Week Four Review

Three Up

1. SM Northwest

After taking care of Leavenworth 34-0 on Thursday, the Cougars sit at 3-1 with their one loss coming to conference powerhouse Olathe North. More importantly, it appears that SM Northwest has hit their stride, feeding off the abilities of Matt Nowak, John Hauk, and KC Waterman.

2. Lawrence Free State

Since stumbling in week one, the Firebirds have looked more and more like the team their 6A state runner-up team from 2008. After putting on an impressive display in a victory over SM West Saturday, it looks like Free State is capable of beating anyone in the league. Their much anticipated battle with Olathe North in two weeks should sum things up well.

3. Olathe South

For once it was the Falcons who made a comeback to collect a victory. Olathe South used a versatile aerial attack to come back from a 14 point halftime deficit to defeat SM North. The Falcon's offense is legit, its just a matter of when they get things together on the defensive side of the ball.

Three Down

1. SM North

After a great 2-0 start, Kendall Kelly (below) and SM North have been less than impressive in the past two weeks. The Indians followed up a blowout loss to Lawrence Free State by blowing a 14 point halftime lead against Olathe South. Maybe the most disheartening thing for the Indians was that they were outscored 28-7 in the second half of their loss to Olathe South.

2. SM West

The Vikings inability to score has been their achilles heel this season and it finally caught up with them against Lawrence Free State. SM West had an ample amount of opportunities to match Free State's 22 points, but failed to do so on several occasions.

3. Olathe East

The Hawks have played, without a doubt, the toughest schedule of any team in the Sunflower League and now sit at a disappointing 2-2. Their four opponents have a combined record of 12-4 (two of the losses Olathe East dished out), but after playing Olathe North on Friday it appears the Hawks will have a much easier run to finish off the season.

Individual Highlights

**Olathe North's James Franklin carried the ball 25 times for 218 yards and two touchdowns. His touchdowns came on runs of 35 and 63 yards. Teammate Tre Walker (below) also chipped in 19 carries for 80 yards and a touchdown.

**SM Northwest quarterback Matt Nowak had another solid game, completing 10 of 13 passes for 195 yards and three touchdowns.

**Lawrence Free State running back Kirk Resseguie had 22 carries for 109 yards and two touchdowns. In the past two weeks combined Resseguie has rushed for 302 yards and six touchdowns.

**Olathe North's Jason Peete only had one catch Friday, but it was a big one--a 71 yard touchdown that put Olathe North up 14-0 on Olathe East.

Week Five Power Rankings

1. Olathe North (4-0): The Eagles finished off their rival Olathe East fairly easily, and still remain the team to beat in the Sunflower League, and Class 6A.

2. Lawrence Free State (3-1): The Firebirds have been getting more impressive every week and with the exception of Olathe North, you really can't say that about any other team in the league.

3. SM West (3-1): SM West is still a top three team in the league, but their offensive woes need to be addressed.

4. Olathe East (2-2): The Hawks finished off their brutal stretch 2-2; winning out the rest of the regular season is a definite possibility.

5. SM Northwest (3-1): Two consecutive wins have been impressive by the Cougars, and it looks like they are coming together as a unit.

6. Olathe South (2-2): Unfortunately, offense generally isn't noted for winning championships. The Falcons have a great offense, but the improvement needs to happen defensively.

7. Olathe Northwest (2-2): Olathe Northwest had a nice 25-7 victory over SM South, but to get respect in Olathe they need to defeat their city foes.

8. SM North (2-2): The Indians are backpedaling after a great start to the season. Facing Olathe North this Friday probably won't help the situation.

9. SM South (2-2): The Raiders are working hard to capture their first respectable season in years.

10. SM East (1-3): The Lancers finally garner a victory for new head coach, Chip Sherman. Now let's see if they are capable of doing it again versus Leavenworth.

11. Lawrence (0-4): The Chesty Lions 0-4 start is quite the contrary to where their program was at 15 years ago.

12. Leavenworth (0-4): Leavenworth's battle to not be the worst Sunflower League team ever is getting tricky. They have now been outscored 195-6.

Week Two Review

Three Up

1. SM North

For the first time in years the SM North program is having an optimistic start to the season. After blanking Leavenworth 41-0 on Friday, the Indians pushed their record to 2-0, and they remain, along with Olathe North and SM West, as the only undefeated teams in the league. It's hard to say if the Indians can sustain the success, but nonetheless they have played well thus far.

2. Olathe North

The Eagles (right) are quite simply playing better football than anyone in the Sunflower League at this point in time. After dismantling SM Northwest by 29 points on Friday, it has become pretty obvious that Olathe North will be the team to beat in the Sunflower League, and probably class 6A for the remainder of the season.

3. SM West

The Vikings haven't been super impressive in either of their wins--but maybe that is the most impressive thing about their team so far this season. The fact that they have made two double touchdown comebacks the past two weeks illustrates that this team clearly has a solid core of leadership that presumably will not be likely to falter under pressure.

Three Down

1. Lawrence

The season is not going well so far for LHS, sitting at 0-2 and coming off of a 21 point loss to SM South. Lawrence has notable talent in Tyrae Jenkins, Daren Sorem, and Jay Baker but after their last loss it's a wonder if the team will be able to get it all together by season's end.

2. Leavenworth

The Pioneers followed up a 65 point loss in week one with a 41 point loss and goose egg in week two. At this point in time it doesn't appear that 2009 will be the year Leavenworth climbs its way out of the cellar.

3. SM Northwest

The Cougar's big loss to Olathe North on Friday exposed some large areas of concern. Namely, the inability to produce offensively. The Cougars 135 yards of total offense was in no way impressive. But, then again, maybe the Olathe North defense is just that good?

Individual Highlights

**Olathe North's James Franklin (above) rushed for 156 yards and three touchdowns in his team's 41-12 victory. Franklin is making offensive production look elementary.

**Lawrence Free State's Camren Torneden reminded us all Thursday of how much of a weapon he really is. Torneden rushed 16 times for 167 yards and two touchdowns, and also returned a punt 68 yards for a touchdown.

**SM Northwest's KC Waterman ran the ball 21 times for 112 yards and a touchdown against Olathe North's stout defensive front. In the Cougar's loss, Waterman accounted for 83% of his team's total offense.

**Olathe North's Tre Walker is making his D1 commitment to Kansas State look more legitimate every week. On Friday Walker recorded two first half sacks, before intercepting a pass and returning it 49 yards.

**In helping his team garner their first win of the season Olathe South's Tanner Dutton (below) completed 19 of 30 passes for 210 yards and a touchdown. He now has 525 yards passing and two touchdowns on the season.

Week Three Power Rankings

1. Olathe North (2-0): The Eagles are looking like the most dominant team the Sunflower League has seen in years.

2. SM West (2-0): The Vikings are yet to explode offensively, but have nonetheless been impressive.

3. Olathe East (1-1): Olathe East loses a close one after jumping out to an early lead.

4. Lawrence Free State (1-1): The Firebirds played to their potential in week two, and showed they are capable of dominating.

5. SM Northwest (1-1): Tough loss for the Cougars, but the good news is that they don't have to play Olathe North again--in the regular season that is.

6. Olathe South (1-1): Head Coach Jeff Gourley is slowly but surely putting his mark on Olathe South football.

7. SM North (2-0): The Indians are 2-0 and have reason to celebrate. To really impress though, they would need to take down Free State in week three.

8. Olathe Northwest (1-1): The Ravens nearly came back from a 17 point deficit to win on Friday. They are playing much more competitive football than in past seasons.

9. SM South (1-1): Raiders took care of business in a nice all-around victory over Lawrence.

10. Lawrence (0-2): Many question marks are floating around the LHS program right now. The answer to all those question marks? Winning.

11. SM East (0-2): Chip Sherman has to sit at 199 career wins for another week.

12. Leavenworth (0-2): For the season the Pioneers have been outscored 112 to 6.