Free State football (4-3) battled back from an 11-point halftime deficit, but a costly fumble on the potential game-winning drive sealed the deal, as it fell to Shawnee Mission Northwest (5-2), 27-24 on Friday night.

“I was really proud of their effort and their fight,” head coach Kevin Stewart said. “They really had a battle, and they had a chance to win the game, and they came back from a deficit. They showed us what we needed to see.”

Senior running back Parker Moore put together his best game of the year with 101 yards on the ground and three touchdowns, as well as a slew of stops on the defensive end. Despite Moore coughing up the game-deciding fumble, Stewart is still proud of his senior leader.

“He’s got to keep his head up, I know he’s going to be hurting a little bit, but if he didn’t make the plays that he made tonight, then we wouldn’t have been in that position anyway,” Stewart said.

After receiving the opening kickoff, Shawnee Mission Northwest marched 80 yards down the field, showing off its flexbone offense with a diet of only run plays. The drive was capped off after running back Joshua Mackiewicz found a hole on the left side for a 26-yard rush to put his team up 7-0.

The persistence of the flexbone offense made it difficult for Free State’s defense in the early going.

“It’s really hard to stop,” Stewart said. “And they were doing some things where they were cracking the edge a lot and getting our linebackers cracked and sealed and we were having a hard time getting out to the pitch.”

Coming off of an injury that left him out of last week’s contest, wide receiver Maddon Brittingham made his presence known early for the Firebirds, taking the next kickoff to the Cougars’ 22-yard line. The Firebirds, using their own rushing attack, needed seven plays before Moore found the endzone on a wildcat run to even up the score.

Shawnee Mission Northwest had gotten whatever it wanted on the first drive, but its second drive was cut short. Linebacker Crow Bengoa came up with a huge turnover for the Free State defense, forcing a fumble to once again give the offense good field possession.

Following a false start on the first play of the drive, the Firebirds couldn’t regain ground and the drive ended in a 41-yard field goal from kicker Yusef Iskandrani to go up 10-7.

The Free State defense failed to find a second consecutive stop, and Shawnee Mission Northwest responded in emphatic fashion. Facing fourth-and-8, quarterback Logan Morley rolled out and found Mackiewicz for a 37-yard touchdown reception.

The Cougars forced a Firebird punt to regain possession, and had no issue driving down the field to extend their lead. With the aid of multiple pass interference calls, the Cougars capitalized on a broken play after wide receiver Traimyre Woodruff dropped a pitch but quickly picked it up off the turf and raced away for a 29-yard score to close the first half.

Staring at an 11-point deficit, the message at halftime from Stewart to his team was pretty simple: “We got to do everything we can to score right here.”

Despite the drive starting deep in its own territory after a block in the back penalty on the kickoff, the Free State offense wasn’t going to back down from the challenge in the locker room. On the fourth play of the drive, Moore found an open hole and was off and away for a 72-yard touchdown.

Three plays into the Cougars’ series, Morley looked as if he was going to respond with a long touchdown run of his own but tripped on his own two feet and fell at the Firebird 13-yard line. Two plays later, Woodruff took a pitch on the right side for his second score of the night to extend the lead to 10.

Free State came up with two straight defensive stops, and after the latter of the two, found a perfectly timed score. Quarterback Finn Moore found Brittingham for a 43-yard reception, setting up his brother, Parker Moore, for his third touchdown run of the night.

The Firebirds got the ball back to the offense with around three minutes left after forcing a fumble, and looked destined to at least send the game to overtime before Moore’s fumble put the game on ice.

Free State will close out its regular season next Friday as it hosts LHS in the City Showdown.

Score by quarters

Shawnee Mission Northwest (5-2) – 7 14 6 0

Free State (4-3) – 10 0 7 4

How they scored

First quarter

07:30 – Joshua Mackiewicz 26-yard run. Jack Williams kick is good. (SMNW 7 FS 0)

04:24 – Parker Moore 7-yard run. Yusef Iskandrani kick is good. (FS 7 SMNW 7)

0:20 – Iskandrani 41-yard field goal. (FS 10 SMNW 7)

Second quarter

09:11 – Logan Morley 37-yard pass to Mackiewicz. Williams kick is good. (SMNW 14 FS 10)

02:13 – Traimyre Woodruff 29-yard run. Williams kick is good. (SMNW 21 FS 10)

Third quarter

10:11 – P. Moore 72-yard touchdown run. Iskandrani kick is good. (SMNW 21 FS 17)

07:58 – Woodruff 4-yard run. Williams kick is no good. (SMNW 27 FS 17)

Fourth quarter

08:30 – P. Moore 3-yard run. Iskandrani kick is good. (SMNW 27 FS 24)