Olathe East vs. Olathe South Sub-State Recap

Olathe South 38, Olathe East 21

Olathe South running back Jordan Ward ran through the
Olathe East defense for three touchdowns.  Photo courtesy
the Wichita-Eagle.

For the second time in four weeks Olathe South came at Olathe East with a ferocious attack that the Hawks weren't able to handle.  This time around Olathe South had scored 38 points by the end of the third quarter and it was more than enough to earn the Falcons their fourth 6A state championship appearance since 1999.

Olathe South's Jared Douglas put up the first points for of the game when he hit a 26-yard field goal in the first quarter.  Olathe South came back again early in the second quarter when they closed out a drive with a 12-yard touchdown run from Fritz Wilbur.  Trailing 10-0, Olathe East was able to get back into things when Hayden Frazier took a carry 26 yards for a touchdown.  Olathe South managed one more score on a 16-yard run from Teddy Colbert which gave the Falcons a 17-7 halftime lead.

The third quarter was when Olathe South separated themselves, much to the credit of running back Jordan Ward and some tremendous efforts on the offensive line.  Ward scored three consecutive rushing touchdowns on runs of 33, 39 and 45 yards.  The last of which gave Olathe South a 38-7 lead and the victory, by all means.  Olathe East didn't go out completely quietly.  Running back Kendall Kelly added two touchdowns on runs of 46 and two yards.  In the end, however, Olathe South sat comfortably with a 17-point lead as time expired.

With the win, Olathe South pushed their record to 11-1 on the season.  Olathe South will face the Falcons of Wichita Heights this Saturday at 1 p.m. at Yager Stadium, on the campus of Washburn University in Topeka.  Olathe East closed out their season with nine or more wins for the seventh time in nine years.

Notes and Comments

**Olathe South began the 2010 season 0-2 under Jeff Gourley.  Something must have clicked in week three that year, because since then the Falcons have won 18 of their 21 games, including four playoff victories.

**Is this finally the year that Olathe South gets that breakthrough win and claims their first 6A state title?  The Falcons have made it to the final round three times previously, in 1999, 2004 and 2007.  They lost a close one to Garden City, 14-7, in the 1999 title game.  In 2004 and 2007 they lost to Hutchinson. 

**I can't remember the last time a player has come on as strongly this late in the season as what we've seen from Olathe South running back Jordan Ward.  Talk about running with a reckless abandon.  His three touchdowns on Friday gave him a combined 10 touchdowns in the last four games, not to mention 862 rushing yards in that time span.

Kansas 6A East Regional Recaps

The Olathe South defense made life miserable for the LHS
offense all Friday night.  Photo courtesy the Lawrence
Journal World.

Olathe South 37, Lawrence 14

It was going to take a stellar effort on the defensive side of the ball for Lawrence to win this game, but Olathe South didn't let that happen.  The Falcons came out on their first offensive possession of the game and capped off an eight-play drive with a four-yard touchdown run from Fritz Wilbur.  Lawrence sent out Tyrone Jenkins to man the quarterback position, but after they had little success with that they gave the reins to Brad Strauss.  On his first drive at quarterback, early in the second quarter, Strauss marched Lawrence 80 yards down the field capping things off with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Garrett Cleavinger.  The touchdown tied the game at 7 early in the second quarter.

Olathe South made some in game adjustments, including increased pressure on the injured Strauss, and the results were dynamite.  The Falcons reeled off three straight touchdowns on a 33-yard run from Wilbur, a 36-yard pass from quarterback Frankie Suerer to Matt Elliott and a 31-yard run from Elliott with just over a minute remaining in the first half.  Olathe South led 25-7 at halftime.

Early in the third quarter Strauss aggravated his ankle when he was tackled, effectively removing him from the game for good.  Olathe South capitalized with a 22-yard touchdown pass on their next drive from Seurer to Drew Johnson, to gain a 32-7 lead.  Early in the fourth quarter Olathe South tacked on another touchdown on a 24-yard run from Jordan Ward.  Lawrence's final touchdown of the season came on a four-yard run from Isaiah Ross in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. 

SM West 52, Leavenworth 7

SM West was clearly ready to get their playoff win drought out of the way.  Taking advantage of playing Leavenworth in the first round of the playoffs, the Vikings led 31-0 at halftime, and rolled to a 45-point victory.  The Vikings scored first when Armani Williams capped off a drive with a two-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.  Joel Spiller added a 43-yard touchdown run, which was followed up with a four-yard touchdown run from Brett Sterbach.  Before the half was over Williams found Andre Maloney on a 51-yard touchdown pass to make things 28-0.  Kicker Mark Whitrock added a 33-yard field goal before halftime to make things 31-0.

In the third quarter SM West scored touchdown on runs of 42 and 54 yards from Sterbach and Ricco Hopkins, respectively.  Leavenworth's lone touchdown came in the fourth quarter when Judson Cole was able to sneak in a touchdown run from 15 yards out.  SM West closed things out with a six-yard touchdown run from Juanaye Stallings.

Olathe East 40, Olathe Northwest 23

Olathe Northwest's late-season run ended when they dug themselves into a first half hole that they weren't able to climb out of.  Olathe East struck early on a 30-yard touchdown run from John Kelsh in the first quarter to go up 6-0.  Olathe Northwest countered early in the second quarter on a 27-yard field goal from Riley Adam to make things 6-3.  That was as close as the Ravens would come in this one.  Olathe East broke open the game with three consecutive touchdowns from Kendall Kelly, Kelsh and quarterback John Blazevic, all on touchdown runs of less than 10 yards.  Cornerback Junior Williams added two first half interceptions that helped to shut down Olathe Northwest, and at halftime Olathe East led 27-3. 

Olathe Northwest played a good second quarter, scoring a touchdown on a 20-yard pass from Dalton Rook to Willie Cauley and holding Olathe East scoreless.  The Hawks still led by 17 at 27-10 entering the fourth quarter, however.  Olathe East began the fourth quarter scoring on a three-yard run from Kelly to go up 34-10, and basically put things out of reach.  Olathe Northwest's Connor Middleton scored on a five-yard touchdown run to pull the Ravens back within 17, but Olathe East's Hayden Frazier returned the ensuing onside kick 56-yards for a touchdown.  Middleton scored once more for the Ravens late in the fourth quarter on a seven-yard touchdown run, but it wasn't nearly enough.

SM East 38, SM Northwest 21

Like the other three winners, a strong first half from SM East set the tone en route to their sixth victory of the season.  A Jeff Cole touchdown run from two yards out gave SM East an early 7-0 lead.  Later on in the first quarter Dakota Collins found Logan Rose on a 35-yard touchdown pass which extended the lead to 14-0.  SM Northwest answered with an eight-yard touchdown run from Austin Vanderpool to make things 14-7, midway through the second quarter.  SM East was able to get on the board one more time before the half when Collins found receiver Connor Rellihan on an 80-yard touchdown pass.  The Lancers led 21-7 at the half.

SM East extended their lead to 28-7 in the third quarter when Cole scored on another short touchdown run.
SM Northwest made things a bit more interesting, scoring on a nine-yard touchdown run from Danny Manning which made things 28-14, but they were never able to get closer than 14.  SM East's Jake Libeer scored next on a 35-yard touchdown run to make the score 35-14.  SM Northwest's final answer came when Colton Dirks found Manning on a 21-yard touchdown pass.  SM East closed things out with a 32-yard field goal from Sean Luenz.

Week Six Game Recaps

Olathe South's Fritz Wilbur capped off his teams'
victory with a 48-yard touchdown scamper late
in the fourth quarter.  Photo courtesy the Kansas
City Star.

Olathe South 29,
Olathe North 10

An uncommon mistake from Olathe North turned out to be the momentum changer of the game, as Olathe South was able to come away with a 19-point victory and advance to 6-0.  The Falcons scored first early on when Teddy Colbert ripped through the Olathe North defense on his way to a 79-yard touchdown run.  Olathe South was up 6-0 after a botched PAT.  Olathe North came back with a drive early in the second quarter than ended with a four-yard touchdown run from quarterback Jordan Bruce.  The score gave the Eagles a 7-6 advantage. 

Olathe North regained the ball on what they thought would be their last possession of the half, with just under a minute left at their own 12-yard line.  There was a miscommunication on the shotgun snap (the theories behind the miscommunication vary) that resulted in an errant snap and fumble.  Orange Mooney regained possession of the ball but he was clobbered in the endzone by Jared Douglas for a safety.  Olathe South jumped ahead 8-7 with the safety. 

Momentum shifted even more on Olathe North's safety kickoff, when Olathe South's Matt Elliott caught the ball, headed towards the sideline and took it 60 yards to the house to give Olathe South a 15-7 edge at halftime. 

Olathe North regained some stability in the third quarter, holding the Falcons scoreless and chipping in a 22-yard field goal from Jorge Rivera to pull to within five points at 15-10.  That, however, proved to be Olathe North's final points of the game.  Olathe South's Frankie Seurer capped a drive with a 13-yard touchdown run to put the Falcons up 22-10.  Then, with just minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Olathe South's Fritz Wilbur broke loose on a 48-yard touchdown run to give his team a 29-10 lead and victory.

SM East 14, Lawrence Free State 12

Missed extra points have been an all too common theme this season in the SL, and Thursday night they cost Free State a chance at their fifth straight victory.  At the start of the second half SM East had a comfortable lead at 14-0.  Free State's first score came in the third quarter on the heels of mammoth 18-play drive that went 77 yards and was capped off with a six-yard touchdown run from Kyle McFarland.  Free State botched the PAT and trailed 14-6.  The Firebirds put together one more impressive drive late in the fourth quarter--going 97 yards with under a minute to play--that was capped off with a 20-yard touchdown pass from McFarland to Tye Hughes.  The Lancers defense was finally able to hold on the two-point conversion, stuffing McFarland on a designed quarterback run play.

SM West 41, Leavenworth 14

SM West bumped their record back to .500 with a impressive effort on both sides of the ball Friday night.  Tre Burt scored the Vikings first touchdown on a run of eight yards in the first quarter.  That was followed up by two touchdown passes from Armani Williams in the second quarter.  One a 56-yard pass to Andre Maloney and the second on a 25-yard pass to Joel Spiller.  The Vikings led 21-0 at the half. 

In the third quarter they added to their lead when Burt added another touchdown run, this time from nine yards out.  Armani Williams found Robert Rice on a four-yard touchdown pass later in the quarter to put the Vikings up 34-0.  Williams added a one yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to help the Vikings reach the 41-point total.  Leavenworth's two scores came late, one on a 27-yard touchdown pass from Mark Dabeck to Jeff George and the other on a one-yard run from Jason Randall. 

Lawrence 42, SM South 17

Brad Strauss set the tone early for this game, returning the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown to give his Chesty Lions a 7-0 advantage.  SM South tied the game later in the quarter on a botched Lawrence punt return, where Ra'Keim Abdul scooped up the loose fumble and returned it for a touchdown to tie things at 7.  SM South also added a touchdown on an 80-yard touchdown drive and chipped in a late field goal--but it wasn't enough to keep up with Lawrence.  By the half Strauss had already added three rushing touchdowns in addition to the return score.  In the second half Strauss added two more touchdowns, one on a pass to Anthony Buffalomeat, and another on a touchdown run.  All told, he accounted for each of Lawrence's six touchdowns.

Olathe East 37, SM Northwest 20

A big second quarter was all that Olathe East needed to to push their record to 5-1.  Both teams scored first quarter touchdowns to tie the game at 7 entering the second quarter.  Olathe East's Kendall Kelly on a five-yard touchdown run, and SM Northwest on a 92-yard kickoff return for a touchdown from Duan Johnson.  From there, Olathe East chipped in four straight forms of scoring.  First, Matthew Baltimore tackled a SM Northwest player in the endzone to give the Hawks a safety.  Junior Williams then returned the safety kickoff 64-yards for a touchdown.  John Kelsh helped to finish off a drive with a one-yard touchdown run, before John Blazevic found Chad Johnson on a 37-yard touchdown pass to make things 30-7 in favor of the Hawks.  SM Northwest was able to score on a five-yard touchdown run from Danny Manning before halftime to make things 30-14. 

SM Northwest added a third quarter touchdown on a 54-yard pass from Colton Dirks to Jake Horner, but that was matched in the fourth on a seven-yard run from Kendall Kelly, to give Olathe East a 37-20 victory. 

Olathe Northwest 49, SM North 40 (Thursday Night Game)

For the fifth time in six games, Olathe Northwest was able to score over 40 points.  Fortunately for the Ravens, it marked the third time those 40 or more points actually counted towards a victory.  The Ravens' first half touchdowns came, in order of appearance, on a 45-yard run from Connor Middleton, a 65-yard kickoff return from Avery Parker, a 34-yard pass from Dalton Rook to Willie Cauley, a one-yard pass from Rook to Cauley, and finally a seven-yard run from Middleton.  SM North countered with touchdowns on a 35-yard interception return by Hunter DeGraeve, a two-yard run from Sean Wilkes, and a 60-yard pass from Wilkes to Mason Perez.  At halftime Olathe Northwest led 35-19, with a combined eight touchdowns from both teams.

Perez started play in the second half by returning the opening kickoff 80-yards for a touchdown for SM North, to make the score 35-26 in favor of Olathe Northwest.  Rook found Parker on a 72-yard touchdown pass to push Olathe Northwest's lead back to 42-26.  Brock Burrows chipped in a one-yard touchdown run to give the Indians 33 points, before Rook responded with a one-yard touchdown run of his own.  SM North's last score came in the fourth quarter on another run from Burrows from one yard out.