photo by: John Young

Lawrence High's Jams Murry (66), Santino Gee (25) and Price Morgan (81) work to bring down Shawnee Mission South junior Cam Union (1) during their game Friday night at LHS. The Lions won, 42-6, and improved their record to 5-0 on the season.

Free State High football players warned everybody that they were a lot better than their record showed this season and they had a lot of confidence heading into Friday’s game against Shawnee Mission East, the defending state champions.


Message received, loud and clear. The Firebirds upset the Lancers, 32-20, knocking off the top-ranked team in the state.


Most teams have trouble stopping SM East’s flexbone offense because it’s so fast and nobody else in the Sunflower League runs it, so most teams are pretty unfamiliar with it until game week.


One way to stop SM East’s offense is by not giving the Lancers the ball. The Firebirds ran the ball with authority, rushing for 334 yards on 58 carries, bleeding out the clock. Credit the Firebirds, who had so many new linemen to begin the season, proving they aren’t quite new and inexperienced anymore.


“(Free State) played outstanding,” SM East coach Dustin Delaney told the KC Star. “Their skill kids are really good and they played in space. They did it all night — outplayed us and outcoached us. They deserve to have a nice win like they did.”


Lawrence High’s football team took care of business in a 42-6 victory over SM South last Friday. Senior running back JD Woods ran for 257 yards and four touchdowns on 12 carries (21.4 yards per attempt) to lead the LHS offense.


Defensively, the Lions held the Raiders to just 18 total yards in the first half with strong performances by all of their defensive linemen.


The Lions haven’t played the toughest schedule but it’s impressive how much they’ve dominated in the first half of games, never allowing themselves an off night. With the exception of their 14-12 win over Free State, the Lions own a 118-6 scoring advantage in the first halves of games this year.


With the loss of SM East — and Blue Valley lost by one point to BV North in a wild finish — the Lions are ranked #1 in the state in most polls (the coaches’ poll usually comes out later in the week). But perhaps even bigger than that, if the Lions win this week, they will be guaranteed a share of the Sunflower League title for the first time since 1993. Only the first six games count in the league standings because district play begins the week afterward.


Now for a look ahead to next week:


Olathe South at Lawrence High on Friday at 7 p.m. — The Falcons (1-4) have played a tough schedule this season but have struggled offensively, scoring only 49 points this season. In last week’s 46-7 loss to SM West, backup RB Ben Smith ran in a 6-yard TD in the fourth quarter. The Falcons also have an explosive kick returner with Jamison Phelps and a shifty running back in DaeVonte Nance, who ran for 245 yards against LHS last season.


Shawnee Mission South vs. Free State on Friday at 7 p.m. — Friday will mark the return of SM South coach Brett Oberzan, who was an assistant at Free State for 11 seasons as a defensive coordinator and wide receivers coach. The Raiders (0-5) are clearly in rebuilding mode with some undersized linemen. They’ve only scored 34 points this season. Against LHS last week, they struggled to run the ball until Kyheim Matthews ran for a 58-yard TD on the game’s final play.

photo by: John Young

Lawrence High's Jams Murry (66), Santino Gee (25) and Price Morgan (81) work to bring down Shawnee Mission South junior Cam Union (1) during their game Friday night at LHS. The Lions won, 42-6, and improved their record to 5-0 on the season.

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In case you missed it, we’re copying one of the popular features of KUsports.com, “Keegan’s Ratings,” where Sports Editor Tom Keegan ranks KU football and men’s basketball players after every game he attends. These individual rankings are just one person’s opinion, but it’s a good way to look at how each person impacted each game. I was at Lawrence High and Benton Smith covered Free State last week.

Lawrence High football

1. JD Woods, RB — Set the tone on the very first play with a 70-yard touchdown and never slowed down. Woods finished with 257 yards and four touchdowns on only 12 attempts, a ridiculous 21.4 yards per carry. He’s now up to 780 rushing yards, 10 away from Olathe North’s Vinnie Shabazz for the league lead.


2. Konner Kelley, LB — Huge day for the 6-foot-1, 185-pound senior, who was constantly in the backfield. I had him down for three tackles for loss, including a four-yard loss on SM South’s first possession when the Raiders were at midfield.


3. Amani Bledsoe, DE/RT — Another strong game from Bledsoe, who recorded a sack in the first quarter and essentially forced a fumble in the third quarter. He also had some big blocks on the offensive line, using his size and strength to frustrate SM South linemen.


4. Trey Georgie, DE/LT — Along with Bledsoe, Georgie had a big game on the defensive line. He had at least four tackles in the backfield and was just too much for the Raiders’ linemen when using his 6-foot-5, 260-pound frame. Woods also credited Georgie with strong blocking on his first touchdown run.


5. Jake Unruh, DT/LG — Unruh caused havoc in the backfield, going through gaps to make tackles at the line of scrimmage, including one stop where he lost his helmet. He added a sack before halftime when the Raiders were at midfield.


6. Nate Koehn, DL — The Raiders only had 51 rushing yards on 42 attempts before their touchdown on the game’s final play. A big reason was Koehn, who blew up plays at the line of scrimmage. He added a sack on the SM South’s first possession.


7. Price Morgan, LB/TE — With the Lions’ defensive line playing so well, Morgan didn’t make as many tackles as usual — nor did he need to. He combined with Koehn for a sack on SM South’s first possession and plugged up gaps on run plays. He also had two catches for 37 yards at tight end.


8. Tanner Green, LB/TE — Similar to Morgan, you didn’t hear his name as much as usual because of how well the defensive line was playing. He made a tackle for a four-yard loss on the last play of the first half, then made a couple more stops in the backfield in the third quarter.


9. Alan Clothier, QB — The Lions didn’t need to air the ball out much with their success on the ground, but Clothier turned in another strong performance. He was 6-of-7 for 61 yards, hitting some receivers in stride. He also ran in a one-yard touchdown on a QB sneak.


10. J’Mony Bryant, DB/WR — Along with strong blocking on a couple of long runs by Woods, Bryant played well at defensive back, making tackles at the line of scrimmage or in the backfield. Twice the Raiders ran option plays to his side and both times Bryant drilled the running back for a loss.


Honorable Mention: Ivan Hollins, CB/WR — Winning on and off the field, congratulations to the LHS homecoming king.


• Next up: Friday vs. Olathe South. Record: 5-0.

Free State football

1. Sam Skwarlo — The senior running back’s legs looked stronger as the game went on, and his 172-yard, three-touchdown performance played a crucial role in Free State’s upset road win.


2. Bryce Torneden — The senior quarterback didn’t have a bad first half throwing the ball (4-for-8 for 54 yards) but the game plan called for a run-only second half and Torneden did plenty of that, finishing with 134 rushing yards and a TD.


3. Jay Dineen — The fiery junior linebacker seemed to show up near the ball carrier every time the deceptive SME offense ran the ball in the second half.


4. Kameron Lake — A freshman kicker, Lake’s leg gave FSHS a huge boost, and a lead, just before halftime with a 28-yard field goal. In the In the fourth quarter, his 33-yard field goal made him the first Firebird in program history to make two in a game.


5. Drew Wise — The 6-foot-1, 220-pound junior linebacker looked massive every time he got to one of the SME skill players and his hits and size had to wear down the Lancers’ batch of play-makers. Also stymied a SME 2-point conversion with a tackle.


6. Sam Hambleton — The junior defensive lineman helped Free State fight at the line of scrimmage all night, and came up with the first key play of the night, a fumble recovery on East’s first drive of the game.


7. Zion Bowlin — When Skwarlo and Torneden weren’t carrying the offensive load, the junior running back filled in nicely and provided a change of pace. Ran for 28 yards as FSHS kept its ground game rolling.


8. Logan McKinney — The 6-foot-4 wide receiver proved productive in the first half, when the Firebirds let the Lancers know they were in for a fight. McKinney caught three passes for 45 yards. His 20-yard grab to open the second quarter set up Free State’s first lead.


9. Drew Tochtrop — Along with his solid play at linebacker, Tochtrop came up with a massive punt early in the third quarter that helped take the sting out of a FSHS three-and-out. His 54-yard kick dribbled down inside the SME 5-yard line, and the Lancers would have to punt instead of going for it on their next fourth down, due to the field position.


10. Noah Kema — The junior defensive lineman was in on one of the biggest defensive stops of the game for FSHS. With just more than five minutes left, Kema, Skwarlo and Dineen converged on SME running back Wyatt Edmisten and held him to a two-yard gain on fourth-and-four.


• Next up: Friday vs. SM South. Record: 2-3.

Sam Skwarlo goes wide outside for yards in the first half as Free State played Shawnee Mission East Friday in Overland Park. The Firebirds won, 32-20.

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It’s the last week of Sunflower League play before districts begin — the final year of the district format. Here’s quick look at the districts that Free State and Lawrence High will be playing in:


District 4:


Lawrence High, 5-0


Olathe North, 5-0* (lost to Rogers-Heritage (Arkansas) in Week 1, but Rogers-Heritage later forfeited the game because of an ineligible player.)


Olathe Northwest, 4-1


Olathe East, 3-2


District 5:


Topeka High, 5-0


Manhattan, 4-1


Washburn Rural, 4-1


Free State, 2-3
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