Perfect vengeance

Flawless play helps Lions finally topple Olathe South

Olathe ? So much for the Olathe South monkey.

Lawrence High ended nearly two years of frustration by staggering the Falcons, 21-10, in a Class 6A quarterfinal football Friday night at the Olathe District Activities Center.

“We grew up,” Lawrence running back Nolan Kellerman said. “Last time we had a big zero, and that made the offense upset.”

Earlier in the regular season, Olathe South had stuffed the Lions, 14-0. Last year, the Falcons nipped the Lions twice in overtime. But the Lions wreaked their vengeance on this breezy night.

Lawrence won because it took advantage of two short-field opportunities in the second quarter – one fueled by Tony Williams’ block of a Chris Foster punt – and because it played flawlessly.

The Lions had no turnovers and no penalties. That’s right. Zero penalties. A holding penalty was whistled against the Lions in the third quarter, but O-South also was detected for holding on the same play, and the down was replayed.

Both of the Lions’ second-quarter TDs were by Kellerman, a senior running back who was playing with a knee brace for the first time, thanks to an injury suffered in last week’s 6A playoff opener against Blue Valley Northwest.

The first TD was vintage Kellerman. The 5-foot-9, 170-pounder busted off tackle and refused to go down, shaking off at least five would-be tacklers on the way to an 18-yard score that knotted the count at 7.

His second TD was more pedestrian, a one-yard plunge soon after Williams had blocked the punt. Kellerman finished with a tough 88 yards on 22 carries. And he played the whole way on defense, too.

“He’s a very, very special kid,” LHS coach Dirk Wedd said. “He may have the biggest heart of any kid I’ve ever coached.”

Those second-quarter scores enabled the Lions to overcome what looked to be a dominating O-South performance.

On their first possession, the Falcons ran roughshod over the Lions. Senior running back Devin Cummings gained 65 yards on 10 carries in the 75-yard scoring drive and appeared well on his way to a headline-making night.

Yet on Cummings’ next 22 carries, he gained only 62 yards. In fact, after that first drive, the Falcons didn’t muster much offense at all until quarterback Brady Croucher started passing in a desperation fourth-quarter comeback attempt.

Defensive adjustments, Wedd said, were the key.

“We couldn’t stop their toss sweep,” the LHS coach said, “so we loosened up our ends on the outside.”

Added defensive co-ordinator Scott Stidham: “We had a plan, but they went with a double tight-end formation, which we hadn’t seen.”

Once the Lions adjusted, the best the Falcons could do the rest of the way was a 27-yard field goal by Kyson Ginavan on the second play of the fourth quarter. That cut the Lions’ lead to 14-10, but it didn’t last long.

Nathan Hickey returned the ensuing kickoff 25 yards to the LHS 43, and Matt Stiles took over from there. The 5-8, 165-pound senior started a four-play scoring drive with a 19-yard gallop, then finished it with a 34-yard TD run up the middle – the longest play by either team all night.

Stiles’ score gave the Lions a 21-10 advantage with 9:21 remaining, and the defense wasn’t about to blow it.

“Coach Wedd said they’d come out and punch us in the mouth,” Lions’ defensive back Marc Albers said, “and he challenged us to respond.”

Albers certainly did. The 5-9, 160-pound senior intercepted two Croucher passes in the fourth quarter, the second with only 29 seconds remaining to chill the Falcons’ last hope.

Albers also contributed a pair of punts with the wind – one for 58 yards; the other for 56 – that bottled the Falcons deep in their own territory.

Now the Lions (10-1) will face unbeaten Olathe East (11-0), a 37-7 winner over Shawnee Mission West, Friday night at Haskell Stadium with a berth in the state-title game on the line.

“What’s special is we get to go back to Haskell Stadium,” Kellerman said, “and we’ll do it again. We finally beat South, but we have a big game next. This wasn’t our goal. It was just another step.”

Olathe South, which bowed to Hutchinson in last year’s 6A championship game, finished with a 9-2 record.