photo by: Mike Yoder

Free State running back Jax Dineen (33) jumps to celebrate with lineman Turner Corcoran (74) after a touchdown run by Dineen in the Firebirds game against Shawnee Mission South Friday evening at FSHS.

Sure, glamor has its part in the Free State High football program.

A 7-0 record. No. 2 ranking in the state. Stylish uniforms with blends of white, silver and hunter green. Terrific skill players.

But reaching the essence of this football team that dominates opponents on a weekly basis requires peeling off layers of glitz.

“We have to line up and play smash-mouth football, honestly, no matter who we’re playing,” said Turner Corcoran, a 6-foot-6, 290-pound left tackle being recruited by Ohio State, Oklahoma, Notre Dame and other NFL factories.

They play football like cavemen played gladiators, except without the clubs. The physical Firebirds don’t need anything but their hands.

The caveman mentality doesn’t necessarily start up front either. Just because running back Jax Dineen breaks long runs to showcase his speed doesn’t mean that he doesn’t grunt his way through games.

“On pass blocks, I remember last game and a couple of games last year and earlier in the year, I’d be locked up on a guy and I’d see Jax Dineen come in and rib-shot him,” Corcoran said. “I’d be like, ‘Dude, calm down!’ And he’d say, ‘Dude, I can’t right now. I’ve got to send a message.'”

No point in wasting a suggestion.

“Sometimes you’d be like, ‘All right, yeah, let’s go send a message.’ He really fires up the offensive line,” Corcoran said. “If we’re not getting holes for him and getting onto ‘backers, he’ll let us know. So will Malik (Berry, the quarterback) and the other guys.”

The offensive line, a concern of coach Bob Lisher’s coming into the season, has responded well, according to the only head football coach in school history.

Corcoran lines up at left tackle, Shane Skwarlo, 6-1, 225, at left guard, 5-11, 180-pound Kyle Flachsbarth at center, 5-11, 245-pound Zach Rasys at right guard and 6-foot, 245-pound Ryan Lutz at right tackle.

Corcoran is expected to miss Friday night’s crosstown rivalry vs. Lawrence High because of an injury. Frankie Calderon, 6-2, 190, gets the start. Charlie Amaro will rotate in at guard.

Rasys and Skwarlo are seniors. The other five blockers in the O-line rotation are juniors.

“We were a little thin with people who had actually had varsity reps,” Lisher said of the O-line outlook heading into the season. “Shane and Turner. That was it. We were a little concerned, but we’ve had some guys step up and do a great job. Kyle Flachsbarth has stepped in at center for us and has done an outstanding job. He’s not the biggest center in the league, but he does a great job technique-wise, blocking correctly and blocking hard.”

Rasys, according to Lisher, has “played far beyond what we thought he could. He’s just a tough kid, gets off the ball well, knows who to block: gets on him, stays on him, pesters him to death.”

Corcoran expressed pride in the progress made by his line mates.

“These guys up front, they’ve come from getting yelled at every day in practice to getting pats on the back by coach Lisher and the rest of our unit,” Corcoran said. “We’ve matured as a group. When you have an offensive line that works as one unit, you can really take off.”

Rasys said Corcoran plays a bigger role than the pancakes the crowd sees in games.

“He always brings intensity in practice every day, making sure our minds are right,” Rasys said.

The line will look a great deal smaller without Corcoran on the field, but still will have plenty of gray matter.

“These guys are very intelligent and you have to be intelligent as an offensive lineman,” Lisher said. “They’ve done a great job with communicating, getting better fundamentally and coming off the ball and fighting.”

Corcoran isn’t the only talented teammate who enables the rest of the blockers to play with more confidence.

“Having Jax running the ball, it definitely gives us in the sense of if you miss a block if you mess up, he definitely can make up for it with how hard he runs and how strong he is,” Skwarlo said.