The fact that six teams got first-place votes in the preseason Big 12 poll was a sure sign that league would be unpredictable in 2013.

Good luck trying to figure out the conference race now.

Oklahoma State, the preseason favorite, lost on Saturday to West Virginia. Presumptive contenders TCU and Texas each have two losses, and defending league champion Kansas State lost to FCS powerhouse North Dakota State.

Only Oklahoma, Baylor and Texas Tech survived September unbeaten.

The Sooners look like the favorites after an impressive win at Notre Dame. But it sure looks like the Big 12 race could stretch past Thanksgiving.

The league’s first full week starts Thursday when Iowa State (1-2, 0-0 Big 12) hosts the Longhorns (2-2, 1-0).

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Kansas City Chiefs are off to a 4-0 start.

Yes, the same Chiefs that went just 2-14 last season.

The Chiefs pounded the New York Giants 31-7 on Sunday to keep their perfect record intact, though they didn’t come out of it unscathed. Right tackle Eric Fisher is being monitored after a suspected concussion and running back Jamaal Charles has badly blistered feet.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Monday he’ll leave Fisher’s status up to the team’s medical staff, but he believes that Charles will be OK for next Sunday’s game at Tennessee.

Junction City High School senior Rosie Hollis finished 14th and medaled in the girls varsity crimson division competition at the Rim Rock Farms High School Invitational Saturday. 

JCHS senior Rosie Hollis was the only Junction City medalist for the day. She placed 14th.

The Junction City High School Invitational cross country meet will be Saturday October 5 at Milford State Park.

Participating teams will include Junction City, Manhattan, Maize, Maize South, Great Bend, Clay Center, Derby, Flint Hills Christian School, Hays, Highland Park, Salina Central, Salina South, St. John’s Military, and St. Xavier.

Race times are:

–10 a.m. girls junior varsity

–10:30 a.m. boys junior varsity

–11:15 a.m. girls varsity

–11:45 a.m. boys varsity

PREP FOOTBALL

Abilene 20, Concordia 14
Andale 66, Circle 7
Andover 28, Independence 14
Arkansas City 21, Goddard-Eisenhower 13
Atchison 51, KC Wyandotte 48
Atchison County 21, Valley Falls 8
Attica/Argonia 42, Cunningham 20
Axtell 46, St. John’s Military 0
Baileyville-B&B 66, Caldwell 20
Baldwin 45, Spring Hill 6
Baxter Springs 43, Erie 27
Beloit 56, Salina Sacred Heart 44
Blue Valley Southwest 34, St. Thomas Aquinas 14
Blue Valley Stilwell 56, BV North 10
Bluestem 41, Belle Plaine 12
Bonner Springs 42, KC Piper 6
Buhler 35, McPherson 7
BV Randolph 48, Veritas Christian 12
Caney Valley 52, Fredonia 12
Central Heights 27, Anderson County 12
Centralia 64, Onaga 7
Centre 44, Burlingame 20
Chaparral 50, Medicine Lodge 25
Cherryvale 33, Burlington 14
Chetopa 72, Uniontown 54
Christ Preparatory Academy 21, Oskaloosa 12
Clay Center 21, Marysville 8
Clearwater 45, Augusta 19
Clifton-Clyde 44, Rock Hills 20
Coffeyville 27, Fort Scott 21
Columbus 39, Riverton 0
Conway Springs 35, Cheney 6
Crest 24, St. Paul 14
Derby 45, Salina Central 14
Dighton 24, Hoxie 0
Douglass 34, Wichita Independent 20
Elkhart 41, Wichita County 7
Ellsworth 29, Hays-TMP-Marian 25
Emporia 38, Topeka Seaman 7
Eureka 46, Neodesha 13
Fowler 48, Deerfield 0
Galena 43, Northeast-Arma 14
Garden City 35, Hays 0
Gardner-Edgerton 56, Bishop Miege 51
Girard 37, Southeast 31, OT
Glasco/Miltonvale-Southern Cloud 44, Chase 6
Goessel 46, Burrton 28
Great Bend 36, Wichita North 0
Halstead 30, Sterling 27
Heartland Christian 55, Western Plains/Healy 28
Hesston 56, Hillsboro 28
Hill City 36, Satanta 28
Hodgeman County 26, Ness City 14
Hoisington 55, Ellinwood 6
Holcomb 34, Goodland 12
Holton 12, Hiawatha 10
Hope 54, White City 6
Horton 28, Doniphan West 0
Hugoton 56, Colby 0
Humboldt 27, Oswego 20
Hutchinson 56, Newton 32
Hutchinson Trinity 64, Remington 14
Ingalls 28, Trego 20
Iola 33, Prairie View 14
Jackson Heights 48, Maur Hill – Mount Academy 8
Jayhawk Linn 36, Jefferson North 17
Jefferson West 14, Santa Fe Trail 7
Junction City 28, Topeka Hayden 21
Kapaun Mount Carmel 20, Wichita Heights 7
KC Schlagle 14, KC Sumner 7
KC Turner 49, KC Bishop Ward 12
KC Washington 38, KC Harmon 6
Kingman 37, Nickerson 6
Kiowa County 56, Kinsley 6
Labette County 7, Parsons 6
LaCrosse 40, Plainville 8
Lakin 55, Sublette 8
Lansing 34, Basehor-Linwood 8
Larned 39, Ellis 7
Lawrence 35, Olathe Northwest 20
Lawrence Free State 35, SM West 14
Lebo 42, Hartford 21
Liberal 40, Dodge City 27
Lincoln 72, Pike Valley 50
Linn 48, Lakeside 0
Little River 64, Hutchinson Central Christian 22
Logan 66, Northern Valley 40
Louisburg 14, DeSoto 0
Lyndon 62, Council Grove 32
Lyons 41, Pratt 18
Macksville 58, St. John 36
Madison 48, Flinthills 0
Maize 54, Goddard 12
Maize South 21, Andover Central 7
Manhattan 63, Highland Park 6
Marais des Cygnes Valley 50, Waverly 0
Marion 35, Inman 0
Marmaton Valley 56, Elk Valley 6
Mill Valley 27, Tonganoxie 7
Mission Valley 25, Chase County 0
Moscow 54, Greeley County 8
Moundridge 47, Bennington 0
Mulvane 46, El Dorado 17
Natoma 53, Stockton 6
Nemaha Valley 24, Perry-Lecompton 9
Norton 21, Oberlin-Decatur 13
Oakley 72, Syracuse 0
Olathe East 61, SM North 12
Olathe South 21, SM South 7
Olpe 35, McLouth 28
Osage City 26, Northern Heights 14
Osborne 58, Wakefield 12
Paola 28, Eudora 14
Peabody-Burns 50, Canton-Galva 20
Phillipsburg 43, Smith Center 18
Pittsburg 35, Chanute 25
Pittsburg Colgan 26, Frontenac 7
Pleasant Ridge 44, Immaculata 6
Pratt Skyline 44, Otis-Bison 38, OT
Rawlins County 46, Quinter 0
Riverside 34, Troy 6
Rolla 38, South Gray 6
Rose Hill 24, Winfield 17, OT
Rossville 53, Riley County 18
Russell 26, Republic County 12
Sabetha 32, Royal Valley 12
Salina South 56, Wichita Campus 28
Sedan 48, Cedar Vale/Dexter 0
Sedgwick 42, Ell-Saline 6
Silver Lake 33, Rock Creek 7
SM East 23, Olathe North 22
Smoky Valley 39, Haven 6
Solomon 72, Sylvan-Lucas 20
South Barber 48, Stafford 24
South Central 30, Fairfield 26
Southeast Saline 61, Minneapolis 14
Southern Coffey 28, Pleasanton 22
Southwestern Hts. 20, Johnson-Stanton County 0
Spearville 46, Ashland 0
St. James Academy 42, Ottawa 14
St. John’s Beloit-Tipton 42, Thunder Ridge 38
St. Mary’s 36, Wabaunsee 0
St. Mary’s Academy 46, KC East Lions 0
Sunrise Christian 54, Cair Paravel 48
Topeka 30, Shawnee Heights 20
Udall 38, Oxford 26
Ulysses 25, Scott City 6
Victoria 66, Central Plains 28
Wallace County 40, Cheylin 0
Wamego 54, Chapman 14
Washburn Rural 48, Topeka West 7
Washington County 27, Valley Heights 20
Wellsville 48, Osawatomie 14
West Elk 44, South Haven 42
West Franklin 54, Herington 7
Wichita Bishop Carroll 20, Wichita West 10
Wichita Collegiate 49, Wellington 21
Wichita East 23, Wichita South 6
Wichita Trinity 47, Garden Plain 26
Yates Center 54, Central Burden 8
POSTPONEMENTS AND CANCELLATIONS
Cimarron vs. Meade, ppd. to Sep 28.

CHICAGO (AP) – James Shields struck out 10 and scattered four hits over seven innings for his 100th career win, and the Kansas City Royals beat Chicago 6-1 on Friday night to ensure the White Sox of their worst record since 1970.

At 62-98 with two games remaining, the White Sox will finish with the second-most losses in franchise history, ahead of only the team that went 56-106 more than four decades ago.

The White Sox will finish last in their division for the first time since 1989 (69-92).

“Nobody wants that,” manager Robin Ventura said before the game of reaching 100 losses. “Is it going to be the big difference going into next year? Probably not, but nobody wants that.”

Shields (13-9) gave up just one run and walked one.

Billy Butler led the Royals with three hits and two RBIs, while Emilio Bonifacio drove in two runs with two hits.

The Royals’ 85th win is their most since 1989 when they were 92-70.

The Royals took a 3-0 lead in the first off White Sox starter Chris Sale (11-14).

Bonifacio walked and stole second, moved to third on Eric Hosmer’s single, and both scored on Butler’s double. Butler scored on Lorenzo Cain’s single.

Kansas City made it 4-0 in the fourth when Jamey Carroll doubled – the 1,000th hit of his major league career – and scored on Bonifacio’s single.

Sale was lifted with one out in the top of the sixth. He gave up four runs and nine hits, walked one and struck out five. He also hit a batter.

Sale’s replacement, Jacob Petricka, promptly gave up two runs. Alcides Escobar singled and scored on Alex Gordon’s double. Gordon scored on another single by Bonifacio.

Chicago’s run came on Gordon Beckham’s fifth home run of the season in the sixth. The following batter, Alexei Ramirez, appeared to follow with another homer, but Gordon grabbed the ball at the fence in left field.

The Fort Riley Middle School football teams lost their games against Chapman on Thursday.

Coach Bob Shefelton said the 7th grade team fell 42-0, and the 8th grade team lost 16-8.

 

Junction City Blue Jay football fans can gather Friday morning at Coach’s Grill and Bar for a preview of Friday night’s game at Hayden.

Coach Randall Zimmerman and select players will be in attendance for the breakfast gathering, which begins at 6:30 a.m.

Coach’s will have a breakfast menu available.

Friday night’s game can also be heard on KJCK AM, The Talk of JC with the pregame broadcast beginning at 6:40 p.m.

THE FRIDAY NIGHT HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

SCHEDULE FINDS:

–JUNCTION CITY AT HAYDEN

–MANHATTAN PLAYING AT HIGHLAND PARK

–CLAY CENTER HOSTING MARYSVILLE

–ABILENE AT CONCORDIA

–CHAPMAN TRAVELING TO WAMEGO. IT IS HOMECOMING
AT WAMEGO.

–COUNCIL GROVE HOSTS LYNDON

–ROCK CREEK HOSTS SILVER LAKE

–CENTRE TRAVELS TO BURLINGAME

–SOLOMON HOSTS SYLVAN LUCAS

–RILEY COUNTY VISITS ROSSVILLE

–WHITE CITY HOSTS HOPE IN THEIR ANNUAL SHOWDOWN
IN USD 4-8-1

–BLUE VALLEY RANDOLPH GOES TO LAWRENCE VERITAS

–AND HERINGTON GOES TO WEST FRANKLIN

The Kansas State Men’s basketball team will be taking advantage of a new NCAA ruling that allows teams to hold 30 practices starting 42 days before their first game, which begins Friday.

Bruce Weber, KSU Basketball Coach said that new rule couldn’t have come at a better time. ” I looked at it and I think we have seven extra days of practice than we did a year ago, so with a young team, with half our team being new people, we can use all the days we can get especially with the tough schedule early.”

Shane Southwell, Senior Guard, said that extra practice time is extremely big, especially for the new guys,”Hopefully, it can get them more accustomed, unlike last year when you only had two weeks to practice (before the first exhibition game).”

The Wildcats lost a lot of talent from last years team between the three seniors Martavious Irving, Rodney McGruder and Jordan Enriquez, as well as Angel Rodriguez who elected to transfer in the off-season.

Will Spradling, Senior Guard, is expected to move into the point guard position which he worked on while overseas this summer,”The biggest thing I did overseas was play all point guard over there and that helped out a lot and kind of got me ready for the season.”

The Wildcats will look to be faster this year and one player in particular has already been working on his conditioning. Thomas Gipson, Junior Forward, spent a lot of time in the gym this summer and proved it by loosing 35 pounds. Gipson said that with the weight loss he is lighter on his feet and can jump quicker and higher than a year ago. “I feel lighter and a lot better about myself, and it is just boosting my confidence.”

K-State will need to rely on some of the incoming freshmen. Coach Weber mentioned that Freshmen Guard, Marcus Foster has shown potential,”I would be surprised if he is not on the court quite a few minutes.” He described Foster as strong, solid and consistent.

The Wildcats open their season on November 1st, with an exhibition game against Pittsburg State at Bramlage Coliseum.