Linn Hibbs named SM Northwest Head Coach

Linn Hibbs, Wellington DN.

SM Northwest made things official Thursday, naming Linn Hibbs as their new head football coach.

Hibbs is well known among coaching circles from his 15-year tenure as the head coach at Wellington High School, a program located just south of Wichita near the Oklahoma border.

Hibbs won Class 4A state titles with Wellington in 2001 and 2002, and finished as the state runner-up in 2000.  With over 100 victories under his belt Hibbs retired from coaching in May of 2011.  Apparently Hibbs wanted a new challenge, and that's what he'll get at SM Northwest.

Hibbs inherits a program that has gone 15-15 over the past three seasons.  While the Cougars haven't exactly been a dominating force over that time period, they haven't been bad either and Hibbs will have a decently stocked pantry from the get go.

Hibbs was quoted in the Sumner News Cow saying "I'm sure the people in the Wichita City League may argue with this, but the Sunflower League is the toughest league in the state of Kansas."

SM Northwest's former head coach, Aaron Barnett, resigned from his position several weeks ago to pursue administrative opportunities within the Shawnee Mission School District.

Thursday Report

SM East's Elliot Faerber.

Week One Matchups
All games times 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted

SM East at SM Northwest (Thursday Night Game) at SM North District Stadium

The first game of the 2011 Sunflower League schedule has the potential to be a very competitive matchup. While SM Northwest doesn’t return any big names on paper, I can guarantee you their head coach, Aaron Barnett, has been using the game against the Lancers as a proverbial carrot on a string all offseason. 

Last year SM East came in and embarrassed SM Northwest, 24-0, in the opening game of the season. The Cougars stumbled to an 0-3 start before they regained their bearings. SM East, led by wide receiver Elliot Faerber, is the favorite, but SM Northwest would love to return the favor they were given in week one last year.

Olathe Northwest at Leavenworth at Leavenworth

An opening week victory—which one of these teams will collect—is a tremendous confidence booster, and could do wonders for either club in the early stages of the season. If Olathe Northwest wins they’ll head to SM South in week two, where they will likely be favored, and a 2-0 start would be feasible. For Leavenworth, a victory would signify major strides in year two under Kevin Kopecky, and it would be a great booster before their game against Lawrence Free State in week two.

SM West at Lawrence at Lawrence

The one thing we know in this game is that neither team will be breaking in an inexperienced quarterback or running back (assuming both sides stay injury free). Lawrence’s Brad Strauss will have all eyes on him as he works to build on his tremendous sophomore season, while Armani Williams will be working to silence the critics who blamed SM West’s poor end to the 2010 season on his accuracy problems. At the running back position, Lawrence will be featuring returning starter Charles Jackson while SM West will be led by Tre Burt.

Lawrence Free State at Olathe South at ODAC

Last season these two teams played each other in week one and what most people remember from the game is how Lawrence Free State ran wild, scoring 42 points with ease and handing Olathe South an early loss. Olathe South is the favorite in this one, and they have the advantage of playing at home at ODAC.  All signs point to an Olathe South victory, but Free State is a wildcard, and we'll see how they perform with a relatively new crop of skill position players.

SM South at SM North at SM North District Stadium

This will be the first game as head coach for SM South’s Ryan Lonergan, and you know he and the SM South faithful would love nothing more than a victory over a conference rival in the first game of the season. These teams have played some great game in the past and this one should be a competitive, fun contest to watch.  One key thing of note will be observing how much of SM West's offensive and defensive philosophies Lonergan brought with him to SM South.

Game of the Week
Olathe North at Olathe East at CBAC

This contest was selected as the Hy-Vee High School Game of the Week on KC Metro Sports, which means the eyes of the metro will be on these two teams. The action kicks off before the game with the 810 WHB and Metro Sports sponsored “High School Gameday,” which is essentially the high school version of ESPN’s College Gameday—a very cool addition to the Game of the Week, if I might add. As far as the actual game goes, it doesn’t get much better than this in the Sunflower League. These two powers will give us a good showing in week one and we’ll have a much better understanding of how much reloading each team did in the offseason.

Strength of Schedule Calculation

Aaron Barnett, Head Coach at
SM Northwest, is fielding one
of his more youthful squads at just
the right time.  On paper the Coug-
ars have the easiest SOS in the SL.

Using a simple mathematical formula, I calculated the strength of schedule of each of the Sunflower League teams' upcoming 2011 slate.  The main flaw of the formula is that it is based on my Preseason Power Rankings, which will never be 100% accurate. 

Here's how the formula worked:  I allocated points to each team based on their preseason ranking.  Olathe North, the first place team, received 12 points, Olathe East 11, SM East 10, and so on until I reached Leavenworth who received one point.  If a team played a home game against Olathe North, for instance, I would add 12 points to that team's strength of schedule.  If they played a home game against Leavenworth I added one point.

To factor in games in which a team played an away game, I took the team's base points and multiplied it by 1.5.  So if a school played at Olathe North their strength of schedule would have 18 points added to it, and if they played at Leavenworth 1.5 points would be added.  This basis for away game was only factored in if it was an actual "away" game. So SM West's away game against SM East, at SM South District Stadium (the home stadium for both teams) did not count as an away game.

Also, SL teams play four out-of-conference schools during the season--Blue Valley North, who I slotted Olathe Northwest's point scale, Blue Valley West, who I slotted Olathe South's point scale, Wyandotte, who I slotted Leavenworth's point scale, and Blue Valley Northwest, who I slotted Free State's point scale.  Those figures we're all estimations based on my rough guess of how well those squads will perform in 2011.

Overall the formula seemed to work pretty well.  The more points a team has equates to the harder the strength of schedule, based on my preseason rankings and estimates of out-of-conference teams.  Here was how the strength of schedules ranked.

Strength of Schedule Totals

1. Lawrence: 81.5
2. Olathe East: 79
3. Olathe South: 74
4. Leavenworth: 70
5. SM West: 69
6. Olathe North: 67.5
7. SM East: 66
t8. Olathe Northwest: 65.5
t8. SM North: 65.5
10. SM South: 65
11. Lawrence Free State: 64
12. SM Northwest: 54

*As a side note, the most away games I've seen a team play in the SL was six.  If a team played six away games against the top six teams in the league, then played their three home games against the next three best teams, their strength of schedule would equate to a 100.5, which would essentially be the maximum score any team could achieve.

Anthony Buffalomeat, above, and his Lawrence
High teammates will face one of the toughest
SL schedules in 2011.

As you can see, based on my figures Lawrence has the strongest preseason strength of schedule, and they sit some 27.5 points higher than SM Northwest who has the easiest strength of schedule.

The Chesty Lions begin the season at home against SM West (Tim Callaghan and SM West have won six of their last seven season openers) before spending three consecutive weeks on the road at Olathe South, Olathe East and Leavenworth.  They then return home to face SM East and SM South.  Their district play begins the following week when they travel to Olathe North, followed by a home game against Olathe Northwest, then an away game at their crosstown rival Lawrence Free State. 

Based on my preseason rankings they face the league's top six teams, excluding themselves. 

SM Northwest on the other hand may have found a good season to have very few returning starters.  Their depletion of talent should only affect them in the first few weeks of the season when they play homes games against SM East and SM West.

Of SM Northwest's remaining seven games, only one against Olathe East seems like an uphill challenge at this point.  The other six games include Olathe Northwest, Free State, SM South, SM North, Leavenworth, and Wyandotte.  The Cougars could easily go 6-3 if their new starters improve like they should as the season goes along.

2010 Sunflower League Preseason Power Rankings

1. Olathe North
Head Coach: Pete Flood (Four years, 35-10)
Last season: 13-0

Only at Olathe North could the football program lose four all-state players, not to mention the Simone Award winner, and still be favored to capture yet another league championship—and that’s exactly what is expected of Olathe North in 2010. The Eagles appear to have their next group of big time players ready for another state title run this upcoming season.
Last year’s Simone winner James Franklin won’t be easy to replace, but the Eagles will make their best attempt using Adonis Saunders (right) and Dominick Wilson as running backs. Both players run the forty in the sub 4.5 range and look to factor in big time on offense, as well as in the defensive secondary. Following a stellar junior season in which he rushed for over 1,000 yards, Victor Simmons will once again man the quarterback position for the Eagles, adding yet another player with speed in the 4.5 range. Simmons will also be a starting safety.

Aside from the skill positions Olathe North will look to senior Kyle Swartz to head up the interior of their offensive and defensive fronts. Swartz, on paper, might be the top returning linebacker in the Sunflower League and he should also be making his presence felt as a tight end.

It appears that Olathe North once again has a phenomenal core of athletes to lead their football team. The true question is whether or not they can replace the senior leadership lost to graduation. It will also be interesting to see how head coach Pete Flood handles the success from last season and the increased pressure the team will be receiving as defending state champs. The first big test for Olathe North comes week one, when they host SM West.

2. Shawnee Mission West
Head Coach: Tim Callaghan (Seven years, 54-20)
Last season: 8-2

It’s fair to say that SM West has become a power in the Sunflower League and 2010 should be another successful year for program. The Vikings return more proven talent than any team in the league, including the running back tandem of Will Livingston and Cordi Pascal, who combined to rush for 1,384 yards last season. Fullback Danny Dowling also returns, and by going 3 for 3 at those positions it looks like SM West will be able employ their power running game to the fullest extent. Replacing 20 game winner DJ Balazs at quarterback will be senior Drew Humphreys. Humphreys will also return in the secondary for the Vikings where he has started since his sophomore season.

The offensive line—the other key element to the Vikings run game—will be led by proven seniors Dillon Shupe and Connor Askren. They will be the key to just how well the SM West offense functions in 2010.

It’s clear the Vikings have the talent to compete with anybody in 2010, but perhaps the biggest mystery surrounding the program is the school’s lack of playoff success in recent years. The school hasn’t won a playoff game since the 2006 season, and that lack of post-season success has cast a shadow on the school’s otherwise domination.

Put it this way: since 2007 SM West has gone 16-2 in Sunflower League play (the first six games of the season against SL opponents in odd years, the last six in even years) and 22-7 overall—not too shabby. But failing to make the playoffs in 2007, and losses to Blue Valley schools in the first rounds of the playoffs in 2008 and 2009 have taken away from the program’s perceived success. SM West is hungry for another dominant season, and dying for a big playoff run. Year eight under Tim Callaghan may provide that.

3. Olathe East
Jeff Meyers (18 years, 128-54)
Last season: 6-4

There are two certainties in the Sunflower League. As previously stated, Olathe North will also have the talent to win a state championship. The other is that Olathe East will always have a winning record. The Hawks have been above .500 every season since 2000. But Olathe East doesn’t plan on settling for a winning record. The school has much higher goals after a “down” season in 2009.

The big time name for Olathe East is Brandon Willingham (right). Expect to be seeing quite a few highlights from the gifted senior on KC Metro Sport’s High School Roundup every Friday night. Willingham will start again at the running back and cornerback positions. He will also be returning kicks and punts for the Hawks.

Joining Willingham on the defensive side of the ball is senior Austin Fulson. Last season Fulson led the Sunflower League in tackles with 125 in 10 games. It’s fair to say Fulson is probably licking his chops for the arrival of the season, when he can once again return to his habit of feasting on opposing running backs.

Olathe East won’t be returning a great amount of experience in 2010, but that shouldn’t handicap the team. The Hawks lost four all-state players to graduation after 2008, and still found a way to fill in the voids to the tune of a 6-4 record last year. Jeff Meyers is one of the best coaches in the league at utilizing all of his team’s talent and the Hawks should have a solid season in store.

4. Olathe South
Head Coach: Jeff Gourley (Two years, 7-11)
Last season: 4-5

Olathe South may be the surprise team of the league in 2010 and could very easily finish above fourth overall. For the Falcons it’s the amount of players with great experience they will be returning that should make them a pretty solid team

It looked as if Olathe South was one of the league’s better teams in 2009, but they just didn’t seem capable of putting everything together for an entire game. If the offense was clicking the defense was playing terrible, and vice-versa. Heading into week eight of the season the Falcons were 4-3, with their three losses coming by a combined 10 points. It looked like the team lost any mojo it had after the one point loss to Blue Valley in week seven, as they were beat in the final two weeks of the season by a combined score of 21-90.

2010 will be head coach Jeff Gourley’s third year at the helm for the Falcons and it looks like they may be on the verge of putting it all together for an entire season. The team returns seven starters on offense, and eight on defense. Replacing 2,000+ yard passer Tanner Dutton at quarterback won’t be easy, but the team’s other returning talent should make up for the loss.

5. Shawnee Mission East
Head Coach: Chip Sherman (One year, 4-6)
Last season: 4-6

The folks in Prairie Village have quite a bit to be optimistic about this upcoming season. This excitement has a lot to do with the high note the Lancers ended the 2010 season on. Year one under head coach Chip Sherman started out rocky with the team going 0-3 and only scoring 23 points. But from then on SM East looked like a completely different team, finishing the year winning four of seven, including an upset of SM Northwest and a competitive first half against a far superior Olathe North team in the Regional round of the playoffs.

A 4-6 record doesn’t generally forecast a ton of future success, but with this group of Lancers it just may. SM East played a much tougher and aggressive style of football later in the 2009 season (as evidence by their success). This style of football was much the design of Sherman. With three Missouri Class 3A state titles under his belt, it’s safe to say that Sherman has the tools to mold the team into an even more quality product in 2010, and the school should easily produce its first winning record since 2005.

A few other things to note about the Lancers—they added one of the top coaches in the area as an assistant during the offseason, and they have a quarterback battle brewing. Sam Brown, who enjoyed great success as a head coach at SM North and Excelsior Springs, was added by Sherman as an assistant and his veteran knowledge should make a big impact on the Lancers program. The quarterback battle is between seniors Robby Moriarty and John Schrock, who passed for 765 and 545 yards respectively, in 2009. Any position battle is a positive sign, because it raises the level of competitiveness. And who knows, Sherman might just rotate the two players at the position like he did in 2009. The one thing that is for sure: SM East has big expectations in 2010.

6. Shawnee Mission Northwest
Head Coach: Aaron Barnett (Four years, 25-14)
Last season: 5-4

SM Northwest’s battle with inconsistency got the best of them in 2009, as they went a disappointing 5-4 and missed the playoffs for the first time in three years—and that was with experienced players the likes of Matt Nowak and John Hauk leading the team. The Cougars will be working to erase the doubt from last season and start a new run of playoff appearances and success.

The backbone of the team will undoubtedly be senior defensive end and tight end, Drew Goodger. The 6-foot-5 athlete received First Team All-Sunflower League honors on both sides of the ball last year and has been receiving Division One interest ever since. Goodger will have a lot of pressure on his shoulders but if he thrives on it and leads the team well, the success should take care of itself. SM Northwest has a solid offseason program and new playmakers for the Cougars will inevitably emerge in 2010.

The Cougars also have a very easy district alignment, where they will be facing Wyandotte, Leavenworth, and SM North. Win two of three and they make the playoffs. SM Northwest should be returning to the playoffs and a more successful 2010, even if the team picture is a little blurry right now.

7. Lawrence Free State
Head Coach: Bob Lisher (13 years, 73-60)
Last season: 8-3

There are quite a few unknowns surrounding the Lawrence Free State football team heading towards the 2010 football season. The biggest question in everyone’s mind is pertains to who will be replacing Camren Torneden’s production. The ballyhooed 2010 graduate put up over 4,500 yards of total offense in his junior and senior seasons, and a player with his abilities will not be easy to replace. The Firebirds also lost top players all-state player Michael Lisher, as well as all-league running back Kirk Resseguie.

Despite all the uncertainty, it’s still difficult to imagine the Firebirds taking too big of a tumble in the rankings next season. Most people thought the Firebirds would tail off after the graduation of the Murphy twins in 2007, but the school bounced back with a 7-3 campaign, and a state championship appearance the season after that. The bottom line is that Bob Lisher’s zone-read option offense works, it’s just a matter of finding a suitable athlete to play quarterback in it, which hasn’t been an issue the past five seasons. The player who looks slated to take over at QB is senior-to-be Dylan Perry. While he is unproven at the varsity level at the position, Perry possesses decent track speed which always bodes well for option quarterbacks. Seniors Matt Cole and Justin McCandless will also be key figures in leading the team. The Firebirds don’t appear to have the firepower of the past half-decade, but they should be competitive as always.

8. Olathe Northwest
Head Coach: Todd Dain (6 years, 17-39)
Last season: 4-6

Olathe Northwest, much like Lawrence Free State, was hit hard by graduation. The Raven’s lost a core group of senior including Josh Lemke, Devon Boyce and Brandon Bouvilom who completed arguably the best year in Olathe Northwest’s football history this past fall.

The departure of the strong senior class leaves quite a few positions up for grabs. The one position that seems to be firmly under control however is the top receiver spot, courtesy of senior-to-be Nick Bandy (right). Bandy has good length and tremendous speed, and will be one of the Raven’s top threats to score assuming they get the ball in his hands enough. The Ravens also return a top special team’s threat in Nick Prologo. The senior may be the top kicker in the Sunflower League in 2010.

Olathe Northwest showed flashes of the program they want to become last season, but the team is going to have to complete a winning season before anyone in the league treats the Raven’s as a true threat within the Sunflower League.

9. Lawrence
Head Coach: Dirk Wedd (10 years, 58-50)
Last season: 1-8

Things couldn’t get much worse than the 1-8 season Lawrence High fielded last year. For a school that has won 10 state championships, a one win season is considered rock bottom. Lawrence can really only improve in 2010 (assuming they don’t do the unthinkable and go winless).

Head coach Dirk Wedd is a seasoned veteran in the Sunflower League and he undoubtedly instilled the changes necessary to turning around the program during the offseason. The Chesty Lions also have a solid group of returning talent.

Senior-to-be Darrin Sorem could raise some eyebrows. He earned Second Team All-Sunflower honors as a linebacker as a sophomore, and followed it up with a bit of disappointing 2010 where he only received honorable mention honors. Sorem is a talented athlete on both sides of the ball and should make a big impact for the team. Another player of note is senior Jamal Brown. He stands 6-foot-2, weighs 350lbs. and is the son of former Green Bay Packer Gilbert Brown. Jamal is a nearly immoveable force and if he improves his stamina during the offseason he has quite a bit of potential for the Chesty Lions.

Will Lawrence return to the playoffs in 2010? With a district of Olathe North, Olathe Northwest, and Lawrence Free State it’s hard to say. But it’s almost a given the team shows some steady improvement from 2009.

10. Shawnee Mission South
Head Coach: Brandon Claypool (Four years, 8-29)
Last season: 3-6

In 2009 SM South showed signs of improvement and at the midway point of the season it looked as if the Raiders may produce a winning record. The team ended its season on a three game losing streak, however. Playmakers Johannes Swanepoel and Antonio McFadden are gone with graduation, but the team has a good numbers of seniors returning that should at least keep the program stabilized.

The most notable returning player for the Raiders is senior lineman Devean Jensen. Besides Jensen, the majority of the SM South depth chart will be filled with first time starters.

The Raiders will be playing six of their nine regular season games on the road, but their list of opponents doesn’t include Olathe North or Olathe East, two teams that project among the top position in the league for 2010.

11. Shawnee Mission North
Head Coach: Dennis Grayless (First year)
Last season: 2-7

Former head coach Ryan Majors quietly exited SM North during the offseason, and Dennis Grayless was named his replacement. Wait a minute, Dennis who?

While Grayless doesn’t have any previous head coaching experience, he does have a good familiarity with the team having been an assistant coach for the Indians for the past four seasons. Grayless true accolades come from his NJROTC success. Following a 25 year career as a United State Marine, Grayless took the reigns as the head ROTC instructor at SM North. According the Shawnee Dispatch, SM North’s NJROTC drill team is now widely regarded as the top squad in the country.

While that success in no way translates to football, it does say something about the Grayless hire. First off, Grayless clearly has a history of discipline and that can only help out the SM North program, whose lack of discipline has been the principle reason for the program's demise since the departure of Sam Brown. Secondly, it’s such an unorthodox hire that maybe it will just work. At the very least Grayless’ team should be one of the top conditioned units in the Sunflower League.

Aside from the talk about Grayless is the talent SM North has returning. Quarterback Kyle Goodburn won the starting quarterback position last summer and did a decent job as a junior. He returns with a good deal of experience. Junior-to-be running back Kendall Kelly (right) could also raise some eyebrows. He rushed for 609 yards last season and he has good enough speed and balance to be a very productive player for the Indians again in 2010.

12. Leavenworth
Head Coach: Kevin Kopecky (First year)
Last season: 0-9

The glimmer of optimism within the Leavenworth football program is leaning heavily on the hope that new head coach Kevin Kopecky can come in and turn around the Sunflower League’s worst football team. Many have tried at Leavenworth, and nearly all have failed. Even Kansas coaching legend Tom Young couldn’t get the Pioneers to succeed. He led the team to a 4-5 record in 2004—the best record Leavenworth fielded during the 2000s—before a disastrous 2005 when Young and company failed to win a game. Young left following the season.

Kopecky’s new team certainly presents him with a great challenge. Leavenworth scored a total of 21 points in their nine games last season, and didn’t even score an extra point. Going deeper than just the football team is the culture at Leavenworth High School. The high school is located in the same town as the most notorious federal penitentiary in the United States, much the contrary to the culture that exists at Overland Park’s St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Kopecky’s last coaching gig. Kopecky is coaching a much different group of teenage athletes.

Kopecky’s greatest chances for success rely on utilizing Leavenworth’s athleticism. The school’s dominant basketball and track programs are not by accident. The school is loaded with athletic talent, but that talent has never been funneled properly into the football program. With Kopecky at the helm maybe a change is in store. In the meantime his presence and experience could be enough to lift the team out of the cellar in year one.

Final Decade Statistical Analysis

With the 2000s now in the past its time to take a look at how each team faired throughout the decade. As some of you may recall, I did a similar analysis this time last year breaking down the nine year trend of each team. There were a few close races and it is interesting to see how everything broke down. Each team is listed, followed by their win/loss record, followed by their winning percentage. Also, I broke the 12 team league down into three different sub-groups based on their win/loss totals.


Tier 1
1. Olathe North, 100-19 (.840)
2. Olathe East, 81-26 (.757)
3t. Olathe South, 61-40 (.604)
3t. SM West, 61-40 (.604)
5. Lawrence Free State, 60-45 (.571)

At this point in time last year Olathe North was sitting at 87 wins and the only way they could reach the century mark was to win the state championship going 13-0. Well, low and behold they did it, bumping their average victories per season to 10. The Eagles (left) were also the only team to win a state championship during the decade, claiming titles in five of the 10 years.

Olathe East can hang their hat on the fact that they were the only team in the league to have a winning record in every season during the 2000s--even mighty Olathe North suffered a 4-5 season in 2006. Despite not winning a state championship during the decade, Olathe East was the model for consistency within a program. The Hawks were also one of only three teams to retain the same coach (Jeff Meyers) for all 10 years.

Olathe South (below) and SM West (right) both finished with identical records of 61-40. It was pretty crazy that the two programs played the exact same amount and won the exact same amount of games. Given the chances for variation of games with the playoffs, I find their identical win/loss record to be quite astounding. SM West won a total of seven games in the first three years of the decade, before Tim Callaghan was brought in as head coach in 2003. Following an initial season of 2-7, Callaghan and the Vikings finished off the last six seasons of the decade going 52-13 (.800). Olathe South's efforts could be described as boom or bust. The Falcons win totals had an eight win improvement from 2003 to 2004, and also a six win decline from the 2007 to 2008 (following the departure of head coach Mark Littrell), amidst state championship runner-up finishes in 2004 and 2007.

Lawrence Free State (right) slides into the fifth spot on the list with a 60-45 record. The Firebirds can thank Bob Lisher's spread movement for the success. The team was a lowly 25-34 from 2000 to 2005. In 2005 the Firebirds starting running a spread, zone read option offense. The process took a year, but in 2006 it helped the team explode to an 11 win season. Granted, athletes like Ryan Murphy, Craig Rosenstengle and Camren Torneden were essential to the successes of such an offense, but the change in philosophy worked well. The school won 35 games in the last four years of the decade, including a trip to the state championship in 2008.

Tier 2
6. Lawrence, 55-47 (.539)
7. SM Northwest, 49-47 (.510)
8. SM East, 39-59 (.398)
9. SM North, 39-55 (.415)

Nobody saw Lawrence's dreadful 1-8 season coming; the Chesty Lions slipped two slots to #6 on the wins list, getting passed by SM West and hated rival Lawrence Free State. When looking at the Lawrence's season by season results it appears that there was a general build up to the school's 10-2 season in 2005, followed by a gradual decline to the 1-8 record in 2009.

You could say SM Northwest's efforts are a more minor version of SM West's. The team achieved some of its best season's more recently with the arrival of Aaron Barnett, but despite this the school never posted a 10 win season. The Cougars were the closest representation to a .500 team during the decade.

SM East and SM North both finished with the same amount of victories but SM East made the playoffs in more seasons so they get the nod for the #8 slot.

Tier 3
10. SM South, 28-67 (.295)
11. Olathe Northwest, 17-39 (.304
12. Leavenworth, 11-79 (.122)

SM South appears to have really underachieved given the fact that they are 10 wins behind both SM East and SM North, two programs who you could argue had a similar talent pool. Olathe Northwest's numbers are obviously skewed since the school didn't compete on the varsity level until the 2004 season. However, their win percentage still only ranks them tenth among the 12 teams. Leavenworth remains the league's cellar dweller. The school suffered through four winless season during the decade, and peaked with a 4-5 squad, led by quarterback Adam Booth in 2004.

Playoff and League Results

State Championships: Olathe North (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 (left), 2009)

State Championship Runner-Ups*: Olathe North (2004), Olathe South (2004, 2007), Olathe East (2005), SM West (2006), Lawrence Free State (2008)

State Semifinal Appearences: Olathe North (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2009), Olathe East (2002, 2005), Olathe South (2004, 2007), SM West (2004, 2006), Lawrence Free State (2006, 2008), Lawrence (2005), SM North (2000), SM East (2001)

Sunflower League Championships**: Olathe North (2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2009), Olathe East (2003, 2005, 2008), SM West (2005, 2006, 2008), Olathe South (2001), Lawrence Free State (2006), SM North (2000), SM Northwest (2007)

*Olathe North played in Class 5A from 2004-2005.
**There were ties for the Sunflower League Championships in '00, '01, '05, '06, and '08.

Thursday Report

Week Seven Matchups
All game times 7 pm unless otherwise noted

Olathe North (6-0) at Blue Valley (1-5)
Last season this matchup delivered arguably the best game of the season. In that game Blue Valley quarterback Anthony Abenoja threw for 317 yards and four touchdowns, while Olathe North's James Franklin churned out 267 yards rushing and four touchdowns of his own. The game was decided on a botched Olathe North extra point as the Tigers from Blue Valley left victorious 42-41. One year Olathe North is looking like the best team in class 6A, and meanwhile Blue Valley is having their most disappointing season in years, sitting a pitiful 1-5. Will the offensive fireworks be on display this year? If the Olathe North defense plays anything like they have previously this season, no.

Leavenworth (0-6) at Lawrence Free State (4-2)
Unfortunately for Leavenworth, Free State is coming off of a humbling experience against Olathe North. The Firebirds will be out for blood and their first W in district play. The Pioneers appear to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

SM Northwest (4-2) at SM West (5-1)
This game has slowly but steadily developed into a rivalry since Aaron Barnett became the head coach at SM Northwest in 2006, following Tim Callaghan's arrival at SM West in 2003. This year, as has been the past three seasons, the winner of this game can be crowned the champion of the Shawnee Mission School District (a title that has become more reputable in recent years).

SM South (3-3) at Blue Valley North (2-4)
SM South has been playing well this season and a winning record after game number seven would be a huge step in the right direction for the Raider football program. Blue Valley North hasn't shown much consistency, but they will put up a good fight on their home turf in district play--they always do.

Lawrence (0-6) at Olathe Northwest (2-4)
Lawrence has been playing much better lately (despite the 0-6 record) and a win could be close. Collecting a win on the road at CBAC will not be an easy task for the Chesty Lions, but it is feasible. Olathe Northwest has been playing poorly of late and is in as much of a need for a victory as Lawrence.

Blue Valley West (2-4) at Olathe South (4-2)
Olathe South has a decent shot at collecting their fifth win of the season, and fourth straight victory against a sporadic Blue Valley West crew. The EKL does throw the ball around the lot quite a bit and Olathe South's arial attack isn't likely to surprise the Jaguars--but the Jaguars haven't displayed enough consistency to hint as to whether their experience will make a difference.

SM East (2-4) at SM North (2-4)
Both teams have tough remaining paths to get a playoff berth (SM West and SM Northwest make up the rest of the district) and so this game will be crucial. The game is also one of the two Nut Cup rivalries in the Shawnee Mission School District--so bragging rights will also be big.

Blue Valley Northwest 27, Olathe East 21
Olathe East starts district play 0-1 after a disappointing loss at the hands of one of their former assistants, Mike Zegunis, and his Blue Valley Northwest Huskies. The star of the game was Husky receiver Matt Ornduff (arguably the top receiver in Johnson County), who had touchdown receptions of 37, and 85 yards. Olathe East was down 27-7 at one point in the third quarter, but made a valiant effort to get back into the game. Two Carter McEntee touchdown passes got the Hawks within six, but they weren't able to collect another score.