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Photo by John Henry

Free State's Camren Torneden, right, fights off a Topeka High defender. The Firebirds won, 34-7, Friday in Topeka.

Photo by John Henry

Free State quarterback Craig Rosenstengle, right, tries to give the slip to Topeka High's Bryce Parrish in the open field. FSHS won, 34-7, Friday at Hummer Sports Complex in Topeka.

Photo by John Henry

Senior Marcus Holman, left, attempts to catch a pass Friday, Oct. 12, 2007 during Free State's football game against Topeka High School at Topeka Hummer Sports Park.

Topeka — Free State's district football opener at Hummer Sports Park against Topeka High was best summed up by a single play.

With a little less than three minutes remaining in the third quarter, Free State's Camren Torneden fielded a punt and bolted to the sideline, looking for a block to spring him. The block came from senior Mike Santee, who laid out the Trojans' Roger Luna, freeing Torneden for a 35-yard return.

As Luna regained his feet, Santee walked with him, patting him on the helmet for several steps as the two rejoined the play.

That was the way it went for Topeka High in a 34-7 loss to the Firebirds on Friday. It wasn't that the Trojans were outworked, they simply were overmatched.

Free State's size and speed overwhelmed Topeka High from the first drive to the last. But despite outgaining the Trojans by 255 yards and holding THS under 200 yards for the night, the Firebirds came away happy but not completely satisfied.

"It was kind of workmanlike. We got it done, and now it's time to move on," Free State coach Bob Lisher said.

The game was never in doubt. Free State's big-play guys made sure of that. The Firebirds' first drive of the night featured three runs of 15 yards or more, including a 46-yard scamper to the end zone by quarterback Craig Rosenstengle. The run was one of five plays of 30 yards or more on the night.

"We had a lot of big plays that helped us out, but we didn't move the ball consistently enough," Rosenstengle said. "We need to focus on getting more five-yard runs instead of so many zero-yard runs."

It hardly mattered thanks to a ferocious Free State defense. What the offense lacked in consistency and killer instinct, the defense more than made up for with a dominating effort.

The Firebirds were all over the field in the first half. Kevin Coleman, Zack Toelkes and Mitch Werts each recorded first-half sacks, setting the tone for the night. Even when Topeka High quarterback Sam Johnson got a pass off, he was clobbered by multiple Firebirds.

"We just came out and we got after them," Werts said. "We really did."

In addition to harassing the Topeka High QB in the backfield all night, the Firebirds were also cruel in the secondary. Werts picked off a pair of passes and Caleb Gress snagged one as well.

Gress's interception set up the Firebirds' third touchdown, a four-yard run from fullback Ryder Werts on fourth-and-goal.

It was one of seven times that Free State went for it on fourth down.

"The way our defense was playing, I thought maybe we'd be OK and we'd be able to stop them even if we didn't get it," Lisher said.

The Firebirds were three-of-seven on fourth-down conversions.

As for the scoring, junior tailback Chucky Hunter added three touchdowns to the Free State attack.

Hunter finished with 141 yards on 19 carries. Rosenstengle added 151 yards on nine carries.

The victory was the third straight for the Firebirds (5-2), whose defense saw its string of nine consecutive scorless quarters come to an end when Topeka's John Babb punched in a touchdown from 25 yards out with 55 seconds to play in the game.

"We have to have a defense that can keep one or two touchdowns on the board at the most. I think we're getting to that point," Lisher said. "There's a lot of things we'll be looking at (this) morning that I don't think we executed very well and we'll have to do a much better job against Lawrence High or it could be a long night."

Friday's win moved Free State to 1-0 in district play heading into next week's showdown with LHS (3-4), which also improved to 1-0 in district thanks to a 28-6 victory over Washburn Rural on Friday.