The football season came one step closer on Friday as Lawrence High School hosted Blue Valley, Blue Valley West and Olathe South in their football jamboree. After playing each team for 26 snaps, the Lions took a lot away ahead of their first regular season game next week.

“I’m very glad that we did it because you can’t simulate that true speed of what Friday night looks like,” LHS coach Clint Bowen said. “It is such a valuable night for us in terms of seeing how fast things really happen that you can’t really get in practice.

“I thought that our kids for the most part competed, attempted to do their assignments. I think we could’ve made a few more plays that we didn’t, but all in all I thought we were about where we needed to be.”

On offense, the Lions have returning quarterback Banks Bowen, who has elevated his game as a passer. Bowen relied on his legs a lot last year, rushing for over 1,000 yards. This year, while he still will use his legs when necessary, he has his eyes downfield looking to throw.

Jaxon Becker and Josh Galbreath are the top two targets for Bowen. On the first two pass plays, the Lions had two designed throws to Becker within 10 yards. Bowen looked for Galbreath often, and their best connection came in their first scrimmage against Blue Valley when Bowen scrambled to the right and found Galbreath in the middle of the field for a 15-yard play.

Against Blue Valley West, Bowen threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to the back of the end zone for junior Kavon Price. Price’s deep touchdown reception was one of the few deep connections the Lions had, which will be something to improve upon during the season.

“I was excited about Kavon Price getting open on the post,” Clint Bowen said. “I thought Jaxon Becker — I didn’t target him much after the first few plays — he made the plays he was supposed to.”

The starting offensive line showed its physicality and strength. Bowen said that senior left tackle Elijah Gray played well getting out and blocking. Only one snap was mishandled across the three scrimmages.

Out of the backfield, the Lions have several players to call upon. Tahj Edwards and Noah Richardson showed their elusiveness at various points, and the Lions worked to give them the ball in space on toss plays and swing passes.

“We ask our running backs to do a lot of things, and we have to establish the run game,” Bowen said. “We have to make people honor that so that we can take advantage of those one-on-one routes on the outside. If we can’t run the ball, teams will take safeties out of the box, then it can be tough. Our running backs ability to run the ball will be critical.”

On defense, the Lions looked aggressive and strong in getting to the quarterback. Bowen said that senior Larney Finney, along the defensive line, continuously penetrated teams’ offensive lines. There were a few would-be sacks where the official whistled the play dead before contact.

The secondary allowed a couple of completions early, but for the majority of the jamboree did well in coverage. The corners were stout in run defense, echoing coach Clint Bowen’s belief that this secondary is the best at tackling since he became head coach.

Against Blue Valley West, the Lions allowed a touchdown on a drag route that beat the man coverage, and Edwards was beat on a go route. Other than those, the secondary didn’t allow many long plays. Senior Kadence Kelsey had a great recovery after a Blue Valley West receiver got behind the defense to break the pass up and prevent a touchdown.

On one of the final plays of the scrimmage, junior nose guard Luis Martinez broke through the offensive line and came up with the football, which earned a raucous celebration from his team.

Looking ahead to the start of the regular season, Bowen is looking for his team to play faster. He said that a couple of teams played faster than the Lions, and that against the good teams, players have to be efficient and quick. In addition to that, tackling will continue to be a point of emphasis, as is typically the case at the start of a high school football season.

The Lions should be more prepared to handle the season with a Friday night under the lights ahead of the start of the season.

“Four teams bring their crowds here, and it is a legitimate Friday night atmosphere,” Bowen said. “With that, a lot of kids who haven’t ever played varsity football played a lot of snaps tonight for the first time in front of a crowd like that. I think this is exactly what we needed.”

The Lions start the regular season Friday at home against Shawnee Mission South at 7 p.m.