It’s hard to believe, but not having two-a-days practices this season might have helped Free State High’s football team.

Lawrence schools started Aug. 14, but the Kansas State High School Activities Assn. mandated that fall practices couldn’t start until the 19th. That cut out the traditional two-a-days sessions teams usually hold, so FSHS compensated by holding five-hour practices after school, with plenty of water breaks for its players.

With temperatures during Friday’s game in the low 90s, that heat exposure paid off as the Firebirds outlasted Shawnee Mission Northwest, 31-28, at Haskell Stadium.

“There’s nothing serious,” said FSHS coach Bob Lisher of his team’s injuries. “Just the usual bumps and bruises, and some dehydration.

“Our conditioning played a big part in that this year. As hot as it was, our kids conditioned hard in practice, and we were very careful with making sure they stayed hydrated.”

That conditioning was most evident on the offensive line.

Free State’s biggest linemen  tackles Nate Billings and Mark Case are both 6-foot-2, 225 pounds  aren’t huge by Sunflower League standings, and the rest of the line  guards Jeremy Bustamante and Tyler Morgan and center Misha Hernandez  hover around 200 pounds. Yet they dominated the line of scrimmage Friday, allowing quarterback Matt Berner ample time to throw, and opening up holes for Firebird running backs.

Lisher expected his line to be good, he just wasn’t sure how soon that would be.

“The experience factor was a little bit of concern, but getting off the ball wasn’t,” he said. “I don’t think size is that much of a factor in high school, as long as you get a good push.”

For Free State to win Thursday’s game against Olathe South, the offensive line will have to be big again. The Falcons beat Shawnee Mission East, 19-15, Friday and continually pressured East quarterback Brooks Faddis.

Lisher isn’t worried.

“I’ve been telling our kids I think they can be pretty special. I can’t say enough about them,” he said.

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Big league effort: Junior Dain Dillingham is one of those athletes that makes amazing plays, even if those plays don’t always count.

Firebird punter Cole Douglas nailed a third quarter punt that bounced inside the Cougar 10-yard line, and was headed for the end zone. Dillingham trailed the kick into the end zone, jumped, knocked the ball back onto the playing field, where Free State downed it at about the 4-yard line.

Perfect  except for one thing.

“It was a great play,” Lisher said. “Dain showed tremendous heart. He knocked the ball back in bounds, but Northwest had too many men on the field, so we got the ball back.”

FSHS settled for Will Malcom’s 26-yard field goal.

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Big whoops: The game might not have been close if Northwest didn’t take advantage of Free State’s defensive errors. Three big plays  a 53-yard touchdown reception, a long kickoff return and a 76-yard run  led to 21 Cougar points.

“Defensively I was very pleased with the way we played with the exception of three big plays,” Lisher said. “We’ve got to get rid of those three big plays and the game’s probably not close.”

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And the hits just keep on coming: Free State’s short week ends with Thursday’s game against Olathe South, which means Lisher will adjust his defense accordingly to the Falcons’ air attack.

“They like to throw the ball all over the field so we need to tighten up our secondary a little bit,” he said. “Our guys for the most part did a good job besides those two long touchdown passes. We get those things ironed out, I think will have a chance.”