photo by: Chance Parker

Lawrence High senior wide receiver John Green celebrates with his teammates after scoring a touchdown against Olathe West Friday night.

Olathe — Pinned back against his own end zone on fourth down, Olathe West sophomore punter Tanner Steenbock received a high snap. The ball slipped out of Steenbock’s hands, falling on the 1-yard line and recovered by a swarming Lawrence High defense.

LHS senior running back Devin Neal capitalized with his second score of the night, helping lead the way on offense for the Lions’ 42-14 victory over the Owls Friday night.

“That’s team football,” LHS coach Steve Rampy said. “That’s the defense playing, the offense playing, both sides of the ball playing. And that’s what you’ve got to do and take advantage of their turnovers.”

Neal finished the night with 208 rushing yards and three touchdowns. The star running back also caught four passes for 31 yards.

“He’s so fast and so explosive through the secondary,” Rampy said. “If you’re not ready for him, it’s hard to catch him. He had several really long runs and did what he can do.”

But it was the LHS defense setting the tone early in the night, recovering a fumble on the first Olathe West drive. Owls senior quarterback Alex Birge scrambled on third down, but lost handle of the ball just past midfield. The Lions quickly jumped on it, giving the ball to Neal and senior quarterback Jackson Dooley.

However, the Owls did find success on the ground Friday. Junior running back Anthony Favrow ran for 111 yards in the first half alone, finishing with 165 rushing yards. Favrow’s 39-yard burst up the middle for a touchdown in the second quarter kept the Owls afloat in the first half.

On top of that, LHS overcame self-inflicted wounds; the Lions committed eight penalties in the game, giving up an extra 60 yards.

Rampy said the penalties weren’t due to poor preparation, but the Lions “not being as mentally sharp as we need to be.”

“I told the kids, ‘This was probably the most penalized game we’ve had since I’ve been here,'” Rampy said. “And that’s just a lack of focus.”

On the other side, the LHS offense found success in the Dooley and Neal duo. First, Neal scampered for a 36-yard touchdown run on the Lions’ first drive of the game. Later, Dooley connected with senior wide receiver John Green on 4th-and-7 for a 32-yard score at the beginning of the second quarter.

Dooley finished 13-for-25 for 180 yards and three touchdowns. Green caught five passes for 87 yards and two touchdowns.

“(Dooley) made a lot of mentally great plays,” Rampy said. “He wasn’t as sharp throwing the ball. But mentally he was really good all night.”

“He read things, saw things, made adjustments well. In the second half he played really well.”

The Lions carried that momentum into the second half, as Dooley found senior wide receiver Tre’ Jackson in the back of the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown. On the next drive, Neal found a seam down the right sideline, breaking away for a 65-yard touchdown.

The same could be said for the LHS defense. Even though the Lions committed a personal foul to set up a 1st-and-goal for the Owls, the Lions put up a successful goal line stand and forced a turnover on downs. Later in the third quarter, senior defensive back Kallun Chitama caught an interception to stop an Olathe West drive.

“One of the biggest series of the game was us stopping them on 4th-and-1, then we took it 99 yards for a touchdown,” Rampy said. “That’s what you’ve got to do (defensively).”

Dooley added the exclamation point, connecting with Green for the second time, this time for a 17-yard touchdown.

The Lions capitalized on opportunities throughout the night, particularly scoring off Olathe West turnovers. While Rampy was proud of the effort on both sides of the ball, he still emphasized room for improvement, especially on defense.

“We have a great defense. We know we have a great defense,” Rampy said. “They made a lot of good plays throughout the game, but we didn’t overall tackle as well as we have in the past. It wasn’t as good of team defense as we’ve played [in past games], so we’ve got to go back and address that and get better at it.”

Lawrence High is next scheduled to play Mill Valley at home on Friday, Sept. 25. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Lawrence High 42, Olathe West 14

LHS | OW

First downs 21 | 12

Rushes-yards 37-278 | 49-226

Passing yards 180 | 61

Total offense 458 | 287

Fumbles-lost 0-0 | 2-2

Interceptions 0 | 1

Penalties-yards 8-60 | 6-35

Score by quarters

Lawrence High 7 14 14 7 — 42

Olathe West 0 7 0 7 — 14

Individual statistics

Rushing

LHS: Devin Neal 20-208, Jackson Dooley 4-38, Jeremy Jacobsen 8-18, Tre’ Jackson 1-9, Graham Hough 4-5

OW: Anthony Favrow 30-165, Mason McGavran 10-39, Alex Birge 7-22, Reggie Dennis 2-0

Passing

LHS: Jackson Dooley 13-25-180

OW: Mason McGavran 5-7-33, Alex Birge 4-6-28

Receiving

LHS: John Green 5-87, Tre’ Jackson 3-45, Devin Neal 4-31, Ntense Obono 1-17

OW: Jamesperry Frazier 3-28, Luke Bishop 3-24, Tanner Zimmerman 1-5, Anthon Favrow 2-4

HOW THEY SCORED:

First quarter

7:37 — Devin Neal 36 run. Gellender kick good. (LHS 7, OW 0)

Second quarter

11:50 — John Green 32 pass from Dooley. Gellender kick good. (LHS 14, OW 0)

6:55 — Anthony Favrow 39 run. McMullen kick good. (LHS 14, OW 7)

3:44 — Devin Neal 1 run. Gellender kick good. (LHS 21, OW 7)

Third quarter

9:55 — Tre’ Jackson 19 pass from Dooley. Gellender kick good. (LHS 28, OW 7)

1:53 — Devin Neal 65 run. Gellender kick good. (LHS 35, OW 7)

Fourth quarter

9:10 — Luke Bishop 4 pass from McGavran. McMullen kick good. (LHS 35, OW 14)

7:19 — John Green 17 pass from Dooley. Gellender kick good. (LHS 42, OW 14)