Monday, October 31, 2011

Week Nine Review

Olathe South's Drew Johnson collected a tackle
against Olathe East's Chad Johnson on Friday.
Both teams advanced to the playoffs.  Photo
courtesy the Kansas City Star.
Three Up

Olathe South
The Falcons claimed the Sunflower League title, qualified for the playoffs, and won the battle for Olathe with their win against Olathe East.

Olathe Northwest
By virtue of head-to-head contests, Olathe Northwest finished third amongst the four Olathes, ahead of Olathe North.  Their incredible second half was quite the statement.

Leavenworth
Let's be honest, Leavenworth football has a pretty poor stigma around the league.  The Pioneers playoff berth is the first in years for the program, and they beat a closely matched team in SM North to qualify.

Three Down

Olathe North
Hard to say what happened here.  To my knowledge the Eagles didn't suffer any major season-ending injuries that would have justified four straight losses.  It will be a long offseason for the Olathe North program.

Lawrence Free State
The Firebirds played like champions through two weeks of district play.  Against Lawrence, it was quite the contrary.  Turnovers and poor decision making cost the Firebirds a playoff berth.

SM North
The Indians snatched defeat from the claws of victory after losing to Leavenworth.  What should have been an easy road the playoffs turned out to be quite the opposite.

Week Nine Players of the Week

Connor Middleton, Olathe Northwest: Middleton had one of the best individual efforts of any player from the league this season on Friday against Olathe North.  He carried the ball 29 times for 332 yards and six touchdowns, not to mention a 57-yard halfback pass to Willie Cauley, which gave Middleton seven touchdowns on the day.

Tyrone Jenkins, Lawence: Jenkins, a running back, filled in for the injured Brad Strauss at quarterback and did well.  He carried the ball 37 times for 122 yards and a touchdown, and completed 3 of 4 passes for 94 yards and another touchdown.  His efforts helped the Chesty Lions to their first playoff appearance since 2008.

Final Power Rankings

1. Olathe South (8-1): The Falcons claimed the Sunflower League title outright, won more games than any team in the league and look primed for a playoff run.

2. Olathe East (7-2): The Hawks seven-game winning streak was snapped against Olathe South, but it wouldn't surprise me to see those two meet up again in the Sub-State round of the playoffs.

3. Lawrence (6-3): The Chesty Lions have been hampered again by major injuries this season, and last week played without their starting quarterback, running back, and center. Despite all this, they continue to battle.

4. Lawrence Free State (6-3): Free State got the short end of the stick, missing out on the playoffs after two district victories.  It just goes to show that if you're going to lose in district play, it's better to lose early on.

5. SM West (6-3): Are the Vikings as good as their six wins would suggest?  It's hard to say.  They have won four straight games, and they have a good shot at making that five this Friday when they face Leavenworth in the opening round of the playoffs.

6. Olathe Northwest (5-4): Props to the Ravens.  After losing their first district game without starting quarterback Dalton Rook, they responded by winning their next two games, including a major beatdown of Olathe North.

7. SM East (5-4):  The Lancers, however, are starting to click and now that Dakota Collins, Elliot Faerber and Adam Lowe are finally at full health, watch out.

8. Olathe North (5-4): Misery likes company, so for this I offer Olathe North the story of the 2007 SM West squad. Coming off a state championship runner-up finish, the Vikings began the 2007 season 5-0 before losing their next four and missing the playoffs at 5-4. Sound familiar, Eagles?

9. SM Northwest (4-5): The Cougars didn't to anything spectacular until the Regional Round of the playoffs last season, so maybe we'll see that same awakening this time around.

10. SM South (2-7): While the Raiders only came away with two wins on the season they were able to establish an identity with their strong rushing attack.  The program has a high ceiling heading into 2012.

11. Leavenworth (2-7): This is the first time the Pioneers have made the playoffs since... well, the record books go back to 1998 and in the time span the team has never made the playoffs.

12. SM North (2-7): The Indians had a poor showing in their most important game of the season this past Friday.

26 comments:

TheImpaler said...

Brett Sterbach doesn't even get a mention for players of the week?

SMS watcher said...

I think the expectations are up for SM South going into next year. I believe JV was 7-2, Sophmores 5-4 with two 1 point losses, and Freshman were 8-1. Unfortunately, the last varsity game of the season was their worst game of the season or I'd be more optimistic. They really need to work on a defense next year.

Blair tate said...

Smw isnt good. .they scored 30 points on 7the turnovers

TheImpaler said...

2007 SMW team and 2011 ON team WERE very similar in result...BUT...2007 SMW team had an almost unbelievable string of injuries. I don't know how many tailbacks went down that year but it was substantial and most of both lines were hurt as well. ON has no such excuse, they just seemed to quit this year after O South spanked them.

Eli Underwood said...

The 2007 SM West team lost running backs Darron Harvey, a junior, to an ACL tear in the third week of the season, and JD Steffen, a senior, to a high-ankle sprain in week five--both were season ending injuries. Steffen was a First Team All-SL performer as a junior, and Harvey went on to be an All-State performer as a senior. Plus both those guys started on defense as well.

NoOne said...

LOL @ Theimposter...You weren't there @ any of ON's games so shut up you sissy and you just make an exucses to tell your sob stories of the past...get it over.

leslies.nips said...

you try running the jet sweep with YOUR mom...you cant

Diablo del Sol said...

NoOne, I was at the OS/ON game and it definitely looked like a spanking to me. Someone just sounds a little upset that their overrated eagles were finally exposed.

FiveFour said...

that game was far from a spanking....we gave up a early touchdown then the defense settled in enough for north to go up then offense went back into undisciplined ways that they showed all season which ultimately effected our season but south capitalized off mistakes then we pulled close again but didnt have enough then gave up some garbage time touchdowns, south playing both ways will be there demise big boys smith gourley and Douglas clearly get affected by playing both ways they get softer as the game goes on and if Olathe East doesnt expose them then Whichita Heights will, Heights has to much depth and speed for slow South to keep up no other school does what it takes to take that final step and win the tital

Diablo del Sol said...

Playing both ways will be their demise? Last year they ran the two-platoon and went 6-3 in the regular season and went 8-1 when they didn't. If anything, it looks like it's doing them some good.

revolnoclaF said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
revolnoclaF said...

Fivefour, it is time you get called out... You are way off base when you say that the South line gets softer as the game goes on... South's big boys absolutely killed east in the 3rd and 4th quarters...

It had to be embarrasing to continually get gashed in the middle like South was gashing East.

East's interior defensive line is about as soft as I have seen all year. East's Tipton ;) absolutely got manhandled by a 15 year old ALL NIGHT LONG, he spent the entire night either on his face or on his back because of a 15 YEAR OLD!!!!

Had it not been for South's punter not catching a snap and East connecting on 1 long pass play it would have been a 40 point loss, coupled with the fact that South had 105 yards in penalties.

Let's face it, your boys are not in the same league as the South boys...

I only hope that South gets a chance to play East again this year to once again show just how bad East really is...

And by the way, learn how to spell. The last word in your post should have been spelled "title" and not "tital"

Todd Haley said...

You have to remember your talking about a 15 YEAR OLD that is on steroids. Legit HGH!!!!

Slugger said...

I have to agree with Falconlover. The OS-OE game wasn't as close as the score indicated. Jordan Ward finished with 250+ yards rushing. 29 points scored in the second half. 14 points in the fourth quarter. Looks like they got stronger as the game wore on. South held themselves back with all the penalties and the muffed punt. Could have been much worse for east. Oh, and that 15 year old kid, nicest kid you would want to meet off the field. An absolute beast on the field!

team player said...

If you watched the OE game you would see no adjustments were made on the defense to stop the run up the middle. So OE should have been punished up the middle. Good coaching capitalizes on the other teams lack of adjustments. Why get stuck on the age of the player being 15! My God he is 6 foot 4 and 240 pounds. Size does make a difference age does not. I would hope OE coaches would realize they need to make an adjustment but we saw last year when they played ON no change in game plan. Some coaches are just PE coaches and others are the real deal. OE has PE coaches.

Govannon Grey said...

I don't know, but it seems OS has been a Second Half team all year, so the fact you say they get weak as the game goes on doesn't make sense. Against ON, didn't they hold Mooney and Root to like 24 yards rushing combined in the second half? And Honestly, how did OE loose to ON in the first game? Must have been a lot of Newness on the offense.

Sflowerfan said...

"slow South"
What????

Sflowerfan said...

South is far from slow, in fact I'd be willing to say they have as much speed on their offense as any team around and from the gmes I've seen it was obvious. Teddy Colbert is the quickest kid in the league while Jordan Ward and Matt Elliot both have good speed. Seurer has got a little speed and my god if you havent seen their wide receiver Johnson run you are missing out because he is a freak.. Just ask anyone who was at the East-South game, when he caught that slant he just took off

KalFarley40 said...

the majority of the candy i got from trick-or-treating is already gone....

Diablo del Sol said...

Adding to what Govannon said, the South offense just beats and beats away at the defense, breaking them down, so to say that South gets worse with time is a really absurd statement.

Pitt80 said...

The new Hutch is on 151st Street, if they keep growing 15 year old people that look like what we saw beat down #54 from East, This could happen for many years. We will be in the weight room if you need us.

NoOne said...

Diablo de Wetback, what the hell are you talking about? OSlow? I was talking about ON-ONW game you dummy!
Now since you bring this subject up about OSlow-ON game....the OSlow's defense was the most sissies team I've ever saw they use the their hands to grab Root and Mooney their ankles to slow them down rather than make a hardcore tackles...you sissy and that game were plain lucky for OSlow.

EagleSenior said...

South needs to stop playing dirty id they really got 105 yards in penalties! (just kidding, I wan't at the game so I wouldn't know what the penalties are for)

anonymous31 said...

Did Olathe Souths defense hold ON running backs to under 100 yards each and only 24 yards combined in the second half or not? Regardless of "hardcore" tackling they got the job done when every other team let up 150+ yards to each of them a game. If you knew anything about playing the sport you would know that it rarely comes down to picture perfect form tackles or "hardcore" hits. Its about taking the man to the ground and if you ask me (and look at the stats) south has done it better this year than any other run stopping defense in the SL.

Army Chap said...

re. SM North "The Indians snatched defeat from the claws of victory after losing to Leavenworth?" There was no victory to lose. SMN was outmatched on every side of the ball. They had zero offense for most of the game. Half their points were on the initial kickoff. The real question wasn't if the game was SMN's to lose, but if LHS is a sleeper winner just now putting it all together. They dominated on both sides of the ball for 4 qtrs. SMW should not take Nov 4 for granted...

FootballRulez said...

Army chap, with all due respect, Leavenworth did so well during the playoffs by playing Wyandot, and embarrassment to football everywhere, and SMN, also a very crappy team. All this being said, I can't help but agree that SMW might have their hands full this week after barely beating an 0-8 BVN team.