Lawrence High School Trey Moore (38) scores in the 3rd quarter of the Lions win over the Olathe East Hawks at LHS Friday night.

Only one thing could stop Lawrence High junior running back J.D. Woods Friday night in the Lions’ regular-season finale.

The scoreboard.

Woods averaged 10.5 yards a carry, rushed for five touchdowns and accounted for 262 of his teams’ 440 offensive yards as Lawrence sealed a spot in the Class 6A playoffs with a 66-28 pounding of Olathe East at LHS.

The 25th time Woods touched the ball, he ran to the left, broke his umpteenth tackle of the game and took off for an 18-yard score that put the Lions up 31 points with less than two minutes to play in the third quarter.

Accordingly, LHS coach Dirk Wedd called it a night for Woods, who didn’t get a shot at surpassing his 295 rushing yards from two weeks earlier, in the first of Lawrence’s two district wins.

Woods didn’t even open up a debate on the decision.

“I just wanted to let the seniors that really haven’t played that much get in the game and play some and experience a varsity game,” Woods said, “and I didn’t want to get hurt or anything, so I understood what coach was doing for next week.”

Stats were far from his mind following the game anyway, because the Lions had just solidified their postseason plans and partied in the weight room.

“It’s pretty fun when you get to watch coach Wedd come in and do all types of different dances,” Woods said.

The Lions (5-4 overall, 2-1 district) dismantled O-East (3-6, 0-3) thanks to not only Woods, but the kind of complete night about which coaching staffs dream.

Lawrence’s second score came on a punt return. Junior Ivan Hollins fielded the ball in heavy traffic and shot past the coverage team for a 53-yard touchdown. Hollins played in place of Mike Sinks, who was hurt at practice this week.

After two more Woods rushing touchdowns, the defense added to Lawrence’s growing margin in the second quarter. Junior linebacker Price Morgan, who had already broken up a pass and planted a Hawks rusher, saw the football unattended on the turf after O-East quarterback Chase Miller fumbled.

“As soon as I picked that up, I was running as fast as I can,” Morgan said, “which probably isn’t too fast.”

His desire to get LHS a defensive TD, though, carried his 6-foot-4 frame on a 46-yard sprint to the end zone, and the play put Lawrence ahead 35-14 with 5:15 left in the first half.

Senior kicker Ellis Springe, who was a perfect 9-for-9 on extra points, got in on the action, too, just before halftime with a 41-yard field goal from the left hash.

Later, after Woods tacked on his fourth and fifth rushing scores in the third, Nyle Anderson scored the final points on an 85-yard kickoff return.

“A lot of things went well,” Morgan said, marveling at the special-teams plays in particular. “It just shows the team’s all working together. I couldn’t be happier.”

The tall, sneaky-fast linebacker wasn’t the only LHS defensive player to show his worth. Linemen Amani Bledsoe and Trey Georgie sandwich-sacked Miller in the first quarter. Junior linebacker Tanner Green stuffed the Hawks’ running game a number of times and recovered a fumble late in the second quarter. Luke Zenger and Dearion Cooper broke up a deep, trick-play pass early in the fourth quarter. And senior Braxdon Cooper nearly intercepted an errant pass late in the fourth.

Wedd, whose team is back in the playoffs after missing out and finishing 3-6 in 2013, couldn’t have been more pleased.

“It’s so neat to have the whole team participate and not just one side of it,” Wedd said. “You always tell them that all three aspects of the game are important and they all have ways of winning, so it was good for them to experience that and go, ‘You know, the old guy knows what he’s talking about every once in a while.'”

The Lions will meet Shawnee Mission East (9-0, ranked No. 1) at SM North in the playoffs’ first round on Friday.