ST. PAUL — Marmaton Valley Junior High’s football team opened its 2011 season Thursday. The Wildcats lost 54-6 to St. Paul after trailing 36-0 at halftime.
In the third quarter, Keagan Boyd finished a Wildcat drive by scoring a touchdown on a five-yard run. Boyd ended up with 24 yards on eight carries.
Chad Starliper rushed for 100 yards on eight carries for Marmaton Valley.
Defensively, Starliper had five tackles. Derek Nixon, Dane Myers and Boyd each had two tackles and Gage Adams recovered a fumble.
The Wildcats go to Pleasanton next Thursday.
Younger Mustangs win game
GARNETT — Iola High’s Mustang freshmen and sophomores combined to beat host Anderson County High’s Bulldogs 42-0 Thursday night.
Drew Faulhaber rushed for two touchdowns and tossed a touchdown pass to Bryce Misenhelter. Isaiah Grover, Shane Walden and Blake Thompson each had a rushing touchdown for Iola.
Iola led 30-0 at halftime.
“Offensively, our kids were very aggressive. The running backs ran the ball hard and kept their pad level low,” said Cody Hager, IHS assistant coach.
“Defensively, the guys were very physical and got after Anderson County pretty hard. Both offensive and defensively, we were firing off the ball well. It was a very good team effort.”
Uniontown loses
BURLINGTON — Host Burlington High took the early advantage and never looked back against visiting Uniontown High Friday.
The Wildcats led 27-6 after one quarter and 47-6 at the break.
Uniontown responded with 20 unanswered points in the second half but could get no closer than the final 47-26 margin in the season opener for both squads.
Scoring summaries were unavailable.
Dakota Wiley passed for 108 yards and a touchdown for the Eagles, while running for 46 yards and another score. Seth Simpson pulled in four receptions for 131 yards and two touchdowns. Garrett Murrow rushed for 58 yards and a touchdown. Zach Travis also tossed for a touchdown.
Uniontown ended up with 144 yards rushing and 146 yards passing. The Eagles lost two fumbles.
On the Uniontown defense, Brenton Esslinger registered seven tackles, while Trenton Miller, Max Labbe and Jay Hierholzer had six tackles apiece. Miller recovered a fumble and Hierholzer also had a sack.
Uniontown (0-1) hosts Oswego next Friday.
Uniontown 6-0-6-14—26
Burlington 27-20-0-0—47
Bullpups roll against Cubs
CANEY — Humboldt High’s Cubs started the 2012 season on the wrong foot with missed chances on offense and missed tackles on defense.
The early miscues led to a 37-point first half by host Caney Valley.
The Bullpups coasted through the second half in a 43-6 win over Humboldt Friday in the season opener for both squads.
“We definitely didn’t play to our capabilities,” Humboldt head coach Mike Miller said. “We are a much better team than what we showed tonight. We’ve just gotta start showing it, that’s for sure.”
Caney Valley led 16-0 after one quarter, then clinched the victory with a 21-point outburst in the second period.
“They had a couple big interception returns and punt returns that set them up with short fields,” Miller said.
Humboldt dented the scoreboard when Hunter Murrow scored on a 25-yard run with 3:35 in the game.
“We had a couple of scoring opportunities early in the game, but we didn’t execute,” Miller said. “And on defense, our missed tackles led to some big plays for them.”
Murrow wound up leading Humboldt with 54 yards on two carries. Nathan Whitcomb completed 6 of 12 passes for 115 yards with two interceptions. Grayson Parish connected on 3 of 11 pass attempts for 26 yards.
Tanner McNutt pulled in three receptions good for 66 yards. Noah Thornbrugh covered 42 yards on two catches. Trey Johnson had 19 yards on two receptions.
Ryan Gean led the Cub defense with eight tackles, while Caleb Vanatta had a fumble recovery.
Humboldt (0-1) travels to Eureka next Friday.
Humboldt 0-0-0-6—6
Caney Valley 16-21-6-0—43
CV — Camper 57 yd run (Camper run)
CV — Mullinax 7 yd run (Mullinax run)
CV — Watt 4 yd run (PAT Failed)
CV — Mullinax 33 yd run (Rodriguez pass from Mullinax)
CV — Watt 1 yd run (Wyrick kick)
CV — Mullinax 34 yd run (PAT failed)
Humboldt — Murrow 25 yd run (run failedâ¨)
Humboldt CV
First Downs 7 12
Rushes-yds 25-17 157-28
Passing yds 141 65
Total Offense 166 232
Passing 9-23-2 4-6-0
Fumbles-lost 0-0 3-1
Punts/Avg 6/33 3/39
Penalties-Yds 9-51 3-25
Wildcat runners earn medals
BURLINGTON — Heat shortened races at Burlington High’s cross country meet Thurday.
Marmaton Valley High’s Zach Louk captured the third-place medal in the varsity boys’ race. Louk ran the 4K race in 15 minutes, 13 seconds.
Chance Stevenson earned the 18th-place medal for the Wildcats. He completed the course in 17:36. Garrett Booth didn’t run because of injury.
Ashtynn Louk claimed the 10th-place medal in the girls’ varsity race. She ran the 3K race in 15:20.
Uniontown was scheduled to be at the meet also but no results were reported.
Wildcats drop opener to Lebo
LEBO — Host Lebo’s quickness and power did in Marmaton Valley High Friday.
The Wolves led 26-0 lead by halftime.
Marmaton Valley scored twice after intermission, but so did Lebo in a 42-16 win.
The game was the season opener for both squads.
“They got out and beat us off the ball,” Marmaton Valley head coach Kent Houk said. “They controlled the line of scrimmage.”
Marmaton Valley’s first score of the season came on a third-quarter safety when a Lebo snap went through the Wolves’ end zone.
Cole Becker scored later in the period on a two-yard touchdown. Zach English tossed a 20-yard touchdown pass to Chase Dudley in the fourth period.
Becker rushed 11 times for 31 yards and had a 20-yard reception for the Wildcats. Dudley had one catch, good for 20 yards and a score. Houk had a 45-yard reception.
Becker had 13 tackles and a sack. Daylen Houk had 12 tackles and Nathan Smart had 10.
Marmaton Valley has a rare open date next Friday and will host Altoona-Midway Sept. 16.
Reward offered in area arson cases
Allen County Crime Stoppers is offering up to $1,000 for information to aid in the arrest and conviction of whoever has been responsible for about 20 fires in Geneva and Carlyle townships, north of Iola.
Tips may be made by calling 1-800-222-8477, by sending a text message to 274637 or through Crime Stoppers’ Facebook account. Information given through text and Facebook messages are anonymous and secure, same as those made by a telephone call.
“We’ve had about 20 fires, mostly pastures but also baled hay, since early August,” said Sheriff Tom Williams. “We need to get this resolved before someone gets hurt.”
“Farmers are unhappy and angry and if someone were caught setting a fire, it’s hard to say what might happen,” he said.
Late Wednesday evening a bridge on the Prairie Spirit Trail at the north edge of Iola was burned. Thursday afternoon parts of a hedgerow and pasture just north of Texas Road and 1800 Street, about a mile east of Carlyle, burned.
Williams is asking the public to help officers, noting that deputies were limited in their observations.
Anyone seeing what they think are suspicious people or activities are encouraged to call Crime Stoppers or the sheriff’s office, 365-1400, or 911.
Aid for disasters can be raised, if Congress would
Ironically, the two news stories hit the headlines on the same front page. “Hurricane Cost Seen as Ranking Among the Top Ten” and “Federal Austerity Changes Disaster Relief.”
Irene may run up a repair and replacement bill between $7 billion and $10 billion.
The storm did extensive damage to towns, electric power lines, highways and farm fields from North Carolina to Vermont.
As the implications for the federal budget of that widespread damage hit Washington, Republican leaders had a knee-jerk reaction: spending on Irene must be matched with cuts elsewhere, they insisted.
None of those making that callous comment live in the stricken states, needless to say.
Sen. Bernard Sanders represents Vermont, where rains of as much as 10 inches caused disastrous floods in the southern half of the state.
Fresh from flights over his state, he commented:
“To say that the only way you can come up with funding to rebuild devastated communities is to cut back on other desperately needed programs is totally absurd,” said Sanders, an independent. “Historically in this country we have understood that when communities and states experience disasters, we as a nation come together to address those. That is what being a nation is about.”
Conservative Republicans have pushed in the past to pay for disaster relief through budget cuts elsewhere, most notably in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. But party leaders ultimately relented under political and public pressure, and much of the aid was delivered through deficit spending.
Research by Senate Democrats showed that since 1989, Congress has approved 33 emergency appropriations for disaster relief without offsetting that money with cuts in other departments or agencies.
SHOULD CONGRESS, once again, ignore the deficit and shovel the money out to Irene’s victims?
Yes and no.
FEMA is, as it should be, responding to the widespread need for federal assistance to recover from the storm’s devastation. To argue against federal disaster aid to fellow Americans should offend us all. As Sen. Sanders said, helping fellow citizens hit by a natural disaster is part of being a nation.
But the money spent doesn’t have to be borrowed, it can be raised. That, also, is what a nation is about — taxing itself to pay its bills.
Just as levies on luxuries were made to help pay for wars in the past, it would be perfectly appropriate to pass a luxury levy today to raise funds for the victims of Irene.
Our World War II luxury tax backfired because taxing yachts wound up putting shipyard workers out of work. So rather than tax luxuries, tax the incomes of those who can afford yachts and other luxuries. Following that rational course of action, which has pertinent precedence in our history, would be fairer and have far fewer unexpected consequences.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
Friday Night Lights, et al.
No cool weather for the start of 2011 high school football season in Kansas. The forecast is hot, hot and hot for the next couple of days.
That means under the Friday Night Lights tomorrow, Iola High’s Mustangs, Humboldt High Cubs, Marmaton Valley High Wildcats, Crest High Lancers, Southern Coffey County High Titans, Uniontown High Eagles and Yates Center High Wildcats will be up against not just their opponents across the line of scrimmage but also the heat. Coaches and game officials will be watching closely throughout the game. There will be water breaks for sure called by the officials to keep the players safe.
All that conditioning, those skill drills and hitting each other come together Friday. This is it. The slate is clean for the seven area high school football teams.
For the Mustangs, this is the final roll through the Southeast Kansas League. They move to the Pioneer League next year.
Friday, the Mustangs host Independence High’s Bulldogs. The Bulldogs are transitioning from having the top rusher and scorer in the SEK — Matt Bromley — out of the backfield. Head coach Carl Boldra is pleased with the way his players have stepped up to fill roles left open by graduation.
Iola High’s Mustangs are after a win. It has been 11 consecutive losses dating back to the end of the 2009 season.
“Our kids have had really good practices this week. We’re ready to hit somebody else,” said Mustang head coach Rick Horton. “We’re out to establish the running game and put together drives. That is something we did not do well last year.
“We have some depth in positions that will help us on both sides of the football.”
Always, the season opener is important. Both teams are looking to get a win to set the tone for the season. Stakes are always high under Friday Night Lights.
Boldra said “it’s sad that this will be the final SEK game between the two teams but you have to do what you have to do.”
“The kids are ready to play and we believe this team is going to have a successful season,” Horton said.
Today, Iola High’s tennis team — girls — host a meet starting at 3 o’clock. Volleyball is underway. Cross country runners open the season today.
‘Pam’ Weatherbie
Pamela “Pam” Jane Weatherbie, age 64, of Independence, Mo., died Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011, at Odyssey Hospice in Independence.
She was born Oct. 17, 1946, in Fort Scott, to Russell “Bill” Kent and Dorothy Elaine (Harris) Weatherbie. Pam graduated from Kincaid High School in 1964. Growing up she enjoyed playing softball, where her father was the coach, and playing basketball. She had a great love for animals and was always a jolly person who liked to play practical jokes on her friends.
She worked at Waddell & Reed Investments and as a bookkeeper for Gas Service Company in the Kansas City/Independence area. She was a member of the Kincaid Baptist Church.
She is survived by her mother, Dorothy Weatherbie, Kincaid; many aunts, uncles and cousins; good friends, Chris Sincox and Lynda Halteman, Independence; and faithful companions, Jay and Levi.
Pam was preceded in death by her father, Bill Weatherbie, on May 4, 2002, and her grandparents.
Graveside services will be at 10 a.m. Friday at Pleasant View Cemetery in Blue Mound.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Allen County Animal Rescue Facility or to Odyssey Hospice, 4911 S. Arrowhead Dr., Suite 310, Independence, MO 64055. Online condolences to the family may be left at www.feuerbornfuneral.com.