photo by: Richard Gwin

Lawrence High senior JD Woods breaks off a long run against Leavenworth on Friday, Sept. 11, 2015, in Leavenworth.

For the second straight week, Lawrence High’s football team raced out to a huge lead in the first half and cruised to a big victory, while Free State made some costly mistakes in a narrow loss. Same results in the record book, but both teams looked improved on Friday.


The Firebirds have an 0-2 record for the first time since 2004, but are probably two or three plays away from being 2-0. Against two talented teams, the Firebirds have proven they can compete with anybody. They’ve just paid the ultimate price for some mistakes. They’ve had four touchdowns called back by penalties this season and had leads, at some point, in five of the eight quarters they’ve played.


Free State’s schedule doesn’t get any easier against LHS this week, but the Firebirds showed improvement against Olathe North. Against a fast and physical defense, they ran for 4.8 yards per carry. But most of all, their bend-but-don’t-break defense looked solid. The Eagles have plenty of playmakers and the Firebirds kept them bottled up. Only one touchdown drive by Olathe North was longer than 20 yards.


“That was the whole key and that’s what we wanted to be,” FSHS coach Bob Lisher said of his defense. “We wanted to do better than last week. We knew we would bend a little bit but we wanted to play better and not break — and we didn’t. I thought overall defensively, we played a bit better.”


Meanwhile, Lawrence High didn’t suffer any drop off from its victory in Week One. Of course it helps when JD Woods can set the tone by rushing for an 89-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage, but the Lions never slowed down on their way to 408 yards on the ground.


Last week, the Lions were disappointed with their second half, knowing they ran out of gas a little early despite their big lead. Not this time. LHS took the gas off when it took a 41-0 lead into the fourth quarter with the backups in, but the starters finished their job through the third quarter.


Now for a look ahead to next week:


Lawrence High at Free State on Friday at 7 p.m. — For the second straight year, we have an early season City Showdown because the two schools are in different districts. The Firebirds have won seven of the last eight matchups. Last year it was a four-point game in the third quarter before the Firebirds scored on three straight drives to pull away for a 31-12 win.

photo by: Richard Gwin

Lawrence High senior JD Woods breaks off a long run against Leavenworth on Friday, Sept. 11, 2015, in Leavenworth.

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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. Benton Smith was at Lawrence High’s game last week, while I was watching Free State.

Lawrence High football

1. JD Woods, sr. RB/CB — When your first touch goes for an 89-yard touchdown and you’re just getting started, it’s kind of your night. Leavenworth had no solution for Woods, who ran behind great blocking and then exploded for monster yards time after time. Finished with 181 yards and 5 touchdowns.


2. Amani Bledsoe, sr. DE/RT — Much like Woods, the big lineman made an early statement. Bladsoe’s came on defense, when he recorded a tackle for a 3-yard loss on Leavenworth’s first play from scrimmage. He also created massive running holes on offense and blocked a punt on special teams. Needless to say, the Pioneers didn’t like seeing him coming their direction.


3. Trey Moore, jr. RB — When the back wasn’t blocking for Woods and quarterback Alan Clothier, he was tallying yardage himself. On one drive late in the second quarter, Moore rushed the ball eight times — all eight plays of the drive — and had 58 yards and a TD.


4. Jacob Unruh, jr. LB/LG — Like so many of Lawrence’s able role players, Unruh did plenty of dirty work on offense by blocking. On defense he read Leavenworth’s offense and kept showing up near the ball. The linebacker came away with a pair of sacks.


5. Alan Clothier, sr. QB — The quarterback made the defense look silly when he kept the ball for runs. When he wasn’t reading the defense and putting the ball in the hands of Woods and Moore, Clothier was taking off for runs of 18, 12, 4, 19, 32 and 31 yards.


6. Price Morgan, sr. LB/TE — The tight end didn’t get to show off his receiving skills in this one, but he happily spent the night keeping Leavenworth defenders away from Lions ball carriers. Defensively, Morgan’s size and speed gave the Pioneers even more problems, as the linebacker steam-rolled a couple of Pioneers near or behind the line of scrimmage.


7. Tanner Green, sr. LB — The linebacker was the first one in on an opening series sack when he and five of his closest friends devoured Leavenworth’s QB. Later, he and Nate Koehn teamed up for two more first-half sacks.


8. J’Mony Bryant sr. CB/WR — In Lawrence’s run-heavy offense there isn’t much glory for a receiver. But Bryant had one of the plays of the night, by taking off down the field to block for Woods on the tone-setting 89-yard TD.


9. Peter Afful, sr. DL — With the Lions rolling, Afful saw a lot of action in the second half. He recovered a fumble in the third quarter, made a touchdown-saving tackle and combined with Hunter Krom for a tackle for loss.


10. Nate Koehn, sr. DT — Lawrence has so many play-makers in its defensive front seven, opponents have a hard time figuring out which to double-team. Koehn came free a few times from the D-line to make plays.


• Next up: Friday at Free State. Record: 2-0.

Free State football

1. Sam Skwarlo, sr. LB/RB — It’s a shame that he fumbled late because it took away from such a great game by Skwarlo. He rushed for 196 yards and a touchdown, including five runs of 15-plus yards. He was just as dominant on defense, making numerous stops at the line of scrimmage. His biggest play was a stop on 4th-and-1 at midfield late in the fourth quarter.


2. Jay Dineen, jr. LB — Along with Skwarlo, Dineen made some huge stops on defense. He was a big reason Olathe North went without a first down in the first and fourth quarters. One big play he made was in the first quarter — on the possession after Free State’s first score — he snuffed out a QB keeper and made a tackle in the backfield on a 3rd-and-4 to force a punt at midfield.


3. Bryce Torneden, sr. QB/S — Olathe North did its best to keep Torneden from finding any space to run. He had a tough time, rushing for 23 yards on 22 attempts, but credit him for making the most of the space he found. He rushed for one touchdown and had another called back on a holding penalty. He also tossed for 114 yards, including a 67-yard strike to Zack Sanders to take a 20-17 lead. Showing off his speed, he nearly beat Sanders to the end zone to celebrate the score.


4. Zack Sanders, jr. WR/CB — Sanders saw how Olathe North’s secondary was playing and took advantage in the biggest moment with a post over the middle of the field for a touchdown. That was his most explosive play, but he also played great defense at cornerback, keeping O-North receivers from making any big plays with strong coverage.


5. Paul Bittinger, sr. LB — If it wasn’t Skwarlo or Dineen making tackles at the line of scrimmage, it was Bittinger. He shed blocks and made some stops in open space. In the second quarter, he recovered a fumble in the red zone, keeping Olathe North from adding points before halftime.


6. Tanner Liba, sr. LT — Skwarlo had his biggest runs through holes opened by the right side of the line and that’s the same side Torneden ran for his touchdown. Liba and Chase Houk did a nice job against a tough defensive front.


7. Darian Lewis, sr. DL — With Jalen Galloway out with an injury for the second half, Lewis stepped up on the defensive line. He was constantly in the backfield blowing up plays.


8. Drew Tochtrop, sr. WR — Helped put the Firebirds in scoring position on their last drive with three catches along the left sideline for 19 yards.


9. Logan McKinney, sr. CB — Olathe North has two explosive receivers: Storey Jackson and Isaiah Simmons. Neither could do much against McKinney, who played tight coverage.


10. Chase Houk, jr. RG — Helped the Firebirds rush for 220 yards against one of the better defenses in the Sunflower League.


• Next up: Friday vs. Lawrence High. Record: 0-2.

The Firdbirds' defense wraps up the Eagles quarterback in the first half of Free State's 24-20 loss against Olathe North Friday at ODAC.

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