photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Junior quarterback Finn Moore searches for an open teammate to throw the ball to in Free State’s game against Manhattan on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Lawrence.

In a battle of the top teams in class 6A, Free State (1-1) struggled in all facets of the game on Friday night in Lawrence, falling to Manhattan (2-0), 47-7.

“Truthfully, we were pretty much outclassed and outmatched in every part of the game,” head coach Kevin Stewart said. “As prepared as we were last week, we were equally as unprepared this week, and so, you know, that’s how it went. We started off bad, we didn’t get any better.”

A major cause of the Firebirds’ struggles was the success of the Manhattan offense. The Indians scored on seven of their 10 drives and racked up 422 total yards of offense compared to 137 yards by the Firebirds.

The success that Manhattan had offensively against the Free State defense was deflating for a team that features multiple starters that play on both sides of the ball.

“We had two opportunities (to get a stop),” Stewart said. “Going in 21-7 at halftime, we still have a chance, you just got to get a stop and a score … I think that deflated us, giving up the touchdown right after the half.”

On the other end, Manhattan’s defensive game plan of forcing the Firebirds’ offense to throw the ball to the outside made it difficult for quarterback Finn Moore and company to find any rhythm.

“Blitzing right up the middle and containing our edge, that’s all they were doing,” Stewart said. “Just straight cover zero, man-to-man; we couldn’t get open.”

Free State couldn’t get anything going its first two drives offensively, picking up just seven yards on six plays, without earning a single first down.

In the Week 1 win, Free State totaled 291 rushing yards. Against Manhattan, the team had just 56 yards on the ground. Stewart credits the Manhattan defensive line for winning the battle in the trenches.

“This week, they got after our offensive line,” he said. “Those are the guys on our team. It’s no secret, we put some things on film, people know who we are. We got a good offensive line. We got a few good backs, and so, our offensive line has got to play better than that.”

The Indians made the Firebirds pay for the slow start, taking an early 14-0 lead after a 4-yard touchdown run by quarterback Mclain Aslin on their first drive and a 37-yard touchdown reception by JJ Dunnigan on the second drive.

On their third drive of the first quarter, the Firebirds started to find success thanks to a pair of penalties by Manhattan to set up good field position. Moore found running back Maddon Brittingham for a 29-yard completion to get inside the red zone, before Brittingham took a 10-yard counter for a touchdown to cut into the deficit.

The Free State defense got its first stop of the game early in the second quarter after forcing an incompletion on fourth down.

On the ensuing drive, Moore found tight end Liam Collins for a 12-yard reception before the Firebird offense suffered three straight negative plays, giving the Indians the ball back.

On the second play of the ensuing drive, Aslin lost control of the ball and it was picked up by Free State linebacker Ethan Prescott for the first turnover of the game. The second turnover was just three plays later, as after a 36-yard pass from Moore to receiver Shawn Overstreet, the next play resulted in a fumble recovery by Manhattan’s Garrison Vikander.

Manhattan made Free State pay by putting together an eight-play, 62-yard drive that resulted in Aslin’s second touchdown of the night on a 14-yard run. Free State ran two more plays before taking the game to halftime trailing 21-7.

The Indians offense picked up right where it left off out of the locker room thanks to a long return by Dunnigan on the second-half kickoff to put the ball at the Free State 22-yard line.

“(Dunnigan)’s just better than all our guys, there’s no doubt about that,” Stewart said. “I’m not going to blame our kids for that, (I’m) not going to blame our coaches. We told our coaches, ‘We’re not kicking to him.’ We tried not kicking to him.”

After a trifecta of false-start penalties knocked the Indians back to the 18-yard line, Finn Watson found tight end Greyson Wassenberg for an 18-yard receiving touchdown.

The Firebird offense picked up a first down on its first drive of the second half after a 20-yard run by Moore, before stalling out after a pair of penalties and a 14-yard sack by Manhattan on third down.

Manhattan continued to run the ball with success on the following drive with both of its quarterbacks. Aslin picked up first downs on back-to-back plays with gains of 17 and 16 yards. Three players later, it was Watson who dove his way into the end zone for an 11-yard score.

While the Free State offense continued to struggle, Manhattan thrived offensively and scored on its next two drives, with touchdown runs of 63 and seven yards by Ja’Marcus Vornes and Aslin, respectively, to put the game on ice.

Both teams ran out the clock for the final eight minutes as the Firebrids fell to 1-1 on the season.

Free State will look to make changes moving forward as it will be on the road on Sept. 19, taking on Shawnee Mission West.

“Well, number one, just watch some of this film and see what mistakes we made, because we have good players, and see why they kicked our butt so bad,” Stewart said. “And then number two, we got to figure out what we can do against these good teams. (Manhattan)’s a good football team, and they manhandled us.”

Score by quarters

Manhattan 14 7 19 7 – 47

Free State 7 0 0 0 – 7

How they scored

First quarter

7:45 – Mclain Aslin 4-yard run. Prescott Balderson PAT good. MHS 7, FS 0.

3:54 – JJ Dunnigan 37-yard pass from Finn Watson. Balderson PAT good. MHS 14, FS 0.

1:15 – Maddon Brittingham 10-yard run. Micah Jones PAT good. MHS 14, FS 7.

Second quarter

1:23 – Aslin 14-yard run. Balderson PAT good. MHS 21, FS 7.

Third quarter

8:35 – Greyson Wassenberg 18-yard pass from Watson. Balderson PAT good. MHS 28, FS 7.

3:28 – Watson 11-yard run. Balderson PAT no good. MHS 34, FS 7.

1:24 – Ja’Marcus Vornes 63-yard run. Balderson PAT no good. MHS 40, FS 7.

Fourth quarter

8:00 – Aslin 14-yard run. Balderson PAT good. MHS 47, FS 7.

photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Junior quarterback Finn Moore runs the ball in the third quarter of Free State’s rivalry game against Manhattan on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Lawrence.

photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Free State head coach Kevin Stewart high-fives players as they exit the field during their game against Manhattan on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Lawrence.

photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Junior running back Maddon Brittingham makes a touchdown for Free State against Manhattan on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Lawrence.

photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Free State junior running back Maddon Brittingham runs the ball to the red zone in the game against Manhattan on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Lawrence.

photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Free State junior running back Maddon Brittingham catches the ball during the game against Manhattan on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Lawrence.

photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Junior quarterback Finn Moore throws the ball to a Free State teammate during the game against Manhattan on Friday, Sept. 12, in Lawrence.

photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Free State senior defensive back Greyson Rawls tackles a ball carrier in the first quarter of the game against Manhattan on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Lawrence.

photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Junior running back Maddon Brittingham runs the ball to start the first quarter of Free State’s game against Manhattan on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Lawrence.

photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Free State High School students cheer on the Firebirds against Manhattan High School on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Lawrence.

photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Free State High School students pack the stadium to cheer on the Firebirds against Manhattan High School on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Lawrence.