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| SM East's Jordan Darling. PVPost.com. |
According to SM East historian Kevin Booker, the last and only time SM East has won a game against Olathe North was in 1985 when then Lancer head coach Bill Stiegemeier and his team defeated Gene Wier's unit.
Much has changed in the 27 seasons since then, but SM East's losses to the Eagles have remained continual. Finally in 2012 it looks as though SM East may have the upper hand in taking down Olathe North. The Lancers looked sharp in their 23-0 defeat of SM South last week while Olathe North's young team really struggled to maintain any consistency against SM Northwest in a 25-14 loss. Also on the line is Olathe North's losing streak, which at five games is the longer than the school has had in the last 20 plus years.
Lawrence (0-1) at SM Northwest (1-0) at SM North District Stadium
I can assure you that this is going to be a very intense game. SM Northwest, fresh off their "upset" of Olathe North has a newfound confidence that hasn't been seen around their Shawnee campus in years. Lawrence on the other hand is probably questioning many things, including just how effective they can be if their offensive line doesn't mesh the way it did last season. This has the potential to be an exciting one and I'll be interested to see who wants this more.
SM South (0-1) at Leavenworth (1-0) at Pioneer Stadium
These two clubs are kind of standing on opposite ends of the morale meter right now. Leavenworth manhandled SM North 41-16 in week one and looks primed for their first winning season in years. SM South, who like Leavenworth was a sexy preseason pick to improve dramatically on their 2011 results, looked shell-shocked and mistake prone in their shutout loss to SM East. This will be fun to watch play out. Also, keep an eye on the running back battle in this game. Leavenworth's Jason Randall and SM South's Gabe Guild are very likely the top two running backs in the league this fall.
Olathe Northwest (0-1) at Olathe East (1-0) at CBAC
I think we're going to see a pretty motivated Olathe East team take the field at CBAC this week. They had their chances at upsetting Olathe South in week one but couldn't ever put it all together and ended up losing by a touchdown. Outside of some decent work from their running backs, Olathe Northwest looked hapless in their 37-0 week one loss and they'll have to play much better if they want to take down the Hawks.
SM North (0-1) at Olathe South (1-0) at ODAC
SM North is going to have to play a near flawless game to upset Olathe South, a team ranked 11 slots ahead of them in the Power Rankings. We've seen crazier things happen, but Olathe South is never easy to take down, especially on their home field at ODAC. Look for the Falcons to establish their run game with Russell White, Chase Hanson and Matt Elliott early before taking their game to the air. Quarterback Frank Seurer didn't throw a pass in week one but he's going to need some live work throwing the ball with Free State on the horizon in week three.
Game of the Week
Lawrence Free State (1-0) at SM West (1-0) at SM South District Stadium
This game is going to come down to one thing: how well SM West's defense can contain Free State's powerful offense. In recent years the Vikings have struggled heavily against teams with dynamic offensive attacks. Last week SM West did a great job of containing LHS' offense, especially in scoring situations. They're going to need that type of effort and probably more if they plan on slowing down Free State, led by option quarterback Kyle McFarland. If Free State's offense gets rolling early it's not going to be easy for SM West to shut down the momentum. I'm interested to see how that plays out and also how much SM West plans on riding running back Brett Sterbach, who came up big scoring three touchdowns on just under 30 carries in week one.
