photo by: Richard Gwin

Free State senior Joel Spain gets held up by Hutchinson's Gabe Ragioza on Friday, Nov. 21, 2014.

When Free State’s football team dropped its record to 2-3 in the middle of the season, with a difficult district schedule upcoming, not many people thought the Firebirds would wind up in the Class 6A state semifinals.


Maybe everyone should have seen more potential all along, with two of those early season losses against Olathe North and Shawnee Mission East. But the Firebirds proved their doubters wrong, ripping off a six-game winning streak, and dominating against some of the top-ranked teams in the state.


Of course, there was a lot of disappointment after a 42-14 loss to Hutchinson on Friday, but it was a playoff run that many of them will look back on with pride in the future.


“It’s the worst,” senior running back and linebacker Carson Bowen said after the loss. “This is the worst feeling I’ve had so far. But we had a good year. We had a good run.”


The Firebirds’ defense, when healthy, was one of the top units in the Sunflower League. They had strong pass coverage with senior cornerbacks Joel Spain and Andrew Keating, while linebackers Bowen, Jay Dineen, Zion Bowlin, Paul Bittinger and others combined with the defensive line of Shane Hofer, Michael Georgie, Jalen Galloway and Blake Murray to stop the run.


On offense, junior quarterback Bryce Torneden became the fifth player in the league since 2000 to record more than 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards passing (according to Eli Underwood of the Sunflower League Football blog). With a veteran offensive line, Hofer, Scott Frantz, Coleman Houk, Josiah LeBrun and Tanner Liba, they opened a lot of running lanes throughout the year for the team’s posse of running backs.


“Great group of guys. We’re all friends with each other,” Frantz said. “A lot of fun in the four years. I don’t think any of us have any regrets. All of us worked hard. It’s just hard to end happy.”


Several Free State seniors noted that the team will be good again next year. Impressive that they were thinking of their younger teammates just minutes after their final high school football game. But I also think they’re right. With so many midseason injuries, younger guys probably got more playing time than they were expecting and that should help them pick up where they left off.


Meanwhile, Lawrence High’s football team also made it through a tough district, but was knocked out in the first round of the playoffs by SM East, who will play Hutchinson in the state title game on Saturday.


The Lions always appeared that they were on the verge of success against top teams, but just fell a few plays short. Against Olathe South, the clock ran out on a huge comeback after a disastrous first half. Versus Olathe North and SM East, drives getting stopped at the goal line crushed upset bids.


Lawrence was led offensively by junior running back JD Woods, who led the league in rushing before the playoffs began. On defense, junior defensive end Amani Bledsoe led the league in sacks, and junior linebacker Price Morgan was second in the league in tackles. Overall, the Lions started around 15 underclassmen on both sides of the ball.

“Next year’s their year,” senior Cy Burghart said. “But it felt great for us to go out by getting to this point this year.”


Though many people are looking forward to next season, as LHS will likely be considered one of the league favorites with so many returners, a few seniors made some key contributions throughout the year. Nyle Anderson was one of the top kick returners in the league, Luke Zenger stepped up at cornerback by the end of the year, Burghart and Stevin Hays made key tackles at linebacker, Cole Greenwood and Stephen Garcia were key parts of the offensive line, and Dearion Cooper made several huge plays at safety. But for the non-seniors, next year is one they’re hoping to dominate.


“It was good for us to get here, just to see what a playoff atmosphere was like,” Woods said after the first-round playoff loss. “And we’re going to work harder than ever over the offseason so we can make a title run next year.”

photo by: Richard Gwin

Free State senior Joel Spain gets held up by Hutchinson's Gabe Ragioza on Friday, Nov. 21, 2014.

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Free State’s boys soccer team was another team that outmatched most people’s expectations.


The Firebirds earned a trip to the sub-state championship game before losing to Olathe East, who ended up winning the 6A state title.


The season saw a few ups and downs, as the Firebirds started with a 7-3-1 record before losing three straight and four of their last five in the regular season. But they were able to go on the road and pick up a playoff victory over Lawrence High.


There wasn’t one FSHS player for opposing teams to focus on. The Firebirds had 15 seniors and the veteran lineup showed they could play a strong possession-style offense with many different scorers.


“This group, I can’t say enough about them,” FSHS coach Kelly Barah said. “Finding the words right now, right after the game, is kind of hard. But the individuals that have given every single thing to the program, they’ve done it the right way, they are just quality individuals that are ready for the real world and I’m so proud of each and every one of them.”


The Firebirds lose a lot of talented seniors, including Tyler Bryant in net, Buzz Walter, Randall Schmidt, Chaska Rocha and Nicholas Larkin on defense, and Daniel Clarke, Carson Gilliland, Briceson Junge and Daulton Sharp on offense, among others. But with a strong group returning, led by Will Laufer, Eduardo Carballido, Jordan Patrick, Heitor Nazareth, Isreal Lumpkins and Ernesto Hodison, the future is bright after a successful year.


“Super proud (of the season),” Schmidt said. “At least reaching here (in the sub-state title game) was one of my goals coming in and it’s great to come out with that.”


Lawrence High’s boys soccer team started fast with a 6-2-1 record before winning just two of its last eight matches.


The Lions were dealt with some injuries at the end of the season, but just couldn’t get back into that early season rhythm when they were playing some of their best soccer.


They also lose a talented senior class of goalkeeper Andrew Ornburn, defensemen Matt Mantooth, Ellis Springe and Jake Jimenez, midfielders Jared Roush, Zach Alexander, Alex Mwithiga, Sam Clark and Logan Hawley, and forwards Jakob Burdett and Sam Stephens.


“They came out here and worked hard and made a great season out of it,” LHS coach Mike Murphy said. “It’s only the third time that Lawrence High has ever hosted a playoff game, so these guys can notch that as a victory for them as far as the season goes.


“We want to build a winning program, so these guys contributed to that. They’re keeping with it.”


Despite losing 13 seniors, the Lions are hoping to build for a successful future around defensemen Brennan Davies and Sam Dykes, midfielders Piper Hubbell and Charlie Carr, and forwards Cain Scott and Avery German-Martinez.


“Guys like Charlie Carr have been able to come in as a role player who scored four goals for us,” Murphy said. “We’re trying to get him up and get him some looks. Cain is going to be a superstar and is getting quite a few minutes in there at forward. …We’ll reshape ourselves and come back ready to go again next year.”

photo by: John Young

Shawnee Mission South goal keeper Zak Boxler, right, pulls the ball off of the top of Lawrence High sophomore midfielder Charlie Carr's (15) head during their soccer match Thursday at LHS.

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Despite finishing as top-four teams at state, Free State’s cross country teams were a little disappointed with their final race.


After winning Sunflower League titles and regional championships, the Firebirds were hoping to take home some more first place hardware.


But they still accomplished plenty. Sophomore Emily Venters led the girls team to second place at state by winning her second straight state championship. Venters won every race she raced in this year.


The girls also got a boost from sophomore Kiran Cordes, who took sixth at state, and junior Claire Sanner, who finished 29th. They are set to contend for a title again next year. Junior Liv Lyche took 34th at state and junior Rachel Witt was 92nd. However, they’ll lose seniors Marlee Yost-Wolff and Allyson Hertig. Yost-Wolff improved throughout the year and finished 36th at her first state race.


“I feel like we did our best, and our best was second,” Venters said. “If we all put out our best effort, it’s what we got. I know next year that we can repeat winning again.”


The boys team took 4th place, but were dealt some tough cards as senior Ryan Liston, a league and regional champion, couldn’t finish the state race because of illness.


But it probably shows how deep the Firebirds’ boys team was, running without their top runner, and still finishing as a top-five team. Junior Ethan Donley took 6th, junior Tanner Hockenbury was 17th and senior Thomas Becker finished 23rd. Senior Colton Stallard, senior Connor Ballenger and senior Curtis Zicker also contributed to the team throughout the year.


The boys’ cross country team returns good talent with Donley and Hockenbury, but they’ll need some more young runners, who raced mostly at the JV level, to make big strides throughout the offseason to compete for a state title next season.


Lawrence High’s cross country teams were plagued with injuries, and just never found a rhythm.


The boys’ team took 11th at league and 6th at regionals, while the girls took last at league and 7th at regionals.


Junior Nathan Pederson was the lone state qualifier, finishing 92nd. But the boys also have some talent for the future with freshman Carter Shook and sophomore Garrett Prescott.


The girls’ team was led this year by junior Shaye White and senior Shelby Ward.

Free State High School cross country runner Emily Venters, foreground left, leads all runners at the start of the girls Sunflower League championships Saturday at Rim Rock Farm. Venters led the whole way winning the event.

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I posted the seasons in review for volleyball, girls tennis, girls golf and gymnastics earlier this month. It can be found here: http://www2.ljworld.com/weblogs/dividing_line/2014/nov/3/fall-sports-seasons-in-review-part-i/


As always, feel free to comment, email me, or find me on Twitter @nightengalejr.