Sectional Recap

Olathe North 41, Lawrence Free State 28

Last season Olathe North met Lawrence Free State in the Sectional Round of the playoffs only to go on to play one of their most lackluster games of the season, resulting in a 10-6 loss. The Eagles were apparently dead set on returning the favor this season. Olathe North quarterback Victor Simmons (below) scored the first of his two touchdowns in the opening quarter to put the Eagles up 7-0. Free State's Camren Torneden connected with Keene Niemack on an 11 yard touchdown pass to tie things up, before Simmons added another touchdown run before the half to give Olathe North a 14-7 edge.

Free State's Matt Cole scored on a one yard touchdown run to even the score at 14 early in the third quarter, but the Firebirds were never able to gain the lead. Touchdown runs by James Franklin and Tre Walker gave the Eagles a 14 point lead, which provided ample cushion for the win.

The most telling stat of the game was Olathe North's run production. The Eagles ran the ball 63 times for 414 yards--and threw zero passes. James Franklin's accounted for 247 of those yards, and in doing so broke Darren Sproles career rushing record at Olathe North. Franklin now sits at 5,434 career rushing yards (Sproles' record was 5,230).

Blue Valley 17, Blue Valley Northwest 14 (All Star Video Sports Highlights)
For the second consecutive year Blue Valley will be advancing to the Sub-State round of the playoffs by way of defeating Blue Valley Northwest. This year's game nearly provided as much drama as last year's matchup. The scoring started when Blue Valley Northwest's Koby Chadick threw a perfectly timed pass to receiver Blake Heenan who took the catch 67 yards for a touchdown. Blue Valley responded with a 13 yard pass from Anthony Abenoja (below) to Jacob McDermott, and then later on a 42 yard field goal by Austin Johnson.

Before halftime Chadick reminded people why he is a Simone-Award candidate running seemingly untouched 52 yards for a touchdown, giving Blue Valley Northwest a 14-10 edge. The game reached a stalemate for the better part of the second half before Blue Valley broke into Blue Valley Northwest territory in the fourth quarter. Abenoja connected on a flare route to McDermott, who somehow found his way into the endzone to push Blue Valley to a three point lead, which would turn out to be the game winner.

Blue Valley has now won four straight games after starting the season 1-6. For Blue Valley Northwest, a fourth quarter score from Blue Valley once again keeps them from advancing to the Sub-State round of the playoffs.

News and Notes

**The Simone Award candidates were announced this past weekend. The four players up for the illustrious Simone Award are Olathe North's James Franklin, Blue Valley Northwest's Koby Chadick, Winnetonka's Darryl Jobe, and Blue Springs Darrian Miller.

**Olathe North's Lucas Vincent is among the four finalists for the Buch Buchanan Award, given annually to the most outstanding lineman/linebacker playing class 5A or 6A football in the KC Metro.

Playoff Buzz

Statistical Breakdown
Here is a look at some statistical measures of the four teams remaining in 6A East bracket. Individuals listed lead the respective statistical category for each team.

Olathe North

Rushing Yards: James Franklin, 2,074; Victor Simmons 739

Passing Yards: David Blazevic, 605

Receiving Yards: Jason Peete, 365

Average Points Scored per Game: 44.8

Average Points Allowed per Game: 12.9

Sectional Round Result in 2008: Lost to Lawrence Free State, 10-6

State Championships: 7

Lawrence Free State

Rushing Yards: Kirk Resseguie, 1,099; Camren Torneden, 839

Passing Yards: Camren Torneden, 1,096

Receiving Yards: Keene Niemack, 305

Average Points Scored per Game: 37.3

Average Points Allowed per Game: 13.4

Sectional Round Result in 2008: Beat Olathe North, 10-6

State Championships: 0

Blue Valley Northwest

Rushing Yards: Koby Chadick, 1,085

Passing Yards: Koby Chadick, 1,812

Receiving Yards: Matt Ornduff, 962; Casey Strohl 633

Average Points Scored per Game: 33

Average Points Allowed per Game: 17.5

Sectional Round Result in 2008: Lost to Blue Valley, 24-20

State Championships: 0

Blue Valley

Rushing Yards: Justin Fulks, 717

Passing Yards: Anthony Abenoja, 2,095

Receiving Yards: PJ DeBey, 772; Jacob McDermott, 403

Average Points Scored per Game: 30.6

Average Points Allowed per Game: 20.5

Sectional Round Result in 2008: Beat Blue Valley Northwest, 24-20

State Championships: 4

Other Notes

**The 6A East Sectional grouping is the same as 2008. If this year's game are anything like they were last season, we're in for some great football on Friday.

**Olathe North's James Franklin (above) needs 59 rushing yards to break Olathe North's school record for rushing yards set by Darren Sproles in 2000.

**Each of the four team's has a legit Simone candidate playing. Olathe North's James Franklin is being mentioned as the current favorite in the KC Metro, but a big game from Free State's Camren Torneden, Blue Valley's Anthony Abenoja or Blue Valley Northwest's Koby Chadick could sway some key votes in their favor.

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 Eight Game Results

Olathe North 49, Blue Valley West 8

After a less-than-impressive performance from Olathe North in week seven, the Eagles came out and dominated Blue Valley West from the opening whistle. Olathe North's defense held Blue Valley West to two first half first downs, and the score at the half favored the Eagles 35-0. Olathe North's James Franklin only carried the ball once in the second half, but still closed out the game with 16 carries for 159 yards and two touchdowns.

Blue Valley 42, Olathe South 14

For the second week in a row Blue Valley came out with an offensive attack the had been hiding all season, and this time around it got an Olathe school. The Falcons from Olathe South failed to eliminate many of the mistakes that have been haunting them the entire season, most notably defensive liabilities. Tanner Dutton completed 21 of 29 passes for 267 yards and a touchdown for Olathe South, but once again the offensive fireworks weren't enough to collect the victory.

Olathe East 49, Blue Valley North 35

Blue Valley North literally used every page of the playbook to get a victory, but in the end Olathe East came out on top. A fake punt touchdown pass bumped Blue Valley North to a quick 7-0 lead, before Olathe East separated themselves and had gained a 28-7 lead by the start of the fourth quarter. From there, Blue Valley North ripped off four touchdowns (three on Danny Dolen touchdown passes). However, Olathe East scored three touchdowns of their own to grab a 14 point victory.

Lawrence Free State 42, Lawrence 14

In a sad reminder of the times for Lawrence alumni, LHS remained winless, this time in the form of a 28 point drubbing from their cross town rival. Free State's Camren Torneden (below) opened play with a 71 yard scamper to put Free State up seven--ultimately the touchdown was an omen of things to come. Lawrence lost fumbles on their next two possessions which led to easy Free State scores. The Chesty Lions have their last chance of victory against Leavenworth this Friday in a clash of winless teams.

Olathe Northwest 63, Leavenworth 0

Olathe Northwest broke the school record for points in a game for the second week in a row with their 63 point shutout of Leavenworth on Friday. The Ravens, who sealed a playoff berth with the win, were led by were led by their usual skill position players Josh Lemke, Brandon Bouvilom, and Cullen Phillips, who combined to score seven touchdowns.

Blue Valley Northwest 34, SM South 0

It appears as though Blue Valley Northwest is peaking at the right time of the season--an unfortunate draw for the Raiders from SM South. Blue Valley Northwest scored all of their 34 points in the first half of the game, feeding off of two Koby Chadick touchdown passes of 25 and 34 yards.

SM East 13, SM Northwest 12

In perhaps the biggest stunner of the 2009 season thus far, SM East was able to pull out a one point victory in their second district game and ultimately secure a playoff berth. An early defensive touchdown for SM Northwest put the Cougars up 6-0, but a botched extra point ended up costing them in the end. SM East was able to produce its 13 points off two touchdown passes to Kevin Hertel, while SM Northwest was only able to add two more field goals in the game.

SM West 49, SM North 7

Statistically SM West played one of their more sound games of the season in handing SM North it's sixth straight loss. SM West scored two defensive touchdowns, four rushing touchdowns, and one passing touchdowns in jumping to a 49-0 advantage at the beginning of the fourth quarter. The Vikings will square off against their rival SM East--who is also 2-0 in district play--for the district championship on Friday.