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

Free State junior quarterback Finn Moore throws the ball during the Football Jamboree, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in Lawrence.

Coming off a 6-4 record a season ago that included a trip to the second round of the KSHSAA 6A playoffs, the Free State football team will begin a new season at home against two-time defending state champion Gardner Edgerton on Friday at 7 p.m.

The Trailblazers are no strangers to success, and despite losing all-state quarterback Bravin Powell to graduation, they still remain one of the top teams in the state.

Gardner Edgerton utilizes a wishbone formation and can challenge defenses with runs up the middle, counter plays to the outside, or even the triple option. With such a diverse offensive scheme, the Trailblazers are able to use a slew of weapons that can hurt opposing defenses.

“I told our team, and our coaches specifically, that their offense is very challenging to stop, regardless of who is playing what position,” Free State head coach Kevin Stewart said. “You have to be assignment-sound, you have to be disciplined, and even if you do those things, you still have to make one-on-one tackles.”

Senior fullback Syre Padilla will lead the Trailblazers’ offense following a 2024 season in which he ran for 1,597 and 15 touchdowns on his way to receiving second-team All-Sunflower League honors.

“He looks like the real deal to me, he looks like a great high school back, so we’ve got to be able to stop him and be physical,” Stewart said.

With the run-heavy attack that Gardner Edgerton uses, Stewart says that the most important piece of the Firebirds’ defense will be the defensive line, which will need to set the tone and match the physicality of the opposing offensive line.

“They have to play sound football,” Stewart said. “The key to playing a team like this is to create knockback at the line of scrimmage, so you have to be physical, and then you have to do your job and play at the line of scrimmage.”

On the other side of the ball, the Trailblazers are just as physical from a defensive standpoint, led by a few returners in junior safety Penn McCall and senior linebacker Charlie Drinkard. The rest of the defense is filled with newcomers, and leaves some uncertainty for the Firebird offense.

“The reality of it is, they have a lot of new guys on defense and we just don’t know what they’re gonna do. We have an idea, but (with it) being week one, we just don’t know until we get out there and see them,” Stewart said. “Knowing Gardner, I expect them to be aggressive and I expect them to play physical.”

According to Stewart, the key for Free State, in simple terms, will be to score points on offense. The Firebirds primarily operate in a spread offense, so being successful with both the run and the pass games and taking what the defense gives them will allow the Firebirds to match the Trailblazers’ firepower.

“(We have to) establish the run game to start, and then whenever they come up to defend the run, we have to be able to execute the passing game and hit open receivers,” Stewart said. “They’re not really a ‘bend but don’t break team,’ they’re a team that is aggressive and they’re going to challenge you. Whenever they step up (to defend the run), because they will, we have to be able to execute the passing game and be able to attack them.”

With an almost entirely new offensive lineup, Free State is still confident in the receivers it has, but will find out more about the group in their first taste of game action.

“I think that we have some talent there, but the reality of it, we’re not going to know until the first game,” Stewart said. “I like what we have, we’ve got a couple quick guys in the slot, we have some good speed on the outside, (but) we’ll have to see how they respond.”

The good news for the Firebirds is that they open the season with back-to-back home games, allowing the new group to be able to settle in and become comfortable with the speed of play before having to play three of its final four regular season games on the road.

“You couldn’t ask for a better start just to develop some team consistency and some routine,” Stewart said. “With a new team and that fact that we have a lot of new starters, being able to have a few weeks in a row at home should really help us establish our team and our identity.”

With fall camp and week-zero jamborees now in the rear-view, Free State will get a good chance to see how it performs when the lights are at their brightest. Friday’s opener will be the first test for the Firebirds, who expects to steadily develop into a strong team once the playoffs roll around.