"Friday Night Football.... Topeka West Chargers vs. Topeka High Trojans"
Chargers turn it up
By Rick Peterson
The Capital-Journal
Topeka West wasn't nearly as charitable Friday night as it had been a week earlier and the result was a 34-15 victory over Topeka High in the I-70 League opener for both schools at Hummer Sports Park.
After turning the ball over six times in a season-opening loss at Kansas City-Turner, West turned the ball over just once against High, riding a 393-yard offensive effort past the Trojans, who fell to 0-2.
"We came up a little short last week and it really hurt our feelings," said West sophomore quarterback Ryan Kelly, who threw for 202 yards and three touchdowns for the Chargers. "It was kind of an ugly first half, but we stepped it up at halftime and got our first win and it feels great."
Topeka West had fumbled the ball away four times and Kelly had thrown two interceptions against Turner, but Kelly's interception on the final play of the first half was West's only miscue against High.
Kelly, playing with an injured shoulder, more than made up for his one errant toss, completing seven of 14 pass attempts, including a 14-yard touchdown pass to Zach Walton, a 65-yard TD pass to Marc Granville and a 12-yard scoring pass to Granville.
"We worked on that (avoiding turnovers) and we knew with the first game that's kind of how it is with new backs and new receivers," West coach Warren Seitz said. "They did a lot better job and concentrated and I even saw them covering up with two hands tonight, which was nice."
Topeka West was nursing a 6-point (21-15) lead at halftime, but scored 13 points in the first nine minutes of the second half to break the game open.
"We just needed to get a win and we just needed to do whatever we could to beat Topeka High," Kelly said.
The Chargers jumped out in front 14-0, getting a 25-yard scoring run from Elvin Graves and the 14-yard touchdown pass from Kelly to Walton at the 11:52 mark of the second quarter.
West appeared on the verge of breaking the game open at that point, but Topeka High responded with a 58-yard scoring drive, getting its first TD of the season on an outstanding 28-yard cutback effort by sophomore Marsharzk Dennis. The Trojans then converted the 2-point conversion a pass from holder Donovan Briggs to Anthony Barber.
It took West just one play to answer the touchdown -- Kelly hit Granville for a 65-yard strike -- but High got back within 6 on a 24-yard Dennis run with 4:29 left in the half.
Topeka West got to the High 3 yard line on a 40-yard pass from Kelly to Jeremy Kincy with a half-minute left, but Kelly was sacked for a 7-yard loss and then was picked off by Cliff Yearby at the goal line on the final play of the half.
West sophomore Brandon Evans opened the second-half scoring with an 8-yard run, before Kelly hit Granville from 12 yards out.
High's Dennis picked up 91 rushing yards on 16 carries in the first half, but was held to just 1 yard on eight tries in the second half.
Rick Peterson can be reached at (785) 295-1129 or rick.peterson@cjonline.com.
Topeka High (0-2, 0-1) 0 15 0 0 -- 15
Topeka West (1-1, 1-0) 7 14 13 0 -- 34
Topeka West -- Graves 25 run (Gifford kick)
Topeka West -- Walton 14 pass from Kelly (Gifford kick)
Topeka High -- Dennis 28 run (Barber pass from D. Briggs)
Topeka West -- Granville 65 pass from Kelly (Gifford kick)
Topeka High -- Dennis 24 run (Wicker kick)
Topeka West -- Evans 8 run (Gifford kick)
Topeka West -- Granville 12 pass from Kelly (kick failed)
Go Chargers! The funny thing about this is my dad's side of the family went to Topeka High. So, all 4 years it'll be a "split house" during games like this. Gonna have to talk to Izzy too, ask her what went wrong with her team.
