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Watch parties start Monday for World Cup matches

Watch parties are starting Monday, Nov. 21, at the KC Power and Light District in Kansas City, Missouri, for World Cup matches.

The watch parties start at 1 p.m. Monday with the U.S. vs. Wales kickoff. Thirty-two national teams will play 64 matches from Nov. 20 to Dec. 18 in Qatar.

The watch parties will be at KC Live! In the Power and Light District.

Broadcasts for U.S. and Mexico matches will be shown live on the theater-sized LED screen, which is 40 feet wide and 18 feet high. Match commentary will play through a covered outdoor venue in English for USMNT matches and in Spanish for El Tri matches.

On Tuesday morning, Mexico will play Poland at 10 a.m., and will be part of the watch party.

Scheduled Nov. 25 is USA vs. England at 1 p.m.; Nov. 26, Mexico vs. Argentine at 1 p.m.; Nov. 29, USA vs. Iran at 1 p.m.; and Nov. 30, Mexico vs. Saudi Arabia at 1 p.m.

Tickets for admission to the watch parties are free for all ages and available to reserve in advance via SeatGeek. It will be first-come, first-serve.

No Other Pub, 1370 Grand Blvd., will be open for all World Cup matches kicking off at 9 a.m. or later (excluding Thanksgiving Day) for indoor watch parties using the venue’s 10 foot by 15 foot video wall and surrounding HDTV screens.

Piper cheerleaders place third in state competition

The Piper cheerleaders reacted with joy as they heard their third place award announced in the 5A KSHSAA GameDay event. (Photo copyright 2022 by Brian Turrel)

by Brian Turrel

The Piper and Bonner Springs cheerleading squads participated in KSHSAA GameDay, the state championship for competitive cheerleading, which was held in the Stormont-Vail Event Center in Topeka on Saturday evening. The Pirates’ cheerleaders brought home the third place trophy in Class 5A.

Teams competed in three preliminary rounds — a band chant, a crowd-leading cheer, and their school’s fight song. The top six teams after the preliminaries then performed a long-form final routine that also included a cheer for a specific football scenario assigned by the judges.

Piper qualified for the finals, but Bonner Springs was eliminated after the preliminaries.

In the final round, Piper narrowly edged out St. James Academy by less than half a point for third place. The squad from St. Thomas Aquinas High School won the 5A competition, followed by Blue Valley Southwest.

After the awards ceremony, Piper head coach Morgan Kolenda praised the skill and effort of her team.

“They’ve put in a lot of hard work this entire season,” said the coach.

“We’ve got a long way to go. We’ve got a lot of basketball left. They’re an amazing group of girls — talented beyond measure — and I’m just excited to see where we can go next.”

The Piper Pearls, Piper’s dance team, performed in the dance competition held Friday, winning fifth place in Class 5A.

Piper cheerleaders performed in the KSHSAA GameDay competition. (Photo copyright 2022 by Brian Turrel)

Bonner Springs cheerleaders performed in the KSHSAA GameDay competition. (Photo copyright 2022 by Brian Turrel)

The Piper cheerleaders had their own cheering section for a change. (Photo copyright 2022 by Brian Turrel)

No. 13 KCKCC basketball stays unblemished

T’Yonne Duncan of KCKCC, one of the KJCCC Women’s Basketball Co-Players of the Week, competed recently in victories for the Blue Devils. (Photo from KCKCC sports)

by Tyler Scott, KCKCC sports information coordinator

The No. 13 ranked KCKCC women’s basketball team has had one of its best starts to the season in a long time.

After defeating University of Saint Mary junior varsity on Tuesday night and Tabor University junior varsity Wednesday night, the Blue Devils sit at 7-0 to start the year. On Tuesday evening the Blue Devils defeated the Spires 93-44 before defeating the BlueJays 61-42 one night later.

The Blue Devils have had key players who have stepped up this season, but this week it was reigning KJCCC Women’s Basketball Co-Player of the Week Jada Johnson and T’Yonne Duncan.

On Tuesday, the Spires got off to an 18-10 run to begin the first quarter. Rebecca Christodoulo scored five straight points in the period to put the team in double-digits.

The Blue Devils went up by 20 points with 4:02 left in the second quarter and eventually led 50-21 at the break. The Blue Devils stayed hot in the second half, nearly missing the century mark with the 93-44 win.

Christodoulo led the team with 17 points, Jada Johnson pitched in 16 and T’Yonne Duncan added 13. Duncan also grabbed a team-high six rebounds and the Blue Devils shot 47.1 percent from the field.

On Wednesday, the Blue Devils faced off against the BlueJays and had no trouble running past them. Both Johnson and Duncan scored in double-figures with 23 points and 17, while Victoria Jones had six points.

KCKCC will look to continue its long run with its toughest match yet this season when it takes on No. 3 ranked CCBC-Essex on Saturday at 1 p.m. inside the KCKCC Fieldhouse.

Story from KCKCC