Almost too many storylines lead into Lawrence High’s Class 6A football playoff opener tonight.

Where to begin?

When Lawrence High plays host to Blue Valley North at 7:30 p.m. at Haskell Stadium, it’ll be the first time the two schools have met.

The Mustangs backed into the playoffs because of a vague tiebreaker rule in the Kansas State High School Activities Assn. handbook, but that can be detailed later.

And then there’s the much-talked-about condition of the field at Haskell. That issue was resolved when sod ” 3,200 square feet of it ” was planted on Wednesday and Thursday, giving the field a clean, plush surface.

No matter which storyline is your favorite, there’s little excuse to miss the game, which features the third-place team in the Sunflower League against the East Kansas League champion.

“Number one, I think we’ll get a big crowd because it’s a playoff game,” LHS coach Dirk Wedd said. “Number two, we’ve never played Blue Valley North, and, number three, people will come out just to see the field because they’ve heard so much about it.”

There’s one more draw.

The large crowd Wedd expects could see the first playoff victory by a LHS football team since 1995, also the last year the Lions won a state championship. In three playoff trips since, the closest they’ve come is a 14-6 loss to Shawnee Mission North in 2000. For a school with more state titles than any other Kansas program, that’s an amazing drought.

“It’s not hard to believe because I was there through it,” Wedd said. “It’s been a struggle to get this program back to where people expect it to be. We’re not they’re yet, but we’re taking steps.”

The first comes against the Mustangs (6-3), who won the EKL title. They’ve been without their starting quarterback since district play began three weeks ago, but have replaced him with a more athletic, maybe even more dangerous, player in junior Clayton Wood.

He has passed for 193 yards in three games and has two targets with more than 300 yards receiving this season. But he makes plays with his legs.

“He’s an exceptional athlete,” Wedd said. “He’s very quick, he’s got good instincts and he runs the option as well as anybody we’ve seen.”

The Mustangs average 245 total yards a game, which is down slightly from before district started. But as Wood becomes more comfortable running the offense, BV North becomes that much better.

“We’re gonna stay with our normal gameplan,” Mustangs coach Troy Morris said. “We’re not going to get away from what we’ve done all year.”

Of course, neither will the Lions.

“We’re going to do what we do best,” Wedd said. “We’ve done it all year.”

What they do best is run the football. Lawrence (7-2) averages 344 yards a game, which is up to 413 ypg the last four outings. Not coincidently, the Lions are 4-0 in that span.

Leading the way is the flash and bash pair of seniors Chris Fulton and Brandon McAnderson, both of whom have rushed for more than 1,100 yards this year. BV North, with a defensive line averages about 240 pounds, will be hard pressed to stop that potent pair.

“I’m sure that they know what we’ve done,” Wedd said. “That just means our line’s going to have to get a good push.”

Notes

• BV North, which finished tied with Shawnee Mission East and Shawnee Mission South at 2-1 in district play, advanced to the playoffs as the second team. East was declared the winner by virtue of the 26-point tiebreaker system, while South was second. But, after determining the district winner, the next tie-breaker is head-to-head games, which was vague in the KSHSAA handbook. An appeal by SMS was denied Wednesday by the KSHSAA, keeping BV North in the playoffs.
• Passes won’t be accepted tonight. Tickets cost $4 for adults and $3 for students.