Sunflower League Preview: Week 5

Scoreboard 
Olathe East 25 vs SM Northwest 14
Lawrence 42 vs SM South 7
Free State 32 vs SM East 20
Leavenworth 23 vs Olathe North 48
Olathe Northwest 42 vs SM North 22
Olathe South 7 vs SM West 46

Thursday Oct. 2
Olathe East vs SM Northwest (@CBAC)
Entering this matchup, the Hawks lead the series 13W-7L in 20 games played since the 1992 season.

Since 2010, the Hawks have won 2 of the last 3 games. Their last loss came last season on the road at SM North in what felt like an upset for a NW Cougar team that had not defeated the Hawks since 1999 season formerly under Scott Diebold.

Last season's game could have been a turning point for the Cougars, but found themselves losing two straight after a sounds 27-7 win. Some reason, both teams lost steam as the season wound down, but with two Coaching regimes now in the forefront, the programs find themselves moving forward, making great strides.

DYK
* First Coaching match up for Bo Black and Jesse Owen
* The 2014 Cougar win, ended a streak of 12 straight by the Hawks dating back to 2000's week-9 win
* OE leads 13W-7L, in 20 games played

Friday Oct. 3

Lawrence vs SM South (@ Lawrence)

Lawrence coming off a strong win against the NW Cougars last week, are finally "Home" for their first official "Home game" of the season. 

In a seemingly dominating fashion, the Lions have found themselves winning 8 of the last 10 games against the Raiders, and four of their last five. The 2009 Raiders won 28-7, but have had a rough go, in their last four meetings. Look for the Chesty Lions to strike quickly, as they have done in each of their first four games this season. South will need to do everything it can, to stop an electric offense led by QB Alan Clothier, and RB JD Woods. 

DYK

* The Chesty Lions lead the series 29W-10L, in 39 games played since 1968

* Lawrence is 8W-2L in last 10 games played with SM South, a 2009 win 1-4 in last 5

Free State vs SM East (@ SM North)

In a tightly contested match up, these two very talented teams will look to knock each other off. In the last 10 meetings, the Firebirds own a 6W-4L record over SM East. Dustin Delaney is 1-1 vs Bob Lisher entering this third game between the two.

Look for SR QB Bryce Torneden to face SME's JR Luke Kaiser and an incredible Air vs. Ground game. These teams are no strangers to each other any time they meet up. Since 2010, the Lancers have won 3 of the last 5 games, with a solid 42-14 win in 2014. Free State is coming off it's first win against Leavenworth, while the Lancers won in a hot SMSD matchup vs the SM West Vikings. 

DYK

* Free State leads the series 8W-5L, in 13 games played

* 2006 was the last time these two met in the 6A State Playoffs

Leavenworth vs Olathe North (@ ODAC)

Making a trip to ODAC, is a place Pioneer's Mark Littrell used to call home. In his time at Olathe South, he struggled quite a bit to face some great Gene Weir Eagles teams of past. Now 2016, ODAC is a whole new world, as a new Coach has taken over, and Littrell's gridiron talent is now in Leavenworth.

Leavenworth has their work cut out for them, but look to see them rebound of their loss to Chip Sherman's Raven's as some motivation to build as the middle of the season begins to take shape.

DYK

* The Eagles lead the series 14W-0L, in 14 games played since 2000

Olathe Northwest vs SM North (@ CBAC)
Olathe Northwest opened in 2004 officially to the Varsity Football season, thus beginning a new challenge for many SFL Football teams. With a nine (9) game schedule, room to play everyone is impossible with 12 teams.

With not much of a history, these two have only faced each other six (6) times. Former Head Coach Todd Dain, and former SM North Head Coach Ryan Majors (who's Indians earned the win) are long removed from the current game to be played.

Look for Chip Sherman's passing game to give the Indians a fit, as they will need to do everything they can to stop an offensive juggernaut of point production. The Indians, too, will have an uphill battle and could come out on top if the Raven's are unable to do well in the passing game. Defense will be key in stopping the hot start of the Raven's offense.

DYK
* Raven's lead the series 5W-1L, in 6 games played
* Indians last win was 2008

Olathe South vs SM West (@ SM South)
With both teams coming off of intra-District losses, rebounding quickly will become a necessary evil as weeks begin to run out. While the Falcons are experiencing one of their worst losses in school history, the Vikings too, are looking to get back to the win column.

The Falcons will need to come out big to start the game and to keep the Vikings offense off the field. As good as the Vikings passing game looked against the Lancers defense in the second half, it would have to do the same or better to come out on top against the Falcons.

DYK
* The Falcons lead the series 11W-6L, in 17 games played
* SM West is 4W-2L in the last six games