It's just before 9 a.m. in Kansas City. I'm once again at the Marriott on the grounds of Kansas City International Airport, getting ready to jump in the shower, pack up and get ready to leave for Belleville, where I will watch my hometown school, the Russell Broncos, play Republic County in football. Both teams come in 0-3, and frankly, both teams have not been competitive this season. The Buffaloes have been outscored 179-25 by Southeast of Saline, Sacred Heart and Ellsworth, while Russell has been outscored 165-14 by Minneapolis, Ellsworth and Beloit, losing 84-0 to the Trojans last week.
Since I'm going to Belleville, I will be traversing US 36 from St. Joseph across the top of Kansas until I reach my destination. This will be the second time in four days I'm going down that two-lane highway, and hopefully, I will not have a repeat of Tuesday, when I struck a deer east of Washington. Somehow, only a plastic piece of my grille popped out, I found the piece laying in the road, then popped it back in again at the Belleville Dairy Queen. The piece was still on the car when I checked in to the hotel last night, so that's a good sign.
I've driven US 36 plenty between St. Joseph and Smith Center over the last two years, and on a couple of occasions, I took it to Phillipsburg. I never saw a deer on that road until Tuesday. Fortunately, this critter was smaller than the buck I hit on US 183 north of Hays in October 2005 which spelled the end of my Oldsmobile, which began as my mom's car.
I guess if I left Kansas City early enough I could drive I-70 to Salina and then go north on US 81, but I'll save the gas and the time and just be extra careful. I think the worst area is between the Marshall/Washington County line and just east of Belleville, but I have to be careful the entire way, because you never know. I once saw a deer crossing the Kansas Turnpike east of Topeka one June morning.
Going home from Smith Center Tuesday evening, I saw two deer--one on the side of the road near Osborne, and then a fawn about 8 miles north of Russell. No problems.
Smith Center easily defeated Osborne in the two volleyball matches Tuesday evening. The Lady Red won the first varsity match 25-12, 25-14 and the second 25-16, 25-20. Smith Center takes an 11-2 record into tomorrow's Hoisington Cardinal Classic. They'll play Hoisington, St. John-Hudson, Claflin-Central Plains and Phillipsburg tomorrow.
The Olathe South-Shawnee Mission East game last night turned into a defensive struggle. Nobody, and I mean nobody, saw that coming. Most people expected a high-scoring game, since Olathe South has been able to run up big numbers with its hybrid offense which is part Beloit Double Wing, part Tim Tebow Pistol formation, while the Lancers have one of the state's elite quarterbacks in Jordan Darling, who is playing for his fourth school in as many years.
Neither team came close to scoring in the first half. The Falcons got in big trouble with their poor punting game, and in the third quarter, Shawnee Mission East reached the Olathe South 4-yard line with a first and goal. But true to their mettle as defending Class 6A state champions, the Falcons held the Lancers out of the end zone on three plays, and on fourth down, Shawnee Mission East opted for a field goal. It was a knuckleball from 19 yards out, but it was between the uprights, and that's all that counts.
Olathe South never came close to scoring, getting as far as only the Shawnee Mission East 38. The Falcons were quarterbacks by Frankie Seuer, whose father, Frank, was a backup quarterback for the Chiefs in the 1980s. The season for both schools is far from over, because district does not start until week seven, and both schools figure to be favored to win their respective four-team districts, and even if they don't win, I can't fathom either the Falcons or Lancers losing twice in district. Therefore, a meeting in the playoffs is not out of the question. I would think one of these teams will be in the state championship game from eastern Kansas, because Topeka and Manhattan are on the west side with Hutchinson, Wichita Heights and Dodge City.
I'm printing some pictures for the officiating crew which worked the Smith Center-Beloit game. Then I'll hop in the shower and figure out what to do to kill time. Since I'm only going to Belleville, and the game doesn't start until 7, I really don't need to be across the Missouri River until sometime around 2, but I'd like to be earlier to take my time.
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