Top Sunflower League Games in 2011

Week 1

Last season Olathe East manhand-
led Olathe North, 25-0, in the regu-
lar season game between the two
teams.  Olathe North avenged the
loss with a 13-6 Sub-State victory.

Olathe North at Olathe East

The first week of the season starts off with a bang as the top two teams in my Power Rankings face off at CBAC.  This is a heated rivalry and Treshawn Root's transfer to North from East just adds more fuel to the fire.  More importantly, I think we'll get a good handle on how much talent both of these squads have compared to their team's of 2010.

Week 2
Lawrence at Olathe South

Will Olathe South’s returning defensive starters make up for their losses on the offensive side of the ball? Can Brad Strauss take his game and Lawrence High’s to the next level?

Week 3
Olathe North at SM West

Last season Olathe North embarrassed SM West in week one scoring the first 29 points of the game. From then on SM West was good, but they never seemed to have the confidence of a team that was going to do anything in the playoffs. This time around SM West would love nothing more than to sneak up on the Eagles and claim a victory.

Week 4
SM Northwest at Lawrence Free State

I put this game on here because both these teams employ exciting offenses and this game could feature offensive fireworks if both teams’ new starters at the skill positions are comfortable by this point in the season.  It would have been fun seeing a game between these two with Stephen Mangelsdorf and Dylan Perry battling it out at their respective quarterback positions.  Maybe the new starters will be just as exciting?

Week 5
SM East at Lawrence

I have a feeling this could be a fun game to watch.  Both teams feature great talent at the skill positions (Strauss, Anthony Buffalomeat, Elliot Faerber, Adam Lowe, etc.), and Lawrence offensive coordinator Mack Brown will be facing his dad Sam Brown’s (SM East’s athletic director) ballclub.

Week 6
Olathe South at Olathe North

This will be the final tune-up week before district play begins.  Olathe North has won the last four games in the rivalry including a 17-0 shutout of Olathe South in Sectional play in 2010.  Neither team will want to start districts coming off a loss.

Week 7
SM North at SM Northwest

The “Hula Bowl” is conveniently placed at the start of district play for both of these teams. I say that because the other two teams in the district are Leavenworth and Wyandotte, and both SM North and SM Northwest will probably be favorites to win both of those games. This early matchup could be for the district title.

Week 8
SM West at SM East

Last year SM East beat SM West for the first time in over a decade. You think the Vikings want their beloved Nut Cup Trophy back?  This game will also probably feature the top two teams from the Shawnee Mission School District and so there are also bragging rights associated with that.



Lawrence High and Lawrence Free State
have battled it out for bragging rights
since their initial meeting in the fall of
1997 (shown above).



Week 9

Lawrence at Lawrence Free State



This annual Lawrence High vs. Free State game is probably the league’s most heated rivalry. Had Free State not been built in the late 1990s, Lawrence High would probably still be one of, if not the league’s top dog—and this idea has resonated with the LHS faithful since the split.

Also, since this is the last game of district play a shot at the playoffs could also be on the line for one or both of the teams.

Photos courtesy the Kansas City Star and the Lawrence Journal World.

Sunflower League Buzz

The high school football season will kick off in the Sunflower League approximately three months from today, and while three months seems like a long time I can assure you the season will be here in the blink of an eye. In the meantime summer weights programs, camps, and 7 on 7 tournaments will be the big talk. Here is an early look at some of the biggest news topics surrounding the Sunflower League football scene some three months prior to opening kickoff.

Kopecky hired at Leavenworth

Perhaps the biggest offseason story was former St. Thomas Aquinas head coach Kevin Kopecky's sudden departure from the Aquinas and arrival thereafter at Leavenworth High School. The Pioneers, who haven't won a Sunflower League title during their 29 years in the league, welcome their fifth coach in the last 11 years.

Kopecky's exit from St. Thomas Aquinas remains a mystery despite early reports of health concerns. What is known is that Kopecky can coach evident by his impressive coaching resume. As a head coach Kopecky has put together a 150-99 record, including eight district championships in his 11 years at Aquinas and an appearance in the 2008 5A state championship game.

Regardless of why Kopecky left his established power of a program at Aquinas it appears that Leavenworth has three big reasons for optimism within its football program.

1.) Coaching
They're getting a local head coach with a superb coaching history on the field. His Aquinas teams never won a 5A title but it seemed like the Saints made the Sub-State round of the playoffs nearly every year he was with the school. Aquinas also won at least nine games in five of the last seven years Kopecky (left) coached there. Could you imagine what the folks at Leavenworth would do for a nine win season, let alone a playoff berth? Playoffs and Leavenworth are two words that seem like antonyms, but make no mistake they may be meeting soon.

2.) Playoffs
The new district alignments have been kind to the Pioneers for the first time in years. One of the opponents is SM North who will be under the direction of new and first time head coach Dennis Grayless. SM North is coming off a 2-7 record. Wyandotte is in the district as well. The Bulldogs have harbored in 5A for years but were bumped up to 6A with the new district alignments. Wyandotte ended a 44 game losing streak in 2002, and has since sported a 9-55 record (but they did make the playoffs in 2004). The fourth team in the district is SM Northwest, who has enjoyed their fair share of success in recent years. While SM Northwest may be a tall test in year one the other two teams loom as possible victories for Leavenworth. Remember, in most cases two wins means you make the playoffs in Kansas district play.

3.) Confidence
Kopecky knows he can turn the Leavenworth football program around or else he wouldn't have taken the gig. Back in 2007 Southlake Carroll High School of Southlake, Texas--who at the time was arguably the nation's top high school football program--was trying to fill the vacancy left by their departed head coach Todd Dodge. I remember reading that one of the many applicants for the job was Kopecky. He had yet to claim a title at Aquinas and yet he had enough confidence in his coaching abilities to apply for the head job at a program that was coming off a mythical national championship.

And why not? Back in 1991 Kopecky took over at Ralston High School in Nebraska and within three years had the team in the playoffs. St. Thomas Aquinas was nothing more than a road bump on the KC high school football scene until Kopecky took over. The next challenge for Kopecky is Leavenworth. If he felt confident enough in his abilities to apply at Southlake Carroll, I have a suspicion he has the confidence necessary to change the culture of the Leavenworth football program.


Olathe North looking to repeat

Speed thrills and speed kills as evidence by the last ten years in the Sunflower League. While Olathe North has produced their fair share of mammoths on the offensive and defensive lines through the years, their superior speed at the skill positions has been their greatest ally. The Eagles lost alot to graduation but they do return two speed demons (that we know of) in 2010--and those two players happen to player quarterback and running back.

Option style quarterback Victor Simmons (who just received an offer from Kansas) and running back Adonis "A.J." Saunders will be the main speed cogs behind the Eagles push for their second consecutive 6A title, and ninth in 15 years. The Eagles also return Dominick Wilson who saw a decent amount of playing time in the Eagles backfield last year and has a decent set of wheels himself.


Can SM East finally break through?

The Lancers last wore a Sunflower League football crown in 1966 when they shared it with SM North. In the 44 years since the school has posted major success in nearly every sport but football. The football program even developed the dubious nickname of the "Smurfs" playing on the schools light blue colors and lack of success.

The combination of Todd Dain and John Stonner--the school's previous two coaches--drastically improved the quality of football being played at SM East but the school has yet to field a dominant team. After a strong finish to 2009 it appears the "Smurfs" might be shedding the nickname soon.

The Lancers head coach, Chip Sherman (left), has three state titles under his belt from his time at Platte County High School in Missouri, the latest of which came in 2002. His pedigree and track record is as good as that of any coach in the Sunflower League. Sherman also added veteran coach Sam Brown (who turned around the SM North program during the 2000s) to his staff during the offseason. The Lancers obvious improvement in Sherman's system combined with the fact that they return a good deal of experience could result in a scary group of Smurfs.

Q and A Session

Q: Which stadium is the best in the Sunflower League?

A: The new stadiums being built in Lawrence appear to be state of the art, and the new SM North stadium is as nice of a facility as you can find in Kansas. However, I would still maintain that the charm of the Olathe District Activities Center (ODAC) is undeniable. The drive through the cornfields to the stadium adds to the mystique, and the stadium itself has housed countless All-State players and championship teams. Also, ODAC still fields a grass playing surface, something that is becoming more and more uncommon in Johnson County, and around the state of Kansas. Given all of the history, and the certain "field of dreams" aura the stadium holds, I would have to give ODAC the nod for the top stadium.

Q: Which football team is the best of the decade?

A: This isn't too tough of a question, because most all signs point to the 2000 Olathe North team as the most dominant. I could go on all day about how talented the team was, but I can sum it up much quicker with a few statistical measures:

• Olathe North's top two running backs in 2000--senior Darren Sproles (right) and junior Maurice Mack--combined to total 3,464 rushing yards and 60 rushing touchdowns that season.
  
• Olathe North scored 35 or more points in 11 of their 12 games.


• Olathe North's defense gave up, on average, 8.2 points per game.

Forget top team in the conference for the decade, that Olathe North team was the best team in the state of Kansas the past 10 years. They ended the 2000 season on a high note, beating Manhattan in the 6A title game by a score of 42-7. Sproles has five touchdown runs in that title game.

Q: What is the best rivalry?

A: I have stated this before, and I will state it again--the Lawrence vs. Lawrence Free State game is truly the biggest rivalry game in the Sunflower League. I didn't realize the magnitude of the contest until I spent my freshman year of college at KU in Lawrence, and was able to experience first hand the competitiveness between the two schools. Just in case you're interested, the two teams square off October 23.

Q: When will the 6A State crown return the Sunflower League?

A: Presumable this upcoming season. Olathe North won the title from 2000 through 2003, and since then, the league is 0-5 in the 6A title game. The good news is that there doesn't appear to be a dominate 6A team on the Central or Western part of the state in 2009. If the East side of the state (and more specifically the Sunflower League) is going to regain the title it needs to be this year. With Hutch likely returning to 6A in 2010, the title will only become more competitive next year.

Q: What game has had the biggest impact on the Sunflower League the past 10 years?

A: The game I would point to would be the 2003 match up between Olathe North and SM North. Gene Wier had departed Olathe North to become the head coach at Richland High School in Texas, and meanwhile John McCall was in his first game as the head coach of Olathe North. On the other side of the coin, SM North was coached by chiseled veteran Sam Brown. Brown was returning one of his best Indian teams in his tenure, and on that night they had Olathe North's number. The game was a rather boring contest, filled with sloppy play and uncontrolled nerves. In the end, SM North won the game 7-6, snapping Olathe North's win streak at 38 games.

What came of the game? Olathe North went 10-3 and won the 6A state championship that year, but things just didn't seem the same without Weir at the helm. The following year Olathe North looked like the best team in the state of Kansas for 12 weeks before falling the state championship game. John McCall left to join Wier's staff in Texas following the 2004 season. SM North finished 2003 with a record of 6-3, and then went 5-4 in Brown's last season at SM North in 2004. Brown returned to coach his Alma mater, Excelsior Springs High School, where he has remained the head man since 2005.

Q: What game has been the biggest upset of the decade?

A: This one is difficulty to figure for sure, but I would go with SM West's defeat of Olathe East in the 2004 Sectional Round of the playoffs. SM West had gone 2-7 in 2003, before changing things around in 2004 and completing the regular season 7-2. Olathe East on the other hand was as loaded as ever. They had gone 8-1 during the regular season, and looked primed to take the 6A title. In fact, nearly every media pundit in the area was choosing Olathe East to win the game.

What happened? Olathe East came out cold, and SM West came out on fire. SM West's Andrew Patch caught a deep touchdown pass early in the first quarter to give SM West a 7-0 lead, a lead which they would hold throughout. A couple DJ Barnett touchdowns gave the Vikings a 21-0 lead when the final whistle blew. Perhaps the craziest thing about that game was that Olathe East's do-it-all freak, Andre Jones, was held to a mere 18 yards rushing. SM West lost to Olathe South the next week in the State Semi-finals, but their shutout upset over the Hawks still ranks as my top upset of the decade.