Life is good for Ryder Werts. After all, what more could a Free State High senior football player ask?

Werts caught his first career touchdown pass – a highlight-reeler, if ever there was one – and was the ringleader of a defense that stuffed crosstown rival Lawrence High.

Thus following the Firebirds’ 27-0 blanking of the Lions on Friday night at Haskell Stadium, Werts was asked which was more satisfying – the TD reception or the whitewash?

“I’ll be a team guy, so I’m going to say the shutout,” the 5-foot-9, 220-pound Werts said. “Shutting out Lawrence High : that’s a great feeling.”

Still, the 65-yard TD pass Werts caught from quarterback Craig Rosenstengle was the individual highlight on a night when the offenses of both teams were crying for consistency.

With less than a minute remaining before the halftime break and the Firebirds ahead, 14-0, coach Bob Lisher called the rare pass play to Werts, who hadn’t caught an aerial all season.

“I was nervous,” said Werts, who usually spends most of his time at linebacker.

The Firebirds were at their own 35 after a punt and, at first, it appeared the rare play call would be a bust. Rosenstengle bobbled the snap from center, picked it up, ran a few steps to his right, then unloaded a pass to his left just before being tackled.

Werts caught the ball near the left sideline at about midfield and was off to the races. Moments later, Lions’ defensive back Murphy Ray stood in Werts’ path, but Werts bowled Ray over. Then Josh Wedel, another DB, had a clear shot at him, but Werts brushed Wedel aside, too.

“That was a heckuva run,” Rosenstengle said of Werts’ tackle-busting TD journey. “That was something else.”

Added Free State coach Bob Lisher with a smile: “Ryder wanted that touchdown bad.”

Werts, meanwhile, confessed after the game that he still was in a daze.

“It kind of feels like a dream,” he said with a grin. “All I remember is, I ran over one guy and I was in the end zone. Everything just fell into place.”

And so it was that Werts, the Firebirds’ best defensive player, turned in the game’s most spectacular offensive play as the Lions shut down Chucky Hunter, the Firebirds’ most explosive offensive player.

Hunter carried 16 times for 77 yards and his streak of scoring at least one touchdown in every game ended as the Lions put a bulls-eye on the shifty junior tailback’s back.

Rosenstengle, the other half of the Firebirds’ 1-2 offensive punch, scored three touchdowns – one on a 24-yard interception return – yet gained only 31 yards on 9 carries. Twenty-seven of those yards came on a TD scamper.

“Lawrence High did a great job,” Lisher said. “They were not going to let Chuck and Rosy run the football. When they put nine players in the box, you have to be able to pass the ball, and we left a couple of touchdowns on the field.”

Lisher was referring to two apparent TD passes from Rosenstengle to Marcus Holman that the senior wide receiver dropped. Later, however, Holman caught a 32-yard gadget pass from H-Back Caleb Gress that set up a one-yard Rosenstengle TD burst.

Free State went into the crosstown showdown averaging nearly 360 yards of offense per game. Lawrence High held the Firebirds to 228 yards – their second lowest output of the season – and to only eight first downs.

“They did a great job,” Rosenstengle said. “They shut our run game down. They hit hard.”

In the final analysis, though, it was Free State’s defense that dominated, holding the Lions to a mere 91 yards with 64 coming in the fourth quarter against Free State reserves. In other words, the Firebirds’ first-string defense shackled the Lions with 27 yards in the first three quarters.

Werts summed it up when he remarked: “Lawrence High has good players, but we had better players at more positions.”

Free State (6-2) clinched a berth in the Class 6A state playoffs, so next Friday’s regular season finale against Washburn Rural at Haskell Stadium will be for seeding purposes only.

Lawrence High (3-5) can clinch a playoffs berth, too, if the Lions can defeat Topeka High on the road next Friday.