After Saturday night’s 40th Annual Kansas Shrine Bowl all-star football game at Yager Stadium in Topeka, East running back Brett Sterbach, out of Shawnee Mission West, found himself battling for his life.
In a published report in Tuesday’s Kansas City Star, Sterbach was attacked by a pair of would-be muggers at a Topeka gas station while he sat in a backseat of his family’s car. Family members were inside the Phillips 66 at the Hudson Crossing, 810 S.E. 15th St., purchasing items, just a short distance from the stadium located on the Washburn University campus.
As it turned out, Sterbach, a 5-foot-7, 155-pound running back, who helped lead the SM West to its first state championship in 27 years, got the best of the thugs.
The 18-year-old Sterbach was talking on his cellphone when two unidentified males approached the car and one individual knocked on the window.
When Sterbach opened the door, they pulled a knife on him and demanded “all of his money.” When he said he didn’t have any, the robbers demanded his phone.
That’s when Sterbach fought back, pushing the knife away from his rib area while the assailant pushed forward at the same time, resulting in Sterbach reportedly getting stabbed in the leg.
Sterbach fought with the assailant, taking back the knife, while the other assailant hit him in the head. Sterbach reportedly stabbed the first attacker in the abdomen, and stabbed the second guy “five times in the collarbone area,” according to Topeka police.
Sterbach suffered a two-inch deep, quarter-inch-long knife wound on the outside part of his right thigh, although it could have been far worse.
Sterbach accumulated 2,228 yards and 22 touchdowns last fall, including 273 yards against Hutchinson in the Class 6A state title game.
    — Mack McClure