Lawrence High head coach Dirk Wedd blows the whistle as players Peter Afful, left, and Coulter Strauss go head to head, each trying to overpower the other prior to a scrimmage Saturday, Aug. 22, 2015 at Lawrence High School.

The depth of Lawrence High’s backfield did not take long to show itself Saturday in the Lions’ football scrimmage at LHS.

With senior running back JD Woods out after an injury suffered in Friday’s practice, fellow senior Trey Moore picked up the slack and then some. Moore found the end zone on his first two carries: the first from 62 yards out on the second play from scrimmage and the second on a 44-yard run.

“It felt good to get back on the field and doing my thing,” Moore said. “It’s really great to have the blockers. I’m grateful that we have Amani Bledsoe and Trey Georgie and all them. With them blocking, you can run for a TD in an instant.”

Georgie and Bledsoe helped Woods rush for a Sunflower League-leading 1,667 yards and 20 touchdowns in 2014, and LHS coach Dirk Wedd said the fleet-footed back will be ready to go for the Lions’ season opener at 7 p.m. Sept. 4 against Blue Valley West at LHS.

“In the Oklahoma drill, he got three or four stitches,” Wedd said. “His helmet came off after contact. He’ll be fine.”

The LHS backfield might not just be limited to Woods and Moore, though. Sophomore Dante’ Jackson, son of Kansas University football strength and conditioning coach Je’Ney Jackson, received reps with the first team as well on Saturday. Jackson added a score of his own on a 9-yard cutback run and also took the ball past midfield on a kick return at the beginning of the scrimmage.

“He’s going to help us in a lot of different ways with special teams, offense and defense,” Wedd said of Jackson. “We’re excited to see what we can get out of him.”

Senior quarterback Alan Clothier is a threat to run as well, but he showed Saturday that he is not afraid to take chances throwing the ball down the field. Clothier completed five of his six passes for 104 yards. Senior tight end Price Morgan helped his play caller’s cause by making a finger-tip grab for 35 yards.

“(Clothier) had a lot of time in the pocket. His footwork has gotten so much better than last year,” Moore said. “His throwing has gotten a lot better, too. He’s been working really hard this summer and he’s going to do good things for us this season.”

Shortly after Morgan’s acrobatic reception, the tight end went to the other side of the ball to lead the Lions’ linebacker corps while Georgie and Bledsoe also lined up on LHS’ defensive front four. Not much got past the Lions’ defensive line as the two Division I recruits wreaked havoc in the backfield, but Morgan and fellow linebackers Tanner Green and Konner Kelley snuffed out anything that got past them.

“Defense is such a team thing,” Morgan said. “You can’t have one person who is just a superstar win a game for you on defense. It takes 11 guys. I really feel like we’re starting to play as a team instead of a bunch of individuals.”

Morgan’s day was not quite done after suiting up on both sides of the ball, though. At the conclusion of the scrimmage, Wedd brought Kyleigh Severa, Morgan’s girlfriend and a member of LHS’ state champion 4×400 relay team, to the sideline. Wedd challenged Morgan to a sideline-to-sideline-and-back race against Severa to see who which players would have to do push-ups following the scrimmage, and his tight end/linebacker rose to the occasion.

“I didn’t know coach Wedd was going to do that,” Morgan said with a laugh. “He kind of put me on the spot. I was a little worried that she was going to catch me, but I think it’s the cleats is the reason she didn’t get me.”