Preview: Leavenworth PIONEERS vs. Shawnee Heights Thunderbirds
Leavenworth has been on the road for two straight, but on Friday they'll finally head home. They will take on The Shawnee Heights Thunderbirds at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Leavenworth will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Kansas Rankings (they are ranked 133rd, while Shawnee Heights is ranked 47th).
Leavenworth fell victim to Piper's stalwart defense on Friday and couldn't make it onto the board. They took a 10-0 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Pirates. The match was a 0-0 toss-up at halftime, but Leavenworth couldn't answer the 10 points Piper scored afterwards.
Meanwhile, after only 12 points in their last contest, Shawnee Heights made sure to put some points up on the board against West on Friday. Shawnee Heights blew past West, posting a 62-12 win at home. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Shawnee Heights.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Shawnee Heights to victory, but perhaps none more so than Ryeki Tuley, who threw for 145 yards and three touchdowns while completing 81.8% of his passes, and also punched in a touchdown on the ground. Another player making a difference was Allen Baughman, who rushed for 91 yards and two touchdowns on only 12 carries.
Leavenworth's defeat was their third straight on the road, which dropped their overall record down to 2-5. Admittedly, the team was facing some tough opposition over that stretch, including 6-1 De Soto (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 61.9% over those games). As for Shawnee Heights, their win on Friday bumped their record up to 5-2.
Leavenworth didn't have too much breathing room in their matchup against Shawnee Heights when the teams last played back in October of 2022, but they still walked away with a 24-19 victory. Does Leavenworth have another victory up their sleeve, or will Shawnee Heights turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
