Football Preview: Shawnee Mission West Vikings vs. Lawrence Lions
Shawnee Mission West hasn't had much luck against Lawrence recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The Shawnee Mission West Vikings will square off against the Lawrence Lions at 7:00 p.m. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
Things were looking good for Shawnee Mission West after they put the first points on the board on Friday, but unfortunately for them things went downhill from there. They had to suffer through a 56-6 loss at the hands of Shawnee Mission Northwest. While losing is never fun, the Vikings can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Kansas football rankings (they are ranked 127th, while the Cougars are ranked 27th).
Meanwhile, Lawrence entered their matchup against Gardner-Edgerton on Friday without any home losses, but there's a first time for everything. Lawrence received a blow as they fell 35-21 to Gardner-Edgerton. The Lions have struggled against the Trailblazers recently, as their game on Friday was their third consecutive lost matchup.
Despite the loss, Lawrence got top-tier performance from Banks Bowen, who rushed for 127 yards and a touchdown, and also threw for 260 yards and two touchdowns while completing 75% of his passes. Bowen's rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his third straight game with at least 102 rushing yards dating back to last season. A healthy portion of that aerial production (128 yards to be exact) went to Gabe Wingerd.
This is the second loss in a row for Shawnee Mission West and nudges their season record down to 1-3. As for Lawrence, their defeat dropped their record down to 2-2.
Shawnee Mission West took a serious blow against Lawrence in their previous meeting back in October of 2023, falling 56-3. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Bowen, who rushed for 92 yards and three touchdowns on only seven carries, and also threw for 258 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 12.3 yards per attempt. Now that Shawnee Mission West knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
