Kansas

Kansas high school forfeits its entire 2024 varsity football season

Published

2 years ago

September 2, 2024

Kansas high school forfeits its entire 2024 varsity football season

Osawatomie High, a Kansas school located just south of metropolitan Kansas City, Missouri, has made the difficult decision to forfeit its entire 2024 varsity football season, the school announced via a message on Facebook late last week.

The school determined it did not have enough players to field both a varsity and junior varsity team and since it lacked upperclassmen, it decided it was best to forfeit the varsity season. After ongoing consultation with district officials, the school decided it would play only a JV/C schedule. The Trojans were scheduled to play their first varsity game this coming Friday a Prairie View.

“Our players’ and students’ safety is our priority over everything else. Due to our numbers, we had to forfeit a Varsity or JV schedule. We could not do both,” wrote Osawatomie Superintendent Greg Clark in the post.

Clark said the school will look at alternative ways to continue long-standing traditions, such as homecoming, without putting young players at risk by forcing them to play against athletes who are older, bigger and stronger.

“We received multiple emails and phone calls from parents sharing the same concern, which helped lead us to this decision,” added Clark. “We will take this opportunity to build these young players’ skills and focus on strength and physical safety.”

According to Clark, the Trojans currently have five JV games scheduled.

“We know that this is not a popular decision,” he concluded. “Please know that this decision was not made lightly and that hours of discussion went into it. If we had seen a greater turnout in upperclassmen, we likely would not be in this situation. However, we respect our students, and their decisions are their own.”

Osawatomie went 0-9 in each of the last two seasons and has not won a varsity football game since a 30-14 win over Baldwin on Oct. 22, 2021, a span of 19 straight games. The Trojans went 7-3 in 2015, but have gone just 8-65 since with three winless seasons.

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Kansas

Former Kansas high school wrestling coach charged with producing child pornography

Published

1 hour ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

Former Kansas high school wrestling coach charged with producing child pornography

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – A former Kansas wrestling coach was charged with creating child sexual abuse materials by secretly recording minors showering during an athletic competition.

According to court documents, 37-year-old Ryan Brungardt of Salina is charged with two counts of production of child pornography and one count of attempted production of child pornography.

Brungardt is a former employee at Lakewood Middle School and former wrestling coach for Salina Central High School.

Brungardt is accused of using a cellphone to record three minors while they showered in a locker room during the Tournament of Champions, a wrestling tournament was held at Newton High in January 2024.

Brungardt made his initial court appearance for the criminal complaint on Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Brooks G. Severson.

A detention hearing is scheduled for Monday

Investigators are in the process of reviewing additional seized cellphone videos in this case that are suspected to have been recorded at wrestling meets in Newton, Hays, Garden City and Salina during the 2023-2024 wrestling season.

Anyone who believes they witnessed crimes or any suspicious activity at these events is asked to contact the Kansas Bureau of Investigation at (785) 600-8790 or report at www.kbi.ks.gov/sar.

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