photo by: Nathan Friedman/Special to the Journal-World

Free State junior quarterback Finn Moore fights through defenders during the game against Olathe East High School on Friday, Sept. 26, 2025, in Lawrence.

Free State football will open its quest for a state championship on Friday night with a familiar opponent in Olathe East.

The Firebirds and Hawks have already played once this season, with the Firebirds coming away with a 35-27 victory in Week 4 of the regular season.

Despite the familiarity, the Firebirds are continuing to make positional and personnel changes because of injury, as well as preparing for an Olathe East offense that has mixed in more heavy-run packages along with the Wing-T formation.

“The challenge for us is putting the pieces together of what we have available,” Free State coach Kevin Stewart said. “We’re trying to put together a good defensive front where we feel like we’re strong at positions to make sure we feel like we can stop these guys.”

Olathe East enters with a 3-5 record and is coming off two consecutive wins against Shawnee Mission West, 41-22, and Olathe North, 21-19.

The Hawks, much like the Firebirds, are dealing with injuries this time of year, including to wide receiver Benji Burton, who in the previous matchup with Free State caught two passes for 120 yards and had two touchdowns, one on an 82-yard pass and another on a 3-yard run.

Because of the injury to Burton, Olathe East has instilled even more trust in his brother, quarterback Milo Burton, to lead the offense and make plays on his own.

“I think they’ve finally just decided, ‘We’re just going to let (Milo Burton) do what he can do.'” Stewart said. “They’ve become more focused on doing the best they can with what they have. It seems like now, they’re going with what works the best, so that’s given them some opportunities to have some success.”

On the other hand, Free State is coming off consecutive losses to Olathe North and Lawrence. A common trend in both of these games has been struggles in the run game, as teams have started to take away the running abilities of both quarterback Finn Moore and running back Maddon Brittingham, who have been the catalysts of the offense all season.

A lot of teams, including Olathe East, have run a 4-2-5 defense against the Firebirds, which Stewart says has been frustrating, knowing what’s coming and still not having as much success in the past few weeks compared to the first six weeks of the season.

Moore has been at the top of opposing scouting reports all season long as a runner, but now, Stewart says the team needs to allow the junior quarterback to make plays, whether that be on the ground or through the air.

“We need to let Finn take the keys to the car and be a quarterback,” Stewart said. “He’s very capable, and so the guys that we have out there just have to step up.”

Last time against Olathe East, Moore completed 7 of 11 passes for 146 yards and three touchdowns, along with 127 rush yards on 25 carries.

This time of year, it’s important to have young players step into contributing roles, and with a team like Free State, which continues to deal with injuries, some of those new pieces happen to be freshmen getting their first taste of varsity experience.

One freshman in particular who will step into a bigger role in the playoffs is wide receiver Packson McDaniel, who has seen time at the position over the past few weeks and has earned his coaches’ confidence to make plays.

“It’s hard to be too confident in a freshman, but he’s shown us all year that he’s a good football player,” Stewart said. “He’s got some confidence, some swagger… We’ll see how he does.”

A win in round one over the 11th-seeded Hawks would allow the sixth-seeded Firebirds to get back on track after starting the season 5-1 and build back the confidence the team once had to make a deep run in the playoffs.

“We have to get back to having some confidence and some belief and some energy in who we are as a team,” Stewart said. “It just feels like there’s been this cloud over us now for almost two straight weeks. We’ve got to get out of this funk.”