photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

Lawrence High senior Turner Juelsgaard (12) and teammate Jaxon Becker celebrate after an interception during the City Showdown football game on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025, at Lawrence High School in Lawrence.

For the second time in three weeks, Lawrence football is at the Shawnee Mission North District Stadium taking on Shawnee Mission Northwest. This time, the Lions are looking for revenge.

Shawnee Mission Northwest beat Lawrence 26-7, leaving the Lions 0-6 on the season.

“This is the first time I’ve gotten to play a team twice since I can’t remember,” Lawrence coach Jason Thoren said. “Obviously there’s a familiarity, and they’re a damn good team.”

While the Lions were winless to that point in the season, it was an uncharacteristic loss with what happened in the game. The Lions fumbled the ball several times, and penalties were an issue for the Lions. Knowing that the game last time wasn’t what the Lions can do gives the team some extra motivation heading into Thursday’s playoff game.

“If you give a good team opportunities, they will take advantage of it,” Thoren said. “But it’s a new 48 minutes.”

Last time, the Cougars ran the ball with ease, particularly in the first half. Quarterback Trai Woodruff was the lead carrier, and his rushing ability provided challenges for the Lawrence defense with the Cougars having an additional blocker on the play with the running backs. The Cougars’ use of misdirection and different runs out of similar looks gave the Lions some trouble early in the game.

Lawrence did better defending the run in the second half, with some personnel adjustments and players having a better idea of what the Cougars were running. The Cougars had a couple of deep pass plays in the second half after establishing the ground game. The Lions will have to stay disciplined in the secondary to not bite on any play actions or allow the Cougars to get receivers behind them.

Along with familiarity with the Shawnee Mission Northwest scheme, the Lions had their best week of run defense last week against Free State. Shawnee Mission Northwest has a different scheme than what the Lions saw a week ago with Free State, but the Lions can build on their success with their physicality and put it toward their run defense effort on Thursday.

“It’s a different animal in what type of run you get,” Thoren said. “These guys are good at what they do with the option, with their QB. Their offensive line is quick, and sometimes that can cause problems because the ball shows up in your face quicker than you’re used to.”

Last time, sophomore quarterback Joey Dooley completed 10 of 19 passes for 149 yards, most of which came late in the game when the Lions were down multiple scores. When the game was closer the Lions stuck to the ground game and did well.

Senior running back Tahj Edwards ran for 105 yards on 17 carries, and Thoren said after the game that the team ran the ball efficiently against both light boxes and heavy boxes. What held the Lions back were the miscues, which were often outliers.

This time, the Lions will be without Edwards at running back, who suffered a leg injury against Shawnee Mission North. Junior Ethan Curry started in his place, and he had a 99 yards on 15 carries last week.

The Lions have a few young players who have stepped into major roles with the team. While their varsity experience has grown a lot during the season, it’ll be a new beast to experience the playoffs.

“(The older players) can talk about it, but I think it’s just something you have to experience yourself,” Thoren said. “The speed of it, the intensity of it and everything else. But those young guys are good players. Those young guys are going to end up being great football players, but they have to see it for themselves. They have to adjust.”

Lawrence is coming off its first win of the season, a 24-6 win over Free State. In the game, the Lions shut down the Firebirds offense run game, which had been the Firebirds’ strength. The team attributed the success to the previous week of practices, and said that it was important for the team to bring that sense of urgency to practice through the remainder of the season.

“These are the money games,” Thoren said. “I think we’re excited to play. I thought we were excited to play last week. We’ve had a good week and we’ll build off that.”