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.

Free State football (1-1) will look to bounce back from its first loss of the season, going on the road for the first time Friday night to take on Shawnee Mission West (1-1).

The Firebirds have undergone a “roller-coaster start,” in the words of head coach Kevin Stewart, after a pair of emotional games to start the season. Stewart says he is looking for more balance going into Week 3.

“We just got to steady it out,” Stewart said. “Not play so high and low emotionally and just have more of a steady, consistent approach.”

The Free State defense allowed Manhattan to score on seven of 10 drives last week, including four touchdowns in the second half, due in part to the Firebirds’ struggles on the offensive end.

“I didn’t think the defense last Friday was that bad, it was just big plays,” Stewart said, “and the offense was not helping, we weren’t getting any field position, and we weren’t giving the defense any opportunities to succeed.”

Offensively, the team took a step back after scoring 35 points in its season-opening win, scoring just seven points and gaining 137 yards of total offense against Manhattan.

Stewart says that the approach in Week 3 is to get back to what the team does best, while getting the group to understand what they are trying to achieve out of different offensive looks.

“Getting back to the fundamentals, what do we want to do with formations given a certain formational alignment, and what plays are we looking at out of (a certain) formation,” Stewart said. “We just got to simplify, get back to the basics, and know who we are, make sure the kids know who we are… I think (versus Manhattan), we were just trying to do too much, too fast.”

Shawnee Mission West comes into the matchup following a 34-13 win last week over Lincoln College Prep (Mo.). The Vikings fell 63-7 in their Sunflower League and season opener against Olathe South.

“I think that they’ve gotten a lot better from Week 1 to Week 2, and so my thought process is they’ll get a little better from Week 2 to Week 3,” Stewart said. “They’re still developing some of their players on the offensive and defensive line… They have a couple of guys who play hard.”

The Vikings present a run-heavy offense, primarily using a Wing-T formation, which incorporates the use of two running backs in the backfield with the quarterback, another back lined up on the outside, and a wide receiver, or “split end,” lined up on the weak side.

This style of play can be deceptive for defenses, as each play is similar-looking, and provides numerous motions to catch the defense off guard.

“It’s a very pattern-oriented offense, so what they’ll do is they have a base play, and then off of that base play, they run a trap play out of it and a counter play,” Stewart said. “Their offense is organized well; everything looks the same.”

To counter this, Stewart says that the Firebirds aren’t changing anything defensively, but want more productivity from their defense and plan to be more aggressive to get more players involved in tackles.

“Just playing faster, that’s the main emphasis,” Stewart said. “Our defensive line is doing a nice job; they’re holding their gaps, but they’re not making any tackles. (Only) a couple guys have most (of) the tackles, so we’re just trying to get more guys to be more productive.”

For Shawnee Mission West defensively, it uses a base 4-3 defense and made vast improvements from game one to game two, which Stewart credits to its improvement and playing hard.

With the return of league play and a championship still within reach, Stewart says the message is to go 1-0 each week at a time.

“Fortunately, we were able to win that first week,” he said. “We’re just trying to focus on doing our best in the Sunflower League now.”

Kickoff from Shawnee Mission District Stadium is set for 7 p.m.