Lawrence High defensive back Travis Sanders, left, tries to bring down Shawnee Mission Northwest running back Bryce Atagi. SM Northwest rolled, 41-18, Friday at Haskell Stadium.

The sigh you might have heard coming from the southeast part of the city Friday night was the Lawrence High football team exhaling after finally completing one of the toughest three-game stretches it has played in years.

Then again, it might have been the Shawnee Mission Northwest Cougars knocking the wind out of the Lions.

Either way, LHS suffered another rough defeat at Haskell Stadium, falling to the newly crowned Sunflower League-champion Cougars, 41-18.

Another forgettable first half put the Lions in too deep of a hole to climb out of, and LHS fell to 2-4 on the year with district play set to begin next week.

“We played three pretty good football teams the last three weeks, and we need to be much more competitive than we were against them,” LHS coach Dirk Wedd said. “We just need to come out of the locker room more ready to play, and we haven’t been able to do that.”

In the past three weeks, LHS has entered halftime trailing by an average score of 33-7. The score Friday night at the half was 34-6.

The lone highlight for the Lions in the first half was a six-yard touchdown run by junior Aaron Rea that cut the score to 27-6 with 2:47 to play.

Rea’s score was set up by Jared Vinoverski’s 40-yard interception return that gave the Lions first-and-goal at the SMNW four-yard line.

On the next drive, the Cougars marched down the field and scored their fifth touchdown when senior quarterback Alex Carder raced to the corner of the end zone with seven seconds to play in the half.

The nine-play, 70-yard drive that spanned 2:35 was about the only time the Cougars had to march all night. Their first six drives had an average starting position of the Lions’ 31 yard-line. The Lions, meanwhile, spent the entire first half backed up in their own territory, unable to move the ball.

LHS mustered just 63 yards of total offense in the first half, compared with 213 for the Cougars.

Part of that was to be expected, as LHS entered the game starting its second-string quarterback (Andrew Miller) and third-string tailback (Chase Muder). Starting QB Clint Pinnick missed his second straight game with an injured ankle, and running backs Clifton Sims (ankle) and Jake Green (ribs) also stayed on the sidelines.

That left most of the LHS attack in the hands of Tyler Hunt, who appeared to be up for the challenge. Hunt carried the ball 23 times for 209 yards, including a 79-yard touchdown to open the second half.

“We were expecting a lot out of (Hunt) tonight,” Wedd said. “He’s one of the toughest backs in our league, and he was asked to do everything for us tonight. He was our punter, he was making tackles at linebacker. We had to give (Chase) Muder a couple of carries on the trap just to give Tyler a break.”

The only other offensive highlights for LHS came from Rea, who scored on similar reverses from six and seven yards out.

“Good calls,” Rea said. “That’s what those were. It was pretty fun to get into the end zone, but it would’ve been a lot more fun to get the W.”

With the team’s “second season” beginning next week at home against Washburn Rural in the district opener, Wedd said he expected his team to keep battling.

“The biggest thing is we just need to get healthy. I think we’re a pretty good football team when all 11 starters are healthy,” Wedd said. “Hopefully we’ll get a chance to see.”

Either way, Wedd expects his team to stick together to overcome the disappointment of three straight losses after opening the season 2-1.

“I can’t trade the whole football team, and they can’t trade the head coach,” Wedd said. “We’re in this together, and I know these guys are going to be back out there this week working their tails off to get better.”