Bob Lisher has had to re-tool some parts, but his makeshift football machine seems to be purring right along.

Lisher is head coach of the East team that will meet the West in the annual Shrine Bowl All-Star football game Saturday night in Pittsburg.

“It’s been going really well,” Lisher reported Tuesday from the East camp at Emporia State. “The kids are doing an outstanding job.”

Lisher, who has been Free State High’s coach since the school opened in 1997, has been installing the spread offense he implemented with the Firebirds last season.

But first Lisher had to come up with an offensive line.

“The media picks the team and they chose eight offensive linemen,” Lisher said. “Six of them were tackles and two were guards, so I had to come up with a center.”

Kunle Kola, a 6-foot-1, 280-pounder from Pittsburg High, won the job based on his ability, Lisher said, to make the deep snaps necessary in a spread offense. Kola will be backed by Darrell Kimzey, a 6-2, 270-pounder from Prairie View.

Lisher faced a similar problem in the secondary.

“We had six defensive backs and they were all safeties,” Lisher said, “so we had to switch some of them to corner.”

Lisher hasn’t had to do any switching in the offensive backfield. He plans to use Derek Miller of Olathe East at quarterback with Devin Cummings of Olathe South and Nick Allen of Holton at running back.

Miller, a 6-3, 190-pounder, earned All-Sunflower League first-team honors last season. Cummings and Allen are scatbacks – both stand 5-9 – and will probably be utilized as receivers as much as ball-carriers.

At wide receiver, Lisher has Free State High products Brett Lisher, his oldest son, and Nick Ayre.

Ayre, Lisher and Scott Penny of Lawrence High are the only city products participating in the annual all-star showcase. Penny, a first-team All-Sunflower pick last fall, will open at outside linebacker.

It’s possible Penny will have more of an impact than either Ayre or Lisher because Shrine Bowl officials changed the rules to allow linebackers to blitz. In the past, only basic defenses were allowed.

“I expect more of a defensive game because you can now blitz and stunt,” Lisher said. “I think that will make it a little bit more difficult for the offenses.”

The West team is practicing in Salina. Game time

Saturday will be 7 p.m. at Pittsburg State’s Carnie Smith Stadium.