NE KS 6A battles

Teams from the northeast faced off in the 6A playoffs, sending two Centennial League contenders home, and two Lawrence clubs to the sectional round. Here are a few standouts from each contest: Manhattan (9-1) defeated Gardner-Edgerton (4-6) 38-35: <strong>Vinny Smith</strong>, 6-foot, 187 pound back, 2022, Manhattan: Smith put the Indians on his back and led them to a thrilling win over underdog Gardner-Edgerton. Smith had scoring runs of 34, 17, 11 and 3. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="35621" first="Grant" last="Snowden"]</strong>, 6-foot-3, 165 pound kicker, 2022, Manhattan: Smith did all the heavy lifting, but when it came time to finish off Gardner-Edgerton, it was Snowden making the winning kick. The reliable placekicker lined up and knocked home the tie-breaker from 18 yards out with just 5 seconds remaining. Lawrence High School (8-2) defeated Junction City (8-2) 38-21: <strong>Truman Juelsgaard,</strong> 6-foot, 170 pound quarterback, 2022, Lawrence: Juelsgaard was a true dual threat Friday. He passed for 129 yards, and rushed for 122. He finished off the Blue Jays with a 31-yard scoring run late. <strong>Shance Wilkerson</strong>, 5-foot-10, 180 pound running back, 2022, Lawrence: Wilkerson showed a nose for the goal line Friday with scoring runs of 1, 2 and 3 yards. He racked up 79 yards on 16 carries. <strong>Xavion Felton</strong>, 5-foot-11 195 pound running back, 2023, Junction City: Felton was back at running back with David Rowell back under center Friday. The Blue Jays came up a little short, but that was no fault of Felton. He scored all three of Junction City touchdowns. He had scoring runs of 29 and 1 yards, and also caught a 15-yard touchdown pas from Rowell. Lawrence Free State (8-2) beat Washburn Rural (8-2) 42-10: <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="35595" first="Jet" last="Dineen"]</strong>, 5-foot-11, 180 pound quarterback, 2022, Free State: Another Lawrence star with the Dineen name, Jet turned in a fantastic performance to run away from the Junior Blues. Dineen ran 23 times for 184 yards and three scores. His passing numbers weren’t great – just 5-15 for 46 yards. But he spearheaded the ground attack that overwhelmed Rural. <strong>Dash Cleveland</strong>, 5-foot-11, 170 pound running back, 2022, Free State: Cleveland and Dineen were an unstoppable one-two punch against the Junior Blues Friday. Cleveland ripped off 95 yards on 19 carries, finding the end zone twice. <strong>Giles Frederickson</strong>, 5-foot-11, 190 pound kicker, 2022, Washburn Rural: There weren’t many highlights for the Junior Blues Friday night. But the senior kicker did give them one memorable moment. With the game in the bag for Free State, the Junior Blues gave Frederickson the chance to boot a 46-yard field goal, and the senior hit it. He was a solid kicker all season and showed his distance on the final kick of his career.