Jason Fender's 93-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth period started the Lions' comeback.
Lawrence High's new football coach Dirk Wedd preaches 48 minutes and the Lions used every nanosecond to win their season opener on Friday night at Haskell Stadium.
The Lions outscored Shawnee Mission North 14-0 in fourth quarter to rally for 17-11 victory in Wedd's head coaching debut. The Indians turned the ball over on downs at their 47-yard line with one second left, enabling LHS to escape.
"Thank goodness we listened to him because it took 48 minutes to win this game," LHS senior quarterback Bryce McMichael said.
Said Wedd following his first career football victory, "We have a mirror in our locker room and I challenged them to play like Lions for 48 minutes and be able to walk past that mirror."
A big run on the first play of the fourth quarter sparked the Lions.
Trailing 11-3 and facing third-and-eight from their seven-yard line, LHS senior fullback Jason Fender broke loose up the middle for a 93-yard touchdown run.
"It was a miracle really," said Fender, who finished with nine carries and a game-high 120 yards. "I couldn't believe it at all. It was a regular up-the-middle play, I made one cut and I was off to the races. I saw one guy follow me and I had to beat him."
Fender's touchdown roused the LHS sideline and the Lion fans, silent before the burst.
"You could tell everybody was fired up after we scored that touchdown," McMichael said.
Fender, also a free safety, set up the go-ahead touchdown with a one-handed interception at the Lions' 35-yard line with 9:19 left.
Seven plays later, McMichael faked to Fender up the middle and broke around the right end for a 24-yard touchdown run. McMichael then threw a pass to Charles Brown for the two-point conversion and final points.
"The line did a great job of blocking," McMichael said of the run. "They're the ones who kept us in the game."
The Lions were fortunate to be in the game at halftime. LHS committed four turnovers, including a fumble on the opening kickoff and a mishandled punt. McMichael was also picked off twice, including once in the end zone.
"I really appreciate the effort of the kids," Wedd said. "They played so hard. We played so poorly in the first half. We gave up four turnovers, but I told them we were going to be OK."
SM North senior quarterback Danny Bartlett baffled LHS with 213 yards on 15-for-27 passing.
LHS, though, was able to sack Bartlett six times for minus-37 yards and pressure him. Defensive tackle Joel Dankenbring had two sacks and defensive end Mark Huston had two sacks. Huston's two sacks came in the waning seconds on back-to-back plays.
"They were in the shotgun and I was going for the quarterback," Huston said. "I caught him on the blind side."
Bartlett, who threw for nearly 1,000 yards last season, impressed Wedd.
"I've watched him for three years," Wedd said. "It's neat to watch him grow. This year he played lights out. He breaks tackles and gets the ball to the right people."
Said SM North coach Sam Brown of Bartlett, "Without him, I don't know what we'd do."
In the third quarter, LHS ran just four plays to SM North's 21. The Lions finished with 264 yards total offense, including 234 rushing yards.
"We're going to get things straightened out offensively," Wedd said. "Defensively, Jerry had them playing so hard. We're playing a lot of them both ways. When you're yelling at the offense, you're yelling at defense."
LHS has now defeated the Indians 24 games in a row since a 1977 playoff loss.
"I think they just played better that last quarter," Brown said of the Lions. "We let down and maybe we ran out of gas. Give Lawrence all the credit."
Next for LHS is a road game at Manhattan next Friday. Manhattan rocked the Lions, 30-0, last season in Lawrence.
-- Steve Rottinghaus' phone message number is 832-7152. His e-mail address is srottinghaus@ljworld.com
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