Lawrence High football fans – and the city is full of natives who remember the good old days – are becoming restless.

With the Lions apparently headed for their first back-to-back losing seasons since the dark days of the early 1970s, some die-hards can’t see the forest for the trees.

For instance, after Free State clipped the Lions, 21-13, on Friday night at Haskell Stadium, one fan called for the abrupt departure of coach Dirk Wedd.

The fan, who did not identify himself, accused Wedd of running a dull, conservative, run-oriented offense and groused that the Lions’ coach should have called for more than just two pass attempts against the Firebirds.

Moreover, Mr. Anonymous grumbled, there was no way I could tell him Free State had more talented players than the Lions.

Huh? Did he see the same game I saw?

Saying Lawrence High has as much talent as Free State is the equivalent of saying Kansas University’s defensive secondary is as good as the Pittsburgh Steelers. It just isn’t so.

In fact, Wedd did what any coach in his situation would have done. Wedd knew he had to keep the ball out of the hands of Free State’s explosive 1-2 punch of Chucky Hunter and Camren Torneden, so he preached ball-control and minimizing mistakes.

For the most part, the Lions executed that strategy perfectly in the first half. Lawrence High ran 31 plays to the Firebirds’ 16, didn’t cough the ball up and was penalized just 10 yards.

Just before halftime, the Lions caught a break when an offensive-pass-interference penalty against the Firebirds and a short punt gave them their only short field of the night. The Lions didn’t waste it. They scored.

At the break, primarily because they had executed the game plan, the Lions were still in it, lagging 14-7. It was anybody’s game. And the Lions had the momentum with that late TD.

But the Firebirds soon would prove they could play the ball-control game themselves. They started on their own 43-yard line after the second-half kickoff and ate nearly five minutes off the clock with a 12-play TD drive that produced a 21-7 lead.

The Lions ran three plays and punted, then the Firebirds initiated another long ground-oriented march that carried over into the fourth quarter. In other words, the Lions ran only those three plays in the third quarter.

Prior to kickoff, Wedd had stated, with hyperbole, that Free State had 20 players faster than his fastest player. Twenty? Not really. More like between five and 10.

Early in the fourth quarter, Clifton Sims, the Lions’ leading rusher, bolted through the line on a trap play and had a 10-yard lead on the way to what looked like a certain 75-yard touchdown run.

But Sims was caught from behind. By one of the Firebirds’ outside linebackers. The Lions eventually converted Sims’ 62-yard run into a TD, but lost precious minutes in their comeback attempt.

From the mid-1980s through the mid-’90s, Lawrence High bulged with about 500 more students than any other school in the state, and the Lions dominated Class 6A football.

Those days are over. With two high schools, the balance of power will almost always run in cycles.