Free State junior running back Jax Dineen finds the end zone on a touchdown run in the first quarter in Friday's game against Olathe East on Oct. 13, 2017 at FSHS.

When Free State’s football team needed to fight back from a disastrous first half, the Firebirds turned to junior running back Jax Dineen.

Needing to score points — and fast — the Firebirds handed the ball off to their 5-foot-10, 225-pound running back and watched him work his magic. Dineen added to his legend as one of the most fearsome backs in the state, rushing for 293 yards and four touchdowns.

Whenever the Firebirds needed a big play in crunch time, Dineen delivered on offense in a 38-31 comeback victory at FSHS. Dineen broke Camren Torneden’s single-game rushing record of 258 yards, set in 2008.

“Blockers gave me good holes,” said Dineen, crediting Turner Corcoran, Gabe Clark, Ben Holiday, Spencer Roe, Shane Skwarlo and Jalan Robinson. “When I saw someone, if they were in front of me, I was going to try to truck them. That was mentality — get to the end zone.”

The Firebirds (7-0, ranked No. 1 in Class 6A), on their Senior Night, were trailing by 18 points at the beginning of the third quarter before Dineen scored a 13-yard touchdown on a 4th-and-6 play. It broke a streak of six possessions without punching the ball into the end zone.

During the first half, the Firebirds committed four turnovers and another two turnovers on downs. All season long, Free State coaches have talked to players about dealing with adversity, but they never dealt with anything like this in the first six games.

In a three-minute stretch in the first quarter, O-East running back Trevon Kearney ran for a 64-yard touchdown. Then linebacker Connor McCartney added a pick-six interception return.

“Honestly, we haven’t faced a lot of (adversity) this year,” senior receiver Jake Rittman said. “Today it really smacked us in the mouth.”

In the second half, the Hawks (3-4) did their best to drain the clock with long drives. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Firebirds finally found their defensive stop when Gage Foster, who threw two interceptions, blitzed through the backfield for a sack.

After a botched snap on the ensuing O-East punt, Foster (16 carries for 125 yards) added the game-tying score with 5:34 remaining on a four-yard touchdown run, faking a handoff to Dineen.

With the Free State sideline reenergized, the defense only increased its pressure. Senior cornerback Kwinton Lassiter grabbed an interception and nearly returned it to the end zone. On the next play, Dineen raced to the outside on an eight-yard touchdown run for a 38-31 advantage. Dineen pointed at the nearest defender as he trotted into the end zone to draw an unsportsmanlike penalty — “I was feeling myself,” he said.

Dineen was met a few yards in front of his team’s sideline by FSHS coach Bob Lisher to hear about his penalty. At the end of it, Dineen heard his coach tell him, “Hey, good run.”

“We had a nice chat,” Lisher said. “He knows. But he had a heck of a night, you have to give it to him. He played well. He ran hard, made a lot of people miss and ran over a lot of people, too.”

On the next play, following Dineen’s fourth touchdown run, Free State’s defense forced a fumble, which was recovered by senior linebacker David Johnson, essentially securing the victory.

In a game with moments where nothing went right for the Firebirds, where it seemed like it just wasn’t their day, they found a way to win. Free State remains the only unbeaten team in 6A.

“It just shows that we can fight,” Dineen said. “It shows how good we can be when we execute.”

FREE STATE 38, OLATHE EAST 31

OE | FS

First downs 11 | 17

Rushes-yards 38-155 | 43-453

Passing yards 239 | 66

Total offense 394 | 519

Fumbles-lost 1-1 | 3-1

Penalties-yards 5-55 | 2-21

Score by quarters

O-East 21 0 7 3 — 31

Free State 7 3 7 21 — 38

Individual statistics

Rushing

OE: Trevon Kearney 18-113 TD, TyJuan Lewis 2-negative 4, Hezekiah Newman 14-44 TD, Hunter Thomas 4-2, Team 1-negative 13.

FS: Gage Foster 16-125 TD, Jax Dineen 18-293 4 TD, Jordan Preston 2-7, Leonjay Mack 1-3, Keenan Garber 1-12, Zach Wilson 5-13, Team 1-negative 7.

Passing

OE: Thomas 13-21–239 TD and INT, Kearney 0-1-0.

FS: Foster 2-5–13 2 INT, Preston 7-14–53 INT.

Receiving

OE: Lewis 6-121 TD, Miles Wills 1-25, Kearney 5-65, Daniel Reed 1-28.

FS: Jaxson Webb 2-13, Jake Rittman 4-40, Mack 1-0, Garber 2-13.

HOW THEY SCORED

First quarter

9:30 — Jax Dineen 43 run. Kameron Lake kick. (FS 7, OE 0.)

7:06 — Hezekiah Newman 8 run. Spencer Grosz kick. (FS 7, OE 7.)

1:38 — Trevon Kearney 64 run. Grosz kick. (OE 14, FS 7.)

0:06 — Connor McCartney 46 interception return. Grosz kick. (OE 21, FS 7.)

Second quarter

2:35 — Lake 22 field goal. (OE 21, FS 10.)

Third quarter

9:29 — TyJuan Lewis 17 pass from Hunter Thomas. Grosz kick. (OE 28, FS 10.)

5:30 — Dineen 13 run. Lake kick. (OE 28, FS 17.)

Fourth quarter

11:50 — Grosz 21 field goal. (OE 31, FS 17.)

10:49 — Dineen 72 run. Lake kick. (OE 31, FS 24.)

5:34 — Gage Foster 4 run. Lake kick. (FS 31, OE 31.)

4:28 — Dineen 8 run. Lake kick. (FS 38, OE 31.)