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| Olathe East's Junior Williams intercepted three passes on Friday, not to mention shutting down Olathe North- west's top receiver, Willie Cauley (ground). Photo courtesy John Sleezer, the Kansas City Star. |
**SM West broke a three year streak of losing in the first round of the playoffs by soundly defeating Leavenworth 52-7. The Vikings had been 0-4 in their previous four playoff games.
**Olathe East was able to shut down an upstart group from Olathe Northwest, much due to a dominating first half that included four rushing touchdowns.
The Bad
**In their first appearance in a playoff game in over a decade, Leavenworth proceeded to allow 31 points in the first half, and 52 overall.
**Of SM Northwest's four wins this season, three came against Leavenworth, SM North and the 'Dotte. They weren't able to pull the Regional Round magic this season.
The Ugly
**Olathe Northwest's potent offense, which had scored 40 or more points five times this season, only managed a field goal in the first half of their loss to Olathe East.
**Bradd Strauss' ankle probably isn't a thing of beauty right now. The talented junior was Lawrence's only semblance of an offense Friday, but he re-aggravated his ankle early in the second quarter, which pulled him out of the game for good.
Regional Round Player of the Week
Junior Williams, Olathe East: Williams, arguably the Sunflower League's top defensive back, had the best game of any secondary player that we've seen all year. Against the pass-happy Olathe Northwest, Williams intercepted three passes, while limiting the Raven's top receiver Willie Cauley. The three picks put Williams at seven interceptions on the season, which is now tops in the league.
The Remaining Four
1. Olathe South (9-1): Now that the Falcons are on a roll we might look back on their week seven loss as a good thing. It seemed to have refocused the talented unit and they've dominated three straight games in a row since then.
2. Olathe East (8-2): Run the football and play good defense. The formula seems pretty simple, but Olathe East might have it down as well as anyone at this juncture in the season.
3. SM West (7-3): Who would have thought that after the Vikings' week one disaster (a 35-12 thrashing at the hands of Lawrence) that the team would be in Sectionals, one win away from the Sub-State round? The Vikings have matured quickly, and who could forget the last time the program was an underdog to Olathe East in the Sectional Round. Head coach Tim Callaghan may be pulling that game film out this week as a pump-up video for his team.
4. SM East (6-4): Olathe South would probably rather be playing SM West in this round, simply because SM East runs the spread and that formation has created problems for Olathe South at times this season. Don't look now, but an upset here could make the SM East faithful replace 2010 with 2011 as the best season in the program's history.
