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| Khadre Lane. LJWorld. |
Regular Season Team Stats (league rank)
Rushing Offense: 193.4 (6th)
Passing Offense: 151.6 (4th)
Total Offense: 345 (4th)
Rush Defense: 163.9 (5th)
Pass Defense: 71 (1st)
Total Defense: 234.9 (1st)
Individual Season Stats (through Sectionals)
Passing Yards
Kyle McFarland: 1,563, 18 TDs
Rushing Yards
Kyle McFarland: 718, 7 TDs
TJ Cobbs: 674, 14 TDs
Joe Dineen: 495, 9 TDs
Demarko Bobo: 261, 4 TDs
Receiving Yards
Tye Hughes: 588, 9 TDs
Chris Heller: 261, 2 TDs
Blake Winslow: 202, 2 TDs
Khadre Lane: 154, 2 TDs
Sam Hearnan: 110, 1 TD
Tackles
Corban Schmidt: 104
Keith Loneker: 87
Joe Dineen: 62
Stan Skwarlo: 50
Cody Stanclift: 46
Sacks
Blake Winslow: 7.5
Keith Loneker: 6
Fred Wyatt: 6
Cody Stanclift: 4
Interceptions
Demarko Bobo: 4
Kyle McFarland: 4
Joe Dineen: 3
Blake Winslow: 2
Defensive Touchdowns
Demarko Bobo: 2 (2 ints)
Carson Bowen: 1 (int)
Joe Dineen: 1 (int)
Cody Stanclift: 1 (int)
Blake Winslow: 1 (fum)
****The two numbers that stand out for me about Free State on defense are the six defensive touchdowns they've recorded and the mere 71 yards per game they gave up through the air during the regular season. The Firebirds are extremely difficult to pass against. Their secondary, made up of Kyle McFarland, Joe Dineen and Demarko Bobo, has been the league's best this season and I think that's been apparent to anyone who's seen them play. The defensive touchdowns show just how dangerous and explosive they are as a defensive unit.
****Offensively, Free State is about as balanced as they come. This is a matchup nightmare for opponents because there's not one area to key on when playing the Firebirds. With basically three players over 500 rushing yards you never know who's going to be taking the ball out of the backfield. Their receiving core is also stellar and all of their receivers have big play potential.
SM West
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| AJ Verdini. Elaine Ferguson. |
Regular Season Team Stats (league rank)
Rushing Offense: 251.8 (1st)
Passing Offense: 96.4 (6th)
Total Offense: 348.2 (3rd)
Rush Defense: 145.3 (3rd)
Pass Defense: 106.4 (6th)
Total Defense: 251.8 (2nd)
Passing Yards
AJ Verdini: 1,030, 9 TDs
Rushing Yards
Brett Sterbach: 1,862, 20 TDs
Tory Powell: 375, 5 TDs
Andre Maloney: 245, 1 TD
Steffon Ward: 200, 1 TD
Receiving Yards
Andre Maloney: 464, 9 TDs
Joel Spiller: 316
Tackles
Max Bullard: 96
Marquan Osbey: 96
Rashaun Owens: 80
Cooper Arner: 67
Joel Spiller: 63
Sacks
Max Bullard: 7.5
Lee Spight: 5
Austin Chambers: 3
Jordan Neff: 2.5
Rashaun Owens: 2.5
Interceptions
Kez Demby: 3
Andre Maloney: 3
Ben Lake: 2
*Rob Rice: 2
Joel Spiller: 2
Defensive Touchdowns
Cooper Arner: 1 (int)
Marquan Osbey: 1 (int)
Joel Spiller: 1 (int)
*Injured, will not play.
****As the Vikings prefer, they gain the majority of their yardage on the ground. Running back Brett Sterbach is 138 rushing yards away from becoming the first non-Olathe North running back to eclipse the 2,000-yard rushing mark in a single season. As I've stated on Twitter, the line on this game might as well be those 138 rushing yards. If he hits it there's a good chance SM West is the victor. If not, it probably means the Vikings aren't running the ball the way they'd like, which doesn't bode well for their chances in this one.
****The biggest difference I've seen in SM West this season, when compared with the previous three or so years, is how much better they've played on the defensive side of the ball. It's not a mistake that they finished the regular season ranked second overall (behind Free State who finished atop the league in defense). SM West is extremely aggressive on defense and it's paid dividends all season.
18 comments:
All of Verdini's touchdowns to Maloney?
When the season's over, maybe you could post the top ten in all of the team stat categories, or do you know where to find this info, I would be interested to see how the other sunflower teams fared....Great article
If Maloney is truly their only receiving threat they will have a tough time even catching a sniff of the passing game this Friday.
Joel Spiller. he doesn't have the numbers Maloney has but the kid is an animal. He seems to always make a crazy catch on third down to keep the drive going. Some things just don't show up in the stats. Believe me. He is a huge threat. He put up really good numbers as a junior last year, just hasn't seemed to find e end zone is year like last. Hard to though when you have sterbach running, and most td passes on deep passes to the faster receiver, Maloney. Sillier gets more of the slant routes and has the clutch catches that keeps the offense rolling. He is a vital part to the offense.
Sorry for the typos, you get the message though
Ben Lake has at least one TD catch. Spiller is more of a 15 yard over the middle kind of receiver. Plus you got the STerbinator, Maloney, Powell and Ward running. How many weapons do you want?
Lake is so fast
Seth - I'll be sure to do that. If for some reason I forget please Tweet a reminder to me.
Spiller has as good a set of hands as any receiver I've seen in the league this year. Very aggressive pass catch when they throw it his way.
That being said, I don't think SM West will be planning on testing that stout Free State secondary very much to begin with. Maybe a play action pass here or there, short routes in the flats, etc, but the Vikes M.O. is running the football. They're not going to rely on their passing game to advance.
Having seen both teams for a total of three games I think this game comes down to a few things:
1. Lineman: both teams have good offensive lines, I would give the definite edge to SMW, in part because of there ability to make holes for the leagues leading rushing. Sterbach gets a good 2-3 yards to build up steam then gets another 3-4 yards on his own on the majority of his runs. As for the defensive lines, I would give the edge to LFS with Stanclift and Wyatt...blocking those two will determine if Sterbach gets that initial 2-3 yard burst before he start running into linebackers.
2. Turnovers: both defenses have a knack for creating turnovers, but LFS has an exceptional ability to turn those turnovers into touchdowns. Edge LFS
Honestly you have the two best defenses in the league. I don't see either team passing for more than 100 yds. Unless Maloney or a FS reciever breaks a slant route for a 40+ yd catch and go. QB advantage to LFS, WR advantage to SMW....Macfarland's arm, or Maloney's legs.
I think this will be a ground and pound run the ball game. #1 rusher, vs. #1 defense. who is going to stop who? if Sterbach gets 150+ SMW has a good shot of winning.
I think this will be a tie game for the majority of the time, and a key 4th down stop or turnover late in the game will determine the winner. Both have good kickers so field goals and field position will definitely be in play.
With all that said, I agree with one of Eli's comments about LFS being the most balanced team. In the end I think that carries them to the State game.
LFS 24 SMW 21
I agree with Seth's assessment and will probably pick the game the same way. After seeing the first game between these teams, West played very badly...the defense came out of the locker room apparently believing their own press and immediately gave up a 2 play 80 yard TD drive in undr 15 seconds. Then they buckled down for the rest of the game and only gave up 14 points the rest of the way (other than a bonehead punt return for TD on the last play of the first half). West runners were also marked down at the one inch line twice on their first drive that would have tied it up. So the game could easily have gone the other way.
But the one thing that concerns me is the way the Vikes struggled to bring McFarland down on the QB runs. And that was with Robert Rice, perhaps West's best run stopping safety, in the game. Rice is out for the season so the D-line and backers are really going to have to contain McFarland. I look for him to be a counter balance to the Maloney wildcat factor and possibly to give Free State the upper hand in this game.
One thing for sure, no one can doubt we have (for once) clearly the four best 6A teams in the state left alive.
I think SMW has "it" this season. Their defense is salty and pursues/tackles very well. The Vikes rushing attack on offense is second to none. Sterbach is a stud. His balance and leg drive is impressive. Verdini and his receivers are underrated, in my opinion.
SMW 24
LFS 21
SMW 31 free state 24
Derby over hutch
Records and winning percentages 2004-present
SMW 76-21 78.40%
OE 78-23 77.20%
ON 72-29 71.30%
LFS 64-32 66.70%
OS 65-33 66.30%
SME 45-44 50.60%
LAW 46-46 50.00%
SMNW 40-47 46.00%
ONW 27-57 32.10%
SMS 23-61 27.40%
SMN 18-64 22.00%
LV 14-68 17.10%
Imp - very good point, and I agree; as odd as the system is, I also believe the four best teams are still playing.
Week 2 is a distant memory and both of these teams have come a long way. FS cannot have the fatal mentality of "we beat 'em once, we'll beat 'em again." Weaknesses have all but disappeared and both have honed in on what it takes for them to win... and the formula is pretty much the same for both teams: i.e. strong defense, ball control offense and not beating yourself with turnovers and penalties. Both are more than capable of capitalizing on mistakes, so I see this as one key to winning for either team. A defensive TD or turnover deep in enemy territory will be huge.
In the end, I believe FS has the D to win. Sterbach will break 2 or 3 good runs, no doubt ... whether they turn into TD's is also a factor. FS has great speed on defense and has run down people from behind many times this year. FS has had great O balance most of the year and keeps teams guessing and spread out. Lisher is a master play caller and usually hits a weakness hard when exposed. I expect FS to have 2 or 3 big plays of their own, again whether they turn into TD's will be the difference.
FS won by 14 earlier, it'll be closer this time, but I predict them to win and go to state. Survive and advance. Blow-outs are over for the year. Go 'Birds!
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