SM South Raiders Football
Off the radar.
How does that sound for a once proud Varsity Football program, and powerhouse of the Sunflower League who, in its heyday of the 1960's and 70's of Johnson County football outright owned many of their fellow Sunflower schools. It sounds good to say. In fact, it sounds great to say.
Long before Nall was ever considered to have four lanes, and 435 was a pipe dream of sorts for the growth economically of Kansas City suburbia, the Raiders of SM South have been ignited by Head Coach Brett Oberzan, his staff, and the support they are gaining from their student's within the school, community partners, alumni and many others.
To give this a little more perspective, the Blue Valley Tigers of Stanley, Stillwell, KS were still the Stanley Marooners at the time. Blue Valley #229 officially became the Blue Valley Tigers, and flagship #1 of their four future high schools yet to even be built during the 69-70 school year at which time the SM Northwest Cougars became the fifth and final #512 High School.
Off the radar. That's right. For the last 17 seasons dating back to the 2001 squad, a downturn for the worse took place in which 17 seasons of Coaching turnover (Four Head Coaches), student-athlete walkouts, and Senior pranks, led to the Raiders' darkest hours on the Friday night gridiron. For almost a decade, near empty stands, and a 'Rompin Stompin Raider Band' that outnumbered fans in the seats, and the player roster as a whole is now steadily changing and growing again. Alumni are returning to games, and the school's support is beaming with pride, and passion that at one time was lost, or perhaps dimmed.
In those 17 years of Varsity Football prior to the 2018 season, the school accounted for a record of
42 wins, and 116 losses in 158 games, a win percentage of just .265.
Year - Overall-Playoffs
00 - 5-5, 0-1
01 - 2-7 ---
02 - 3-6 ---
03 - 3-7, 0-1
04 - 4-6, 0-1
05 - 3-7, 0-1
06 - 2-7 ---
07 - 2-8, 0-1
08 - 1-8 ---
09 - 3-6 ---
10 - 2-7 ---
11 - 2-7 ---
12 - 4-5 ---
13 - 4-5 ---
14 - 3-7, 0-1
15 - 1-8 ---
16 - 0-9, 0-1
17 - 3-6, 0-1
18 - 7-3, 1-1
19 - 0-0, 0-0
For those curious, the last playoff game the Raiders won, was in the 1990 season defeating the Blue Valley North Mustangs in week-10, and soon after losing 14 straight playoff games:
Fred Merrill - 90 (1-1) - 91 (0-1) - 92 (0-1) - 93 (0-1) - 94 (0-1)
Brett Potts - 97 (0-1) - 00 (0-1)
Don Hanna - 03 (0-1) - 04 (0-1) - 05 (0-1)
Brandon Claypool - 07 (0-1)
Ryan Lonergan - 14 (0-1)
Brett Oberzan - 16 (0-1) - 17 (0-1)
In all-time playoff games the Raiders are 9W - 24L.
With those numbers broken down here is is how that looks after 158 games excluding the 2018 season:
2001 to 2017 - South Raiders
Home 26W - 50L - 76 games played - 342 W%
Away 16W - 57L - 74 games played - 216 W%
Playoffs 0W - 7L - 7 games played - 000 W%
Totals 42W - 116L - 158 games played - 265 W%
First 25 years (1966-1990)
160W - 78L - 5T
Last 25 years (1991-2015)
90W - 146L
As this current decade of Raiders Football winds to a close, the 2018 and 2019 Football seasons under Brett Oberzan have the ability to turn this Football program around for the better.
For those curious about the last time the Raiders had six wins or more in a season? Those are as follows:
1973 - John Davis - 11-0 State Champions
1975 - John Davis - 11-0 State Champions
1978 - John Davis - 10-1
1982 - John Davis - 9-2
1983 - John Davis - 6-4
1984 - John Davis - 6-4
1989 - Fred Merrill - 10-1
1990 - Fred Merrill - 7-4
1992 - Fred Merrill - 7-3
1993 - Fred Merrill - 7-3
1994 - Fred Merrill - 6-4
1997 - Dr. Brett Potts - 6-4 - Principal at BV West Jaguars
Raiders Football Accomplishments
State Titles
1973 - 1975
Sunflower Champions
1973 - 1975 - 1978 - 1982 - 1989
Congrats to the SM South Raiders of Overland Park, KS on a conclusion to a great season, and many more to follow.
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