Free State High School cheerleader Paige Lindsay, left, and Free State teacher Chris Hunt create a spirit banner earlier this week in a hallway at the school. The Firebirds will play Junction City on Saturday for the 6A state football championship.

Topeka ? Maybe Free State High football coach Bob Lisher knew something the rest of us didn’t back on Halloween night after his Firebirds’ 41-9 dismantling of Olathe Northwest.

That night, with his team huddled around him in Haskell Stadium’s west end zone, Lisher pointed to the district championship trophy his team had won and made a simple, and now somewhat prophetic, request.

“That’s one,” Lisher said. “I want four more.”

One by one the trophies came. First was the sectional championship trophy after a 41-21 victory against Shawnee Mission Northwest in the first round of the Class 6A state playoffs. Regional hardware followed the next week, as the Firebirds knocked off Olathe North, 10-6, in Round Two. As an encore, Free State dazzled with a sub-state championship trophy after a 14-7 victory at Blue Valley. That brought the total to four, one away from the goal.

As Lisher addressed his team following the Blue Valley victory, pride beamed from his eyes as he talked about the next step.

“You guys are going to get that fourth trophy next week,” he said. “You’ve guaranteed yourselves of that. But one of them’s a great big trophy, and one of them’s a small trophy.”

By simply appearing in today’s state title game — 3:30 p.m. at Washburn University’s Yager Stadium in Topeka — the Firebirds will bring home a trophy. Whether the gold letters etched on it say “state champions” or “state runner-up” depends on whether Free State can deliver one more memorable performance.

Bringing home the bigger of the two trophies won’t come easily. Free State (9-3) faces a Junction City (12-0) team that has rolled through the playoffs and outscored opponents, 96-36.

In senior quarterback Ty Zimmerman, Junction City has a playmaker who Lisher says can, “run like a deer.” In junior tailback Jimmie King, Zimmerman has the perfect complement for an offense that runs multiple formations and can attack in a variety of ways.

“They’re a run-dominant team,” senior Jack Caywood said. “But as long as we all do our jobs, we should be fine.”

Such a statement should not be confused for cockiness. The Firebirds have earned the right to be confident. That’s especially true for the FSHS defense, which held high-powered Olathe North to six points and high-flying Blue Valley to seven.

In case anyone wanted to point to Junction City’s regular-season schedule as a knock, it should be noted that the Blue Jays stymied perennial power Derby, 22-3, in last week’s semifinals. In that game, Zimmerman, King and company rushed for 344 yards.

“They’re not 12-0 for no reason,” Free State senior Preston Randolph said. “Obviously, they have a lot of talent and have done enough to get to this point. It’s going to be a tough game, but our main focus will be on us.”

That’s the way it has been all season. Instead of panicking when they started slowly, Lisher preached patience. Instead of being caught starry-eyed as they prepared for all-state-caliber players James Franklin (O-North) and Anthony Abenoja (Blue Valley) in back-to-back playoff games, the Firebirds stayed tight and kept working to get better.

To this day, Lisher insists his words that night were not some sort of motivational ploy. He believed in this team, and, in the process, helped his team believe in itself.

“Our guys believe in themselves now,” Lisher said. “They believe in their teammates, they believe in what they’re doing, and that’s how team chemistry is built. They’ve bought into what we’ve told them, and they’ve done everything we’ve asked of them to get to this point. I’m extremely proud of them.”

That ability to believe when others doubted has been largely responsible for the Firebirds’ historic postseason run.

“Coach just kept it in our heads,” Randolph said. “We got a good win in the first round, and, after that, losing wasn’t an option for us.”

The season has come down to a final game. Win or lose today, the final chapter of the 2008 Firebirds will be written. And just because it won’t unfold under bright lights on a Friday night like all the others doesn’t mean Free State won’t be ready.

“Gametime’s gametime,” senior running back Chucky Hunter said. “Whenever they snap the ball, we’ll be ready to go.”

Directions to Yager Stadium in Topeka, site of the Class 6A football state championship game.