A week after ending a five-year losing streak to Olathe schools, the Lawrence High football team will try to end its five-year skid at the Olathe District Activities Center when it plays Olathe South at 7 tonight.

The Lions, 2-1, hammered Olathe East, 26-7, Friday at Haskell Stadium, but face a skilled and motivated 1-2 Falcon squad that’s won the last three games in the series by a combined score of 136-36.

“They’re going to fight tooth and nail and do everything they can to get back to .500,” LHS coach Dirk Wedd said.

The Lions have struggled against teams with speedy skill players this season, and the Falcons will be no different. They feature a one-back set with four wide receivers  though, if coach Mark Littrell is to be believed, that wide-open offense gets too much hype.

“We’ve got this stigma where we’re a run-and-gun-Steve-Spurrier-throw-all-the-time team,” Littrell said. “We’d like to run the ball. The past few years, we’ve actually run the ball more than we’ve passed.”

The stats back him up.

The Falcons averaged 70 rushing yards more per game than passing the last two seasons, racking up about 230 rushing yards per game each season. That total’s down about 100 yards a game about this year, and the Hawks are neck-and-neck with pass-happy Shawnee Mission South, racking up 241 yards a game.

Part of that is because the Falcons’ offensive line is young and inexperienced and also because they’ve fallen behind early in games and have been forced to pass. Quarterback Matt Schneider has thrown almost twice as many passes as any other quarterback in the Sunflower League, which worries Wedd.

“You watch him, and he’ll throw seven of eight, eight of nine passes on target,” Wedd said. “You’ve got to keep him from getting comfortable and getting his reads because if they’re open, he’ll get the ball to them.”

That puts more pressure on the Lions’ secondary, which after a few weeks of dealing with the flu and assorted injuries, is finally healthy. Cornerbacks Taylor Parker and Brett Urban are 100 percent, while safeties Brandon Womack and Drew Cummings will be counted on to keep South’s several wideouts in check.

The Lions’ offensive and defensive lines, which were so effective against Olathe East last Friday, were dealt a blow when senior Bobby Brubaker strained his the medial collateral ligament in his left knee at practice on Wednesday. Senior Tywnnin Brown will start for Brubaker on offense, and will fill in on defense.

“It hurts us,” Wedd said. “He’s the strongest kid in our program and really made strides on the offensive and defensive lines.”