Free State's Jake Lawrence rushed for 218 yards and caught three passes for 84 yards as the Firebirds simply outscored Olathe South.
The city of Lawrence isn't named after Jake Lawrence, but after Friday night's high school football it might as well be.
Lawrence, Free State's senior running back, had 302 yards of total offense and five -- that's right, five -- touchdowns in the Firebirds' wild 56-45 Sunflower League victory over Olathe South at Haskell Stadium.
"As long as I've been a head coach, I don't believe anybody has come close to that performance," FSHS coach Bob Lisher said. "As far back as I can remember, I don't think we've ever had anybody with that many yards rushing and receiving."
Lawrence, who had a deep gash above his right eye treated after the game, had 17 carries for 218 yards and TD runs of 2, 4, 75 and 76 yards. He also had three catches for 84 yards, including a 77-yard touchdown strike from senior quarterback Nate Vail.
"That's the craziest game I've ever been a part of," said Lawrence, who accounted for 52.3 percent of the Firebirds' 579 yards of total offense.
But perhaps the craziest play came after Olathe South (1-1 overall, 1-1 league) decided to quick-kick on third-and-18 from its own 27-yard line while clinging to a 45-42 lead.
On the ensuing play from the Free State 25, Lawrence took a hand-off to his right, raced down the sideline and reached the ball over the goal line as Olathe South's Jason Santifer tried to drag him down. The Firebirds didn't relinquish their lead after that.
"It was just a play to try to get us a few yards," Lawrence said, "but it worked out better than that."
Free State had quick-strike scoring drives of 80 yards in two plays, 77 yards in one play, 80 yards in one play and 75 yards in one play.
Free State senior tight end T.K. Peterson accounted for one of those long scores, grabbing a Vail pass and scampering 80 yards for a touchdown that cut the deficit to three points with 10:24 remaining.
"Nate and I have been working on our rhythm quite a bit lately," Peterson said. "Tonight he just had a real good game. He was our hero tonight. He played real hard. I know he's hurting pretty bad right now, but he pulled it out at the end. He did a real good job throwing the ball."
Peterson, who also had a touchdown reception of 33 yards early and a crucial fumble recovery late, even had a hand in one of Lawrence's long-range TDs.
After Vail dumped off a pass to Lawrence, the Free State running back made a move to the outside while Peterson and senior wide receiver Jeff Dougherty made crushing blocks downfield to spring him.
"Jake likes to head down the sideline quite a bit," Peterson said. "I thought I saw some pursuit coming in from the backside. I decided I'd turn around and hit somebody. I just hit the first white jersey I saw. It ended up being a pretty good block, I guess."
The score brought the Firebirds back to within 42-35 with 2:22 to play in the third quarter, erasing one of two 14-point deficits Free State faced.
Neither defense had much luck in stopping the other offense, as the two teams combined for a Free State-record 101 points. The previous high-water mark was 75 points in a 55-20 loss to Shawnee Mission West in 1997.
"I think 45 points is a lot of offense. We didn't have much defense tonight," Olathe South coach Mark Littrell said. "We knew how good they were on offense. They're explosive and they got some great players. We've got some great players too.
"We've just got to play better defense. That's the bottom line."
Vail, who was shaken up late on a facemask penalty by O-South, completed eight of 13 passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns. The senior QB also had 11 carries for 73 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
"We have a lot of weapons -- Jake running hard, Wheatley running hard and we have receivers that catch the ball in tight situations," Vail said. "Then, hopefully if I make the right read, I can help out some on offense too."
While Lisher was pleased the Firebirds' offense tallied 56 points, he also was disappointed the defense allowed 45.
"Little of both," Lisher said. "Our kids could have laid down, but they didn't. They could have said, 'We can't stop them,' this and that and so forth, but they didn't. They stepped up.
"Our offense came back and responded and the defense finally got some things straightened out and held them when they had to."
Free State will travel to Shawnee Heights on Friday.
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