The Hays High took to the road and traveled to Wichita on Friday night in an effort to bounce back following a homecoming loss last week. The Indians found themselves at Wichita South High School to take on the Titans.
The Hays defense set the tone for the first half. Following a lost fumble to start the contest by the Indians, the Hays defense forced a change of possession on downs from the Indian 21 yard line. Wyatt Crain kept the defensive train rolling with a 25 yard scoop and score on South’s second possession fumble. The defense continued to play well through the first half allowing South to cross the 50 just one time while picking up another fumble (Tucker Veach) and an interception (Tavian Creamer.)
Leading 7-0 the Hays offense kicked into gear. Brock Lummus recovered an offensive fumble in the end zone for a score to take a 14-0 lead. Hays scored twice on one play drives on a Hayden Brown 69 yard run and a Dylan Dreiling to Jaren Kanak 39 yard strike. Sandwiched in between those two scores Brown added a nine yard run out of the quarterback position. Hays scored on four of five possessions to push their advantage to 35-0 by halftime.
Highlights
The Indians pushed the game high advantage to 38 points following the first field goal attempt in Matt Goodale’s short (two game) career. Goodale split the uprights down the middle on a 35 yard attempt and a 38-0 lead early in the third quarter. South scored on the next drive for the first of three Titan scores. Hays did run one more in during the third quarter as the Indians pull away for a 45-20 victory.
The Hays coaching staff was able to allow several players to get into the game throughout the fourth quarter and get their chance at playing the varsity of a different team.
Coach Tony Crough
Hays moves to 2-3 on the year while Wichita South falls to 3-2. Dylan Dreiling threw for 183 yards. His favorite target was Jaren Kanak who hauled in six receptions for 112 yards a touchdown.
Hays heads back out on the road for their final Western Athletic Conference game on the season in Dodge City.
EDMOND, Okla. – Fort Hays State notched its first MIAA victory of the season on Friday night with a big 2-1 win over No. 14 ranked Central Oklahoma. Not even a first-half lightning delay could deter the Tigers from ending the Bronchos’ 13-match unbeaten streak at home.
Coming into the match, UCO had been a thorn in the side of FHSU winning six of the last seven meetings. Fort Hays State snapped a four-match skid to UCO with the win, moving to 5-3 (1-1 MIAA). The Tigers handed the Bronchos their first loss of the year, now 6-1-2 (1-1 MIAA).
Only 10 minutes ticked by before lightning from a storm in the area caused a delay of an hour. The delay did not faze the Tigers. Five minutes after play resumed, FHSU drew a foul in the box. Chloe Montano stepped up and knocked in her first goal of the season on a penalty kick, giving the Tigers the early 1-0 advantage. The Tigers mustered three more shots before taking the one-goal lead into halftime.
The Tigers attempted their only shot of the second half in the 54th minute, but cashed in on the chance. Jenna Prince netted a goal in the lower-left corner off an assist from Montano, helping the Tigers double their lead. UCO’s Eden Jones scored in the 64th minute to cut the lead in half, but it was not enough as FHSU hung on for the victory despite getting outshot 24-5.
The Tigers made their two shots on goal count out of their five total shots for the match. Prince and Montano were responsible for two shots each, while Emily Reitz tallied the fifth. The defense had a busy night, but kept 14 UCO shot attempts from being on target. Taryn Schnell and Maja Persa defensively played the entire 90 minutes.
Megan Kneefel (4-2) was rock solid, saving nine of 10 shots on goal. With the victory, Kneefel moved into sole possession of second place in all-time career wins at FHSU. She passed Abbie Flax (2014-2016), now with 19 career victories.
The Tigers look to keep their momentum rolling on Sunday (Oct. 6) at Newman University. The match is at 2 pm in Wichita.
MARYVILLE, Mo. – The Fort Hays State volleyball team struggled to find a rhythm Friday evening (Oct. 4) against No. 10 Northwest Missouri State, falling to the Bearcats in three sets (12-25, 11-25, 9-25). The Tigers move to 6-8 overall and 3-3 in MIAA play while NWMSU improves to 12-1 on the year and 5-0 in league action.
Northwest Missouri State captured four of the first five points and never looked back, leading for nearly the entire match. The Tigers held a slight lead in the second set, leading as late as 7-6 before a four-point Bearcat run gave the home team the lead for good.
The Tigers were held to a -.099 attack percentage while the Bearcats countered with a .326 swing rate. NWMSU made things tough for the Tigers at the net, blocking seven attempts on the night.
Seven different Tigers recorded a kill, led by four from Delaney Humm. The sophomore tied with senior Abbie Hayes with a team-best 10 digs on the day. Katie Darnell totaled 11 assists while Taylor White added four.
The Tigers will look to bounce back Saturday (Oct. 5) when they take on No. 13 Central Missouri. First serve is set for 3 p.m. from Warrensburg, Mo.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A judge declared a mistrial after a jury could not reach a verdict in the murder trial of a man accused of killing a Lawrence woman in 2014.
Rontarus Washington, Jr. after his arrest four years ago in Mississippi-photo courtesy Washington Co.
A jury deliberated for three days before the mistrial was declared Friday in the trial of 23-year-old Rontarius Washington Jr. He is charged in the death of 19-year-old Justina Altamirano Mosso, who was found bludgeoned and stabbed to death in a Lawrence apartment in November 2014.
Washington lived in an apartment near Mosso. He is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated battery, and an alternative of first-degree felony murder. The jury could not reach a verdict on all three charges.
Washington has been in custody since early 2015 while his trial was repeatedly delayed . Washington told detectives he entered Ruiz’s apartment to steal money and Mosso dead.
HAMILTON COUNTY — One person died an accident just after 11 a.m. Friday in Hamilton County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1997 Ford pickup driven by William R. Reed, 62, Coolidge, was southbound on Kansas Highway 27 eleven miles north of U.S. 50.
The pickup left the roadway to the west and entered the west ditch, continued traveling southbound through a field and struck a utility pole.
EMS transported Reed to the hospital in Garden City where he died. KHP did not have details on his seat belt usage.
ROOKS COUNTY – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation, along with the Rooks County Attorney, and the Rooks County Sheriff’s Office, shared that the investigation into the murder of Mark Reif has now been closed.
Following an extensive and thorough investigation, it was determined Jon Flowers, 47, Inman, was responsible for the murder of 56-year-old Mark Reif. No evidence exists indicating any other person was involved in the crime.
Forensic testing has now been completed in this case and it revealed that a fired cartridge case located at the murder scene was fired from a pistol belonging to Flowers that KBI agents collected during the investigation. The bullet removed at autopsy from Reif was also determined to have been fired from the same firearm.
Additionally, when Flowers was discovered dead in his home, a suicide note was nearby that claimed responsibility for killing Reif.
The preliminary autopsy of Flowers concluded that his death was the result of suicide. The investigation is officially being closed.
Elizabeth Woolheater photo Sedgwick Co.Lucas Diel photo Sedgwick Co.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A 24-year-old Wichita woman has been sentenced to more than 19 years in prison in the death of her 2-year-old son after he refused to eat a hot dog.
Elizabeth Woolheater was sentenced Friday for the May 2018 death of Anthony Bunn.
Woolheater pleaded guilty in August to second-degree murder and two counts of child abuse. She was sentenced to 19 years, five months.
The boy died two day after he was beaten unconscious by his mother and her boyfriend, Lucas Diehl. Woolheater said she hit the boy for not eating the hot dog and then heard Diel hitting him more. Diel denied hitting the boy. He is serving a 49-year sentenced for second-degree murder.
Records show the Department for Children and Families was alerted the boy was being abused before he died.
Elma Mae Stricker, 76, died October 3, 2019 at Clara Barton Hospital, Hoisington. She was born January 31, 1943, in Great Bend, Kansas, the daughter of Frank and Marie (Klug) Beck. Elma graduated from Hoisington High School in 1961.
On October 24, 1964, she married Ron D. Stricker at the St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, Hoisington.
Elma was a lifetime Barton County resident. She worked as a sales clerk for Cheyenne Drug in Hoisington for 21 years. She was a member of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church.
She is survived by her husband of 55 years, Ron Stricker of the home; and son, Jerry Stricker and wife Amanda of Hoisington; three grandsons, Kyler Stricker of Richardson, Texas, and Liam and Ryken Stricker of Hoisington; brother, Gene Beck of Hoisington, sister, Kathy Thompson of Conroe, Texas, twin brother, Elmer Beck and wife Diane of Olathe, and sister, Betty Steiner and husband Kenny of Hoisington.
She was preceded in death by her parents, an infant brother, Leo Beck, and two sisters, Bernice Christopher and Helen Urban.
Friends may sign the book from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., through the week. Family will receive friends from 6-8 p.m. Friday at the funeral home. There will be no viewing as cremation has taken place per Elma’s request.
Funeral service will be 10:30 a.m., Saturday, Ocotber, 12, 2019, at Nicholson-Ricke Funeral Home Chapel, with Rev. Don Fisher presiding. Inurnment will follow in Hoisington Cemetery.
Memorials may be made to the Hoisington Fire Department or Donor’s Choice, in care of Nicholson-Ricke Funeral Home, PO Box 146, Hoisington, KS 67544.
TOPEKA (AP) — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has joined a legal battle to save a federal program that shields young immigrants from deportation.
Kelly’s move Friday puts the Democratic governor and Republican Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt on opposite sides of a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Kelly signed onto written legal arguments opposing President Donald Trump’s attempt to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Kelly joined Democratic Montana Gov. Steve Bullock and the Democratic attorneys general of Michigan and Nevada.
Schmidt has joined 11 other GOP state attorneys general and Mississippi’s Republican Gov. Phil Bryant in a court filing arguing that the DACA program wasn’t lawful.
The program established by President Barack Obama grants temporary legal status to immigrants without proper documents who came to the U.S. as children.
Compass Behavior Health in Garden City offers substance use evaluations, individual therapy, and 24-hour crisis services. Photo by Corinne Boyer courtesy Kansas News Service
GARDEN CITY, Kan. — Two years after closing an office in Garden City, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration announced this week it’s coming back to town.
The agency’s new setup comes at a time when methamphetamine seizures are on the rise in Finney County and the area’s seen some drug-related shootings. Plus, states are grappling with the fallout of billions of opioids distributed throughout the U.S., and western Kansas has few drug rehabilitation options.
More drug enforcement agents means more surveillance of Finney County, which is one of approximately a dozen counties in Kansas that the DEA classifies as a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
County Sheriff Kevin Basque said he’s seen drugs moved through the county in almost every type of vehicle.
“In regular passenger vehicles, SUV, these trucks … just whichever method that they feel like they can move it without being detected,” Basque said. He also noted that two people have died in drug-related shootings in the last several weeks in Finney County.
It isn’t clear when the office will open. And William Callahan, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA’s St. Louis Division, declined to comment on the location of the agency’s new office, citing safety reasons. But he said the new team of six, which has started working, will also monitor opioids.
“Through August 2019, the Garden City Finney County Drug Task Force … has more than doubled the amount of methamphetamines seized during the entirety of 2018,” Callahan said.
He said other substances like fentanyl and counterfeit pills made in China are being shipped by mail, and causing overdoses.
Southwest Kansas’ highways provide a gateway for drugs smuggled from Mexico that are bound for distribution in Kansas City and as far as Chicago, he said, adding that methamphetamines are mostly made in Mexico now and are more potent than U.S.-made meth.
“This area of southwest Kansas has always been attractive for those people who are moving drugs, but also for law enforcement agencies trying to stop that flow,” Basque said.
When it comes to getting off of opioids or meth, someone looking for addiction treatment in western Kansas may struggle to find a detox facility, according to Lisa Southern. She’s the executive director of Compass Behavioral Health in Garden City, which serves 13 Kansas counties.
“There is a lack of services in all of Kansas and especially in the rural counties of Kansas,” Southern wrote in an email. “People … often have to wait many weeks (or longer) to go to an inpatient facility. There are very few licensed addictions counselors in western Kansas, which only adds to the treatment barriers.”
Basque said treatment is important.
“Without it, then all you’re going to do is, even if you arrest the user, maybe they committed their crime because of an addiction that they have to an illegal substance,” he said. “If it’s not treated, then when they’re released, then the chances are better that they’re going to go back to that particular lifestyle.”
Even with limited options, Southern says Compass Behavioral Health is seeing more people addicted to methamphetamines looking for help.
“It can be difficult to determine if someone has a true psychiatric disorder that can be treated with medication or if the problem is purely due to drug use,” Southern said. “With extended use, the brain damage from drug use may be irreversible and then helping the person can be nearly impossible.”
Corinne Boyer covers western Kansas for High Plains Public Radio and the Kansas News Service. You can follow her on Twitter @corinne_boyer or email [email protected]. The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW, and High Plains Public Radio focused on the health and well-being of Kansans, their communities and civic life.
