perez. The six-foot native of Venezuela was truly a sight to behold in the team’s showdown with its rivals from Allen County later that night. On the court, Perez is ...
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The Danae Decker Difference
Brian McDowell Sports Editor The way that Chanute junior Danae Decker approaches the game of golf makes her stand out from her high school peers. First, there is the measuring, something she does a whole lot of whenever she is shooting around the green or putting. Decker will get down on her knees and visually measure out every shot. Then, when she gets up to putt, she uses a larger-than normal putter, a device called a “belly putter.” (“For ...
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Grant McMillan defines ‘Chanute football’
Brian McDowell Sports Editor When Chanute junior Brock Gilmore was taken out of last Friday’s matchup with Iola as a precautionary measure, after he hurt his knee on the last play of the first half, the Comets’ quarterback duties wound up in familiar hands. Senior Grant McMillan was last year’s starting quarterback for the team, helping to orchestrate the largely run-oriented offensive attack. During the rearranging of the team’s offense, tha...
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Comets to preserve Iola rivalry as they prepare for Coffeyville
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Even though the Iola Mustangs are due to leave the SEK League at the end of the year, Chanute coach Don Simmons is working to prolong the longstanding football rivalry between Chanute and Iola. Simmons said that he and Iola coaches were working on a plan that would allow the two teams to compete against each other in districts, even though they won’t be in the same league. The Comets haven’t been defeated by the M...
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How Sierra Masoner became Chanute’s biggest killer
Brian McDowell Sports Editor In volleyball, a player gets credited with a “kill” when a ball they hit over the net is unreturnable by the opposition. It is a very tricky thing to do. A player must not only be in a perfect position to receive the ball from one of the team’s setters. They also must pay attention to where the other team is positioned so they can hit it over the net in a spot where none of their opponents will be able to touch it...
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Chanute escapes with tournament win
Brian McDowell Sports Editor The Chanute volleyball team looked like it would handily defeat every team that appeared on the other side of the net at the tournament the Comets hosted on Saturday. Their string of four successive victories got them to the finals of this event against the Labette County Grizzlies, an old nemesis in the SEK. The scrappy underdogs shocked the Comets by winning the first set of the game 25-22. The Comets did fight ...
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Comets finish fourth at SEK tourney
Brian McDowell Sports Editor A week before hosting regionals, the Chanute girls tennis team swung into the SEK finals in Independence on Saturday. Fourth place finishes by number one singles player Czarina Ramos and both of the school’s doubles teams helped Chanute cement fourth place at the nine-team tournament. “We were very close to winning the third place team medals,” coach Mike DeLaTorre said, “but things just didn’t go our way.” Parson...
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Humboldt defeated by Oswego 46-21
OSWEGO — Coming off of a win last week and a good week of practice this week, Humboldt Coach Mike Miller expected the Cubs would come out fired up and ready to play in their Friday night battle with Oswego. In the first half of the game, Humboldt had some good opportunities to hit the Indians with some big plays, but, according to Miller, the Cubs weren’t able to execute and turned the ball over, which set up several big touchdowns for Oswego...
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Chanute hands Iola 67-19 rout
Brian McDowell Sports Editor The last time the Iola Mustangs beat the Chanute Blue Comets was well before any current attendee of either high school was born. Iola has not won a game this season and did not win one all of last season. However, during the first two and a half minutes of the Friday night match-up between the two SEK rivals, the Mustangs threatened to make Chanute’s Homecoming game very interesting. Recovering a Chanute fumble e...
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Clark tournament win helps Chanute tie for 1st
A first place finish by Nikki Clark boosted the Chanute girls golf team to a tie with Girard for a tournament win in Columbus on Thursday. Both teams had scores of 224, despite the fact that Chanute only had four players in the tournament, while Girard had six. Seven schools sent golfers to the nine-hole tournament. Clark led all players by shooting a 48, one stroke better than teammate Danae Decker, whose 49 score tied her for second place....
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