By Dean Backes
MaxPreps.com
Following Friday’s 36-14 win over Highway 24 rival St. Marys, Silver Lake head coach C. J. Hamilton seemed more willing to credit his players and the community for the 300 wins he has amassed in 33 years of coaching than himself.
But as the end of the game neared with the Eagles holding a 22-point lead, Hamilton’s 2008 edition of Silver Lake football waited for the right moment to reward their coach by dousing him with a cooler of water.
Fans packing signs sporting the number ‘300’ waited anxiously as the clock ticked down and the Eagle win over Kevin Kinderknecht’s 4-0 Bears neared. Then the chants started echoing throughout the streets of Silver Lake.
“This is special,” Hamilton said earlier this week. “This is so important for this community. There are still a lot of (past) players around here, and others come back when they can.
“To be able to do this at home and against this caliber of an opponent is special too. They (St. Marys) don’t want to be the one (that win No. 300 comes against). But they were good sports and were really congratulatory.”
St. Marys looked to control the game in the first half by running 38 plays to just 12 for the Eagles.
But when Silver Lake had the ball, quarterback Tyler Roberts took full advantage by connecting with Derek Bledsoe and Dustin Campbell for 65 and 69-yard touchdowns respectively, and a 14-0 halftime advantage.
Then on the second play of the third quarter, Roberts found Quin Bruce for a 64-yard strike and a 21-0 advantage.
“They controlled the ball,” Hamilton said of St. Marys clock controlling game plan. “But we made things happen in the passing game.
“We’re pretty balanced with the run and pass. In previous games we were successful with the running game, so they put their people up front. That opened up our passing game.”
Following Eagle running back Jace Lowe’s 2-yard touchdown run, the Bears cast a shadow of doubt on the community’s post game plans by pulling within 28-14 on Gatlin Jacobsen’s 53-yard run and Brandon Tyler’s 2-yard scoring plunge.
Cameron Renfro’s 39-yard run in the fourth quarter, however, sent Hamilton into the Kansas record books as just the third high school coach to net 300 football wins.
Hamilton, who left Silver Lake after four seasons to join the staff at Washburn University, returned to the Eagle program two years later and now takes a 300-77 career record on the road to Riley County (4-1) Friday.
Boys Soccer: St. Thomas Aquinas Crowned Champions
Facing a tournament full of top-level teams from around the country, the St. Thomas Aquinas boys soccer team was playing at a high level at the Gateway City Soccer Classic in Collinsville (Ill.) last weekend.
The Saints squeezed by Glendale (Mo.) 2-1 to secure the top spot in the Taigen Rose Finley Memorial Bracket.
The road to the finals for Craig Ewing’s squad began with a 2-0 win over O’Fallon (Ill.) and was followed up with a 4-0 shut out of Hudson (Wis.).
The tournament features 29 of the nation's top high school soccer programs from 13 states and crowns champions in three different brackets.
Tournament organizers have also set up a Showcase division, which allows teams that have already met their state activities association’s tournament limitations to play in a non-tournament format.
Christian Brothers (Mo.) was crowned champions in the Victor Arbelaez Memorial Bracket with a 3-0 win over Marquette (Wis.). Reitz Memorial (Ind.) took top honors in the John Strodtman Memorial Bracket after upending St. Vincent/St. Mary (Ohio), 2-0.
Volleyball: Nibarger Goes Over 500 Wins
Shelly Nibarger recently notched her 500th and 501st wins as Circle High School’s volleyball coach, and she looks to keep adding Ws to her resume.
After going 36-5 a season ago, the Thunderbirds’ (15-8) top returning players in 2008 are sophomores.
“We are young, and we take it a week at a time,” Nibarger told the Wichita Eagle. “We want to look better and play better than we did the week before. So far I’m seeing that.”