Recap and Gallery: Football vs. Shawnee Mission Northwest

The Lancers started off slowly against the 1-5 Shawnee Mission Northwest Cougars. With eight minutes left to go in the first quarter, senior Christian Blessen mis-timed his pitch. The unforced fumble was picked up by Jake Horner from Northwest and returned for a touchdown, putting Northwest up 7-0 early.

The Lancer’s turnover troubles continued with junior quarterback Gunnar Englund. A missed handoff led to yet another fumble recovered by Northwest. Devin Shockley was able to capitalize on this with his two yard touchdown run. After a fumbled hold on the extra point, the Lancers trailed 13-0 with 34 seconds left to go in the first quarter.

However, from here on it the Lancers took back control of the game, scoring 35 unanswered points. This started off at the beginning of the second half with a 79 yard touchdown pass to senior Mitchell Tyler. The Lancers scored two more times in the the second quarter to gain the lead, 21-13.

The Lancer dominance continued after halftime. Led by a strong 55 yard run from junior Sam Huffman, senior Luke Taylor was able to punch the ball in from two yards out. The final points came for the lancers on a 39 yard touchdown run from senior Micah Dodson.

The Lancers pulled out their sixth straight win against Shawnee Mission Northwest, outscoring the cougars in these six games 172-54. The Lancers changed up the pace of their game a bit for the first time in an attempt to bounce back from their overtime loss to Lawrence Free State in the previous week.

Senior fullback Luke Taylor had his time limited and was instead splitting time with fellow seniors Mitchell Tyler and Micah Dodson. This opened the door for Dodson to receive his first varsity playing time of the year. In addition, Englund received his first varsity level snaps of the year during the third Lancer offensive possession. According to coach Dustin Delaney, the plan from the get-go was to have England start the third drive at quarterback due to his work in practice.