A well-balanced attack led The Lawrence Lions over the Shawnee Mission West Vikings in every quarter on their way to victory on Friday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Lawrence blew Shawnee Mission West out of the water with a 56-3 final score. The contest was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 28-0.
It was another big night for Banks 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. Jaxon Becker also helped out with an impressive 95 receiving yards.
The team's defense also helped out by holding Shawnee Mission West to a paltry 245 yards. A big part of that defensive dominance came down to Lawrence's ability to keep the quarterback under pressure: the team laid him out five times before it was all said and done. Shawnee Mission West's QB won't forget Josh Galbreath anytime soon given Galbreath sacked him five times.
The win makes it two in a row for Lawrence and bumps their season record up to 6-2. That said, the team wasn't facing the toughest opposition over that stretch, as it included 0-9 Shawnee Mission West (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 37.5% over those games). As for Shawnee Mission West, they still haven't won a game yet this season and fell to 0-9.
Lawrence will look to defend their home field on Friday against Dodge City at 7:00 p.m. The pair might be coming in a bit winded given how much these teams ran in their prior games. As for Shawnee Mission West, they will head out on the road to face off against Olathe North at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. The timing is sure in Olathe North's favor as the team sits on three straight wins at home while Shawnee Mission West has been banged up by 17 consecutive losses on the road dating back to last season.
