Lawrence High's Ryan Guenther, left, blocks Chris Nieto during one of the Lions' first practices of the 2007 season. Despite losing a large senior class from a season ago, LHS returns a scrappy bunch that has meshed well in the offseason.

When it comes to winning football games, Lawrence High knows a thing or two about how it’s done. Thirty-one undefeated seasons and 26 state championships will do that to a program. Victory is never just a dream floating distantly over the horizon. More often, it becomes a reality and is always an expectation.

Even when LHS spends a season hovering around .500, as it did last year, it still manages a spot in the Class 6A quarterfinals. Granted, a state title has eluded LHS for the past decade, but you won’t hear head coach Dirk Wedd’s stance change.

“Our players don’t see league championships or sub-state banners as they walk to the locker room,” said Wedd, referring to the 103 state championships that fill red and black banners lining the west end of the gym. “Through the years, the expectation is to win state championships.”

This year, the Lions will field a revamped lineup on both sides of the ball. Lawrence loses eight starters on offense and defense from last year’s 6-5 team, but Wedd – in his ninth year as head coach and 19th overall at LHS – sees that as an opportunity for others to step into the spotlight and refuses to let youth derail expectations of a run deep into the playoffs.

“We’re going to be inexperienced,” he said, “but if you give your kids the excuse of being inexperienced, you’re allowing them to have an excuse to fail. I expect us to walk on the field Aug. 31 ready to compete.”

In a preseason poll of the league’s coaches, the Lions were picked to finish seventh out of 12. But players aren’t the least bit concerned with that forecast.

“It’s understandable why someone would think that,” said senior Quintin Rucker, one of four captains. “We’re smaller, we’re not as fast as last year. But we’ve got perfect commitment and desire. Everything is falling into place right now.”

Rucker is joined in the leadership role by Tyler Hunt, Skyler Countess and Travis Sanders, all of whom share the confidence of their coach.

“We expect to go far,” Hunt said. “We have a lot more committed people this year than last.”

What this year’s team lacks in terms of physical assets – Wedd calls his group “the smallest team we’ve had here in the last 20 years” – it makes up for with work ethic and dedication.

Case in point: Lawrence High coaches set a goal for players to lift and condition at 7 a.m. this summer for at least 30 out of 34 possible days. Among the projected top 20 players on the team, 16 met or surpassed that goal, and eight didn’t miss a day. That prompted Wedd to declare this “the most unselfish team I’ve been around in a long time.”

That kind of team-first attitude is exactly what LHS needs to overcome significant losses from last year’s squad, which included two first-team All-Sunflower League players on offense in running back Tony Williams and wide receiver Nathan Padia. Couple that with the graduation of quarterback Chance Riley, and that’s more than 3,000 yards of total offense, 40 touchdowns and a plethora of size and smarts that needs replacing.

Not to worry, says Rucker.

“Last year, their talent saved them,” he said. “This year, our commitment will save us.”

Expected to take over the reins at quarterback will be junior Clint Pinnick, who backed up Riley as a sophomore.

While the big names may be gone, the front of the jerseys reads the same.

“People (on the team) don’t care about publicity,” Hunt said. “All we want to do is win.”

To a man, players are confident they can overcome their shortcomings with hard work and make yet another run at a state championship.

“I’ve seen a lot of great football teams that didn’t win,” said Wedd, comparing his team to a jigsaw puzzle that needs to put its pieces in the right place. “If they can carry over what they did in the summer, I really think we’ve got a chance.”