photo by: John Young

Free State High senior Zion Bowlin fights for extra yards while dragging Shawnee Mission South tacklers Cam Union, right, and Will Choate during their game Friday evening in Overland Park. The Firebirds jumped out to a 21-0 first quarter lead and never looked back, winning 38-0.

Overland Park ? Leading by 21 points at halftime, Free State High football players weren’t in a good mood Friday.

Not when they failed to capitalize on their lead in the second quarter. And especially when they heard an earful from coach Bob Lisher.

But the Firebirds were re-energized in the second half against Shawnee Mission South and cruised to a 38-0 victory at SM South Stadium.

Lisher’s halftime talk made a quick and decisive difference for the Firebirds. On the second play from scrimmage in the third quarter, junior defensive back Vani Martinez intercepted a pass after junior David Johnson tipped the ball into the air as he was falling backward.

Four plays later, it turned into a four-yard touchdown run by senior running back Zion Bowlin.

On the ensuing kickoff, Martinez and junior linebacker Gage Foster delivered a big hit — “Everybody loves hitting,” Martinez said — forcing a fumble and sophomore Jalen Nash recovered. That eventually turned into a 25-yard field goal by sophomore kicker Kameron Lake.

“Coach Lisher was not happy at all with our appearance here,” Foster said. “We should’ve been up by way more than we were at half. We’re just thankful that we came out here and we played a little bit better in the second half.”

The Firebirds (1-1) added their final score at the end of the third quarter on a one-yard plunge over the goal line by senior quarterback Dallas Crittenden. One play earlier, Crittenden tossed a 28-yard completion to senior receiver Daniel Bryant, who was pushed out of bounds at the one-yard line.

For the second straight week, Crittenden was sharp in the pocket, completing 12 of his 19 passes for 175 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

“First half, we just weren’t ready for the game to start,” said Bryant, who had five catches for 84 yards. “We weren’t ready to come out here and play ball. Coach Lisher came and ripped us at halftime, so we got better in the second half and came through as a team and played better football.”

One week after giving up 41 points, Free State’s defense held the Raiders (0-2) to only 40 yards in the first half with key tackles in the backfield by seniors Jay Dineen, Drew Wise, Noah Kema and Sam Hambleton, along with Foster, Johnson and Martinez.

In the third quarter, Free State’s defense only allowed one first down and grabbed two interceptions. Foster, who grabbed an interception along with Martinez, said he was actually in the wrong position on the play but saw the ball headed his way.

Martinez and senior Zack Sanders added interceptions in the fourth quarter, the first two interceptions of Martinez’s varsity career.

“We have a lot of things that we need to work on,” Foster said. “As a whole, we did good, but we need to raise our intensity, for sure.”

The Firebirds started fast in the first quarter after Dineen forced a fumble inside of the 10-yard line on SM South’s second play from scrimmage.

Two plays later, Bowlin, who had 85 yards on 13 carries, scored on a six-yard run and the Firebirds continued to score on their next two drives — a seven-yard run by Crittenden and a 27-yard touchdown catch by Sanders.

But afterward, the Firebirds lost all of their momentum. One pass went off of a receiver’s hands and was intercepted by SM South senior Will Choate. Then there was a fumble on fourth down at the 33-yard line.

“We’ve got to be sharper offensively,” Lisher said. “We’ve got to be sharper defensively and we’ve got to grow up as a group and grow up quick. Next week it gets really tough.”

Eventually, the Firebirds were back on track and subbed in backups for the fourth quarter.

“We can definitely do better,” Bryant said. “I think we need to be happy about it but we can’t be satisfied. We need to get better.”

Free State 38, Shawnee Mission South 0

FS | SMS

First downs 15 | 9

Rushes-yards 41-217 | 29-81

Passing yards 178 | 32

Total offense 395 | 113

Fumbles-lost 3-1 | 2-2

Penalties-yards 5-55 | 2-10

Score by quarters

Free State 21 0 10 7 — 38

SM South 0 0 0 0 — 0

Individual statistics

Rushing

FS: Zion Bowlin 13-85 2 TDs, Dallas Crittenden 5-15 2 TDs, Gage Foster 7-36, Jax Dineen 8-45, Jalen Nash 7-37, Matthew Georgie 1-negative 1.

SMS: Jeremy Kucera 6-8, Deonte Carroll 6-16, Will Choate 2-12, Cam Union 8-13, Hunter Carpenter 1-2, Trey Echols 4-23, Sam Macklin 1-5, Marquez Briscoe 1-2.

Passing

FS: Crittenden 12-19-174 TD and INT, Jordan Preston 1-3-4.

SMS: Carroll 8-22-32 4 INT, Choate 0-1-0

Receiving

FS: Drew Wise 1-13, Zack Sanders 3-55 TD, Foster 1-11, Daniel Bryant 5-84, Keenan Garber 1-1, Bo Miller 1-10, Shane Skwarlo 1-4.

SMS: Choate 2-8, Ciaron Willis 2-17, Hunter Carpenter 3-6, Sam Macklin 1-1.

HOW THEY SCORED

First quarter

8:56 — Zion Bowlin 6 run. Kameron Lake kick. (FS 7, SMS 0.)

6:26 — Dallas Crittenden 10 run. Lake kick. (FS 14, SMS 0.)

3:39 — Zack Sanders 27 pass from Crittenden. Jake Rittman kick. (FS 21, SMS 0.)

Third quarter

9:26 — Bowlin 4 run. Lake kick. (FS 28, SMS 0.)

8:33 — Lake 25 field goal. (FS 31, SMS 0.)

Fourth quarter

11:56 — Crittenden 1 run. Lake kick. (FS 38, SMS 0.)