Monday, August 1, 2011

Great Week One Games of the Past

Ryan Torain had a quiet junior season in
2002 at SM Northwest, but he broke out in
week one of the 2003 season and went on to
rush for over 1,900 yards.  He then starred at
Arizona State, and now he plays for the
Washington Redskins.
Sure the first week of the season doesn't hold playoff implications, but many times it is a tremendous gauge for the new star players and top teams of the Sunflower League.  Here is a look back through the decade at some of the top games and performances from week one games (this year's first Friday of play is September 2).

2003 - SM Northwest 36, Lawrence Free State 15, at SM North District Stadium

SM Northwest's Ryan Torain, currently a running back with the Washington Redskins, truly welcomed himself to the Sunflower League with a monster game in which he rushed for 179 yards and four touchdowns on runs of 73, 31, eight and 25 yards.  He added a fifth touchdown on a 95-yard kickoff return.

2003 - SM North 7, Olathe North 6, at ODAC

Did this game prove to be such a bad omen for Olathe North? No, they still claimed the 2003 6A state title after battling through a three-loss season, but it certainly showed the Eagles, and the league, that things were going to be different without Gene Wier.  Olathe North added two early field goals and maintained a 6-0 lead heading into the fourth quarter.  SM North was able to put together a drive that ended with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Mack Brown to Brooks Faddis.  SM North added the extra point and held on to end Olathe North's 38-game winning streak.

2004 - SM West 19, SM South 14, at SM South District Stadium

To most SM West faithful this was the sort of "turning point" in the program in the mid-2000s.  SM South scored an early touchdown to jump up 7-0.  SM West responded with a touchdown of their own, but they botched the extra point.  Next, SM South's Eric Monroe scooped up a fumble (one of six SM West fumbles that day) and took it 53 yards for a touchdown midway through the game to put SM South up again, 14-6.  SM West responded with two touchdowns, one of which came in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter, to claim the lead and the victory.  SM West would reel off wins in eight of their next 11 games in 2004.

2005 - Olathe South 21, Olathe North 14, at ODAC

Olathe North had waxed the floor with Olathe South in 2004, winning 31-7 in a blowout.  Olathe North lost quite a bit of talent (and their head coach John McCall) but most felt the Eagles would reload as usual--that proved to be quite wrong.  Olathe South was able to hold off the Eagles by a touchdown, much because of senior running back Devin Cummings who had rushing scores of 47 and nine yards that day.  Olathe North went on to lose their first three games and finish a lowly 6-5 (lowly by Olathe North standards that is).  Olathe South put together a very solid 9-2 season, losing in Sectionals to Lawrence.

Olathe South got off to a good start in 2007 with their
opening game win against Free State.  The team finished
the regular season with a 6-3 record, but won three games
in the playoffs to reach the state title game.  The finished
the season with a 9-4 record as the 6A state runner-up.
2007 - Olathe South 34, Lawrence Free State 27, at Haskell Stadium

Olathe South might have generated more hype prior to the 2007 season than just about any team I've seen.  The Falcons were wizards in 7-on-7 during the summer months and they even won a national tournament hosted at the University of Nebraska.  The Falcons were the unanimous choice as the top team in the league by the coaches. 

In this game they looked the part--quarterback Mike Keese passed for 289 yards and three touchdowns and the best part was that the Falcon defense didn't even have to show up and they still won!  That turned out to be the team's achilles heel as they lost three regular season games that year, all three times allowing 20 or more points.  They got their act together in the playoffs and fought their way to the title game where they fell short against Hutchinson.  One thing's for sure--this team was an juggernaut when it came to passing the football.

2009 - Olathe North 71, Leavenworth 6, at Abeles Field

Unlike most of the previous games this one wasn't even close.  However, this game was kind of the moment where the SL collectively realized that Olathe North was going to be good... really good.  Simone Award winner James Franklin had his most modest stat line of the season in this game rushing for a mere 132 yards and two touchdowns, and current K-State linebacker Tre Walker added three rushing touchdowns of his own.  This was the start of Olathe North run to a perfect 13-0 record and 6A state championship crown.

48 comments:

Anonymous said...

How about last season when SME beats SMNW 24 to 0 in the season opener. setting the tempo for the first league title in over 30 years. They were 20point underdogs.

Anonymous said...

20 point underdog? Are you kidding me. Only a SME fan would believe there is a line on a highschool game that would make any one be stupid enough to bet on. Sure they were a underdog but no line was out there. IDIOT!!!

Larry Hoover said...

* an underdog. ^

Anonymous said...

SME football?? Didn't know they had a team?? I thought it was an all girls school.

Eaglelover said...

That was a good one, they do have a powderpuff team that looks good, but football....you are right, they aren't any good.

Anonymous said...

Hey Eaglelover, SME almost beat you guys last year. Now I know almost doesn't mean anything but SME was in the game the whole way and had some questionable calls gone against them

Eaglelover said...

SmE, hav fun corecting my gramer. Wee wil be preping for a nother state champions whil ur siting in front of compuuter working on gramer corections. I luv it, I luv it. Go Lansers when the 2011 speling beeee. U can do it!!??!!

Eaglelover said...

Almost, could have should have would have. There is one winner and one loser, and you know which you were.

Anonymous said...

Eaglelover - You need to be humble and let play on the field speak for you. We have the pieces (skill players)to make another run to the state championship game, but will be young in some key spots across the line. We may take some lumps early, but should be able to develop as the season goes. As for SME, they had a good season last year and have a good coach, so don't be surprised if they are more competitive than in the past. You just need to focus on the Eagles getting better.

Alan Twitty said...

SME*, have*, correcting*, grammar*, we*, will*, prepping*, another*, championship*, while*, your*, sitting*, your*, computer*, grammar*, corrections*, love*, love*, lancers*, win*, spelling*, bee*, and you* are all the spelling corrections, Eaglelover. Your punctuation is also pretty bad, as well. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Anonymous said...

hahahahahahahahahaha

Anonymous said...

Football is a hell of a game. SME is finally becoming good. Make all the jokes you want but 95 percent of the parents in Olathe or other Shawnee Mission Schools work for SME parents. Norm Stewarts sons. George Bretts Sons. Kevin Harlans Sexy daughters, The Wards kids(owners of Russell Stovers Candy) All go to East. And the list is endless. MISSION HILLS KANSAS. Live up the highschool playing days but they will end, and unless your Ryan Lilja, Darren Sproles, or Ryan Torrain your going to be living in a van down by the river.

Eaglelover said...

Ouch, that really hurts my feelings, let me go get a Kleenex there is definitely a coorelation between who your boss is and winning state titles....yeah right!! give me a minute, I am choking on my Lancer Speedo that their impressive swim team wears!! Please do us all a favor and find another blog sight that focuses on competitive swim and spelling bees.

Anonymous said...

I agree. This Lancer guy is living in a dream world. Go crawl back to preparing for the Johnson County Spelling Bee. Lancer football is a joke, always was, always will be. End of story.

Anonymous said...

SME and football doesn't belong in the same sentence, never will.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, of all those parents you mentioned, how many are graduates of SM East? Them moving there after they made their money doesn't have anything to do with SME. So SME kids could very well be changing tires with all the olathe and other SM kids. Name 1 famous or rich Alum of SM East. Because I can name a few from the other schools:Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, Rob Riggle, to go with the professional football players you already mentioned.

Anonymous said...

Didn't the wiki-leaks founder go to SME?

Anonymous said...

first game means nothing
SMNW lost first three game but ended up playing in state quarterfinals. Made it farther then any of the other SM schools

EagleSophomore said...

hey... I didn't say nothing

Anonymous said...

It's unfortunate that some idiotic kids are starting to make this site a joke. This could be a great place to discuss and trash talk a little but it seems like it's just getting out of control with the comments (like the last 7 from this post).

Anonymous said...

Obviously that wasn't the real Eli ^

Get At Me said...

Swimming was yesterday. We ran today. Tomorrow maybe we'll play tennis. Maybe even count all of our money. Depends on the weather.

Anonymous said...

Man SME just makes themselves sound worse and worse every time they open their mouths.

Alan Twitty said...

^Thanks for that input, Anonymous!

Eli Underwood said...

The comments section is available to create constructive discussion about Sunflower League football. Lately however, there have been many disgusting and non-related comments. If this continues I will remove the ability to comment on posts altogether.

Please refrain from profanity and practice professionalism when posting comments. Humor is fine, but please make it appropriate. When used properly, the comments sections is a great tool and it really enhances the overall blog. But lately this has been getting out of hand.

Anonymous said...

Agreed Eli, I hope a few idiots don't ruin this blog. This is great!

EagleSophomore said...

Agreed Eli, it would be painful to see the comments go away... but these posts are quickly become a burdon to read.

Tyler Nelson said...

Eaglelover i swear to god if i ever learned who you were id beat your ass up and down the city of olathe.

Look me up pussy

Gary Hartman said...

I heard the owners of lancerlandscaping go to shawnee mission east there the real deal

Beaglelover said...

Dear Sunflower League Football Blog,

On behalf of my brother Eaglelover, I would just like to appologize for him being an ignorant, uneducated piece of shit. Sorry for my language, but he sucks. I hope these comments don't get removed, because the comment section is probably my favorite part of the blog. Definately not reading Eli's blabber about Orange Mooney or any player in the sunflower league. Except Adam Lowe and Elliot Faerber. They're the real deal.

Anonymous said...

R.I.P. to the comment section...

Orange Mooney said...

Y'all goin down wehn i hit that hole. I run fasster then anyone out there dawg. we gunna be holdin that hardware when season ends. then we gunna find us some sexy hoochie mamas.

EagleSophomore said...

well, there goes the comment section! it was fun while it lasted lol

Anonymous said...

Eaglelover - If you are truly an ON student you need to realize how poorly you are presenting yourself and the ON program with your comments on this board. It’s no wonder people see ON as they do given some of the comments you have posted. I know one thing you are not a true representation of the ON program and the kids that built it. If that is the best you can do, stop posting on this board before Eli has to shut the comments down. This goes for all of you with the language. Let’s have fun with it, but let’s talk football at the same time. And let’s see who is left standing at the end of the season. Eli you do a great job with this.

EagleSophomore said...

^Couldn't say it better myself

Anonymous said...

You don't have to shut down the board, Eli, simply take away the ability to have anonymous Postings, make them register a google account to post, then ban those accounts that were abusive/offensive. You'll be amazed how much of this trash will go away when they are held accountable to it.

Signed, hopefully your last Anonymous Poster.

Anonymous said...

I played at West and Eli was actually one of our starting outside linebackers so... he also had playing time at QB, WR, and DB.

Anonymous said...

Cool

Anonymous said...

On a serious note, I am hearing rumors around Otown that Orange Mooney got in a fight with his father and is moving back to Arizona!!!!

It it is true, that is some funny shit!!!!

FiveFour said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Nice post, Eli.

I think the Olathe North-Olathe East matchup in a few weeks has the potential to make this list.

Govannon Grey said...

It's great that you got rid of anonymous posting Eli, now this board will have a semblance of class. Love the blog, keep it up.

alan jackson said...

Shawnee Misson east has a very well versed and deep team this year.

Todd Haley said...

good thing you changed it to only google accounts Eli. Very good decision. I live in Mission Hills Kansas. It is crazy how half the school is drunk or high at all times and still kick ass in any sport. My kids will go to east and will thrive. They will be richer then anyone, and still live up highschool the way smeasters always have. 5 or 6 football players are drunk before games. and still win. Football is SME sport youll see, visit me at my house or at arrowhead stadium if you disagree. Kansas coach of the year was Coach Sherman last year(my choice) the whole team visited our stadium and facilities. This program is going places. GO SME. (Future school of my kids)

EagleSenior said...

hey this is EagleSophomore, when is the coach of the year award gieven out?

Todd Haley said...

end of the season. there is a Missouri winner and a Kansas winner. Coach Sherman was awarded the Kansas winner. Sponsored by 610 sports and the Kansas City Chiefs organization

Eagle Lover said...

Does anyone know who the preseason top LB is? Also what is the status on Orange, someone said he may be back in town?

FiveFour said...

ooo yeah sorry to leave you hangin, he had to decided to just play a prank on us along with some of the kids on the team glad he's here can't wait to get after it with him and see what he can do