The Lawrence Free State Firebirds will square off against the Lawrence Lions at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
Lawrence Free State is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Kansas' top teams: Shawnee Mission Northwest, who was ranked tenth in their home state at the time (Lawrence Free State was ranked 15th). Lawrence Free State fell just short of Shawnee Mission Northwest by a score of 27-24 on Friday. That makes it the first time this season the Firebirds have let down their home crowd.
Meanwhile, Lawrence came up short against Olathe South on Friday and fell 40-28.
Despite the defeat, Lawrence got top-tier performance from Banks Bowen, who threw for 310 yards and a touchdown, and also rushed for 96 yards on only 11 carries. Lawrence is 3-1 when Bowen posts 300 or more passing yards, but 1-2 otherwise. Tahj Edwards was another key player, rushing for 42 yards and two touchdowns.
Lawrence wouldn't let Olathe South keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Joshua Galbreath was the leader in that area as all came courtesy of his dominant performance.
The loss snapped Lawrence Free State's winning streak at three games and leaves them with a 4-3 record. As for Lawrence, their defeat dropped their record down to an identical 4-3.
Lawrence Free State came up short against Lawrence when the teams last played back in October of 2023, falling 31-24. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Bowen, who rushed for 118 yards and a touchdown, and also threw for 175 yards and two touchdowns. Now that Lawrence Free State knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
