Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Sunflower League Week Two Game Previews

Olathe East's Jalen Branson. Photo KC Star.
Game of the Week
Olathe East (1-0) at Olathe South (1-0) at ODAC

In the last 10 seasons, these teams have faced off 13 times, with Olathe East holding an 8-5 advantage in that time frame ... Olathe East won last year's matchup, 21-12 ... both teams claimed victories against out-of-conference foes last week ... Olathe South defensive tackle Scott Preston is out for the season after breaking his fibula against Hutchinson ... Olathe East's defense forced five turnovers against Garden City last Friday.

Leavenworth (1-0) at Lawrence (0-1) at Lawrence High Stadium

Leavenworth defeated Lawrence 18-6 last season ... the Pioneers are 1-0 for just the second time in seven years ... Lawrence has gone 3-8 in their last 11 games ... the Chesty Lions forced six turnovers last week (four fumbles and two interceptions) but also committed four turnovers ... Leavenworth's shutout victory last week was their second in 11 games under Mark Littrell ... these teams infamously battled it out in the "Toilet Bowl" in the final week of the 2009 regular season ... both teams were 0-8 entering the Toilet Bowl, and Lawrence won the game 13-6 in overtime.

Olathe North (1-0) at Lawrence Free State (1-0) at Free State Athletic Stadium

Free State has gone 20-4 since the beginning of the 2012 season, tops in the league ... Olathe North is 2-2 versus Free State during that stretch ... Eagle quarterback Cole Murphy left Friday's game with an injury but is expected to play this week ... Free State lost starting linebacker and backup running back Sam Skwarlo to a season ending Lisfranc tear in his foot on Friday ... Free State quarterback Bryce Torneden leads the league in all-purpose yardage with 280 ... Olathe North running back Venus Triplett leads the league in rushing yards with 196.

SM West (0-1) at Olathe Northwest (0-1) at CBAC

Olathe Northwest beat SM West 18-10 a season ago ... Olathe Northwest was held to just 194 yards of total offense in their loss to Hays last week ... SM West has lost six of their last seven games, following a stretch where they won 20 of 22 ... Viking linebackers Jordan McKinney, DJ Turner and Montell Madlock combined for 46 tackles in week one ... Chip Sherman is 2-2 against SM West ... Tim Callaghan is 5-1 against Olathe Northwest.

SM South (1-0) at SM East (1-0) at SM South District Stadium

SM East beat SM South 27-21, in overtime, last season ... Lancer quarterback Gunnar Englund leads the league in passing yards (208) and passing touchdowns (3) ... SM East has won eight of the last nine games in this series, dating back to 2005 ... SM South running back Dalton Lewallen leads the league in touchdowns with four ... the Lancers have gone 19-5 since the start of the 2012 season ... SM South is 1-0 for the first time since 1998 ... eight different Raider receivers caught passes last week.

SM Northwest (0-1) at SM North (0-1) at SM North District Stadium

This rivalry game is traditionally known as the 'Hula Bowl" ... The two programs have combined to go 5-34 since 2012 ... SM North is carrying a 20-game losing streak ... the longest losing streak on record in the Sunflower League was a 21-game losing steak set by Leavenworth from 2008 to 2010 ... SM Northwest has won the past 11 games between the two schools, including a 56-28 victory last season.

5 comments:

Sflfballfan said...

McKinney of SMW is a safety. Scarily, he had 19 tackles last week, again as a safety.

Free State Fan said...

Losing Skwarlo hurts on both sides of the ball. My big concern is Triplett. He is, as they say, "a load." If FS can have these 3 things happen, they can pull out a W: 1-Win the turnover battle, 2-Catch at least 2 breaks (blocked punt, onside kick, get a trick play to work, etc.) 3-Play ball control offense to perfection.
I BELIEVE!!! Go 'Birds!

Sunflower football news said...

Hula Bowl Blues for sure... SMN 0-10 vs. SMNW since the 2003-2013 seasons in all. That includes the end of the Brown era2-Majors4-Grayless3-Simmons1-Bartlett TBD.

Eli Underwood said...

To go along with Kevin's comment, the sad thing about the Hula Bowl is that it legitimately used to be one of the most anticipated rivalries on the Sunflower League calendar. It's amazing to see how things have changed the last decade.

Sunflower football news said...

SMNW has regained the series lead at 22W-20L in 42 GP since that 2003 season. One day it will change again, hoping it can return to its rivalry status again one day, and not in regards to its current series.

In 2001, the Indians led the series 20W-12L. Since 2002 the teams met again (not 03), make that 11 consecutive osses in a row, disregard my previous number.