Sunday, September 14, 2014

Sunflower League Week Two Game Recaps

Olathe North's Jadon McGaha tackled Free State's Carson Bowen during Olathe North's
14-7 victory on Friday night. It's the second time in two weeks the Eagles have had to make
second half comebacks to win. Photo by John Young, Lawrence Journal World.
Lawrence 21, Leavenworth 14
The Chesty Lions got on the board first when JD Woods scored a touchdown on a five-yard run with 4:45 left in the first quarter. Lawrence got on the board a second time when Alan Clothier scored on a seven-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter to put LHS up 13-0. Leavenworth kept the game close, as Landry Hodges scored on a one-yard keeper just before the half to make things 13-7. Hodges added the Pioneers' next score on a 26-yard touchdown run at the midway point of the third quarter. The score gave Leavenworth a 14-13 lead. Before the end of the quarter, Woods added his second touchdown of the game, scoring on a six-yard run, which put LHS up 21-14.  Leavenworth had their chances late, including a final drive into LHS territory, but they weren't able to turn it into points.

Olathe South 46, Olathe East 17

What looked to be a wonderful matchup between two of the league's biggest rivals turned out to be a an anticlimactic blowout, dampened completely by an injury to Olathe East's James McGinnis. Things look bad for Olathe East and great for Olathe South when on Olathe East's first play of the game, quarterback Chase Miller fumble an apparent pass -- and the fumble was scooped up and returned for a touchdown by Jack Murphy. Next, Olathe South forced an Olathe East punt, then drove 52 yards and scored on a two-yard run from Collin Fischer. Olathe South rinsed, repeated, and scored again on another two-yard from Fischer to go up 21-0. Olathe East slowed the onslaught with a 27-yard field goal from Chris Diddle midway through the second quarter, but couldn't muster much else. Olathe South's Jake Seurer hit Coleman Clanton on a 27-yard drag route to go up 27-3, before Seurer hit Clanton again, just before the half, on a wide-open walk in touchdown reception from 40 yards out. The Falcons led 33-3 at the half. Four minutes into the third quarter, Seurer added a 23-yard touchdown run to make the lead 40-3. It was around that time Olathe East's McGinnis went down with a head injury. He was removed from the field on a stretcher before play resumed (read more on McKinnis' situation here). Not long after, Brady Noernberg scored a touchdown to put Olathe South up 46-3. Olathe East was able to add two touchdowns in the waning minutes of the game.

Olathe North 14, Lawrence Free State 7

The state of Kansas' top ranked team in the preseason needed another late effort to top a tough road opponent, but once again they did what they needed to get things done. Free State broke the game open when Bryce Torneden scored on a seven-yard touchdown run in the first quarter to go up 7-0. The score held through halftime. The visitor's locker room was closed due to repairs, which prohibited the Eagles from entering the locker room at halftime -- instead they had to stay out in unseasonably cold weather. And it must have pissed them off. In the second half Olathe North's defense allowed a mere 17 yards of total offense, and their offense finally came alive. Chaz Burgess was thrown in at the quarterback position, and responded with a 26-yard touchdown pass to Jeighlon Cornell to tie the game in the third quarter. Midway through the fourth, Burgess orchestrated a drive that ended with a three-yard touchdown run from Venus Triplett to put the Eagles up for good.

SM Northwest 34, SM North 32

Early on it looked like SM Northwest was going to run away with things. Duron Lowe scored touchdowns on runs of 80 and 92 yards on the Cougars' first two possession to put SM Northwest up 14-0. Things tightened, but the Cougars were able to add a 29-yard field goal from Johnathan Killeen before the half to go up 17-0. SM Northwest made the lead 24-0 early in the third quarter when they capped a drive with a one-yard touchdown run from Clay Drouillard. SM North finally scored on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Will Schneider to Isaiah Shields, to make things 24-6. SM Northwest came back and finished a drive with a 17-yard touchdown run from Sam Sullivan to make the game 31-6, but then SM North came alive. The Indians scored on four straight passing touchdowns from Schneider; a 12-yard pass to Tyler Burnett, then a 54 yard pass to Burnett, followed by a two-yard pass to Parker Williamson, and finally, with time winding down in the fourth quarter, a three-yard pass to Williamson. The final score put the Indians up 32-31. But SM Northwest answered emphatically. The Cougars managed to drive into SM North territory as the clocked ticked under a minute. As the game entered its last half-minute, Killeen booted a 22-yard field goal attempt through the uprights to give SM Northwest a 34-32 victory.

SM East 48, SM South 10

For the second week in a row SM East wasted no time setting the tone. The Lancers capped two early drives with touchdown runs of three and four yards from Wyatt Edmiston to go up 14-0. On their next offensive possession, quarterback Gunnar Englund took a keeper 56 yards for a third touchdown. Sam Huffman added a rushing touchdown before the half to put SM East up 27-0. Midway through the third quarter the Lancers added to their lead with an 11-yard touchdown run from Edmiston, making things 34-0. SM South finally got on the board with a field goal, but two more Lancer touchdown runs from Mike Bamford and Calvin Jones put SM East up 48-3. A late SM South touchdown made things 48-10.

Olathe Northwest 22, SM West 0

Olathe Northwest was able to put some of their offensive concerns to rest in this game, scoring early and leading comfortably throughout. They also forced four turnovers and blocked a punt in forcing a shutout defensively. The scoring started when Eli Pruss took a first quarter run in for a touchdown to put Olathe Northwest up 6-0. The Ravens added another touchdown before the half when they capped a drive with a two-yard touchdown run from quarterback Jack Hatzfeld. In the third quarter the Ravens added a field goal from Devin Antcil to go up 15-0. Later in the second half, Pruss added a three-yard touchdown run to put Olathe Northwest ahead 22-0.

9 comments:

Theheartofaneagle said...

I'm so glad that a ON defense player got props. Their defense has put in work and they need to be know for what they do every Friday night!

Viking Fan said...

When was the last time my Vikes were blanked? It may be a difficult season for Viking fans this year. Both sides of the ball are looking rough and special teams may be even worse!

Sunflower football news said...

The last time the Vikings were Shutout was week-6 of the 2013 (4-5) season with a road loss to SME.

Prior to the 2013 loss, the last time it occurred for SMW was the 2007 season in at home vs. Free State in week-6. Following that stretch a span of 64 games have been scored consecutively from 2007-2013.

This will be two shutouts of the Vikings in their last four games.

Free State Fan said...

FS/ON was the defensive battle the score showed. However, it could have been an easier 28-7 win for ON if ON would have used better play calling inside the 5 twice. Thankfully, FS came away with a stop and a forced fumble to keep it within reach. I'll go out on a limb with a prediction... nobody will hold VT to 102 yards on 42 carries this year (2.4 yds/carry). Proud of the 'Birds, they played hard and gave themselves some chances to win.

Austin Lockwood said...

I think a more interesting question is when was the last time ONW Shut out an opponent? I don't recall seeing one after 2010 at least. Is there a chance it's never happened?

Viking Fan said...

Nice work Booker.
The two shutouts in the last four games hits me hard. Is this the start of the end of a once solid program? I can't put a finger on which is worse right now, the offense or defense. Both have helped these losses.

Sunflower football news said...

Thanks Viking fan, I appreciate it.

The season is young though, and there is a lot of work for all 12 teams to to improve across the board. As optimistic as that is two weeks in, there is plenty to gain in a four day practice stretch before Friday arrives.

Sunflower football news said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sunflower football news said...

EagleGrad,

In fact it has. ONW has shutout an opponent and incredibly in its official second year of Varsity status during the 2005 season. That year the Ravens finished 4-5, and in week-6 had a shutout against a young non-con road game @ Mill Valley 42-0.

Only four other times in ONW History 2003-2013 including the SMW game this past Friday were there shutouts. As follows:

05-7 @ Mill Valley 42-0
06-9 @ Leavenworth 42-0
09-8 @ Leavenworth 63-0
10-3 @ Leavenworth 35-0
14-2 vs SM West 22-0