Jeff Colter ran for a touchdown, then he intercepted a pass and ran for another TD, and then he intercepted another pass.

All within about five minutes.

Colter’s second-quarter heroics fueled Lawrence High to a 29-0 whitewash of Olathe South in Sunflower League football Friday night at Haskell Stadium.

“I wanted to play well and we wanted to show that Lawrence High can play 48 minutes of football,” said Colter, a 5-foot-8, 155-pound junior.

Colter was referring to the fact the Lions had lost their last two outings, both in the last minute. But there would be no blown leads this time, thanks to Colter putting it out of reach before halftime.

Lawrence scored on its first possession — Colter contributed a 25-yard run — but was nursing that 7-0 lead early in the second quarter when Colter busted a 48-yard touchdown run.

Then, after just 68 seconds had ticked of the clock, Colter stole an Allen Ramirez pass and raced 35 yards into the end zone again. Just like fast, the Lions grew to 20-0.

Colter wasn’t through, either. Six Olathe South plays later and Colter stole still another Ramirez pass. The LHS junior didn’t score on that one, but the theft halted a drive in the Lions’ territory.

Later, after an LHS drive fizzled, Ramirez coughed the ball up after being hit trying to pass and the Lions drove 30 yards for another TD. Quarterback Taylor Parker went the last 12 yards, but Colter contributed runs of 5 and 9 yards to start the march.

Lawrence High quarterback Taylor Parker (12) eludes Olathe South defender Brett Wiehl as Parker keeps the ball on a sweep. The Lions beat the Falcons, 29-0, Friday at Haskell Stadium.

With a 26-0 lead against a team that has scored only two TDs all season, the second half was an exercise in prevent defense and chew-it-up offense. The Lions didn’t throw a pass all night.

Olathe South’s Ramirez finished with 15 completions in 34 attempts for 203 yards, but the junior QB was sacked five times, had numerous hurries, tossed the two interceptions to Colter and lost the fumble.

“We brought a lot of people,” Lawrence High coach Dirk Wedd said. “Rushing the passer is so important. Last year they put about 400 yards on us. They scared us.”

Olathe South (1-3) hasn’t really scared anybody for the last three weeks. The Falcons scored two TDs in their opener and have been blanked since.

Still, Wedd and his players had to prove they could bounce back from two heart-breaking road losses to Shawnee Mission North and Olathe East.

“You don’t want to call it a must game because you have a next game,” said lineman and co-captain Nathan Lindsey, “but this was an important game for us.”

¢ 6Sports video: Lawrence wins against Olathe South

Wedd substituted freely on offense in the second half, but he used his defensive starters throughout.

“A shutout is important. The kids worked hard,” Wedd said, adding that legendary former LHS coach Al Woolard had “always said there’s no such thing as a second-string defense.”

Lindsey was able to take a breather on offense in the second half, but he was helping the Lions harass Ramirez until the very end.

“The shutout … we take pride in that,” Lindsey said. “We want other teams to know we don’t like points scored on us.”

Lawrence High's Ian Handshy dashes past Olathe South's Nate Goodman, left. The Lions ripped the Falcons, 29-0, Friday night at Haskell Stadium.

Lawrence’s only second-half points came via a 32-yard field goal by Liam Kirby after the Lions had wiped nearly 10 minutes off the scoreboard clock with a 14-play drive that carried from the LHS 13 to O-South’s 15.

Colter carried just twice in the second half, but led the Lions with 108 yards in nine carries as LHS ground out 293 yards. Olathe South settled for negative eight rushing yards, mainly because of the Ramirez sacks.

Lawrence High, 2-2, has to go back on the road next week to meet Olathe North, a team the Lions haven’t beaten since 1995.

Now that they’ve righted the ship, the Lions will go into that game on a new wave of confidence.

“We just need to be able to finish,” Lindsey said, “and not take any steps backwards.”