It belies common sense. Dain Dillingham must have some sort of foreign substance on his hands, but he doesn’t.

How else to explain Dillingham’s game on Friday night?

As the Free State High football team trounced Olathe East 25-7 at Memorial Stadium, Dillingham put on a Division One-quality display. The junior wide receiver snagged  stole is a better word  five passes for 187 yards and three touchdowns, all of the jaw-dropping variety.

So, what’s on those things?

“Nothing on there; no glue on the hands, just good concentration,” Dillingham said, smiling.

“I’m judging the defensive back, seeing where he goes. As the ball goes up, I’m just trying to catch it.”

The win improved FSHS to 4-0 for the first time in school history. But after one half, it wasn’t a sure thing.

Down 7-6, Free State began adjusting to the Olathe defense, which had been bringing eight or nine defenders at quarterback Matt Berner. He’d been able to elude the rush on occasion, but with so many defenders, the offense was largely ineffective after the first drive.

That changed.

With just three defensive backs, FSHS coach Bob Lisher shifted Dillingham and senior wideout Bijai Jones to opposite sides of the field, forcing the Hawks to put one of them in single coverage. That way, Berner just had to see which matchup was one-on-one.

“That was my fault,” Lisher said. “We should’ve taken advantage of that sooner. We’ve got some athletes at our receiver spots, we’ve just got to get it in their hands.”

After a couple of Cole Douglas runs brought Free State to its own 46, Berner spotted Dillingham on the left side in single coverage and floated a pass to the 35. Dillingham cut in front of the defender, then outran the safety into the end zone.

That opened the floodgates.

The Free State defense, which had been struggling early, straightened up as Pearson Skepnek intercepted Hawks quarterback Derek Diehl on Olathe East’s next possession. Berner found Dillingham again for 39 yards, which probably would’ve been his second touchdown if he hadn’t slipped.

He didn’t on Free State’s next possession. Berner hit Jones for a short gain, then, with a defender in his face, nailed Dillingham in the flat. He dodged the defensive back, stayed in bounds and was gone for a 64-yard score.

Ben Gray intercepted Diehl on the Hawks’ next possession, but FSHS couldn’t capitalize. East then turned the ball over on downs at its own 31. Berner hit Cole Cruse for 27 yards, and after a penalty, hit Dillingham in the back of the end zone. He got bumped, but made a left-handed grab and got both feet in bounds.

“I’ve never really had a game like this,” he said. “But it just goes back to things we do in practice, with coverages and reads.”

The practice paid off as Berner completed 10 of 16 passes for 268 yards, including four touchdowns. Cruse caught the other score, a 2-yarder on the Firebirds’ first drive. They struggled running the ball at times, managing 88 yards on 28 attempts, but with 356 yards of total offense, that’s nitpicking.

Especially with a defense that held Olathe to 65 yards rushing and 155 yards passing.

“We played very well,” Lisher said. “Against the run and the pass. We gave up a couple of big plays, but I thought we tightened it up pretty well.”

And at 4-0, atop the Sunflower League standings with Olathe North, the Firebirds are arguably the kings of Lawrence, at least for one week  though Lisher won’t admit it.

“I wouldn’t say that,” he said. “We got to take it one game at a time.”