Northeast Kansas Playoff Roundup: 3A

<p>Three teams from the Northeast Kansas area are headed to 3A state. One of the biggest shocks, and best stories, in the state is the run St. Marys made to qualify.</p> <p>Here are some of the players who turned in big performances at sub-state:</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="885617" first="Caden" last="Hurla"], senior, St. Marys:</strong></p> <p>St. Marys arrived at the Royal Valley Sub-state as the sixth seed with a humble 10-9 record. But they had been tested by bigger schools and were ready. They knocked off third seed Riley County. Then they upset 20-1 Rock Creek, the second seed.. The 5-foot-9 senior Hurla led the way with 20 points. In the championship, Hurla added 6 points against top-seeded Royal Valley.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="891912" first="Nahcs" last="Wahwassuck"], sophomore, Royal Valley:</strong></p> <p>The 6-foot-4 sophomore was huge in the first two games, before Royal Valley fell one point shy of the state tournament. Wahwassuck rolled for 24 points against Silver Lake, then 23 versus Perry Lecompton. Coming up with just 10, six below his season average, surely hurt against St. Marys.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="889475" first="Dawson" last="Zenger"], junior, Rock Creek:</strong></p> <p>The biggest of the big guns at the Royal Valley Sub-state didn’t disappoint. The 6-foot Zenger came in with a 25.5 scoring average, and proceeded to trump that in two outings. He went for 30 in a win over Santa Fe Trail. Then locked in a battle with St. Marys that ended in a 68-57 loss, Zenger had 33.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="889505" first="Parker" last="Stone"], junior, Perry-Lecompton:</strong></p> <p>The Kaws picked up a win over Jefferson West before falling to Royal Valley. Stone tallied 13 and 15 in the two contests.           </p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="885512" first="Blake" last="Farmer"], senior, Perry-Lecompton:</strong></p> <p>The 6-foot-7 senior had been on a roll with six straight games of 14 or more. He tallied 12 in each of the playoff contests, coming up short against Royal Valley, 63-49.</p> <p><strong>Kurtis Beck, sophomore, Nemaha Central:</strong></p> <p>The Thunder beat Sabetha and Maur Hill to reach the Saturday finale of the Hiawatha Sub-state. The 6-foot-4 sophomore Kurtis Beck came up huge in the championship against Marysville, tossing in 18 points. He had 9 against Maur Hill.</p>