Friday, July 30, 2010

Part 1: Sunflower League Schedules

I will be doing a four part series breaking down each Sunflower League team's regular season schedule. The teams in each part of the series will be as follows:

Part 1: Olathe East, SM Northwest, SM North
Part 2: SM West, Lawrence Free State, SM South
Part 3: Olathe North, Olathe Northwest, Lawrence
Part 4: Olathe South, SM East, Leavenworth


Part 1

Olathe East
2010 Regular Season Schedule

9/3 @ SM North
9/10 Olathe Northwest
9/17 @ Olathe North
9/23 Leavenworth
10/1 @ Lawrence
10/8 Lawrence Free State
10/15 @ Blue Valley West
10/21 @ Blue Valley Northwest
10/29 Olathe South

Projected Over/Under wins: 7

Notes: The Hawks play two thursday night games (9/23 and 10/21) and also have more away games than home games, including back-to-back games at unfamiliar Blue Valley stadiums.

Potential Trouble: Olathe East will travel to play at Blue Valley stadiums in consecutive weeks during district play. Not only were the Hawks unlucky in drawing two road games in a row, but the games are also both on Blue Valley turf. By late October every team has their fair share of injuries, and two tough road tests in a row during district play is probably the last thing Jeff Meyers wanted to see on his team's schedule. The tough district draw also poses a threat to Olathe East's string of eight consecutive playoff appearances.

Biggest Game: Many Olathe residents will circle September 27th on their calendars soon, if they haven't already. The animosity between Olathe East and Olathe North is pretty livid and this season won't be an exception. If you need a refresher on this rivalry, check out some of the games played between these two teams from the years 2002, 2003 and 2009. Both teams have a good deal of hype heading into 2010 and they will be anxious to play eachother in this week three matchup

SM Northwest
2010 Regular Season Schedule

9/3 @ SM East
9/10 @ SM West
9/17 Olathe South
9/24 Lawrence
10/1 SM South
10/8 Olathe North
10/15 @ SM North
10/22 @ Leavenworth
10/29 Wyandotte

Projected Over/Under wins: 6

Notes: The Cougars lucked out and will not be playing any Thursday or Saturday games ... the only away game SM Northwest plays out of their school district is an October 22 visit to Leavenworth.

Potential Trouble: Shawnee Mission School District supremacy will be on the line in the first two weeks for the Cougars. In the past several seasons SM Northwest and SM West have held the title of the dominant Shawnee Mission football programs, but SM East may be challenging for one of those spots this season. SM Northwest has a chance to establish where they belong in the first two games versus the Lancers and Vikings, but failure to win at least one of the games would be a big blow early.

Biggest Game: SM Northwest's Hula Bowl rivalry against SM North on October 15 also happens to be the district opener. Win and the Cougars all but seal a playoff berth.


SM North
2010 Regular Season Schedule

9/3 Olathe East
9/19 @ SM South
9/16 @ SM East
9/24 Lawrence Free State
10/1 @ SM West
10/8 @ Olathe South
10/15 SM Northwest
10/22 @ Wyandotte
10/29 Leavenworth

Projected Over/Under wins: 2.5

Notes: SM North plays two games on Thursday nights (9/9 and 9/16) ... the Indians also have more away games (5) than home games (4).

Potential Trouble: The Indians' first game under new head coach Dennis Grayless is a home matchup against Olathe East. The last time the two teams met in 2008, Olathe East drubbed SM North 45-0. A big loss is about the worst way SM North can start the 2010 season, and for the Indians to gain any momentum they at least need to be competitive with the perennial power Olathe East. Remember, SM North is riding a seven game losing streak into the season.

Biggest Game: SM North shouldn't have trouble handling the lowly Wyandotte Bulldogs in week eight. Likely, their playoff chances will come down to their season finale against Leavenworth.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shawnee Mission North and Shawnee Mission Northwest's schedules look awfully similar...

Eli Underwood said...

Interesting, I was basing my info on the correct schedule but posted the wrong one. Good eye!

Anonymous said...

how do u think sm east will be this season considering we have key offensive and defensive players coming back but are lacking in size and skill at the offensive and defensive line positions?