Year In Review: October 2009

January 26, 2011

VYPE MAGAZINE - Central Kansas



A Good Oden

The future looked bright for Buhler football after the first half of the 2009 football season as running back Jorden Oden ran for well over 1,000 yards

Buhler totaled 658 yards of offense in a 52-27 season opening win over Andover, and it wasn't a fluke. They followed up by compiling 579 yards in Week 2 at Abilene, a 56-13 win. Then they scored 50 the next week in the first half against Augusta.

Buhler led 57-0 over El Dorado at half when play was suspended due to inclement weather; both parties wisely agreed to end the onslaught. Warner could run only so many more quarterback sneaks.

Upon first glance at each week's box score through those opening weeks, one name popped off the page: Jorden Oden.


Weekend Rusher

The Weekend Rusher, an extended online column with features, notes, audio, video and other interesting items about high school football, will return in August. Here's a sampling from 2009 which VYPE published in the October issue

With 6:03 remaining in the second quarter against Northwest, Bell powered right for a five-yard score to take the lead 13-7. Carroll recovered an onside kick, which was a turning point in the game, taking the vigor out of Northwest's defensive play for the remainder of the half.

In another goal line situation with 5:11 remaining, Bell rolled out right after a fake handoff and lobbed a touchdown pass off his back foot to tight end John Mies. He put it in his bread basket.

After hitting every hand on the offense on the sideline between series, Bell took the field and found Brandon Weber up the sideline, airing it out 26 yards. The Carroll sideline was whooping it up after that with 2:06 remaining.

Just 31 seconds later, Northwest turned the ball over. Bell scampered for a big run, then Blake Rollins did the same. Two plays, and another score. Carroll led 32-7, and the game looked like it might be a runaway. -Tom Witherspoon


Remember the (Old) Titans

Did we know that South was on its way to breaking its streak of losing seasons and missing the playoffs when they showed promise on the practice field early in the 2009 season?

Watch a football practice at South and it looks as if you're watching something big-time. The Titans are working out on a brand new turf field, installed at the beginning of this season. They have shiny blue helmets that look as if they could belong to a major college team. The practice jerseys appear just as fresh.

Maybe that's the first step.

South hasn't had a winning season since 1996, when it finished 5-4. Its last playoff appearance was in 1971. In going 16-96 in the last 12-plus seasons, the Titans have seen four head coaches walk the sidelines at Carpenter Stadium. -Jeff Lutz


Home On the Range

Not every high school kid plays high school sports. VYPE took a trip into the country to find the area's top high school-aged rodeo competitors

Ty Jones-Davis of Abbyville learned at an early age how dangerous rodeo could be when he was was kicked in the head at just 8 years old. But he's learned to persevere. He serves as a student director for Kansas high school team roping with Kingman's Travis Tetrick.

"For a long time, Ty rode with a helmet," said his mother Betty. "But when he got older, he said, 'Cowboys do not wear helmets. They wear a hat.'" 

The third-generation cowboy boasts of a proud cowboy heritage.

"Family is very important - rodeo is all we've ever done together," Betty says. "We are pretty rodeo-oriented."