Overland Park ? It’s a Free State High football team still searching for comfort against the biggest and baddest football players in the Sunflower League.

The inexperience led to mistakes Thursday. The mistakes led to a 35-13 FSHS loss at the hands of Shawnee Mission North.

The Firebirds showed flashes that better times aren’t far off. But costly turnovers and ill-timed penalties handcuffed FSHS, which fell to 0-1 Thursday at SM North District Stadium.

The Firebirds turned the ball over four times, had their three biggest rushing gains called back because of penalties and couldn’t do enough damage on either side of the ball to keep with the Indians, one of the state’s top teams.

“I didn’t like the mistakes we made,” FSHS coach Bob Lisher said. “It left a whole lot of ifs.”

That it did. If the Firebirds didn’t fumble at their own six yard line, SM North might not have gone up 14-0 in the second quarter. If sophomore Brian Murphy’s 47-yard run just short of the end zone wasn’t called back because of a holding penalty, Free State might have been in the game at halftime instead of down 21-0.

The list goes on, but that’s what inexperience brings. A lot of what-ifs.

For what it’s worth, Free State did a decent job containing SM North quarterback Mack Brown, a highly touted pocket passer. He finished 14-of-23 for 252 yards but was sacked twice and picked off twice — once each by Nick Ayre and Ryan Murphy.

Ryan Murphy, along with his twin brother, Brian, proved that their flashes of greatness as sophomores could become spotlights before long. Brian had eight carries for 40 yards, but had a 47-yard gain and a 26-yard gain called back because of penalties.

Free State High running back Brett Lisher (14) is tackled by Shawnee Mission North defenders Chad Cross and Zane Jaafar (77) during the second half. The Firebirds lost to the Indians, 35-13, in their season opener Thursday at SM North.

Ryan, meanwhile, put Free State on the board in the third quarter by returning a kickoff 97 yards from the corner of the field to the end zone on the other side. Later in the quarter, he took a lateral from quarterback Nick Witmer, turned and threw under pressure upfield to Ayre, who caught it in stride and went untouched for the 60-yard score.

It put Free State back in the game — albeit briefly — at 28-13.

As young as the Murphy brothers are — and like the rest of the team, they weren’t perfect Thursday — they proved to the public their explosive speed and uncoachable knack to make plays right away.

“They have some ability,” Lisher said. “We knew that coming in. They did a good job.”

SM North (1-0) added a fourth-quarter score when Brown dished a swing pass to Chad Cross, who used great blocking to score a 47-yard touchdown with 9:55 to play. It was Brown’s fourth touchdown pass of the night.

6News video: Firebirds falter in opener

It was enough to send Free State home hungry to correct the mistakes. Time will tell if the Firebirds right the correctable wrongs, but time could also be the answer to getting acquainted with varsity football in one of the state’s top leagues.

“I would expect them to clean it up,” Lisher said, “but they need to now. We don’t have a breather.”