Experience appears to be paying for Perry-Lecompton.
The Kaws, returning 10 offensive starters and 11 defensive starters, opened the season on Saturday with a 33-6 victory over Leavenworth Immaculata, the defending Kaw Valley League champion.
"I thought they had a pretty good football team," P-L coach Charlie Golder said of the Raiders, who finished 6-0 to win the KVL last year. "I'd say we got thing under control early. Immaculata never gives up and did a good job coming back in the second half. We played well for the first game. We didn't have a lot of mental errors."
Golder hopes momentum carries over into the second week. The Kaws (1-0) will play host tonight to Basehor-Linwood (1-0). Kickoff for the Journal-World area game of the week is 7 p.m.
Against Immaculata, the Kaws bolted to a 20-0 lead in the first quarter and built a 26-0 advantage heading into halftime. The Kaws limited the Raiders to 88 yards total offense, including just 25 on the ground.
"I was very pleased with our defensive performance," Golder said. "We were quick to the ball. It was a total team defense."
The Kaws' returning starters on defense are: Joe Corcoran, Mike Cloud, Josh Pritchard, Jerrad Lawrence, Jared Karten, Simon Gentry, Mitch Turpin, Gary Freeman, Adam Hayes, Dusty Ingenthron and Sam Bonham.
Golder gushed about the defense's speed.
"I knew we'd be quick," he said. "I felt like we had a good defense last year and with the starters back, they know what our system is. Our secondary is strong, we have a great linebacking core and a good front five."
Basehor-Linwood, 2-7 last season, opened last Thursday with a 21-14 victory over Lansing.
-- Steve Rottinghaus' phone message number is 832-7152. His e-mail address is srottinghaus@ljworld.com
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