Olathe — Dirk Wedd knows a 5-6 football season at tradition-rich Lawrence High is unacceptable.
"I played there, and I've been there 17 or 18 years," Wedd said during Tuesday's Sunflower League Kickoff Luncheon. "I understand the expectations."
Now in his seventh season as the Lions' head coach, Wedd has a raft of starters back from a team that lost its first three games in 2004, but took eventual Class 6A runner-up Olathe South into overtime before bowing, 20-14, in the state playoffs.
After dropping its first three, Lawrence High won five of its last eight, yet Wedd isn't doing cartwheels.
"We have 17 starters back from an OK team, which doesn't mean anything," Wedd told the gathering at the inaugural luncheon at the Olathe Holiday Inn. "We have a lot of things to prove."
Coincidentally, Free State High also started slowly last season, even slower than Lawrence High. The Firebirds dropped their first five, but won three of their last five outings.
And, like the Lions, Free State bowed in overtime in the playoffs, falling, 26-20, to Shawnee Mission West, a team that finished with a 9-3 record.
"We started a lot of sophomores," Free State coach Bob Lisher said, "but once those guys found out what it was all about, we were pretty good. We're hopeful that will carry over."
Juniors now
Those sophomores are now juniors, and they'll form the nucleus of a roster that contains only eight seniors.
Two of Lisher's most notable juniors are speedy twins Brian and Ryan Murphy. Ryan will play quarterback, and Brian, who led the Firebirds in rushing with 738 yards last season, will be the tailback.
Lisher hopes to take advantage of the Murphys' speed and arm by utilizing a spread offense - an attack, Lisher said, similar to the formations coach Urban Meyer, now at Florida, used at Utah last season.
Ryan Murphy's primary target likely will be Nick Ayre, last year's leading receiver with 14 catches, and Lisher's son Brett, who had eight catches in '04. Ayre, Brett Lisher and the Murphys also are standouts on defense.
Free State football coach Bob Lisher, left, and Lawrence High football coach Dirk Wedd wait their turns to speak at the Sunflower League Kickoff Luncheon. Lisher and Wedd appeared at the event Tuesday in Olathe.
"We have our entire secondary back," Lisher said. "That's good and bad because we gave up a lot of passing yards."
Meanwhile, across town, Wedd may open up his offense, too, but not likely to the extent of Lisher.
Wedd has relied heavily on the run during his previous six years as the Lions' head coach, but he lost his two leading rushers - Jeff Colter and Ian Handshy - to graduation. Still, Wedd has his starting quarterback returning in Brian Heere and his leading receiver in Brandon Lassiter.
"Lassiter caught 18 passes last year, which is very unusual for us," Wedd said. "We'll probably have to cut that in half this year."
Wait and see
In other words, Wedd will wait and see how his running game pans out before he decides to go to the pass. Nolan Kellerman, who filled in when Colter was injured last season, looms as the Lions' primary ball-carrier.
Lawrence High possesses arguably the city's best defender in Scott Penny, who earned second-team all-Sunflower League honors at linebacker as a junior last season.
Curiously, Penny and Kellerman are state champions in other sports. Kellerman won all 43 of his wrestling matches at 160 pounds last winter while Penny captured the Class 6A shot put in the spring.
Notes
¢ Lawrence High players will have to rise half an hour earlier than the Firebirds. The Lions will start practicing at 6 a.m. Monday; the Firebirds at 6:30 a.m. :
¢ The Firebirds will play for real first, however. Their opener is Thursday, Sept. 1, against SM North. The Lions will debut Friday, Sept. 2 against Leavenworth. Both will be at Haskell Stadium :
¢ Both teams will scrimmage Aug. 20 at Memorial Stadium, but not against each other. The Lions will be on one side of the 50-yard-line and the Firebirds on the other. Why the KU facility? "We can get better films there," Lisher said. :
¢ The next time both football teams will be at Memorial Stadium will be Oct. 21 when they clash in the annual intra-city showdown. :
¢ Free State will play two home games at Memorial Stadium (LHS and Olathe South Sept. 30) and two home games at Haskell Stadium (Sept. 1 against SM North and Sept. 22 against SM West). All of Lawrence High's home games will be at Haskell. :
¢ Rarely have the Lions and Firebirds had a home game on the same night, but while Free State is entertaining Olathe South Sept. 30 at KU, Lawrence High will play host to SM South at Haskell. :
¢ While practically every school in the state, including Free State, schedules 7 p.m. kickoffs, Lawrence High continues to balk. The Lions' kickoffs will remain at 7:30 p.m., as they have been for decades. :
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