Free State High senior Carson Gilliland had seen enough.

Enough losses. Enough shutouts.

Three seasons in a row, Free State’s crosstown rival not only kept the Firebirds’ boys soccer team winless in City Showdowns, they also held them scoreless.

Thursday night on their home field, the Firebirds snapped both of those streaks by knocking off Lawrence, 3-1.

Junior Will Laufer scored the final two goals in the second half to seal the victory, but Gilliland helped Free State strike first, re-directing the ball behind him with his back foot on a corner kick from junior Jordan Patrick in the 13th minute.

“I didn’t expect it to go near post,” Gilliland said of where he made the play and gave FSHS a 1-0 lead. “It just came a little bit to my right and I just jumped and flicked it behind my heel. I expected just to play it back so someone could get a rebound or maybe knock it off somebody else. I saw it go in the back of the net underneath the keeper.”

During the first 20 minutes of the rivalry game, Free State dominated the game, controlling possession as rain drizzled on the artificial turf, making for slippery conditions.

It wasn’t until the 38th minute when LHS senior forward Jakob Burdett came up with an equalizer, with a perfect crack from the left side that made it nearly impossible to stop.

Lions coach Mike Murphy said his team’s slow start contributed to the end of a four-game winning streak this season.

“Whether it helped (the Firebirds) gain some confidence or not, I don’t know,” the LHS coach said. “I think we played pretty well in the stretch after that, but we just didn’t come out aggressive enough, didn’t come out hard enough. We’ve gotta figure out a way to be stronger in the first 20 minutes.”

Coming out of halftime, neither side could break the tie until Laufer took a free kick from the right side of the field in the 58th minute. His perfect placement — just under the cross bar, just above goalkeeper Andrew Ornburn’s hand — gave Free State a 2-1 advantage.

The junior then sealed the game from roughly 35 yards out in the 78th minute. The score sent the nearby home crowd into a frenzy and Laufer looked their way in disbelief.

“I was actually trying to go near post,” Laufer said, “kind of cut it a little bit. But it went in, so it’s all good.”

Now 6-3-1, Lawrence expected more offensive chances, Burdett said.

“We didn’t really get the ball up the field. We were just really nervous and nothing was clicking for us the whole night,” the senior said. “We can only get better from this.”

Gilliland knows all too well how it feels to come up empty in the annual rivalry game.

“Over the past three years, our Free State varsity team has not scored once,” the senior said. “It’s all been shutouts. This game, to get three goals and be able to contribute to that, it’s just an amazing feeling, especially being a senior.”