Bryce Torneden (1) runs forward for a gain in yards in the second quarter Thursday night at SM South District Stadium.

Overland Park ? After losing games in the past two weeks, Free State High football players were sick of just talking about how they were going to turn their season around. They were ready to show it.

On a night full of heavy rain, the Firebirds made a quick statement, scoring touchdowns on their first two drives.

That’s all they would need as they cruised for the rest of the game in a 21-6 slugfest over Shawnee Mission South on Thursday at SM South District Stadium.

On the fifth play of the game, junior quarterback Bryce Torneden went up the middle and cut right before sprinting past the defense for a 55-yard touchdown run.

Torneden highlighted Free State’s second drive when he converted a third-and-10 from midfield on a 35-yard run on an option before he scored on a two-yard plunge four plays later.

The Firebirds (3-3) have struggled to complete drives over the past few weeks, but they were ready to pound the ball on the ground on Thursday, running for 248 yards, and make it show up on the scoreboard.

“We just locked it in this week,” senior lineman Shane Hofer said. “We haven’t finished drives all year, so this was about the time we do it. It’s week six — we would have liked for it come quicker — but we finally did it.”

Torneden, who ran for 154 yards on 16 attempts, found plenty of holes on option plays as he showed poise by making the right cuts at the right time and making smart pitches when he had no running room.

“With these weather conditions, we couldn’t pass a lot,” Torneden said. “Neither could they. So that’s just our bread and butter. We’ve been running that forever.”

The Raiders (1-5) tried to throw the ball on their first drive of the game, but a throw on a long third down was tipped by senior linebacker Tye Carter before senior cornerback Andrew Keating intercepted the pass.

Keating added another interception, his fourth of the season, on another long third-down throw on SM South’s first drive of the second quarter.

The Firebirds changed their defensive scheme this week because of injuries, playing with just two linebackers. It worked like a charm.

“Defensively we played pretty well,” FSHS coach Bob Lisher said. “It’s a new scheme. We put it in this week because we were getting low on linebackers. …Our guys did a pretty good job of picking that up.”

Even with less linebackers, Free State was ready to stop most run plays. The Raiders were held to just 173 yards on the ground on 47 attempts, an average of 3.7 yards per carry.

“Our D-line did a great job of holding the line of scrimmage,” junior linebacker Paul Bittinger said. “That gave us a good advantage to make plays.”

Free State added a touchdown early in the fourth quarter. Junior running back Khaury El-Amin, who ran for 62 yards on 13 carries, helped the Firebirds past midfield with a pair of long runs before Torneden found Carter on two consecutive passes. The second toss was a 26-yard touchdown strike down the middle of the field. Carter caught the ball and was hit around the six-yard line but carried defenders into the end zone.

“We had run that three times,” Torneden said. “I missed it the first two. Coach got on me and I knew I had to hit it.”

With districts starting next week, the Firebirds were just happy to get back in the win column and get some momentum back on their side.

“We knew we had to come out strong,” Torneden said. “We just had to come out and put them down early.”

Free State 21, SM South 6

SMS FS

First downs 9 8

Rushes-yards 47-173 37-248

Passing yards 10 37

Total offense 183 285

Return yards 57 22

Fumbles-lost 4-1 2-2

Penalties-yards 1-10 4-35

Score by quarters

Free State 14 0 0 7 — 21

SM South 0 0 0 6 — 6

Individual statistics

Rushing

FS: Bryce Torneden 16-154 2 TD, Carson Bowen 1-5, Joe Lane 6-24, Joel Spain 1-3, Khaury El-Amin 13-62.

SMS: Dalton Lewallen 19-76 TD, Marshall Bland 8-12, Matt Hollingsworth 15-39, Zach McQueen 5-49.

Passing

FS: Torneden 2-5-37 TD and INT.

SMS: Hollingsworth 0-4-0 2 INT, McQueen 2-2-10, Lewallen 0-1-0.

Receiving

FS: Tye Carter 2-37 TD.

SMS: Bland 1-(minus) 5, Ryan Dubinski 1-15.

HOW THEY SCORED

First quarter

9:56 — Bryce Torneden 55 run. Jack Flynn kick good. (FS 7, SMS 0.)

3:12 — Torneden 2 run. Flynn kick good. (FS 14, SMS 0.)

Fourth quarter

10:53 — Tye Carter 26 pass from Torneden. Flynn kick good. (FS 21, SMS 0.)

1:32 — Dalton Lewallen 3 run. Cody Corbin kick failed. (FS 21, SMS 7.)