photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Free State sophomore Finn Moore runs for a touchdown at Shawnee Mission North Thursday, October 10, 2024, in Overland Park.

The Free State football team (4-2) is looking to extend its winning streak to four on Friday night as it hosts Shawnee Mission Northwest.

The Firebirds are coming off of a 24-21 victory at Shawnee Mission North last Thursday. In a game filled with turnovers and other mishaps, the ability to make plays when it mattered made the difference in the win.

“The defense really battled, they had some short fields that they had to defend and they did a good job,” head coach Kevin Stewart said. “We made some mistakes that gave (Shawnee Mission North) opportunities to get points, but they did stand up several times so it was a good defensive effort at times.”

With the defense having held strong all season, the offense will look to get itself back on track against the Cougars. The success of the offense starts with sophomore quarterback Finn Moore, who will be making his second straight start at quarterback after the injury to senior Boston Baker.

The insertion of Moore into the offense has created a challenge for the Firebirds as they gear up for a postseason run.

“I think it’s trying to get Finn reps, trying to get timing down, you know, in the middle of the season,” Stewart said on trying to get the offense its rhythm back. “It’s pretty hard to just bring in a new quarterback on limited reps. We’re just trying to find ways to be efficient and effective on offense.”

Luckily for Stewart’s offense, there are plenty of pieces to choose from to help surround Moore.

Senior wide receiver Bralin Preston got deployed in a variety of ways in the win over Shawnee Mission North, catching three passes for 77 yards and even rushing for a 20-yard touchdown. Along with Preston, senior wide receiver Landon Leipold has shown positive signs throughout the season, and fellow senior wideout Braiden Blanchard has started to make his presence known in the past few weeks as well.

For the Cougars (4-2), they are riding high on a three-game winning streak of their own, including a 34-0 shutout of Olathe South last week.

Shawnee Mission Northwest presents a flexbone offense, highlighted by a strong offensive line and a duo of running backs who will present size and strength to the Free State defensive front.

The Firebirds saw a similar style to the flexbone offense in week one with Shawnee Mission East, and while it helps that they’ve experienced that, the Cougars add a different dimension that the Firebirds didn’t see in week one.

“Shawnee Mission Northwest runs more triple option, so just more of the option stuff, whereas Shawnee Mission East would run more run schemes out of it,” Stewart said.

With just two more regular season games to go and the playoffs just around the corner, Stewart knows that his squad controls its own destiny.

As it stands, Shawnee Mission Northwest currently holds the No. 3 seed in the 6A East bracket, while Free State holds the No. 7 seed due to average point differential, making Friday night’s matchup monumental in the grand scheme of things.

“It’s going to be very important to win this game, and if we don’t win this game, we’re going to have to win next week,” Stewart said.

Kickoff on Friday night is set for 7 p.m.