photo by: John Young

Free State players celebrate following their 52-34 victory over Wichita Northwest Friday night in Wichita.

After a two-point loss in the City Showdown, Free State High football players remained upbeat in practice the following the week. They knew they were a better team than their 0-3 record showed, and were confident they could turn their season around.


Now the Firebirds are one win away from a spot in the Class 6A state championship game following a 52-34 victory over top-seeded Wichita Northwest in the quarterfinals.


“I think that our mood is pretty good for the upcoming weeks,” FSHS senior lineman Tanner Liba said a few days after the City Showdown. “We definitely think that we can go 6-3 — undefeated for the rest of the season. We’re all pretty confident.”


The Firebirds have now won eight straight games. They have a ton of confidence in their defense and they can back it up. This season, they’ve faced the No. 2 (Northwest), No. 3 (SM East), No. 5 (Lawrence High), No. 6 (Topeka High) and No. 8 (Olathe North) scoring offenses in Class 6A. Those elite offenses have only scored 12 touchdowns in 20 quarters against Free State’s defense, which includes two touchdowns by Northwest when the Firebirds held a 25-point lead in the fourth quarter.


“I don’t think we’re too surprised about it,” FSHS senior Drew Tochtrop said Friday. “We knew we were capable of doing this.”


Lawrence High had trouble on both sides of the ball against Blue Valley and suffered a season-ending 42-17 loss.


Of course, the Lions were disappointed with the loss. They had their eyes set on winning a state championship. But they’ll be able to look back on their season with plenty of pride. They won a Sunflower League title and completed the school’s first undefeated regular-season since 1993.


It’s always great to see a community rally around a team, and that definitely happened at Lawrence High this fall. And one loss can’t take away from those accomplishments.


Now for a look ahead to next week:


Free State at Derby at 7 p.m. Friday — The Panthers (10-1) feature the top scoring offense in the state and a tough defense. They’ve won their past eight games, including playoff wins over Topeka High and Junction City. Derby has dealt with plenty of injuries, losing star RB Garrett Xanders to a torn ACL in September and RB Kristian Breedlove to an injury last week. The Panthers are led by dual-threat QB Brady Rust, who ran for 292 yards against Junction City, and threw for another 124 yards. It’s the sixth time in eight seasons the Panthers have advanced to the semifinals.

photo by: John Young

Free State players celebrate following their 52-34 victory over Wichita Northwest Friday night in Wichita.

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In case you missed it, we’re copying one of the popular features of KUsports.com, “Keegan’s Ratings,” where Sports Editor Tom Keegan ranks KU football and men’s basketball players after every game he attends. These individual rankings are just one person’s opinion, but it’s a good way to look at how each person impacted each game.

Lawrence High football

1. Alan Clothier, QB — The LHS senior quarterback did all he could to keep the Lions within striking distance. With the Blue Valley’s defense focused in on running back JD Woods, Clothier took matters into his owns hands by bolting for a 93-yard run with the Lions backed up near their own goal line. Woods scored on the next play to tie it at 7-7. Clothier accounted for the Lions’ other touchdown on a 74-yard quarterback keeper.


2. Amani Bledsoe, DE/RT — Bledsoe got to Blue Valley quarterback Colton McCumber midway through the first quarter for a sack that resulted in a 12-yard loss. McCumber adjusted after that by getting rid of the ball quickly for the rest of the night by either handing the ball off to running back Will Evans, or finding receiver Taylor Debey open on five-yard out routes. Bledsoe also helped spring Clothier loose for his 74-yard touchdown run.


3. JD Woods, RB/DB — Woods let there be no doubt that he was not going to give up until time ran out on the Lions. Clothier was starting to find a rhythm with Woods by dumping the ball off to him on shovel passes. The Tigers defensive line finally snuffed one out, though, and leveled Woods midway through the fourth quarter as the Lions were driving. The hit left the crowd silent as Woods was slow to his feet, and unsteady as he tried to walk off the field. Woods’ night appeared to be done, but he came back out a few plays later on the defensive side of the ball to join the LHS secondary.


4. Tanner Green, LB — The Lions would likely have faced a bigger halftime deficit had it not been for some timely tackling from Green. Blue Valley reached the red zone on its first two drives, but came up empty thanks to a couple of big hits by Green.


5. Cole Brungardt, K — After the Lions gave up 21 unanswered to trail Blue Valley, 28-7, with time winding down in the first half, LHS desperately needed some points before the break. Brungardt nailed a 40-yard field goal with two seconds remaining in the first half to cut the deficit to 18 points. The LHS kicker was also 2-for-2 on extra points.


6. Trey Georgie, DE/LT — It was a rare night where Georgie and Bledsoe were not able to help the Lions control either side of the line. Georgie did have a big block to give Clothier running room on the left side for his 93-yard burst in the second quarter.


7. Santino Gee and Cade Burghart, S — After McCumber came out firing and completed his first three passes for big gains, the safety combo of Gee and Burghart played big roles in helping the Lions defense bend, but not break on Blue Valley’s first two drives with crucial pass break-ups.


9. Price Morgan, LB/TE — Morgan was held in check offensively, but came close to hauling in a deep ball from Clothier that would have likely gone for six. The ball was barely overthrown, as Morgan could not quite catch up to it. The tight end helped the offensive line free up rare running room Woods on screen and shovel passes.


10. The seniors — LHS coach Dirk Wedd and Clothier both gave credit where it was due following the season-ending loss, and commended Blue Valley for outplaying them in each facet of the game. Clothier led a core group of seniors who started for the better part of three seasons, and made steady progress to build up to Friday’s heartbreaking loss. The seniors were in front line of Lions who turned around and clapped to congratulate Blue Valley as the Tigers raised the sectional trophy on their home turf. The Class of 2016 led the Lions to a 10-1 season and a Sunflower League championship.


• Record: 10-1.

Free State football

1. Bryce Torneden, QB/FS — One of the most dominating performances I’ve seen this season. He ran for two touchdowns, threw for a touchdown, caught a touchdown pass and returned an interception for a touchdown. The North Dakota State commit had 225 total yards of offense and, defensively, he was a big reason the Grizzlies had problems throwing the ball.


2. Sam Skwarlo, RB/LB — In the fourth quarter, the Firebirds handed the ball seven straight times to Skwarlo. Each run, it looked like he was only getting stronger. He finished the drive with a 34-yard touchdown, his second TD of the game. He finished with 157 rushing yards and he made some big plays defensively, blitzing up the middle for two sacks.


3. Jay Dineen, LG/LB — The impact Torneden made on offense, Dineen did the same for the defense. He had two sacks, forced a fumble and sent heavy pressure on a lot of pass plays, sending Wichita Northwest QB Kevin Folsom to the ground.


4. Noah Kema, DE — After moving into a starting role, Kema’s made a huge impact each week. Kema intercepted a pass in the third quarter, and was key to stopping Northwest’s explosive run games with several tackles around the line of scrimmage.


5. Zack Sanders, WR/CB — Tasked with covering Northwest receiver Martese Mullins, Sanders broke up a few passes and made tackles on short passes in space. Mullins finished with 86 yards on 5 catches after recording at least 140 yards and two touchdowns in the previous two games. At receiver, he had three catches for 55 yards and a touchdown.


6. Drew Tochtrop, LB — Nobody knew whether Tochtrop would play on Friday after missing three practices with a strained back from lifting weights. After sitting out the first quarter, Tochtrop returned and immediately grabbed an interception — Folsom’s first INT of the season. He added a few tackles to stuff Northwest’s run game and recovered a fumble in the fourth quarter.


7. Gage Foster, LB — Filling in for Tochtrop, Foster looked like a seasoned veteran at linebacker. The sophomore helped force a punt with a tackle for a 3-yard loss in the second quarter, applied a lot of heat on blitzes, and he even batted down a pass at the line of scrimmage. He might be the hardest hitting backup QB in the state.


8. Tanner Liba, RT — The senior helped set the edge on the right side of line, along with fellow linemen Sam Hambleton and Garrett Swisher. Against an athletic defense, the Firebirds ran for 285 yards on 40 carries (7.1 yards per rush).


9. Tanner Cobb, DB — The 5-foot-10, 150-pound sophomore made one of the biggest plays of the game, recovering a fumble on a kickoff, helping the Firebirds turn an 28-20 lead into a 35-20 advantage before halftime. Cobb also made a tackle on another kickoff return in the first half.


10. Jack Flynn, WR/P — Flynn caught two passes for 34 yards, which includes one catch off of a deflection. But his most memorable play was tossing an eight-yard touchdown to Torneden under pressure on a trick play right before halftime. He also had a couple of good punts, helping Free State with field position.


• Next up: Friday at Derby. Record: 8-3.

Lawrence High sophomore running back Dante Jackson is wrapped up by a pair of Blue Valley defenders.

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The Class 6A playoff bracket is below. The state championship will be played at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 28 at Emporia State University’s Welch Stadium.


East bracket


No. 6 Olathe North (10-1) at No. 4 Blue Valley (9-2)


West bracket


No. 4 Free State (8-3) at No. 3 Derby (10-1)
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