Nothing seems to perturb Free State High’s free-wheeling football team.

Case in point: Last Friday night’s 49-15 triumph over Lawrence High at Haskell Stadium.

Three turnovers by quarterback Ryan Murphy? No problem. A bad snap into the end zone resulting in a safety? Piffle. Two 15-yard penalties that fuel a Lions’ scoring drive? Yawn.

Ordinary teams would wilt under the pressure of such mistakes, but not the Firebirds.

“Yeah, we were a little frustrated early,” Murphy said, “but we knew we could score.”

The facts back him up. In rolling

to an 8-0 record, Free State has averaged 45.0 points per game. Three times the Firebirds have amassed 60 or more points. Curiously, however, their lowest single-game output (20 points) came against a Shawnee Mission North team that has posted only one victory this fall.

Free State’s 49 Friday points were, by far, the most the Firebirds have counted in their decade-long series against their crosstown rival. The previous high was 31 in 1999, and that was in overtime.

Murphy was responsible for 26 of those points. The 5-foot-10, 175-pound senior scored on runs of 28, 5 and 2 yards and threw an 88-yard TD bomb to Craig Rosenstengle. Two more points came on a conversion run.

In eight games, Murphy has scored 14 touchdowns, thrown nine TD passes and compiled a Sunflower League high 1,997 yards of total offense. Meanwhile, twin brother Brian Murphy has rushed for 720 yards and 12 TDs.

Rosenstengle, a junior wide receiver, has 20 receptions and five TDs. He’s averaging an eye-popping 25.4 yards per catch.

Early in the season, the Murphys weren’t able to finish games because of second-half cramping. That problem was cured by the ingestion of more fluids on game days. Now the two speedsters have been benched late because the Firebirds are piling up so many points.

The Murphys – and the bulk of the other Free State regulars – departed with nine minutes remaining Friday night. Back-up running backs Dale Coons and Caleb Gress scored the last two TDs.

Lawrence High coach Dirk Wedd’s game plan was to play keepaway with a ball-control running game, and the strategy worked for the most part in the first half, even though the Lions were without 280-pound tackle Jake Lorenzo (concussion) and center Shawn Jimboy (sprained ankle).

But the Lions twice failed on fourth-and-one situations in Free State territory, once late in the first half and again on their first possession of the second half. Each time, the Firebirds responded with touchdowns, turning a 14-9 lead into a 29-9 cushion.

“The snowball came,” Wedd said, “and it turned into an avalanche.”

Free State’s starters aren’t likely to see much second-half action this Friday night, either, when the Firebirds close the regular season at Washburn Rural (1-7). Topeka High, a team the ‘Birds blasted 62-27 two weeks ago, blanked Rural, 17-0, last week.

Free State is virtually assured of a berth in the Class 6A state playoffs while Lawrence High (4-4) can secure a spot by disposing of Topeka High (2-6) Friday night at Haskell Stadium.