photo by: Chance Parker/Special to the Journal-World

Lawrence High huddles up during a timeout against Junction City on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Lawrence.

Lawrence High football (0-2) is back at the College Boulevard Activity Center for a Thursday night game against Olathe Northwest (1-1) and searching for its first win of the season.

The Lions are still adjusting to the new systems in place under coach Jason Thoren, and he expected there to be some growing pains involved in the process. Between the first two weeks, Thoren said he saw improvement, but that the Lions still need to improve their execution.

“Just making simple corrections is the big thing,” Thoren said. “What I wanted to see, and what I saw, was guys playing hard. Part of that, whenever you’re in a new system, is there’s going to be mistakes. I was happy with the effort we played with.”

The Lions faced a run-heavy offense last week with Junction City coming to town. Overall the defense held up its end, holding the Bluejays to 14 points total. The Lions will face another run-heavy offense this week with the Ravens.

“We’ve got to be tough up front,” Thoren said. “They like to get into heavier personnel and come at you. We have to be ready to match that intensity and be ready to tackle.”

It’ll be a distinct matchup with the Ravens running the ball stylistically differently than the Bluejays did, but a lot of basic principles remain the same. The Lions need to be disciplined, play with good pad level and be physical against the Ravens.

“They have a really good running back, I’ve been really impressed with him,” Thoren said. “He’s got speed, he’s got size, he can run through people, he can run around people.”

While the front seven of the defense will play a big role in holding off the Olathe Northwest offense, the Lawrence secondary will need to stay disciplined as the Ravens often run play action off the run game.

“That’s part of teaching football,” Thoren said of preparing the team for play action. “A lot of people want to look into the backfield to tell between run and pass, but great DBs register run from pass seeing their threats. New sets, new formations, new misdirections are going to test them this week.”

Offensively, the Lions took a step backward in their production from Week 1 to Week 2. Lawrence struggled to get drives going, wasn’t as effective running the ball and only completed a handful of passes.

The Lions aren’t drastically changing what they’re going to do. Working on execution and avoiding mistakes is going to be the way they grow offensively.

“We’re just going to get better at what we do,” Thoren said. “Last week was a new look they hadn’t seen before (from Junction City). Now they’ve been schooled in what that looks like. There are only a certain number of looks you’re going to get, and so it’s a repetition thing. The next time we face something like (Junction City), we’re going to be better.”

The Ravens went 6-4 last year, reaching the second round of the playoffs before losing 40-7 to Blue Valley West. This year, the Ravens are 1-1 and are coming off a 34-7 road win over Garden City. They lost 31-28 to a 2-0 Shawnee Mission East team in Week 1.

Thoren isn’t worried about his team’s record so far. The team has continued to improve overall and has shown the effort and focus necessary to win.

“There comes a point in time where guys get it, and that’s what we’re looking for right now,” Thoren said. “They’re working hard on it, which is what I like to see.

“We could easily be 2-0, or 1-1. We’re 0-2, but we’re still at the same place. It can’t be registered on how we’ve done on opponents, it has to be registered on how we’ve done on ourselves and how we go about our business. Our goal is to be the best team we can by the end of the year.”

photo by: Chance Parker/Special to the Journal-World

Lawerence High coach Jason Thoren observes his team play against Junction City on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Lawrence.

photo by: Chance Parker/Special to the Journal-World

Lawerence High senior Josh Galbreath is jubilant during the game against Junction City on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Lawrence.

photo by: Chance Parker/Special to the Journal-World

Lawrence High senior Joseph Lucas and the defense celebrate after recovering a Junction City fumble on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Lawrence.