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HISTORY MADE: ISU notches first-ever 10-win season by beating Kansas State, 29-21, on senior night

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HISTORY MADE: ISU notches first-ever 10-win season by beating Kansas State, 29-21, on senior night


Iowa State fans rush to the field as Cyclones win 29-21 over Kansas State Wildcats in the NCAA football at Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in Ames, Iowa. © Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

 AMES — Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht took a wait-and-see approach. He said he might “peek” at his phone to see how No. 19 BYU was doing against Houston in an all-important Saturday nightcap after his 18th-ranked Cyclones’ 29-21 win over No. 24 Kansas State on senior night at a frost-framed Jack Trice Stadium.

 But that’s it. His seniors deserved to be the center of attention after helping lead ISU (10-2, 7-2 Big 12) to its first 10-win season in program history — and fourth triumph over the Wildcats (8-4, 5-4) in the past five meetings.

 “This team deserves what we did tonight,” the sophomore playcaller said. “The seniors deserve what we did tonight. People are gonna remember these seniors for a long time, because that 10-win season, it’s never been done, so this night’s for them.”

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 One of those seniors, wide receiver Jaylin Noel, appreciated the sentiment, but couldn’t resist the urge to scoreboard watch. Not when the stakes are this high. Not with what he and the relatively short list of seniors have enjoyed and endured during four (or more) seasons as a Cyclones.

 “Oh, I’ll be watching it,” said Noel, who joined fellow senior Jayden Higgins in surpassing 1,000 receiving yards this season on a nine-yard touchdown pass from Becht in the second quarter. “It means a lot. Obviously it’s not guaranteed yet, but if it does happen and we get to go to the Big 12 championship it’s just going to show all the work this team’s put in throughout the year. Nobody’s given up. Nobody’s folded up their tents — even after the two losses in a row. To be able to bounce back and win three games in a row, and get to that 10-win threshold, it means a lot.”

 It didn’t, as ISU head coach Matt Campbell routinely says, come easy. The Cyclones turned a pair of Kansas State fumbles in the first half into two touchdown drives that spanned 30 or fewer yards. ISU never trailed, but saw 10-point leads shaved to three-point edges twice before sealing the victory with a blocked field goal, a safety, and a final stand when the Wildcats’ Avery Johnson tried in vain to rally his team from deep in its own territory in the closing seconds.

 “This is how you have to win at Iowa State,” said Campbell, whose team could play for a league title for the second time in his nine seasons at the helm. “You’ve gotta out tough people. You’ve gotta be the toughest mentally, and the toughest team that you can possibly be, and you’ve gotta be able to do the little things really well here. There’s never gonna be another way to do it, and if there is, God bless ‘em, whoever comes next, but the reality for us of being a tough, physical football team with a great mindset to go play as a team and for each other, I still believe that’s the way to win here.”

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 Becht completed just 13 of 35 passes for a career-low 137 yards and a pair of touchdown passes to Noel and Higgins. He didn’t turn the ball over and also rushed for 35 yards and a touchdown while convert on four of five fourth down situations.

 “Rocco is a great leader ands for him to really just want to celebrate the seniors, it means the world to me,” said Noel, who has combined with Higgins for 2,081 receiving yards and 15 touchdown catches this season. “All year, he’s been a brother by my side, making sure I’m OK along the way, and vice versa. … I wouldn’t want anybody else as my quarterback.”

 Campbell wouldn’t want anybody other than Jon Heacock to be his defensive coordinator, either. The Cyclones’ defense held the Wildcats nine points below their scoring average and linebacker Jacob Ellis recorded a 22-yard sack of Johnson that turned into a safety because of an intentional grounding call in the end zone. It was the only sack of the game for ISU, which won the turnover battle three-to-zero.

  Cornerback Darien Porter also recorded the fifth blocked kick of his career when Kansas State attempted a 21-yard field goal midway through the third quarter — another “little” play that made a big difference to extend the Cyclones’ historic run this season.

 “Being able to do something that hadn’t been done here as a senior class, that’s something that we set out as our mission before the season started,” Porter said. “So being able to accomplish that, it’s been great.”

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Kansas

RESULTS: NE Kansas high schools to play Friday after Tuesday sub-state wins

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5 hours ago

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March 4, 2026

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RESULTS: NE Kansas high schools to play Friday after Tuesday sub-state wins


TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Below is a look at the results from Tuesday night’s high school basketball sub-state semifinals in Northeast Kansas.

Editor’s Note: This story will be updated with what schools are hosting when that information becomes readily available.

WIBW Scoreboard

BOYS

5A East Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

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  • KC Washington 68, Highland Park 38
  • Shawnee Heights 49, De Soto 37 (will play Leavenworth Friday)

5A West Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

  • Topeka West 55, Hutchinson 32 (will play Bishop Carroll Friday)
  • Emporia 61, Great Bend 41 (will play Maize South Friday)
  • Seaman 73, Valley Center 51 (will play Hays Friday)

3A West Franklin Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

  • Burlington 60, Osage City 35 (will play Baxter Springs Friday)

3A Sabetha Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

  • Hiawatha 73, Oskaloosa 48 (will play Heritage Christian Friday)
  • Silver Lake 58, Sabetha 39 (will play Perry-Lecompton Friday 7:30 p.m.)

GIRLS

6A West Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

  • Washburn Rural 60, Wichita South 32 (will play Derby)
  • Topeka High 69, Maize 45 (will play Liberal)
  • Manhattan 67, Free State 21 (will play Wichita East)

4A East Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

  • Rock Creek 71, Parsons 23 (will play Tonganoxie)
  • Wamego 54, Labette County 33 (will play Bishop Miege)
  • Hayden 2, Athison 0 (will play Baldwin)

2A Eskridge/Mission Valley Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

  • Rossville 71, KC Christian 49 (will play Maur Hill-Mount Academy)
  • Lyndon 61, Jeff. Co. North 31 (will play Valley Heights)
  • Valley Heights 65, Doniphan West 41 (will play Lyndon)

Copyright 2026 WIBW. All rights reserved.



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Doe v. State of Kansas | American Civil Liberties Union

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17 hours ago

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March 3, 2026

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Doe v. State of Kansas | American Civil Liberties Union


In early 2026, the Kansas state legislature passed SB 244, a law which prohibits transgender people from using public restrooms on government property that align with their gender identity and establishes a private right of action that allows anyone who suspects someone is transgender and in violation of the law to sue that person for “damages” totaling $1,000.

The law also invalidates state-issued driver’s licenses with updated gender markers that reflect the carrier’s gender identity. In February 2026, transgender people across the state received letters from the state Department of Revenue’s Division of Vehicles informing them that their driver’s licenses “will no longer be valid,” effective immediately. SB 244 also prohibits transgender Kansans – or those born in Kansas – from updating the gender marker on state-issued birth certificates and driver’s licenses in the future.

The same day SB 244 went into effect, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kansas, and Ballard Spahr LLP filed a lawsuit challenging SB 244 in the District Court of Douglas County on behalf of two transgender men who had their driver’s licenses invalidated under the law. The lawsuit charges that SB 244 violates the Kansas Constitution’s protections for personal autonomy, privacy, equality under the law, due process, and freedom of speech.

“The invalidation of state-issued IDs threatens to out transgender people against their will every time they apply for a job, rent an apartment, or interact with police,” said Harper Seldin, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project. “Taken as a whole, SB 244 is a transparent attempt to deny transgender people autonomy over their own identities and push them out of public life altogether.”

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Kansas City man sentenced for cocaine trafficking, possession of illegal firearm

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March 3, 2026

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Kansas City man sentenced for cocaine trafficking, possession of illegal firearm


KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – A Kansas City man was sentenced in federal court for his role in a drug trafficking conspiracy and possession of an illegal firearm.

According to the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, 22-year-old Antoine R. Gillum was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison without parole.

His sentencing stems from a June 2024 incident in a metro gas station. KCPD investigators contacted Gillum inside and found that he had discarded a 9 mm pistol in an aisle between the merchandise. He also discarded a pill bottle containing multiple illegal substances: cocaine base, oxycodone/acetaminophen and oxycodone.

Officers searched the vehicle Gillum had arrived in and found approximately 32 grams of cocaine base.

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On May 6, 2025, Gillum pleaded guilty to one count each of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Jennings. It’s a part of ‘Operation Take Back America,’ a nationwide Department of Justice initiative to eliminate cartels and transnational criminal organizations.

No further information has been released.

Copyright 2026 KCTV. All rights reserved.



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