The rain held off long enough for Lawrence High to get in its fall sports jamboree Wednesday at Haskell Stadium.

Even more surprising than the passing of the seemingly unavoidable rain to the few hundred fans in attendance was the fact that the Lions passed the football effectively.

A team known for its ability to run, run, run the pigskin created its brightest highlight Wednesday on an aerial.

“Even though I knew we were going to work on passing, especially in late game situations, I was still shocked with how that pass play came about,” said LHS senior Brandon Lassiter, the benefactor of Chance Riley’s short pass over the middle, which he turned into a 78-yard touchdown scamper.

Lawrence High running back Richard Demby tries to shed a would-be tackler.

“You know, we’re a football team that is pretty comfortable just running the football,” continued Lassiter, who had the only touchdown of the lone scrimmage in which Lawrence’s white squad prevailed, 7-3, over the maroon team.

“But I think this year we’re going to have a bit more balance. We have two quarterbacks in Brian (Heere) and Chance who can throw the football, and we have capable receivers who can haul it in. But don’t worry, we’re still going to run it.”

Lawrence High's Carmen Caffey plays the timpani as part of the Marching Lions' performance at the fall sports jamboree. The event was Wednesday at Haskell Stadium.

That message was sent loud and clear by the selection of 26 rushing plays compared to just two passing plays in the first 25-minute scrimmage.

“I thought things went very well overall. Obviously, we had a few scouts in attendance from Leavenworth, so we didn’t want to give anything away,” Lions coach Dirk Wedd said.

“I was really impressed how everyone was flying around all over the field and going after the football. We had some positives to build from for this week,” continued Wedd, whose team opens its season Sept. 2 with a 7:30 p.m. game against Leavenworth at Haskell. “But we have got to hang onto the football. You shouldn’t have a handful of fumbles whether it’s raining or not.”

When the teams renewed their scrimmage after a brief break, fans were treated to the sight of maroon-team quarterback Brian Heere – who tossed three touchdowns in Saturday’s scrimmage at Memorial Stadium – airing out the football.

However, three straight passes fell incomplete as the white team – Lawrence’s predicted starters were split between the two squads – pressured Heere heavily on all three downs.

After three-and-out possessions by both teams, the two squads switched to overtime situations, with each getting four downs from the 10-yard line.

Nolan Kellerman had a nice run up the middle for four yards on the first down of the drill, but fumbled going to his right on second down.

The maroon team couldn’t punch the ball in, either, but Chris Cates got his Lion squad on the board with a 21-yard field goal to end the contest.

Senior running back Nathan Hickey led all ball-carriers with 30 yards on 10 carries.