photo by: Mike Gunnoe

Free State senior receiver Marcus Preston pulls in a reception for a first down Friday against Shawnee Mission North on Sept. 20, 2019.

Two former Free State football players are competing in college football playoff games, starting on Dec. 18.

Marcus Preston and the South Dakota State Jackrabbits will travel to North Dakota State for the semifinal round of the Division I Football Championship Subdivision playoff on Saturday, Dec. 21. Justin Lutz and the Iowa Western Reivers will face Hutchinson in the NJCAA Division I National Championship on December 18.

SDSU entered the FCS playoffs as the third seed with a 10-2 record. After a first-round bye, the Jackrabbits defeated Montana 35-18 before beating Incarnate Word 55-14 in the quarterfinals. Earlier in the season, NDSU beat SDSU 13-9 in the Fargodome. Last year, the Jackrabbits went 15-0 and defeated Montana in the FCS Championship 23-3 to win the program’s second-straight FCS championship.

Preston — a senior wide receiver — has one touchdown on the season, which came against Youngstown State.

A win over NDSU would put the Jackrabbits in the FCS Championship against the winner between Montana State and South Dakota. Montana State entered the playoffs undefeated with the No. 1 seed, and South Dakota held the fourth seed with a 9-2 record. The Jackrabbits beat the Coyotes 20-17 in an overtime game in October.

Lutz is a freshman long snapper and specialist for an Iowa Western team that entered the NJCAA playoffs as the top seed. The Reivers are 11-1 entering the championship and beat Northwest Mississippi 42-21 in the first round of the playoffs.

Iowa Western’s one loss of the year came against Hutchinson in the second week of the season. The Blue Dragons won 38-37 in Iowa. Since then, the Reivers are on a 10-game win streak and have won eight of those games by two or more scores.

Lutz had a fumble recovery in the prior playoff game and a tackle in the final regular-season game.

Tuesday basketball roundup

Free State’s boys and girls basketball teams played on the road on Tuesday, with the boys team taking a conference win over Shawnee Mission North and the girls team losing to Junction City. Lawrence boys basketball lost its road game 70-50 against Olathe South.

The boys team won 54-46 against the Bison, which moved the team to 2-1 on the season. Free State led 21-17 after the first half and outscored the Bison 33-29. The team will play one last game before winter break on Friday against Shawnee Mission West on the road at 7 p.m. After that, the Firebirds won’t return to the court until Jan. 10, when the Firebirds host Gardner Edgerton.

The Free State girls basketball team fell behind early against Junction City and trailed 31-16 at halftime. The third quarter was one of the team’s best of the season, as the Firebirds brought the deficit down to 6 points by outscoring Junction City 16-7. Free State continued the fight into the fourth quarter, outscoring Junction City 15-11, but the comeback was not enough. The Firebirds lost 49-47.

The Firebirds will also travel to Shawnee Mission West on Friday, Dec. 20, with tip-off starting at 5:30 p.m.

Lawrence center shines in season debut

The Lawrence Lions girls basketball team was winning its Tuesday game against Blue Valley West at halftime, but the team still wasn’t performing to its best abilities.

Sophomore center Cami Nauholz was one of the few Lions who didn’t have a slow start. With an advantage in the paint from her height, Nauholz stole the show. When the Lions needed a bucket, the ball found her and ended up in the net.

Nauholz finished with 8 points in the first half, but she turned her own game up another level in the second half. She finished with 19 points and was the team’s leading rebounder. Nauholz blocked two shots in back-to-back plays in the third quarter, as the Lions improve defensively.

All of this came in Nauholz’s first action of the season. From battling some lingering minor injuries, Nauholz stepped in and became the cog in the Lions’ offensive and defensive machine.

“She is an elite player,” Lawrence coach Jeff Dickson said, “and she changes our team from average to above-average. She really made a huge difference tonight.”