Lawrence High football players don’t celebrate moral victories, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t take any pride in their comeback bid last week.

The Lions scored 21 unanswered points in the second half after trailing by 29 at halftime, before an interception in the end zone ended the game.

With that strong finish, the Lions have plenty of confidence entering the first week of districts against Olathe Northwest at 7 tonight at LHS.

“It helped us out a lot because a lot of us thought we were down and out,” senior safety Dearion Cooper said. “When we came back and gave us that stand on the goal line, it just gave us so much more confidence to keep that game going and come back. It was really, really important.”

The Lions (3-3) have played strong football in stretches throughout the season, but their comeback bid made for some of their best.

“I think it’s going to give us a lot of momentum going into this week,” senior linebacker Cy Burghart said. “We put up a lot of points. Our offense looked really good, our defense looked really good. I think it’s going to help us.”

Olathe Northwest (4-2) has been the best in the Sunflower League at stopping the run, limiting offenses to just 92 rushing yards per game. It will be a battle of the line of scrimmage, as the Lions rank second in the league on offense with 286 yards per game on the ground.

The Lions are also focused on making sure their defense allows their offense some breathing room.

“When we get it together, we can pretty much stop anybody is how I feel,” Cooper said. “We just have to make sure we’re on our ‘A’ game every play.”

LHS probable starters

Offense

LT — Stephen Garcia, sr.

LG — Nathan Koehn, jr.

C — Cole Greenwood, sr.

RG — Jacob Unruh, so.

RT — Trey Georgie, jr.

QB — Alan Clothier, jr.

RB — JD Woods, jr.

H — Stevin Hays, sr.

WR — Nyle Anderson, sr.

WR — Zak McAlister, sr.

TE — Price Morgan, jr.

K — Ellis Springe, sr.

P — Luke Zenger, sr.

Defense

DE — Cole Greenwood, sr.

NG — Nathan Koehn, jr.

DE — Trey Georgie, jr.

OLB — Konner Kelley, jr.

ILB — Price Morgan, jr.

ILB — Tanner Green, jr.

OLB — Stevin Hays, sr.

CB — JD Woods, jr.

CB — Ivan Hollins, jr.

SS — J’Mony Bryant, jr.

FS — Dearion Cooper, sr.