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Author chronicles the life and legend of Coach Al Billinger

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Author Darrell Mudd, Billinger family will sign books during TMP-M Homecoming weekend

By JACOB BRUBAKER
Hays Post

Most residents of Hays could point you to Al Billinger Fieldhouse on the campus of Thomas-More Prep Marian, but how much do most know about the legend behind the name?

Not enough, thought Darrell Mudd.

“I was shocked there was no book about someone who a building was named after,” Mudd said. 

That’s why Mudd teamed up with the Billinger family — Al’s children Alan, Roxie, Steve and Greg — to compose “The Legend Alvin ‘Al’ Billinger,” a book about the legendary coach. This is the sixth book for Mudd, who first began writing in 2005 and was first published in 2010. Mudd is a 1961 St. Joseph’s Military Academy graduate who played basketball for Coach Al in 1960 and 1961. 

The book tells the life story of Billinger, a small-town boy from Victoria who grew into a fantastic high school athlete. However, athletics was far from his only accomplishment. Al graduated from St. Joseph’s College and Military Academy before heading to the European theater to serve his country in World War II.

Al returned home to become a dedicated father and husband. He also returned to college to earn his degree while performing as an outstanding college athlete, most notably as a basketball player. Upon graduation, Al began teaching and coaching at St. Joseph’s Military Academy. Al had a number of other side jobs including house painting, selling life insurance, baking and  meat butchering. In his free time, he enjoyed the outdoors as a hunter and fisherman.

Mudd

The book doesn’t just tell the life story of Coach Al, it contains memories and stories from those impacted by him. In fact, over 70 people contributed a story or memory for the book.

The book was released in May 2019 via Amazon/Kindle. Author Darrell Mudd and Al’s children will be in town this weekend for TMP Homecoming, Sept. 20 to 21, selling signed copies of the book and visiting the community that meant so much to Coach Al. Mudd will also be talking about the writing process for the book.

Their book tour schedule is as follows:

• Sept 20: 3 to 4:30 p.m. at the Hays Library on Main Street

• Sept 21: 8 to 10 a.m. at Hays, The Bricks Pavilion

• Sept 21: 11 to 1:30 a.m. at the TMP-Marian cafeteria, Dutch lunch

• Sept 21: 5 to 6:30 p.m. at Hays, Gella’s Diner & Lb. Brewing

Book sale profits will be donated to the maintenance/upkeep of the Al Billinger Fieldhouse.

No. 12 Tiger men’s soccer falls to Regis

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Courtesy FHSU Athletics

DENVER – The No. 12 Fort Hays State University men’s soccer team faced off against the Regis University Rangers on Sunday afternoon. The Tigers entered into the matchup on a two-game skid and that form continued as the match resulted in a 3-0 loss.

Fort Hays State found themselves behind early in the match. Just one minute into the contest, Regis’ Ben Shepherd slid a ball past goalkeeper Cullen Fisch to begin the score tally.

With only five minutes remaining in the first half, the Rangers struck again. Parker Klein ripped his shot to Fisch’s left-hand side for a 2-0 lead.

Following halftime, the Rangers marched down the field. Defending inside of their own 18-yard box, the Tigers were backed into an uncomfortable position. Mariano Benitez made contact within the box and was called for a foul. Shepherd stepped up to the spot for the Rangers and tucked his shot away to mark the third goal of the contest.

Fort Hays State took 10 shots through the duration of the match. Goalkeeper Cullen Fisch was kept busy in net as he faced 15 shots and made six saves.

Within the 90 minutes, six yellow cards were handed out. The Tigers’ Santiago Agudelo, Alec Bevis, and Alonso Rodriguez all had bookings.

For the Tigers, this marks their second-worst start to a regular season in program history, with 2017 being the only one to top this in those ranks. FHSU started 0-4-2 in 2017, but went on an 11-1 tear over its next 12 and made the NCAA Tournament, finishing the year at 11-6-2.

The black and gold were knocked out of the NCAA Championship tournament in 2017 by Northeastern State University, but FHSU defeated Northeastern State in all three meetings last year (NCAA Tournament included). On Thursday, Sept. 19 the Tigers square off with their long-time conference rival, but this time playing as members of the Great American Conference. The Tigers are 9-7-5, all-time against Northeastern State.

This will be FHSU’s first game played in Hays since its victory over Rockhurst in the season-opener and its first game in Great American Conference play. The men’s soccer program still holds a 17-game home win streak and will look to keep that alive.

Pineiro’s 53-yard field goal lifts Bears past Broncos

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DENVER (AP) — Eddy Pineiro kicked a 53-yard field goal as time expired, giving the Chicago Bears a wild 16-14 win over the Broncos and their former defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, whose gutsy 2-point call 31 seconds earlier had given Denver the lead.

The Broncos (0-2) thought time had expired when Mitchell Trubisky stepped up and threw a 25-yard pass to Allen Robinson on fourth-and-15 from his 40-yard line. Robinson was tackled at the Denver 35 by Chris Harris Jr.

The clock showed all zeroes and both teams milled around on the field not knowing whether to celebrate a win or lament a loss. Then referee Adrian Hill announced there was 1 second remaining and Chicago was using its last timeout.

Pineiro’s winner sent the Bears (1-1) streaming back onto the field in celebration of a victory that seemed so unlikely after they’d surrendered the lead moments earlier.

In a whipsaw of emotion, cornerback Kyle Fuller, whose goal-line interception with five minutes left seemingly sealed Chicago’s win, surrendered a 7-yard tiptoe TD to Emmanuel Sanders. Sanders barely got both feet toes down in the right corner of the end zone.

The Broncos lined up for 2 but a delay pushed them back 5 yards. Fangio sent Brandon McManus out instead for the extra point and the tie. But McManus was wide right and the Bears went wild.

Hold on: a flag on Chicago.

Buster Skrine was offside and the Broncos moved up to the 1. Out came their offense again, and with an empty backfield, Joe Flacco backpedaled and hit Sanders at the goal line in front of Fuller to give Denver a 14-13 lead.

For the second straight game, the Broncos failed to get a sack, but linebacker Bradley Chubb came close, hitting Trubisky just as he got off a throw to tight end Trey Burton for 10 yards. A debatable roughing call on Chubb tacked on 15 yards and the Bears were suddenly in business at the Broncos 45-yard line.

Three incompletions were followed by a 12-men-in-the-huddle infraction, however, and the Bears were facing fourth-and-15 from their 40 with 9 seconds remaining.

Trubisky found Robinson over the middle in the nick of time. Harris’ tackle came one second too early for the Broncos, who saw their 13-home-game September winning streak snapped.

HONORING MR. B

The Broncos held a moment of silence before kickoff for late owner Pat Bowlen, who died in June at age 75, two months before he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

INJURIES:

Bears starting DT Bilal Nichols was knocked out with a hand injury in the third quarter. … Broncos starters ILB Todd Davis (calf) and CB Bryce Callahan (foot) were held out for the second straight week.

NEXT UP:

Chicago: visits Philadelphia on Sept. 23.

Denver: visits Green Bay on Sunday.

Mahomes’ 4 TDs in 2nd quarter lead Chiefs past Raiders

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OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes bounced back from the first scoreless opening quarter of his career in the regular season by throwing four touchdown passes in a near perfect second period that led the Kansas City Chiefs to a 28-10 victory over the Oakland Raiders on Sunday.

The Raiders (1-1) held Mahomes in check for the opening 15 minutes before he carved up an overmatched defense with big play after big play in the second quarter for the Chiefs (2-0).

Mahomes didn’t take long to strike, finding Demarcus Robinson open on a blown coverage for a 44-yard touchdown pass on the first play in the second quarter. He didn’t slow down from there.

After the Raiders opted to punt on a fourth-and-1 near midfield, Mahomes and the Chiefs marched 95 yards and scored when Mahomes found rookie Mecole Hardman on a 42-yard deep strike for his first career catch to give Kansas City a 14-10 lead.

The Chiefs didn’t stop there with Mahomes connecting on two more long TD passes in the final two minutes of the half, a 27-yarder to Travis Kelce and a 39-yarder to Robinson as the absence of injured star Tyreek Hill did little to slow Kansas City.

Mahomes finished 30 for 44 for 443 yards. Robinson had six catches for 172 yards and two scores and Kelce had seven catches for 107 yards and a TD to give the Chiefs their ninth win in the past 10 meetings in this long-time rivalry.

The Raiders had broken out to a 10-0 lead with a field goal on the opening drive and a 4-yard TD pass to Tyrell Williams later in the first quarter. But Carr also threw an interception in the end zone on a pass to Williams in the third quarter and the Raiders didn’t score over the final three periods.

BY THE NUMBERS

Mahomes’ 278 yards passing in the second quarter were the most for a player in any quarter since Drew Brees had 294 in the fourth period against Atlanta on Nov. 9, 2008. Mahomes ended the quarter with a bang, with his last five pass attempts each going for at least 27 yards, with TDs to Hardman, Kelce and Robinson. The streak extended with a 28-yarder to Robinson on the first play of the third quarter before Mahomes finally threw an incompletion.

RECORD SETTER

Carr became the Raiders’ all-time passing leader on a 16-yard pass to Darren Waller in the second quarter, breaking the mark of 19,078 set by Hall of Famer Ken Stabler. Carr finished the day 23 for 38 for 198 yards with one TD and two interceptions. He has 19,196 yards in his career.

INJURIES

Chiefs: LT Eric Fisher left on the opening drive after reinjuring his groin that he hurt in practice on Friday. Cam Erving replaced him.

Raiders: Returner Dwayne Harris injured his left ankle covering a punt in the second quarter and didn’t return.

UP NEXT

Chiefs: host Baltimore in home opener Sunday.

Raiders: begin a long stretch away from home at Minnesota on Sept. 22. Oakland won’t return to the Coliseum until Nov. 3, with four road games, a bye and a “home” game against Chicago in London on Oct. 6.

Reddick has 5 hits, Miley wins 14th as Astros sweep KC

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Wade Miley bounced back from two disastrous starts with six strong innings and Josh Reddick’s five hits included a two-run homer Sunday as the Houston Astros beat the Kansas City Royals 12-3, completing a three-game sweep.

Abraham Toro and Reddick each drove in three runs, Kyle Tucker banged a two-run homer and Yuli Gurriel’s solo shot was his 28th homer.

The Astros’ 98th victory tied them for tops in the majors with the New York Yankees, who lost at Toronto. Both are 98-53.

Houston rebounded after getting swept in three games at home by Oakland and got a welcome outing from Miley (14-5), who was knocked out in the first inning in each of his previous two starts. Last Tuesday, the A’s tagged him for seven runs in what became a 21-7 drubbing.

It was Jakob Junis (9-14) who left early on Sunday, allowing five runs on seven hits in 2 2/3 innings, his shortest outing in 77 career starts.

Gurriel homered to open the second, and the Astros later got RBI singles from Toro and Michael Brantley to make it 3-1.

Reddick pulled a two-run homer down the right-field line off reliever Eric Skoglund in the fifth inning for a 7-1 lead. Tucker went the same direction with his two-run shot off Kyle Zimmer in the eighth.

Miley didn’t make it through the first unscathed. Adalberto Mondesi got an infield hit and raced home on Jorge Soler’s first triple of the season, a gapper to right center. Soler has 44 home runs this year, but this was only his third career triple and his first since he was with the Chicago Cubs in 2015.

Miley allowed two runs on seven hits and two walks in six innings.

ADVANTAGE ASTROS?

Manager A.J. Hinch said his team should be plenty motivated to finish with the best record in the majors and earn home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

“We want to win as many games as we can,” Hinch said. “Of course, the home field matters but it’s not an end-all, be-all. There’s a lot that has to happen to get to the finish. It’s important. We’re trying to win every game. Our mentality in (the clubhouse) is really good. … We feel like we have the best team in baseball. That can be represented in the record, sometimes it’s not. We don’t control what the Yankees do or what the Dodgers do or what the Braves are doing. We only control what we’re doing.”

UP NEXT

The Astros, after an open date Monday, return to Houston on Tuesday night for the first of two games against Texas. The Rangers will match RHP Lance Lynn (14-10, 3.72 ERA) with Justin Verlander (18-6, 2.58). Verlander has held opponents to a .168 average, tied with teammate Gerrit Cole for the majors’ best.

The Royals travel to Oakland to open a three-game series Monday night, sending RHP Glenn Sparkman (4-11, 5.94) against RHP Tanner Roark (10-8, 4.01).

FHSU volleyball rallies for win over Rangers, splits final non-conference action

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HAYS, Kan. – The Fort Hays State volleyball team wrapped up a busy weekend with a come-from-behind victory against Northwestern Oklahoma State Saturday evening (9/14). The victory came after the Tigers opened the day with a three-set loss to Western Colorado.

After splitting two matches for the third-straight day dating back to last week, the Tigers wrap up non-conference play with a 3-5 record. The Mountaineers of Western Colorado moved to 3-4 following the win, while the NWOSU Rangers are now 5-4 on the season.

With the MIAA down to 11 volleyball schools, the Tigers will play each team twice in an expanded 20-game conference schedule beginning next week. FHSU will travel to Topeka, Kan. to take on No. 4 Washburn on Friday at 6 p.m. (Sept. 20) before returning home to host Emporia State one week from today (Sept. 21). First serve is set for 5 p.m. from Gross Memorial Coliseum.

Fort Hays State 3, Northwestern Oklahoma State 1 (20-25, 19-25, 19-25, 18-25)
The Tigers head into league play on a high note after a gritty win over Northwestern Oklahoma State. The Rangers appeared to be en route to their fourth win of the weekend after a 25-20 victory in the first set, but FHSU rallied to send the Tiger faithful home with a win.

The Black and Gold could not get out of their own way in the first set, giving the Rangers 12 points on 10 attack errors and two setting miscues. The teams traded the lead for much of the set until NWOSU used a 9-4 run to turn a 16-16 tie into an opening-set victory.

The Tigers turned things around in the second set, swinging at a .359 clip (17-3-39) to overpower a .289 swing rate by the visitors. Morgan West made the most of her opportunities in the frame, dropping in five kills on six attempts. Taylor White tallied three service aces in a five-point stretch late in the set to help the Tigers pull away and level the match.

Delaney Humm was a consistent presence in the Tiger offense, recording six kills in three sets and four in the other. The freshman helped FHSU pull away in the third set after breaking a 10-10 tie with a big kill. Humm followed that up with a service ace, leading to a five-point Tiger run. The Rangers closed within two later in the set, but three NWOSU errors and one final kill from Mykah Eshbaugh handed the Tigers a 2-1 lead in the match.

The Rangers managed to keep the fourth set close for the first few rallies, but the Tigers took the lead for good when a Tatum Bartels kill put them in front 8-7. Humm later gave Fort Hays State a chance at set point with a kill and an assisted block with fellow freshman Morgan Christiansen before the match came to a close on a Ranger attack error.

Humm matched her season high with 22 kills, adding 11 digs, one block, one service ace and one assist. Bartels was also sharp on offense, adding 17 kills with a .364 attack percentage. Abbie Hayes led the team with a career-best 32 digs, the most for a Tiger since the 2015 season (Ari Jacobsen, 39 vs. MWSU, 11/6/15). Katie Darnell’s career-high 61 digs were the most for an FHSU setter in over three years (Hannah Wagy, 61 at Westminster, 9/10/16).

White added 21 digs to her three service aces, while Madison Miller totaled 10 digs and one kill.

After a rough first set, the Tigers finished the match with a .241 attack percentage while holding NWOSU to a .184 swing rate. Fort Hays State had a sizeable lead in back row statistical categories, putting up 80 digs to just 57 from NWOSU and recording three more service aces (FHSU 5, NWOSU 2). The Rangers won the blocking battle, 8-3.

Western Colorado 3, Fort Hays State 0 (18-25, 19-25, 23,25)
The Tigers had trouble with Western Colorado in the opener, allowing the Mountaineers to record their best swing rate of the season at .300. Western Colorado also had a big advantage in blocks, totaling nine team blocks to just four for the Tigers.

Fort Hays State recorded an impressive .300 attack percentage in the opening set, but had no answer for a swing rate of .484 by the visitors.

Tatum Bartels made just one error on 15 swings in the first match of the day, leading the team with 10 kills and a .600 swing rate. Bartels also led the team with four block assists. Katie Darnell led the team with 22 assists with Haley McCorkle adding 13.

Greinke finally gets win over old club, Astros top Royals

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Zack Greinke finally beat his old club and Yordan Álvarez belted a pinch-hit three-run homer as the Houston Astros beat the Kansas City Royals 6-1 on Saturday night.

Alex Bregman hit his 36th homer and rookie Kyle Tucker was 4-for-4 for the AL West-leading Astros.

Greinke (16-5) went six innings and handed a 2-1 lead to the bullpen. Héctor Rondón, Joe Smith, Bryan Abreu and Will Harris combined for three scoreless innings. Greinke gave up one run, six hits and no walks. He struck out seven.

This was the fifth start by Greinke against the Royals since they traded him after the 2010 season. Oddly, all five were at Kauffman Stadium and each was for a different team — the Brewers, Angels, Dodgers, Diamondbacks and Astros. He was 0-2 in the first four starts.

After reliever Gabe Speier gave up Tucker’s fourth single and walked Robinson Chirinos in the eighth, Álvarez batted for Abraham Toro. Álvarez sent his 25th homer soaring over the center-field wall.

Chirinos singled in the Astros’ sixth run in the ninth.

Tim Hill bailed out Royals starter Mike Montgomery (3-9) in the sixth inning after the Astros went ahead 2-1 on a walk and singles by Yuli Gurriel and Tucker. An error by second baseman Nicky Lopez loaded the bases with no outs. Hill got a strikeout, a popup and a flyout to strand all three runners.

Lopez ended a 0-for-22 skid with an infield single to start the third inning. Whit Merrifield followed with a drive that bounced off the left-field bullpen fence. Lopez, running from first, made a headlong dive for the plate past catcher Chirinos’ foot but was called out by plate umpire Chris Guccione. The Royals issued a replay challenge, and Lopez was ruled safe — not only did he touch the plate before the tag, but Chirinos illegally blocked home before catching the ball.

Bregman tied it by leading off the fourth inning with a blast to left field.

One night after left fielder Alex Gordon and manager Ned Yost were ejected by plate umpire Lance Barrett for remarks about his ball-and-strike calls, Royals bench coach Dale Sveum was ejected by Guccione while the Astros were batting in the second inning.

PROGRESS CONTINUES

Catcher Salvador Pérez, out for the season, is on track to return to the Royals’ lineup in 2020. Before batting practice Saturday, he blocked pitches aimed into the dirt from a machine, fired hard throws into coach Pedro Grifol’s glove and even took ground balls at first base. He’s also been catching bullpen sessions and has been hitting balls off a tee and from short tosses.

Pérez, who underwent preseason Tommy John surgery on his right arm, will not play any winter ball.

ASTROS MAP CORREA RETURN

Shortstop Carlos Correa, out since Aug. 20 with a back ailment, had his latest injury rehab with Triple-A Round Rock ended after one game. That’s because the Express were eliminated in the playoffs Friday night by the Sacramento River Cats.

“He’s going to stay in Round Rock for a couple days,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “He worked out today at the field and we have some staff there, we did keep a player back to throw batting practice to him tomorrow. We’ll bring him to Houston and evaluate him and, if all goes well, we’ll continue his rehab in the big leagues.”

In 72 games, Correa is batting .278 with 19 homers and 56 RBIs.

UP NEXT

The series concludes Sunday when RHP Jakob Junis (9-13, 5.06 ERA) faces the Astros, who pounded him for three homers and five runs in a May 6 loss at Houston. LHP Wade Miley (13-5, 3.74) has a 4-2 career record in six previous starts against the Royals but has not faced them since 2016, when he was with Seattle.

FHSU men’s cross country wins Bronco Stampede with perfect score

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HASTINGS, Colo. – Fort Hays State accomplished the feat of posting a perfect score to win the Bronco Stampede hosted by Hastings College on Saturday. The Tigers swept the top five placements in the race for a perfect score of 15, topping a field of 10 teams. The top four Tigers nearly crossed the line all at the same time, led by Israel Barco.

Barco edged teammate Justin Moore for the individual title by just 0.2 seconds. Barco covered the 8K course in 26.35.7, while Moore posted 26:35.9. Reed Rome was just 0.3 seconds off Barco’s winning pace, hitting 26:36 flat. Robbie Schmidt was just 0.3 seconds behind Rome in 26:36.3. Only 0.6 seconds separated first through fourth.

Kaleb Crum gave the Tigers a perfect team score by crossing the line in 26:56.8. He was still nearly 10 seconds faster than sixth-place finisher Nelson Kemboi of Southeast (Neb.) Community College.

The Tigers still would have dominated the team scoring with their second wave of runners. Abraham Garcia finished eighth, Peter Franklin was ninth, Robert Loeffler was 11th, Seppe van ‘t Westende was 12th, and Michael Eisenbarth was 13th. Even Caleb Carrasco, Guillaume Plagneaux, and Jorge Gallegos were in the top 20.

Friends University was the closest competitor to the Tigers, finishing with 88 team points. Concordia (Neb.) was third with 123.

Fort Hays State returns to action in a couple of weeks at the Emporia State Invitational on Friday, September 27.

FHSU women’s cross country claims Bronco Stampede

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HASTINGS, Neb. – The Fort Hays State women’s cross country team claimed first at the Bronco Stampede, hosted by Hastings College on Saturday (Sept. 14). The Tigers topped a field of 11 teams and won by 11 points over Concordia University (Neb.). Abigail Stewart paced the Tigers with a second-place overall finish.

Stewart covered the 5K course in 19:41.7, finishing just six seconds behind individual champion Aileen Gurrola of Friends University. Teammate Brooke Navarro joined Stewart as one of six runners in the field that broke the 20-minute mark. Navarro finished fourth in a time of 19:48.1.

Tessa Durnell and Averi Wilson also turned in top-10 finishes. Durnell finished seventh in 20:02.2 and Wilson covered the course in 20:13.8. Emily Salmans was 14th overall, but scored 13 team points since one runner in the top 15 was unattached. She rounded out the top five for FHSU with a time of 20:31.9.

Fort Hays State was the only team in the field to place four in the top 10 of the race.

The team will take a week off before returning to action at the Emporia State Invitational on Friday, September 27.

Thompson leads Kansas State past Mississippi State

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STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — Skylar Thompson threw for 123 yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown to lead Kansas State 31-24 over Mississippi State on Saturday.

KSU (3-0) led 17-14 at halftime but trailed 24-17 in the fourth quarter. Then a 100-yard Malik Knowles kickoff return tied the game, and a 15-yard touchdown pass from Thompson to Dalton Schoen gave the Wildcats a 7-point lead with 5:37 remaining.

MSU (2-1) drove 55 yards on their final meaningful possession, but ultimately turned the ball over on downs at the Kansas State 20-yard line, one yard short of the first-down marker.

The Wildcats managed only 269 yards of total offense, 146 of it on the ground. Schoen caught a team-high three balls for 50 yards and James Mitchell rushed for 59 yards on 17 carries.

Mississippi State head coach Joe Moorhead benched senior transfer quarterback Tommy Stevens in the third quarter after his second interception and turned the Bulldog offense over to freshman Garrett Shrader. Shrader led the Bulldogs on a methodical 12-play, 79-yard drive, running the ball into the endzone himself to give the team its first lead. From there, though, he presided over three-and-outs on three of the next four drives and the Bulldogs never reached the end zone again.

MSU’s Osirus Mitchell led all receivers with 74 yards and Kylin Hill, the Southeastern Conference’s leading rusher, had a game-high 111 yards on 24 carries.

In the balmy Mississippi heat, both teams had a sloppy day with three turnovers apiece and a combined 142 yards in penalties.

THE TAKEAWAY

Kansas State: The Wildcats are not a flashy team, but they have a balanced offensive attack with lots of ways to beat you. This was a big road win for a program that needed it.

Mississippi State: Despite flashes of prowess, the Bulldogs looked sloppy and unprepared at some point in every phase of Saturday’s game. Big questions remain on both sides of the ball.

UP NEXT:

Kansas State has an open week before traveling to Oklahoma State.

Mississippi State returns to Southeastern Conference play next week, hosting Kentucky.

Gabel helps continue the proud tradition of Victoria tennis

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Coach Kaylene Gabel (right) and Assistant Coach Megan Karst (left) are pictured with the Victoria girls tennis team.

By JACOB BRUBAKER
Hays Post

VICTORIA — We met upstairs in her art room, in the afternoon. That’s because her girls tennis team was cheering on the volleyball squad, which had a triangular that afternoon. This meant a 6 a.m. practice for her team, but she wanted the volleyball team to have some support, as she knows her squad sometimes doesn’t get as much as it deserves. Victoria has a proud tradition of football, but there is another proud tradition in action this fall — Coach Kaylene Gabel and the Victoria Lady Knights tennis team.

Gabel has been helping coach the Victoria tennis squad for the last four years and is in her second year as head coach.

“I’m happy to be here, teaching in the district as well,” said Gabel, an art teacher.

The team has accumulated many honors in her tenure, including qualifying six members for state in Gabel’s first season with the squad. However, it would be a mistake to think that was her first exposure to Victoria tennis.

Gabel is a native of the 1,214-person community and was a member of the tennis squad, graduating in 1995. At that time, many more area schools had tennis and Victoria was part of the Mid-Continent league. The coach played her high school tennis for a local legend.

“I played under the legendary Carla Pruitt, who was a huge asset for Victoria tennis and the state of Kansas and was inducted into the Kansas Coaching Hall of Fame,” she said.

Fast-forward to today, and there are considerably fewer schools with girls tennis. Schools in divisions 3A, 2A and 1A all compete as a conglomerate at state and regional meets. Victoria is easily one of the smallest schools that compete in women’s tennis. However, that hasn’t fazed Gabel, as she continues to put together quality squads.

This year’s team features 11 athletes, including four seniors. Comparing that to the 14-girl volleyball team, Gabel feels 11 is a solid number.

“If there is recruiting to be done, the kids are the recruiters. They have a good experience, and they share it with their friends,” she said.

It isn’t just about numbers though. This is a competitive squad that has compiled a record of 71-30 in its matches this season. The team also won the Hays High meet, defeating the 5A host.

Gabel also expressed confidence in the intelligence of her players.

“I always say tennis kids are the smartest athletes. They only get coaching every other match.”

Members of this year’s team are:

Kiara Sweat-Senior
Daphne Gross-Senior
Scarlet Nowlin- Senior
Dallas Nowlin-Senior
Brooklynn Kuhn-Junior
Avery Cochran-Junior
Kenzie Sweat-Sophomore
Makaila Fritzler-Sophomore
Macy Hammerschmidt-Freshman
MaKenna Welbrock-Freshman
Autumn VonLintel-Freshman

Gabel knows she couldn’t do it alone and is assisted by recent Victoria graduate and former tennis player Megan Karst. Gabel is more of a singles expert, which makes Karst all the more helpful.

“I was excited to have an assistant coach who is a little more of the double’s forte. We make for a good mix,” Gabel said.

Together, they have helped to cultivate a family atmosphere that has brought their 11 players closer together. Karst stressed cohesion on her doubles teams, comparing it to a marriage saying.

”If they have a bad marriage, they will perform poorly,” she said.

Gabel  added, “Tennis is pretty unique,. It is unlike any other sport. You become almost like a little family. It is neat to see seniors take freshmen under their wing. Our girls don’t seem to know an age limit. They just bond. It is cool because they may not hang out with each other outside of tennis, but year-in, year-out, we have a really cohesive unit.”

The Lady Knights season is nowhere near over as they will be in action in Victoria on Monday against Hays High and Osborne.

Touchdown in final minutes lifts TMP past Ellis

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The TMP-Marian Monarch football team rallied from down four in the second half to beat the Ellis Railroaders 19-16 Friday at Ellis.

TMP Coach Jay Harris

Game Highlights

After failing to score in week one TMP wasted no time scoring on the opening possession of the game to take a 6-0 lead. Kade Harris scored his first career rushing touchdown from six yards out with 8:42 left in the first quarter. TMP failed to convert the point after touchdown and lead 6-0.

TMP was forced to punt on the next three drives and that allowed Ellis to get right back in the game. After a one-yard punt Ellis took over at the TMP 40 yard line and Quarterback Tegan Cain led the Railers on a four-play 40 yard touchdown drive that he capped off with an 11 yard touchdown run. He also kicked the extra point to put Ellis up 7-6.

Neither offense was really able to keep drives alive in the second quarter with the Monarchs forcing Cain to throw a pair of picks in the quarter.

The Monarchs did get on the board midway through second , when Bryce Seib scored his first of two rushing touchdowns, this one from one yard out to put TMP up 12-7 after Ellis blocked the PAT attempt.

Following a TMP fumble on a quarterback sack, Cain connected with Zachery Eck on a deflected pass from 37 yards out to give Ellis a 14-12 lead, following the PAT, with just over seven minutes left in the third quarter.

After a missed field goal and an Ellis punt the Monarchs offense took possession on their own 20 yard line. But went backwards and an Ellis sack pinned TMP up against the goal line. Brian Carbajal was able to get free and block Jace Wentling’s punt in the end zone. Wentling deflected it out of the end zone for a safety giving Ellis a 16-12 lead with 1:21 left in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter the Monarchs forced Ellis into a turnover on downs and a pair of punts, one of them was blocked by Ryan Richmeier.

The Monarchs were down four with 2:46 left and would put together a five-play, 53-yard drive capped off by a three-yard touchdown run by Seib with a successful PAT by Wentling putting the Monarchs up 19-16 with 1:56 to play.

On that drive freshman Kade Harris caught a 23 yard pass and ripped off a 31 yard run before a penalty by Ellis set up the Seib touchdown.

Ellis got it back with 1:51 to play but the Monarchs forced a turnover on downs with Ryan Richmeier coming away with a sack on third down and Seib deflected a pass on fourth down to seal the win for TMP.

The Monarchs Kade Harris rushed for 119 yards on 17 carries.

Ellis’ Tegan Cain was 13-of-25 passing for 184 yards one touchdown and two interceptions.

TMP improves to 1-1 ahead of a homecoming matchup with Plainville next Friday. Ellis is 0-2 and will travel to Ellinwood.

Jayhawks halt long road skid against Power 5 schools

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BOSTON (AP) — Kansas coach Les Miles’ return to college football brought him some quick joy.

It also brought the Jayhawks something they haven’t had in a long time — a road win at a Power Five school.

Carter Stanley threw for three touchdowns, Khalil Herbert rushed for 187 yards on just 11 carries and Kansas stunned Boston College 48-24 Friday night for its first road win over a Power Five team in nearly 11 years.

The Jayhawks (2-1), who entered as a three-touchdown underdog, won their first road game against a power conference opponent since a victory at Iowa State on Oct. 4, 2008, a span of 48 straight losses. Pooka Williams ran for 121 yards on 22 attempts with a TD, and Herbert added a late score. Stanley was 20 of 27 for 238 yards with an inception on his first attempt.

“If anybody wants to know why a guy would come back to college football, this tells you how fun and how important college football is,” said Miles, hired by the school last November after being fired from LSU two years ago.

“It shows the Jayhawks are coming,” he said. “I think it’s very realistic that we can be a great program and have real quality football teams year after year — not today, not tomorrow. Shortly, in the future.”

AJ Dillon ran for 151 yards on 27 carries and Anthony Brown went 18 for 36 with 195 yards a TD pass for the Eagles (2-1). Brown also caught a TD.

“We didn’t play very well,” BC coach Steve Addazio said. “I think we saw a few signs of this last week. I think today that we didn’t play well at all, and that’s my responsibility.”

Kansas went into the locker room with a 28-24 lead at the end of a wide-open first half that saw the teams combine for 623 yards (BC 313, Kansas 310). They also totaled 17 plays of 10 yards or more.

“I’ve been a Kansas fan my whole life and I can’t remember when it was,” Kansas linebacker Jay Dineen said of the last Power Five road win. “It’s huge having it off our shoulders.”

Trailing 24-21, Kansas ran a simple pitch play at their own 15 with 40 seconds left and Herbert broke up-the-middle and headed down the right sideline for 82 yards before being knocked out of bounds.

“We needed to get this win,” Stanley said. “The manner that we got it was huge.”

Two plays later, Stanley hit Andrew Parchment — his second of two TD catches — for a 3-yard score.

Midway into the third quarter, the Jayhawks increased it to 38-24 when Williams had a 12-yard scoring run, capping an 87-yard drive.

BC had taken a 24-21 edge when Brown caught his 12-yard score from receiver CJ Lewis.

The Eagles scored on their first two drives and led 10-0 before the Jayhawks scored on six straight possessions.

THE TAKEAWAY

Kansas: The Jayhawks rebounded from a miserable loss at home against Coastal Carolina when they collected only 280 total yards by putting up 567 yards Friday. . They beat Central Michigan on the road last season. Before that, their last road win was at Texas El-Paso on Sept. 12, 2009.

Boston College: It’s the worst home – and probably overall – loss in Addazio’s seven seasons at the school. Unless the defense gets fixed quickly, it could lead to a rough year when conference play and a tough late schedule loaded with road games at Clemson, Syracuse and Pittsburgh — and a nonconference matchup at Notre Dame — kicks in.

FLYING QB

On a third-and-4 at BC’s 28 early in the second quarter, Stanley rolled to his left on a keeper and hurdled over Eagles’ DB Nolan Bergersen for a first down.

Miles was fired up on the sideline.

“It shows everybody that he cares as much as they do to put your body at risk for his teammates. They realize that,” Miles said before joking. “There’s somethings that I’d like to take back — like the jump over the top of the guy.”

BIG CHUNKS

Kansas had five scoring drives of 78 yards or more, finding big holes through BC’s defense on numerous plays.

ERASE THE PAIN

“Moving forward, I think you’re going to see a hungrier team — a team that’s not really taking any of these shots for granted,” Dillon said.

UP NEXT

Kansas: Hosts West Virginia in its first Big 12 matchup next Saturday.

Boston College: Travels to Rutgers next Saturday for its first road game.

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