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| 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
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.
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| 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.
