Regional Recap

Olathe North 42, SM East 14

Olathe North took home a 28 point victory Friday night using their quarterback rotation of David Blazevic and Victor Simmons to perfection. Blazevic hit Jason Peete on a 60 yard touchdown strike before Simmons scored on a 26 yard option keeper with 2:40 remaining in the first quarter. The Eagles slowed in the second quarter, and SM East closed the margin to seven points before the half when John Schrock hit an outstretched Kevin Hertel with a 26 yard touchdown pass. The second half, however, was all Olathe North. Three touchdown runs and a 49 yard touchdown pass from Blazevic to Adonis Saunders (below) put the Eagles up comfortably in the victory.

Blue Valley Northwest 38, Olathe Northwest 25

Blue Valley Northwest quarterback Koby Chadick came out determined to get his Huskies to the next round of the playoffs--207 rushing yards and five touchdowns later his team came out on top. Olathe Northwest, who was making their second playoff appearance in school history, stayed competitive throughout the game on several big touchdowns from Devon Boyce but it wasn't enough. Chadick threw a touchdown pass to Matt Ornduff in the first quarter, and went on to add at least one touchdown run in each of the last three quarters. Blue Valley Northwest will face rival Blue Valley next week in a rematch of a Sectional round thriller from 2008.

Blue Valley 42, SM West 18

For the second year in a row SM West faced an upstart Blue Valley school district team in the first round of the playoffs, and came up short. Blue Valley was led by senior quarterback Anthony Abenoja (below) who scored a combined six touchdowns--three rushing and three passing. The 42 points were the most a SM West defense has given up since losing 42-0 to Olathe North on September 17, 2004. In his last game as the SM West quarterback DJ Balazs completed 10 of 23 passes for 166 yards and three touchdowns.

Lawrence Free State 38, Olathe East 7

In a strong defensive effort, Lawrence Free State held Olathe East to a mere 132 yards of total offense, allowing the lone touchdown on a 73 yard pass from Carter McEntee to Chris Fields. In total five different Firebirds scored touchdowns in addition to a field goal by Gabe Ballard-Hanson. With the victory Free State avenged a week one loss to the Hawks. The Firebirds other blemish came against Olathe North, a team they will be facing Friday.

Game Scores and Notes

Week Three Game Results

Olathe North 40, Olathe Northwest 13

Olathe North continued their dominance of the Sunflower League with a 27 point victory over rival Olathe Northwest, but the Eagles actually trailed in this game. That's right, Olathe Northwest's Devon Boyce returned the opening kickoff 96 yards to spot the Ravens a 6-0 lead on Olathe North (the second week in a row this has happened to the Eagles). But, that ultimately proved to be the last straw in Olathe Northwest's upset bid. Olathe North's James Franklin rushed for a school record 340 rushing yards, while adding four rushing touchdowns. In total, Olathe North rushed for 525 yards and only allowed Olathe Northwest to rush for 23 yards.

SM West 49, Leavenworth 0

SM West (who is quickly becoming the least publicized undefeated team in the history of the conference) finally showed off some offensive fireworks of their own with a 49 point victory over Leavenworth. Viking quarterback DJ Balazs threw two touchdown passes of 19 and 48 yards, and also chipped in a one yard rushing score. SM West running back Will Livingston scored twice on the ground for the Vikings, who led 35-0 at the half.

Olathe East 34, Olathe South 31

Despite jumping out to a 17-6 lead, Olathe South was not able to retain the lead as Olathe East came back to win by three in the end. The story of the game was Olathe East's running game, which totalled 429 rushing yards. Olathe East junior Brandon Willingham rushed for 245 yards while Olathe East senior Hayden Groves (below) threw in his own 173 yards rushing. Olathe South's Tanner Dutton produced as usual throwing for 282 yards and a touchdown, but it wasn't enough to take down the rival Hawks.

Lawrence Free State 56, SM North 14

The gaudy offensive abilities that Lawrence Free State showed off last season appear to have returned. In the first game played at their new home stadium, the Firebirds rolled to 560 yards of total offense in a crushing defeat of SM North. Free State quarterback Camren Torneden completed nine of 10 passes for 163 yards and a touchdown. On the ground, Free State running back Kirk Resseguie racked up 193 yards and four touchdowns. Torneden added 75 yards rushing and a touchdown on the ground as well. In total, the game appeared to be a wake-up call to the previously unbeaten Indians of SM North, who only totalled 163 yards of total offense.

SM Northwest 35, Lawrence 7

While their city rival appears to be back on the right track, Lawrence High is still struggling to achieve their first victory. SM Northwest came out fired up after being slightly embarrassed by Olathe North last week. The Cougars dominated on both sides of the ball and reached a level of play they hadn't played at all season. SM Northwest's quarterback Matt Nowak had a terrific game, completing eight of 11 passes for 168 yards and rushing for 107 yards and a touchdown. Cougar running back John Hauk totalled 75 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.

SM South 21, SM East 13

While SM South collected their second win of the season, SM East once again will have to go through a week with a zero in the win column. The Lancers offense seemed anemic as they dropped their third straight game. For SM South, their second win in as many weeks was the product of two Grant Hilton touchdown passes to Antonio McFadden, and a 38 yard touchdown run by Johann Swanepoel.