Lawrence High football coach Dirk Wedd was worried about his team showing up on the field Friday night with all the distractions that come with homecoming week off the field.

The Lions did everything but show off at Haskell Stadium, humbling Shawnee Mission East, 28-0, and making sure that tonight’s homecoming dance would be a success.

“I’m sure ready to dance,” Lawrence’s Jeff Colter said with a smile stretching from ear to ear.

After the numbers that the Lions’ ground game gained Friday, it’ll be a wonder if any of Lawrence’s nine running backs have the legs left to get down tonight.

Lawrence (4-2) gobbled up 312 yards on 55 carries, averaging nearly six yards a shot.

And that was the difference.

OK, the LHS defense did its part, limiting SME (1-5) to 34 yards rushing and 101 total, most of which came after everything but the final score was decided.

Wedd, as most coaches, picked apart his team’s mistakes and didn’t sound overly pleased with the positive performance that came just a week after the Lions put an end to their seven-game losing streak to perennial state power Olathe North.

“We came out a little flat at the start,” he said. “Sometimes you don’t always bring your ‘A’ game, and I’m sure Shawnee Mission East had something to do with that. They’re a good team defensively and caused them some problems.”

Lawrence High running back Brett Urban (22) follows a block from offensive lineman Brad Harrell against Shawnee Mission East. The Lions defeated the Lancers, 28-0, Friday night during the LHS homecoming game at Haskell Stadium.

The Lancers did knock the football loose for a couple of Lion fumbles.

SM East’s Paul Grindinger picked up one deflected lateral inside his own 30-yard line and sprinted all the way to the LHS 20 before Ian Handshy tackled him from behind with a little more than a minute left in the half.

The very next play, the Lancers left the ball on the ground for the Lions to recover. And with it, SM East squandered the only opportunity it would have in the red zone.

Then the Lions made the rest of the night long, pitching the ball one way, pounding it the other or prodding a defender into thinking the play was coming to his side while another ball carrier popped out on the other side of the field.

“When you got a stable of backs like we do, and with that offense where there’s four options every snap, they got to defend all four,” Wedd said.

¢ 6Sports video: Lions win Homecoming game

SM East had trouble slowing any of the LHS backs.

Colter led the charge with 80 yards on 13 carries, while Jabrill Richardson tallied 64 on 11 touches. John Davis had 10 carries for 50 yards and found the end zone twice. Brett Urban, Will Thomas, and Ian Handshy all gained 20 yards or more on five carries or less.

“We’ve got five or six kids that can carry the football, and we feel that all of them bring something different,” Wedd said.

Colter mixed in his concoction of moves and speed on Lawrence’s first series from scrimmage.

Lawrence High defensive end Jack Bell, left, stops Shawnee Mission East running back Kyle Rensenhouse in the first half. The Lions won, 28-0, Friday at Haskell Stadium.

He squirted 28 yards down field on the first play of the drive, and scored on the seventh, squeezing in on the right sideline from two yards out.

Next up it was Handshy.

A 14-play drive that used more than six minutes of the clock — with no play taking up more than six yards at a time — finally concluded when quarterback Taylor Parker pitched the ball to Handshy on a nine-yard option run.

Senior John Davis did the final dancing, mixing in a one-yard plunge and a seven-yard score that sealed the celebration.

“Homecoming was coach’s biggest fear this week,” Colter said. “But our line blocked great up front and we all came to play.”

Lawrence opens district play Friday at home against Topeka Washburn Rural.