Week 4 Top of the Crown

1. Olathe South (3-0): The Falcons survived a tough game against Free State last week, and things don't get any easier this week as they travel to face Jordan Darling and SM East.  Look for the Lancers to have some success through the air as Free State handled the South secondary pretty well last week.
2. Lawrence Free State (2-1): Yes Free State fell last week, but that was truly any ones game until the final seconds.  I believe LFS is a legit contender this season in class 6A, and will make a deep run this season.  Kyle McFarland is a special quarterback and leader for the Firebirds. Free State will host Olathe North this week.
3. SM East (3-0): Jordan Darling has proved worth the hype so far this season, but the combined record of the SME opponents thus far is 2-7.  East has yet to play a real challenge and I'll be interested to see how Darling handles the pressure of Olathe South this week.
4. SM West (2-1): The Vikings had no problem taking out Olathe North this week 38-7, up next for West is a showdown at Olathe East.
5. Lawrence (2-1): The Lions jumped out to an early 20-6 lead over Olathe East this week, but fell apart late in the game and only won 28-20.  Strauss has continued to look impressive, but an injury to Tyrone Jenkins kept him out the second half.  Will the injury bug doom the Lions again this season?  Lawrence heads to SM North this week.
6. Olathe East (1-2): The Hawks need a big week four win as they host SM West, or OE could face the reality of being 1-3 to start the 2012 season.  The only good news for East is that they've played one of the toughest schedules in the league thus far as both losses came to teams ranked above them in the "top of the crown" rankings.
7. SM South (2-1): South had no problem offensively this week hanging 55 on SM North, but can the Raiders beat a decent opponent?  South has a good chance of starting 3-1 as they host SM Northwest this week.
8. Leavenworth (2-1): When was the last time Leavenworth started out 2-1?  The Pioneers are a legit threat to hang with some of the top teams this season and pull a few upsets. Led by Jason Randall and Judson Cole the Pioneers have some threats offensivly.  Up next for LV is a trip to CBAC to face a win less Olathe Northwest team.
9. SM Northwest (1-2):  The Cougars couldn't get anything going this week as they fell 17-7 at Leavenworth.  Turnover plagued Northwest as they had three alone in the first half.  Northwest can get things turned around this week with a big game at SM South.
10. Olathe North (0-3): Without Cole Murphy the Eagles struggled to compete with SM West falling 38-7 on Friday.  North still holds the leagues longest loosing streak at seven games. Up next is a trip to Free State.
11. Olathe Northwest (0-3):  The Ravens were crushed Friday by SM East 44-24 after East lead 34-7 at the half.  Olathe NW does have a potential threat in a passing game, but have yet to control someone defensively.  Up next they'll host Leavenworth.
12. SM North (0-3): An 0-9 season continues to look more realistic for the Indians after each week.  This week was a 55-28 blowout loss to SM South, and things wont get easier in week four as North hosts Brad Strauss and Lawrence High.


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I did a quick calculation of points for and points against for the Sunflower League some of these numbers are very surprising.  Here is the list: it'll list the rank of the team, total points for/against and average per game.

Points For:
1t. Olathe South 100/33
1t. Lawrence Free State 100/33
3. SM East 97/32
4. Lawrence 84/28
5t. SM South 72/24
5t. SM West 72/24
7. Leavenworth 61/20
8. SM North 57/19
9. Olathe East 48/16
10. SM Northwest 45/15
11. Olathe Northwest 38/12
12. Olathe North 28/9

Points Against:  Same things team  total points/avg per game
1. SM East 31/10
2. Leavenworth 40/13
3. Olathe East 42/14
4. Olathe South 48/16
5. SM West 49/16
6. Lawrence Free State 52/17
7. Lawrence 53/17
8. SM South 54/18
9. SM Northwest 73/24
10. Olathe North 93/31
11. Olathe Northwest 109/36
12. SM North 152/50

Scoreboard Summary

Olathe South 38 Lawrence Free State 35: In a game that lived up to the heavyweight battle we expected Olathe South barely squeezed by Free State.  Olathe South lead at one point 21-7 before Free State scored 14 unanswered points in only a minute.  The scoring started with a 10-yard touchdown pass from McFarland to Blake Winslow and exactly a minute later Free State defensive back Demarko Bobo intercepted a Seurer pass taking it 28 yards for a touchdown. With four minutes remaining in the game Free State’s defense made the stand of the game forcing a South turnover on downs off a fourth and one play. This gave Free State one more chance to pull the upset and take down the defending champs. McFarland again connected with Winslow quickly moving Free State into red zone territory with 2:15 left in the game. As McFarland dropped back for his last pass of the night he tried to find Sam Hearnen in the end zone, but South defender Chase Hanson intercepted McFarland sealing the win for Olathe South 38-35. McFarland finished the night 12-21 with 238 yards passing with two touchdowns and three interceptions.

 “It was a fight all night and an amazing game, both came in perfect and we knew we wanted to be the one to walk away 3-0.” White said of the huge victory for South.

For a whole game recap read my story at: http://www.prepskc.com/features.php?id=1522

SM West 38 Olathe North 7: Former Olathe North assistant coach Tim Callaghan cruised past his former mentor Gene Wier on Friday as West crushed Olathe North 38-7.  West was lead on the ground all night by running back Bret Sterbach who finished with 238 yards rushing. Olathe North had to rely on backup quarterback Dontez Sanchez after starter Cole Murphy went down in the second quarter.  West took a 38-0 lead before Olathe North finally got on the board with a 15 yard pass from Sanchez to Josh Moore. 

Leavenworth 17 SM Northwest 7: Defense lead the way for Leavenworth in a 17-7 win over SMNW on Friday.  As Northwest was about to take a 7-0 lead and had the ball in the redzone Leavenworth forced a fumble setting up a pattern for the night.  After the fumble the Pioneers marched down and Judson Cole hit Jeff George for a 7 yard touchdown pass putting LV up 7-0.  Leavenworth would get the ball right back as Isiah Ross intercepted a NW pass, but LV couldn't add any points taking the 7-0 lead into the half.  In the second half Jason Randall broke free for a ten yard run doubling the Leavenworth lead to 14-0.  With six minutes left Cole hit a fieldgoal icing the game for Leavenworth at 17-7.  Cole finished the night 10-17 with 162 yards passing.  Randall finished with 96 yards off 22 carries.

SM East 44 Olathe Northwest 24: SM East quaterback Jordan Darling picked up right where he left off last week connecting with Connor Rellihan early and often.   The powerful duo helped the Lancers take a 34-7 lead into the half against Olathe Northwest.  East eventually padded the lead to 44-10 late in the fourth quarter before NW scored 14 straight ending things at 44-24.  Next up for SM East will be their first test agaisnt Olathe South.  Darling finished the night 18-25 267 yards, and two touchdowns.

SM South 55 SM North 28: Gabe Guild went for a field day against SM North this week as he lead the Raiders to a 55-28 victory.  SM South managed to take a 41-14 lead into the half and stretched it out in the second to 55-28.  * No stats were up on PrepsKC.com for this game.  Once updated I will post.

Lawrence 28 Olathe East 20: Leading 28-12 in the fourth quarter Lawrence tried to go for a fake punt that completely backfired giving OE the ball back and a chance to make things interesting.  Five plays later Ryan Woodson plunged into the endzone for the touchdown pulling the Hawks within eight points at 28-20.   On the next Lawrence drive, the Lions would have a chance to ice the game on a 4th and goal from the three yard line.  Strauss snapped the ball and tried to scramble but eventually was brought down  by Hawk defenders.  OE now had the ball and needed to go 96 yards in under four minutes.  After getting two first downs East was held to a third and 24, East quarterback John Blazevic dropped back and looked deep but ended up finding Brad Strauss for the interception sealing a 2-1 start for the Lions.  Strauss finished the night 15-27 305 yards three touchdowns and one interception.  Leading the way for East was running back Hayden Frazier who rushed for 157 yards off 22 carries and one touchdown.