The 2015 Louisburg High School fall homecoming candidates are (front row, from left) Ben Brummel, Alex Dunn, Anders Vance, Megan Lemke; (back row) Cate Stambaugh, Maddie Holloway, Emily Ventre and Parker Cates.

Homecoming week at Louisburg High School kicked off Monday and events are in full swing. With something going on every day this week, it will be a busy time for students and faculty alike. All of it is of course centered around the crowning of the 2015 fall king and queen. Eight students were selected as nominees and here are their names and profiles.

The crowning will take place at 6:30 p.m., on Friday at Wildcat Stadium before the start of the Louisburg and Paola football game.

Megan Lemke

Megan is the daughter of Mike and Teresa Lemke. She has been involved in volleyball, basketball and track for 4 years; Letterman’s Club for 3 years; Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) for 2 years; and Leos club for 1 year. Megan plans to attend Kansas State University and is currently undecided on a major.

Parker Cates

Parker is the son of Kenneth and Beth Cates. He has been involved in soccer, wrestling, musical, Student Advisory Council, drumline and band for 4 years; Student Council and track for 2 years; and Jazz Band for 1 year. After graduation, Parker plans to go on a mission for the LDS Church and then will attend Brigham Young University and major in Business Administration or Political Science, followed by service in the Peace Corps.

Cate Stambaugh

Cate is the daughter of Jim and Dara Stambaugh. Cate has been involved in volleyball for 4 years; Letterman’s Club for 3 years; Student’s Against Destructive Decisions and FFA for 2 years; and softball, Leos Club, Spanish Club, and Debate for 1 year. Cate plans to continue her education at Kansas State University and major in Engineering or Marketing.

Ben Brummel

Ben is the son of Michael and Melissa Brummel. He has participated in musical, band, and select choir for 4 years; track for 3 years; cross country and forensics for 2 years; and National Honor Society, Leo’s Club, and Student’s Against Destructive Decisions for 1 year. Ben plans to attend Kansas State University.

Emily Ventre

Emily is the daughter of Jon and Brandi Ventre. She has been involved in forensics for 4 years; volleyball for 2 years; and Leo’s Club, Spanish Club, LHS Pawprint and TSA for 1 year. Emily plans to major in photography or photojournalism in college.

Anders Vance

Anders is the son of Robert and Alicia Vance. He has participated in football for 4 years; and wrestling, track, Student Council, Letterman’s Club, and musical for 3 years. Anders plans to participate in football and major in Biomedics in college and then continue his education in medical school.

Maddie Holloway

Maddie is the daughter of Mark and Michelle Holloway. She has been involved in cheerleading for 4 years; Letterman’s Club for 3 years; yearbook for 2 years; and forensics for 1 year. Maddie plans to cheer at the University of Kansas or Wichita State University and major in journalism and mass communications with a minor in graphic design.

Alex Dunn

Alex is the son of Don and Janie Dunn. Alex has participated in football and FFA for 4 years; baseball for 3 years; Select Choir and basketball for 2 years; and band and musical for 1 year. Alex either plans to attend Pittsburg State University or a 2 year university for welding opportunities.

Louisburg senior Alex Dunn sheds a couple Piper tacklers for a 10-yard touchdown run during Friday’s road contest at Piper High School. The Wildcats rushed for 384 yards as a team and rolled the Pirates 29-7.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – The game plan was a pretty simple one.

It was to run the ball, run it again and then run it some more. The plan wasn’t necessarily creative, but it didn’t have to be. It worked to perfection, especially in the first half.

Louisburg ran up and down the field on Piper Friday and scored 23 first-half points on its way to a 29-7 win at Piper High School. The win gives the Wildcats three straight victories to start the season.

“We challenged them to be more aggressive in the first half, pin their ears back and be physical,” Louisburg coach Kyle Littrell said. “I thought they responded well and I was happy to see the way we came out.”

The Wildcats (3-0) racked up 384 yards on the ground and a bulk of that was thanks to Thomas San Agustin. The Louisburg junior running back carried the ball 38 times, tallied 249 yards and a touchdown.

San Agustin had some big holes to run through thanks to his offensive line of Anders Vance, Dustyn Rizzo, Jarod Woodward, Garrett Lowry, T.J. Dover, tight end Grant Harding and fullback Alex Dunn. San Agustin also added several yards after contact as he became difficult for the Pirates to bring down.

“Thomas is starting to learn,” Littrell said. “Every time he plays, the blinders are becoming a little wider and a little bit wider. I love the fact that he always finishes runs moving forward. The thing with him is that he has to stop getting in the air because you end up getting hurt when you get in the air like that. He is improving every day in practice, he is improving out here and he is doing good work.”

Louisburg made a statement on its opening drive. The Wildcats marched down the field and took more than eight minutes off the clock and scored on a 15-play drive.

Thomas San Agustin rushed for 249 yards and a touchdown to help Louisburg to a win over Piper on Friday.

Dunn, who finished the game with 82 yards on the ground, ended the drive with a 10-yard touchdown run to give the Wildcats an early 7-0 lead, and they took off from there.

“That first drive was really key for us,” Littrell said. “We came out and put together a long drive that ate up about eight minutes of the first quarter. That was all just linemen blocking hard and running backs running hard.”

Piper started driving down the field its first drive, but the Wildcat defense came up big as senior Mitchell McLellan intercepted a pass. Louisburg would drive down the field itself, but turned the ball over on downs at the 1-yard line.

The Wildcats still managed to find points, however. Dover broke through the Piper offensive line and recorded a safety to make it 9-0.

On the ensuing kickoff, senior Cole Kramer had a long kickoff return that set up a 35-yard touchdown run from San Agustin to make it 15-0. After the Wildcat defense forced a Piper punt, Louisburg added another touchdown right before halftime.

Louisburg quarterback Austin Terry found McLellan for a 13-yard touchdown. Terry then faked the extra point and ran it in for two points to give the Wildcats a 23-0 halftime lead.

The Wildcats tacked on a touchdown late in the fourth quarter when Terry scored on an 8-yard run to all but seal the win for the Wildcats.

Defensively, the Wildcats did their job as they held Piper to just 171 total yards of offense and gave up just the late touchdown in the third quarter. It was a big turnaround after giving up 42 points and nearly 500 yards of total offense the week before against Eudora.

“Our defense heard it all week long about the 42 points we gave up last week,” Littrell said. “Our defensive coaches challenged them. Linebackers played better and our tackling got a little bit better as well, but just like on offense, we aren’t where we want to be yet. We are 3-0 and that is great, but we have to pay attention to detail.”

McLellan led the Wildcats with five tackles, while Terry, Rizzo and Kramer each added four. San Agustin registered a sack and Harding added an interception for the Wildcat defense.

After two weeks on the road, the Wildcats return to Wildcat Stadium, which is also homecoming. Louisburg will face rival Paola for a 7 p.m. kickoff Friday.

The Wildcats have lost four straight to the Panthers, including the last two years that were decided by a touchdown or less.

“If you can’t get jacked up for this one then you don’t have a heartbeat,” Littrell said. “I remember, our coaching staff remembers, and our players remember how the last two years went down. That is going to fuel our week of practice.”

LOUISBURG                7             16           0             6 – 29

PIPER                           0             0             7             0 – 7

First quarter

L: Alex Dunn 10 run (Dunn kick)

Second quarter

L: T.J. Dover safety

L: Thomas San Agustin 35 run (kick failed)

L: Mitchell McLellan 13 pass from Austin Terry (Terry run)

Third quarter:

P: 10 run (kick good)

Fourth quarter

L: Terry 8 run (kick failed)

STATISTICS

RUSHING: Thomas San Agustin 38-249; Alex Dunn 15-82; Austin Terry 10-53

PASSING: Austin Terry 5-9-43-1

RECEIVING: Mitchell McLellan 2-24; Thomas San Agustin 2-9; Grant Harding 1-10.

Louisburg High School senior Christopher Tyson poses with a picture of his great-grandfather Kenneth Virgin at the Punchbowl National Cemetery in Hawaii where his grandfather’s name is honored at a memorial. Tyson is currently battling leukemia and was given a Make-A-Wish opportunity. He chose to go to Pearl Harbor where he got to see his grandfather’s name for himself.

In 2013, Christopher Tyson sat down to write about his hero – a man he had never met.

It was for a school project, and a pretty big one actually. Christopher, then a sophomore at Louisburg High School, was charged by band director John Cisetti to write a paper about a veteran in his family as the band prepared to travel to New York City to march in the annual Memorial Day parade.

Christopher’s great-grandfather, Kenneth Virgin, was one of 34 sailors that was killed on the USS Colhoun during the battle for Okinawa in World War II. He heard stories about his grandfather from his mother, Rhonda.

No doubt, the paper took Christopher back in time wondering what it was like to serve in the military at a time filled with tension and loss of life. It was hard for him to fathom what his great grandfather went through.

Christopher finished his project, traveled with the LHS Marching Band and did his best to honor him by playing his trombone through the streets of New York City.

Less than a year later, Christopher would go through a battle of his own. It was one that didn’t involve war, guns or conflict.

It was a personal battle – for his life.

GOD’S GOT THIS

At the beginning of his junior year, Christopher joined the rest of his Louisburg High School cross country teammates for a little running.

The season was just getting underway with the first day of practice, and right away Christopher could tell something wasn’t right.

“I went for two miles and I could just feel the pulse pounding inside my head and I was just exhausted the whole time,” he said.

The next day, the same thing happened.

On the third day, he ran with Wildcat coach John Reece, and pretty quickly Reece realized something wasn’t right.

“I didn’t notice anything at first with Christopher because it was very hot and everybody was struggling,” Reece said. “The thing that I noticed was him not finishing the workout. When I talked to him he told me he had been sick with the flu while visiting family.

“I mentioned to his mom that his skin color was off and that it might not hurt to have a doctor check him out again since he had just gotten over the flu.”

That afternoon, Rhonda and Christopher went to a walk-in clinic in Paola and the doctors didn’t notice much. They drew some of his blood and told them they would give them a call in a day or two when the results came back.

It turned out to be a lot shorter than that.

“We went to Walmart and weren’t there for 15 minutes before we got a call back from the doctor and said that he was anemic and all three of his blood counts were low,” Rhonda said. “He really wanted us to go see a doctor at Children’s Mercy the next day. He told us not to let Christopher do anything.”

The Tysons eventually made their way up to Children’s Mercy and got the result no child or parent wants to hear – it was cancer. More specifically, Christopher was diagnosed with pre-B-cell leukemia, which is a cancer of the bone marrow and blood.

If there was any good news in the diagnosis it was that doctors told the family his pre-B-cell numbers were the best of anyone they have ever seen and it was the earliest they had ever caught it.

After talking with the doctors and telling her of the diagnosis, Rhonda looked at her son, who was lying the hospital bed joking around after having a bone marrow pull done – not exactly the reaction most people have after an invasive procedure is done.

She looked at him and asked how he was doing.

“Mom, God’s got this,” Christopher told her.

“I hope so Christopher,” Rhonda said. “Because my world is just spinning right now.”

It was spinning enough that Rhonda and her husband Roger didn’t bother to tell Christopher of his diagnosis, on accident, of course. The two figured the doctors had told him of the news.

“He said he didn’t find out about it till the next day when he overheard us talking to the doctors about it,” Rhonda said. “I felt pretty small as a parent when he told me. I just assumed that when he said ‘God’s got this’ that he knew what God had.”

Through it all, Christopher wasn’t worried much. He had faith, knowing that God would get him through this one way or another.

His faith was tested right away.

BEATING CANCER

Shortly after being diagnosed with leukemia, Christopher aggressively began chemotherapy treatments.

Every Friday, he made his way up to Children’s Mercy for chemo and would spend days in the hospital over the next few months. It wasn’t long before he started feeling the effects.

After returning home from a treatment one day, Christopher couldn’t move the whole left side of his body.

“We thought he was having a stroke,” Rhonda said.

By the time they got back up to the hospital, Christopher couldn’t move at all. His father, Roger, pulled him out of the car and carried him into the hospital.

As Christopher lay in the hospital bed, there wasn’t much Rhonda could do so she went home with her daughter.

“I went home later that night and I just prayed and asked God how we were going to take care of him,” Rhonda said. “I was just so scared. Then I go back up about six hours later and I see him walking in the hallway with the nurse. That was a miracle as far as I was concerned because I know the kind of shape he was in when I left.

Doctors took an MRI and found a white spot in the middle of his brain. It wasn’t a stroke, but Christopher was suffering from methotrexate toxicity. He was allergic to methotrexate they were giving him during chemotherapy treatments.

They gave him medicine to help counteract some of the reactions, one of which was over-the-counter Delsym cough medicine, of all things.

The treatments continued and so did the reactions. Even with all that, Christopher wasn’t about to miss one of the highlights of his year – the LHS Marching Band Electric Light Show.

“I really enjoy marching band and the sports I am in,” Christopher said. “I just wanted to get back out there.”

Just a little more than a month after the diagnosis, Christopher put on his marching band outfit, laced with lights and tried to get back to some form of normalcy. The chemo would wear on him, however.

He had a lumbar puncture the day before his performance and suffered from a major headache that made it difficult to even stand up.

“He was laying down in the truck and when they were ready to go in, he went out and did his thing,” Rhonda said. “Then he came back and laid down in the truck again as we were trying to get all the lights off him.”

It was enough to raise the eyebrows of his band teacher.

“I did not expect Christopher to be there that night, but I was not surprised because I know that Christopher is dedicated beyond belief,” Cisetti said. “He has a keen sense of loyalty to the group and goes the extra mile for his classmates.”

Christopher also made an appearance at the Wildcats’ home cross country meet in October. He watched as his team ran with orange ribbons on their uniform in honor of his fight against leukemia.

Christopher Tyson made the cover of the LHS Marching Band book as they marched through New York City in the Labor Day Parade back in 2013.

“Christopher is an awesome kid,” Reece said. “He is a hard worker both in and out of school. While he was going through the first stages of treatment, he was often more worried about school than what he was going through.

“He wanted to be back in school with his peers and be as close to normal as he could be. His body worked hard to put his leukemia in to remission. He is a warrior and he put his faith in God to help him get through this difficult time.”

He had plenty of classmates and teachers to help him get through the difficult times. Early on, Cisetti brought a little present to cheer him up – something from that special day in New York City.

“I told the band parents on our photography committee that I wanted a good picture of one of our band students marching in front of a famous landmark,” Cisetti said. “As it turned out, Christopher is the one they got in a picture in front of the Empire State Building. When I made the souvenir trip book, that picture went on the front. The books arrived from the publisher the same week that Christopher got sick. When I visited him in the hospital, I took him the very first copy.”

The book brought back a lot of great memories for Christopher, one of which was of his great grandfather.

MAKE-A-WISH

While in the hospital, Christopher was told he would be granted a wish through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The foundation provides sick children with the opportunity to go somewhere with their family, meet a famous athlete or celebrity or anything a child would want to do.

They told Christopher to start thinking about where he would want to go. It didn’t take him long to answer.

“Pearl Harbor,” he said.

Everyone’s eyes perked up.

“He told them he wanted to go to Pearl Harbor and not Hawaii, which puts a whole different spin on it,” Roger said.

He wasn’t thinking about the sunny skies, the blue ocean or the sandy beaches, Christopher was thinking about one thing – his great-grandfather. He wanted to go see his grandfather’s name that is engraved on the wall at Punchbowl National Cemetery, which is a tribute to the soldiers killed in the 20^th century wars.

Christopher was eventually granted his wish as it was revealed following a service at their church in Olathe. The Make-A-Wish foundation provided him, his parents and a sister the opportunity to spend a week in Hawaii.

The only problem was Christopher had two sisters, so the church raised money for both of his sisters, Ashley and Emily, to go and the whole family took off for Hawaii in late July.

It was a memorable trip for the entire Tyson clan.

Their hotel was right on Waikiki Beach, and their room on the top floor of the Sheraton featured views from two balconies and had multiple flat-screen televisions.

Christopher Tyson stands next to the USS Bowfin during his tour of Pearl Harbor.

“We didn’t turn those on once,” Rhonda said.

After doing some touring of the islands, they made their way to Pearl Harbor where they toured the USS Arizona memorial and then took a tour of the USS Bowfin, Christopher’s favorite spot, before finishing up with the USS Missouri.

“We were able to go into the captain’s cabin, barber shop and the brig and those were some of the spots that people usually don’t get to go to,” Christopher said of the Missouri. “It was a pretty awesome.”

A couple days later, the family finally made their way to Punchbowl National Cemetery and Christopher was on the lookout for his grandfather’s name. It was like looking for a needle in the haystack with the thousands of soldiers honored at the memorial.

With the help of a guide, he finally spotted it.

“Virgin, Kenneth D, Fireman IC, USNR, Kansas”

Christopher took out a piece of paper and rubbed the etching as keepsake to take back with him. As it turned out, finding his grandfather’s name was just the beginning of a very special day.

Earlier in the day, the Tysons were informed they were invited to attend the disinterment of five coffins from four grave sites. It was a military exhumation process to help identify the remains of soldiers killed aboard the USS Oklahoma during the Pearl Harbor bombing of 1941.

Christopher Tyson (middle) stands with members of the military during the disinterment ceremony at Punchbowl National Cemetery.

As a part of the ceremony, Christopher was asked to be a part of the honors platoon. He stood next to a 2-star general and a member of the Pentagon.

“It was just really amazing to be a part of something like that,” Christopher said.

When their day was coming to a close, Christopher got one more surprise. He was presented with the American flag that flew over Punchbowl on the day of their visit and was put in a frame.

The day capped what was an amazing getaway from their normal life that was filled with worries of leukemia and chemotherapy.

“The people with the Make-A-Wish Foundation are just amazing,” Rhonda said. “They, along with all the sponsors that help kids get to experience these wonderful things is just awesome. For a lot of these kids, their wishes are just a light for them to look at what sometimes is at the end of a very long tunnel.”

For Christopher, that light is getting brighter every day.

Getting back to normal

The Tyson family received good news a month after Christopher’s diagnosis. All the chemotherapy he received was paying off as they eliminated 99.9 percent of the cancer.

Christopher will now be in maintenance for the next two years to make sure all of the cancer is gone. Currently, he goes in for chemo once a month and takes medication.

He will also have to go in for yearly checkups the rest of his life. However, Christopher and his family are more than thrilled with the result thanks to some divine help.

“Anything can happen,” Rhonda said. “But you just have to put your faith and trust in God and hold on.”

It was a wild ride that came full circle. It started as a homework assignment for a trip to New York City and ended in Hawaii – the place where Christopher got to see where his grandfather, his hero, was honored.

Sandwiched in the middle, Christopher found out a lot about himself and his faith in God. Through all the hardships, he admitted he never wavered.

“God’s got this,” Christopher said. “He always has.”

Louisburg sophomore Sophie McMullen sets up a teammate at the net during the Lady Cats’ league opener Tuesday against De Soto at home. Louisburg defeated De Soto in three sets.

The Louisburg High School volleyball team showed a couple things during Tuesday’s league home opener.

One, the Lady Cats are really good.

And two, the other six teams in the Frontier League are going to have their hands full.

Louisburg competed in its first league dual of the season against De Soto, and other than and up and down first set, it didn’t have much of a problem. The Lady Cats defeated De Soto 28-26, 25-19 and 25-18.

“We are not playing our best ball right now, which is fine, because we want to be playing our best ball at the end of the season,” Louisburg coach Jessica Compliment said. “That is still something we have to work on and get better at. Overall, I thought we did a pretty decent job. The good thing about this group is that they play really well together and they feed off each other.”

It is that chemistry that helped the Lady Cats, which are ranked No. 4 in Class 4A-Division I, get through a back and forth first set.

Louisburg built a small 8-5 advantage, but De Soto kept battling and eventually took a 15-4 lead midway through the set. After a kill from Madison Turner, the Louisburg senior rattled off six straight service points thanks to two kills from senior Lauren Dunn, a kill from freshman Anna Dixon and a block from senior Cate Stambaugh to put Louisburg back up 21-15.

De Soto then went on a 9-1 run to take 24-22 and appeared it was going to steal the first set. Instead, the Lady Cats buckled down and got back-to-back points after a tip and an ace from Dunn.

It remained tied at 26-all, but Dixon gave Louisburg the lead with an ace and senior libero Makenzie Kallevig finished the match off with an ace.

Megan Lemke sends the ball over the net during Tuesday home match with De Soto.

“I was really pleased that they were able to come back and win that first set,” Compliment said. “It would have been easy to give up there, but they didn’t.

“I think it is hard to keep that intensity and focus sometimes. This is the third time we have seen De Soto and we have beaten them twice before, and I think they had that in the back of their head. They will come out and play well, ease back and then push back at the very end.”

The Lady Cats used that momentum in the second set to build a 21-13 lead behind kills by Dixon and Turner. De Soto made a little dent in the lead, but Stambaugh stopped the run with a kill and block. Sophomore setter Sophie McMullen and Dixon added kills of their own to finish the set out.

Dixon continued her strong play in the third set as she recorded five straight service points to build a 6-1 lead behind an ace of her own and a tip and kill from Dunn.

A block and a kill from Stambaugh, a block from Dixon and a kill from Turner put Louisburg up 16-8 and the Lady Cats never looked back. For most of the night, Louisburg was efficient with its offensive attack and Compliment saw quite a few positives from her team.

“Serving was pretty good,” Compliment said. “We got into a little rut in that third set, but they served tough and they served aggressive.

“Defensively we still have some miscommunication at times, but overall it was a good night. Sophie did a great job moving the ball around and did some real nice things with her hitters.”

Louisburg will face another tough part of its schedule Saturday when it travels to the Topeka Hayden Invitational. Matches are set to begin at 8 a.m.

Louisburg goalie Michael Minster prepares to stop a shot on goal from a De Soto player during Tuesday’s  home contest. Minster finished the game with nine saves but Louisburg fell 2-0.

In the midst of a three-game losing skid, the Louisburg High School boys’ soccer team didn’t see much relief in its schedule Tuesday when it hosted Frontier League leader De Soto.

That streak extended to four games in a 2-0 loss, but Wildcat coach Ben York knew what his team was up against and he saw a lot of progress.

“They are a better team than we are,” York said. “They are bigger, faster and more experienced. But we fought hard and I am glad to see that because that is a step in the right direction for our guys. We have a pretty good stretch of games that we have a chance to win and that will help us out because we need points to get a better game in the postseason.”

Louisburg (1-4) played De Soto to a scoreless draw in the first half and both teams had their chances to score. The Wildcats had six shots on goal in the first half and had some good opportunities to score.

T.J. Svoboda, Raistlin Brewer, Noah Juarez, Kolten Ragan and Christian Scholtz all had shots on goal and they were putting some pressure on the De Soto defense.

De Soto had chances as well as it put eight shots on goal, but senior goalkeeper Michael Minster came away with some big saves to keep the game scoreless. Minster finished the match with nine saves.

Louisburg’s Raistlin Brewer heads the ball away during the Wildcats’ home match Tuesday against De Soto.

“Michael did great,” York said. “He has that ability to play that way every time out. We have been working with Michael on positioning and when to decide to come out. That is a good team to have that happen against because it is a huge confidence booster for him. He had nine saves and that was great for him. It was good for our defense too and we are still learning.”

The Wildcats were also playing a little short-handed as senior defender Hunter Mitchell and senior forward Jairus Brown both missed the game with an illness and the team was forced to move some players around.

One of those moves came at the sweeper spot as York moved senior Cale Schneider from forward to help shore up the defense and he liked what he saw.

“We played good today,” York said. “We tried a little something new and we are moving forward I think. We played against a top 10 team in the state without Hunter and Jairus, who were out sick, and honestly it was good for us. It wasn’t good that they were gone, but I think I found a sweeper for the back.

“I thought Cale did great. I know it is a bite for his pride to go back there, but he led us very well out there today. De Soto has some really talented kids on that team.”

De Soto broke up the scoreless match nine minutes into the second half to take the lead. It answered with another goal with a minute left to seal the win despite strong defensive play from Schneider, Parker Cates, Scott Murphy, Curran Conklin and Jacob Benne.

Despite the loss, York knows his team is moving in the right direction.

“I think people might look at our record and just assume we aren’t playing very well,” he said. “I don’t feel that way yet and I don’t see that coming either. We are still healthy, we are playing well and we are still trying to figure out who goes where the best. If it happens to take us a little longer then I am ok with that. I have never been about how many wins we get in a season. We fought well and played good as a team.”

Louisburg returns to action today when it travels to Baldwin. The varsity is set to begin at 4 p.m.

Wildcats fall to Spring Hill

On Sept. 10, the Louisburg boys soccer team traveled to Spring Hill and went toe-toe with the Broncos, but came up just short in a 2-1 loss.

Down two goals at halftime, senior T.J. Svoboda helped bring the Wildcats back as he scored an unassisted sliding goal midway through the second half.

The Wildcats had another shot at a goal when Noah Juarez received a pass toward the back post, dribbled behind the defender and his shot hit the post and went in. Unfortunately, Juarez was called for offsides and the goal was disallowed.

“We probably should have won that game,” York said. “We just had a couple of calls that didn’t go our way. They guys still worked really hard and did a good job to get back in it.”

Senior Cate Stambaugh (left) celebrates a big point during Louisburg’s pool play match against Topeka Seaman on Saturday at the Lansing Invitational. The Lady Cats defeated Topeka Seaman and finished third overall.

LANSING – The Louisburg High School volleyball team went up against some big and talented schools during the Lansing Invitational on Saturday.

The Lady Cats showed resiliency several different times as they left Lansing with a third-place finish overall, including big wins over Topeka Seaman (Class 5A) in pool play and Shawnee Mission West (Class 6A) in the third-place match.

Louisburg defeated Shawnee Mission West 25-23 and 25-20 for third and exacted a little revenge in the process. The Lady Cats fell to West in pool play in two sets, which put them in danger of not making the championship bracket.

It was a weird day as the tournament lasted longer than normal and the team had to do a lot of sitting in-between matches.

“Saturday was definitely a roller coaster ride,” Louisburg coach Jessica Compliment said. “We had a lot of highs, but we also hit a lull where we let too many things get to us and let the other teams get the momentum.

“We are used to that tournament where you play back-to-back, but with the new format and only three courts, we played and then sat. It was just harder to stay focused after sitting for so long and then having to play.”

Senior Lauren Dunn had a big day at the net with a team-high 33 kills. Defensively, she was second on the team with 42 digs.

Senior libero Makenzie Kallevig gets underneath the ball during the Lansing Invitational on Saturday.

Freshman Anna Dixon was second with 29 kills and had a strong day serving with eight aces, including four in the third place match against Shawnee Mission West.

Middle hitters Madison Turner and Cate Stambaugh also made their presence known. Turner finished with 22 kills and a team-high 46 blocks, while Stambaugh added 20 kills and 33 blocks on the day.

Sophomore setter Sophie McMullen ran the offense well as she moved the ball around and racked up 97 assists in the six matches. McMullen was also the best from behind the service line with 13 aces.

Makenzie Kallevig, the team’s libero, was busy in the back row with a team-high 51 digs and also had five aces. Megan Lemke also had 25 digs and two aces from the back, while outside hitter Olivia Bradley had five kills and four blocks.

The Lady Cats didn’t have much of a problem to start the day as they opened with a 25-20 and 25-20 victory over De Soto. Then came Shawnee Mission West in the second match, which left them a little frustrated in the 25-17 and 25-20 loss.

“We just never found our groove against Shawnee Mission West the first time,” Compliment said. “They played good defense and they were picking every single ball and that was frustrating, which got in our hitters’ heads a little bit.”

If Louisburg wanted to keep its hopes alive for the championship bracket, then it had to beat Topeka Seaman in its next match, and it did, 26-24 and 25-18.

It was no easy task as the Lady Cats trailed early on in the first set, but put together a big run to grab a 17-12 lead. Seaman put together a rally of its own to record 10 straight points and take a 22-17 advantage.

Louisburg had one more run left in it as it took a 24-23 lead before winning 26-24. The Lady Cats used that momentum to finish off the match in two sets.

Stambaugh was a force defensively at the net with 11 blocks to turn away several Topeka Seaman attempts, while Dunn and Dixon each had six kills.

“We needed to beat Topeka Seaman to stay at the top of our pool so that was a big win for us to be able to stay in the top two and allowed us to move on,” Compliment said. “Once they find that rhythm, they don’t give up. They are good at competing and being able to bounce back. Volleyball is very much a game of momentum and I was happy with the way they fought there.”

The Lady Cats made quick work of Piper (25-17, 25-14) to advance to the championship bracket where they faced Shawnee Mission East in the semifinals. East, which is ranked No. 5 in Class 6A, showed why as they defeated Louisburg 25-9 and 25-16 to stop the Lady Cats’ bid of a title.

“Shawnee Mission East just dominated us with their serves,” Compliment said. “We never found a rhythm against them. They are a good team and they just started picking us apart. I don’t think we showed them the team that we are.”

Louisburg came to life against Shawnee Mission West in its third place game and it had revenge on its mind. The Lady Cats won the match in two sets behind seven blocks and six kills from Turner, along with six kills and four aces from Dixon.

McMullen ran the offense well with 18 assists and also had three aces. As a team, the Lady Cats had nine aces. Defensively, Kallevig had her best game of the day with a team-high 14 digs to go along with two aces.

“To come back and beat Shawnee Mission West was good for us,” Compliment said. “To play in that consolation game is always tough. It was the last match of the day, it was late in the evening and for the girls to find the energy and drive to beat a team you had already lost to, I was happy to see where they came out and played.”

Louisburg returns to action Thursday when it travels to Prairie View for a quadrangular with Osawatomie and Fort Scott.

Lady Cats fall to Blue Valley West

Louisburg still had yet to lose its first match of the season when the Lady Cats traveled to Blue Valley West last Thursday.

The Lady Cats, ranked No. 4 in Class 4A-Division I, went up against the No. 4 ranked team in Class 5A and couldn’t stay with the bigger program in the 3-0 loss. Louisburg had a tough time staying with West as it fell 25-17, 25-18 and 25-14 in the best-of-five dual.

Dunn led Louisburg with seven kills on the evening and Dixon added two aces. Stambaugh finished with a team-high eight blocks, while Kallevig had 12 digs. McMullen also had 12 assists and five blocks in the loss.

Louisburg’s Savannah Reinhart finished in third place during Thursday’s triangular at the Eisenhower Road Course in Ottawa. Reinhart ran a time of 25 minutes and 55 seconds and was one of nine girls to earn medals.

OTTAWA – The Louisburg High School cross country team took a little different approach from its usual routine.

Normally, the Wildcats will compete in large invitationals against several teams. Louisburg scaled it down a notch Thursday when they traveled to Ottawa.

Louisburg took to the Eisenhower Road Course, and for the only time this season, will run together as one team. The Wildcats competed against Ottawa and Spring Hill in a triangular and left with nine medals on the girls side and five on the boys.

“This meet is great for our kids,” Louisburg coach John Reece said. “It is a small setting and having them run together really lets them see how they rank within the team. It really benefits the new runners having their teammates around them.

“I really like the triangular format early in the year. It takes some pressure off of the kids and lets them run.”

Sophomore Savannah Reinhart led the Lady Cats with a third place finish in the 5-kilometer race. Reinhart ran a time of 25 minutes and 55 seconds and was just 30 seconds off of the first-place pace.

Junior Madelynn Yalowitz also had a big day for the Lady Cats as she was fourth in 26:11 and fellow junior Kaitlyn Gaza was sixth in 26:28. Senior Abby Bergman (27:07) came in eighth and junior Liz Hildreth (27:57) was 12^th.

Mara Justesen (30:40), Lexie Reece (30:42), Maddie McDaniel (30:44), Tomi Frederes (31:20) finished 14^th, 15^th, 16^th and 17^th, respectively.

Lilly Mick (20^th), Lily Cook (21^st), Bryn O’Meara (22^nd), Alex Miller (23^rd), Alexa Goodspeed (24^th), Hailey Crowder (26^th), Cierra Rose (27^th), Ryan Caldwell (29^th) and Grace Rolofson (30^th) also ran for the Louisburg girls.

Sophomore Wyatt Reece ran a time of 20:49 to finish eighth overall to lead the Louisburg boys. Senior Devyn Small came in 10^th in 21:57 and fellow senior Zach Minor was 12^th with a time of 22:06.

Junior Austin Raetzel (23:09) and sophomore Jarod Rose (23:38) also had top 20 finishes in 16^th and 17^th, respectively.

Eddie Murphy (24^th), Spencer Rogers (25^th), Michael Shaner (27^th), Gareth Baus (28^th) and Kennedy Unthank (32^nd) also ran for Louisburg.

“For those who ran with the team last year, we saw improvement when compared to last year’s performances,” coach Reece said. “My new runners ran better races even if time did not show it.”

Although they were competing against two teams, it was the course that provided the biggest test for Louisburg. Like in their previous race, the Wildcats had to deal with a lot of steep hills.

“All courses have their challenges and Ottawa has their hills,” coach Reece said. “They are so proud of the hills that they have named one of them Big Buddha. The hills always seem to pop up at inopportune times like right after the first mile and in the last half mile of the race.”

Louisburg will get back to its normal invitational schedule this Thursday when it travels to Wellsville. The first race is set to begin at 4 p.m.

Louisburg junior Thomas San Agustin runs into the endzone with the football on his back in the fourth quarter to bring the Wildcats to within one point of Eudora on Friday in Eudora. The Wildcats rallied for a 50-42 win.

EUDORA – Louisburg quarterback Austin Terry got his team in the huddle before what was a critical 2-point conversion try.

The Wildcats trailed Eudora by one with four minutes left in the game and had been trailing the entire night. He had one simple message for his teammates.

“Austin said that plays like this is what wins games,” junior running back Thomas San Agustin said. “We don’t say stuff like that many times in the huddle, but that is when the line gave it their all, like it was their last play.”

Technically, Terry was right.

Terry gave the Wildcats the lead with a run up the middle to get the 2-point conversion and the Wildcats came through in the 50-42 victory Friday in Eudora. Terry broke two different tackles before following his offensive line to sneak into the endzone.

The Louisburg defense came up with its biggest stop of the night on Eudora’s next drive and the Wildcats responded with a big touchdown run from San Agustin to put the game away.

“That was just amazing,” Terry said. “I had some help from some teammates to help me get in there. I was definitely a little nervous before the play, but you just have to trust your teammates and do what you have been taught.”

The touchdown to bring the Wildcats within one was almost as memorable. San Agustin was trying to break free from a couple Eudora tacklers when the ball popped out and rolled on his back.

The Louisburg junior reached behind to secure the ball and ran in for the 14-yard touchdown run. About five of those yards featured San Agustin holding the ball on his back as he ran into the endzone.

It was the second half Louisburg coach Kyle Littrell had wanted to see coming out of halftime. The Wildcats trailed by 14 points coming into the third quarter and had given up a lot of big plays on defense.

Eudora had 320 yards of total offense in the first half alone and Littrell knew his team had to change the way they did a lot of things, especially on defense. All the Wildcats did was outscore the Cardinals 36-14 in the second half and played with a different mindset.

“I just told them at halftime that I related it to my second favorite sport, which is a UFC fight,” Littrell said. “The first two rounds are over, you are sitting on your chair and are you going to answer the bell? We put up 36 points in the second half, so offensively we answered the bell. Defensively we did better, especially only giving up 14 points, but we had too many big plays, too many missed assignments. We need to get better at that.”

Senior Mitchell McLellan hauls in a pass in the second half Friday against Eudora.

It was a game that featured big play after big play in both halves. Eudora jumped out to a 28-14 halftime lead and all four of the Cardinals’ scoring plays were over 47 yards.

The Wildcats had a couple big plays of their own. After Eudora’s first score of the game, San Agustin answered as he scored on an 83-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to tie it at 7-all.

On Eudora’s first play of its next drive, it scored on a 47-yard run from its quarterback, Grant Elston. The Wildcats drove the ball to start the second quarter and eventually scored on a 1-yard touchdown run from Alex Dunn to tie the game again.

The Cardinals put some distance between themselves and the Wildcats with two long touchdown runs to put Louisburg in a hole thanks to some missed tackles.

“It boils down to blocking, the desire to tackle and protecting the football,” Littrell said. “The second half we had a desire to tackle. In the first half we were arm tackling, going down to our knees to tackle. We weren’t clubbing up and accelerating on our feet, and when you get a team that is as good as they are, with the athletes that they have, you can’t arm tackle. They were breaking those and that is what they did in the first half.”

Louisburg opened the second half with a long drive that ended with a 3-yard touchdown run from San Agustin to cut the Eudora lead in half. The Wildcat defense held firm to hold Eudora on its first possession of the half.

The Wildcat offense responded again to tie the game when Terry found tight end Grant Harding for a 62-yard touchdown catch and run. The play swung all the momentum to the Wildcat sideline.

Both teams traded touchdowns on two different occasions, late in the second half that eventually led to Terry’s 2-point conversion try.

Running back Alex Dunn looks for some extra yards in the first half against Eudora on Friday.

“It was just one of those things where we have been playing from behind all night long and I wasn’t sure if we ever would have the opportunity to touch the ball again,” Littrell said. “I just trust my kids to execute any play that I call.”

Louisburg defense forced the Cardinals to turn the ball over on downs on their next possession and San Agustin responded with a 39-yard touchdown run. Terry intercepted a pass with just seconds left in the game to seal the win.

San Agustin had a big game for the Wildcats as he finished with 110 yards rushing and three touchdowns. He had a fourth if you include the kickoff return.

“The thing I like about Thomas is that he gets tougher as the game goes on,” Littrell said. “He gets so emotional, and is so tightly wound that sometimes his emotions drain his gas tank. When he learns to control that emotion, and not get gassed after the first two or three plays, he is just tough as nails. He is getting better and better all the time.”

The Wildcats did have a scary moment as junior Korbin Hankinson, who finished with more than 100 yards on the ground, had to leave the game in the second half with a concussion. Before that time, Hankinson keyed the Wildcats on a couple of their scoring drives.

“Hankinson is as tough as nails,” Littrell said. “He ran the ball great for us. Hopefully we can get him back as soon as possible, but we are not going to rush anything. We are going to take care of him just like any family member.”

Terry also had one of his better games as the Wildcat quarterback as he completed 11 of 17 passes for 233 yards. Cole Kramer and Mitchell McLellan each had more than 70 yards receiving to lead Louisburg.

Defensively, San Agustin led Louisburg with seven tackles, while juniors Dustyn Rizzo, Jake Hill and Harding each added six. Rizzo also finished with the team’s only sack.

Louisburg returns to action Friday when it travels to Piper for its second road game of the year. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

EUDORA                      14           14           7             7 – 42

LOUISBURG                7             7             14           22 – 50

First quarter

E: Travis Neis 60 run (Grant Elston kick)

L: Thomas San Agustin 83 kickoff return (Alex Dunn kick)

E: Elston 47 run (Elston kick)

Second quarter

L: Dunn 1 run (Dunn kick)

E: Elston 65 run (Elston kick)

E: Lee Andrews 56 run (Elston kick)

Third quarter

L: San Agustin 3 run (Dunn kick)

L: Grant Harding 62 pass from Austin Terry (Dunn kick)

E: Ryan Verbanic 10 pass from Elston (Elston kick)

Fourth quarter

L: Terry 2 run (Dunn kick)

E: Austin Downing 6 run (Elston kick)

L: San Agustin 14 run (Terry run)

L: San Agustin 39 run (Dunn kick)

STATISTICS

RUSHING: Thomas San Agustin 22-110; Korbin Hankinson 13-107; Austin Terry 8-16; Alex Dunn 4-12; Mitchell McLellan 1-1

PASSING: Austin Terry 11-17-233-1

RECEIVING: Cole Kramer 3-73; Mitchell McLellan 5-72; Grant Harding 1-62; Alex Dunn 2-26.

It may be only two games into the season, but the Louisburg Middle School seventh-grade football team is off to a dominant start.

The Wildcats have won two straight to begin the year, including a 28-0 shutout of Spring Hill on the road Tuesday. On Sept. 3, Louisburg outlasted rival Paola in its home opener, 14-6, thanks to two first half touchdowns.

In their most recent victory, the Wildcats jumped on Spring Hill early and the defense took care of the rest.

Louisburg did its damage on the ground as it got three touchdown runs from Elijah Johnson and another from Ben Wiedenmann to give the Wildcats a big lead. The Wildcats also converted on two 2-point conversions when quarterback Andy Hupp found Trevin Lohse on both occasions.

Spring Hill was in danger of breaking up the shutout late in the contest, but defensive end Justin Collins made a touchdown saving tackle to preserve the shutout.

“The kids have done a nice job playing both ways,” coach Kyle Wright said. “Matt Madison is a great leader on the offensive line at center and he is also making plays at linebacker. Keaton Light is doing well on both the offensive and defensive lines and Braden Aiken, who missed the first game with an illness, had a great second game on the line as well. Jay Scollin is also doing a nice job at tight end and safety.”

Against Paola, the Wildcats scored two touchdowns in the first half, which was all they needed. Hupp and Johnson scored on touchdown runs to put the Wildcats up 14-0.

The Panthers scored early in the third quarter, but the Wildcat defense held firm to get the season opening win.

Eighth-grade splits first two games

The LMS eighth-grade football team couldn’t have asked for a better beginning to its season as it rose to occasion with a 22-0 shutout of rival Paola on Sept. 4 in Paola.

Louisburg returned home Tuesday to face off with Spring Hill and nearly came away with its second straight win. However, Spring Hill rallied from 10 down at halftime to defeat the Wildcats 32-26 in overtime.

Against Paola, the Wildcats ran all over the field on the Panthers. Charlie Koontz put Louisburg up 14-0 with two long runs for scores, thanks in part to the blocking of his offensive line, led by Brayden White, Garrett Harding, Anthony Davis, Collin Hamilton and Sam Kratochvil.

The Wildcat defense held strong as they forced the Panthers to turn the ball over on downs in the redzone to prevent the Panthers first score. Louisburg put the game on ice a few minutes later when Dallas Newberry scored the Wildcats’ third touchdown, which was set up by a long run from quarterback Madden Rutherford.

In its matchup with Spring Hill, Louisburg had a 10-point lead at halftime, but the Broncos opened the second half with a 60-yard touchdown drive to cut the lead to two.

Louisburg responded right back when Rutherford found Michael Waldron on a 40-yard touchdown pass that led to an eight-point lead. Spring Hill eventually tied the game late in the fourth to force overtime and found the endzone to seal the win in the extra time.

Koontz led the Wildcats with three long touchdown runs in the contest, and could have had a fourth, but the play was brought back on a holding penalty.

“I told the players at the beginning of the season that I did not care about wins and losses,” coach Brian Keegan said. “I told them that if they gave all they could that the wins would take care of themselves. We focused a lot on mistake response and I thought after a few mental errors the kids did a great job of responding and never got their heads down. A loss like this hurts but they should not feel disappointed in their effort. The mistakes we made are things we can work on and correct.  I feel very confident going into the next game because the kids are starting to believe in each other and work together as a team.”

Freshman Anna Dixon sends the ball past the outstretched arms of a Santa Fe Trail player Tuesday at Louisburg High School. The Lady Cats improved their record to 8-0 on the season with wins over Burlington and Santa Fe Trail.

With no practice because of the Labor Day weekend, and a tough end of the week schedule looming, Tuesday’s triangular with Burlington and Santa Fe Trail was sandwiched in between and had all the makings of a trap game for the Louisburg volleyball team.

The Lady Cats, who are ranked No. 4 in Class 4A-Division I, faced off with two smaller, and lesser-talented programs.

As it turned out, there was no trap at all.

Louisburg rolled to victories in both matches to run its record to 8-0 on the season. The Lady Cats defeated Burlington 25-15 and 25-10 and then downed Santa Fe Trail, 25-17 and 25-12.

“Having (Monday) off, we just never really got into a rhythm against Burlington,” Louisburg coach Jessica Compliment said. “We made too many errors and mistakes on our side. We were watching balls drop and we didn’t play with that sense of urgency that we need to have. The Santa Fe game there was a lot more energy and momentum and we played more of our game.”

Louisburg had its rough spots against Burlington, but it was never in any danger of dropping a set. In fact, the Lady Cats had a 17-2 lead in the second set before clinching the match.

The Lady Cats’ match against Santa Fe Trail went much the same way.

Louisburg senior Makenzie Kallevig passes the ball to a teammate Tuesday during the Lady Cats’ match with Santa Fe Trail.

Louisburg jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first set thanks to back-to-back aces from Sophie McMullen and kills from Anna Dixon and Madison Turner. Louisburg eventually widened its lead to 20-10 and easily claimed the first set.

Cate Stambaugh helped get the Lady Cats going in the second set as she recorded two kills to help give them a 7-1 lead. Turner and Dixon also provided several blocks and kills down the stretch to give Louisburg a 24-12 advantage before Megan Lemke finished the night off with an ace.

The Lady Cats dominated the net as they have done for most of the season. Dixon, a freshman, led Louisburg with seven kills against Santa Fe Trail. Stambaugh and Turner finished with six each, while senior Lauren Dunn added five kills in the win.

Junior Olivia Bradley led Louisburg with six blocks in the match, while Stambaugh and Turner each finished with four. McMullen ran the offense well as she finished with 20 assists.

“The nice thing about this team is that we are pretty even across the net,” Compliment said. “We have Lauren who can hit the ball, we have Madison, Cate is playing a lot better this year and has really stepped up and playing with more confidence. Anna has been playing well, too. So, Sophie can go anywhere she wants to and know her hitters are going to do well.”

Defensively, Dunn led the Lady Cats against Santa Fe Trail with 12 digs and senior libero Makenzie Kallevig added six. Serving-wise, Turner finished with three aces to lead Louisburg.

“Kenzie and Lauren have been doing a good job on defense,” Compliment said. “Both got under balls and did a good job of digging them out, especially in that second match.

“Our serving was a lot better and we didn’t have many errors. I can’t really blame them on the errors we had because they were serving tough. When Madison, Sophie and Megan are back there serving, I feel that we can really get on a roll with those three.”

Louisburg will be tested starting today as it travels to meet the No. 4 team in Class 5A, Blue Valley West. The Lady Cats will then travel to the Lansing Invitational on Saturday with matchups against De Soto, Piper, Topeka Seaman and Shawnee Mission West.

If they advance far enough, the Lady Cats could meet Shawnee Mission East (No. 5 in 6A) and Lansing (No. 5 in 5A).