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FOOTBALL
Welcome to the new football page!
By Cole Peterson
41-37 is a score that players and fans of Olathe South will never forget. It brought the school its first state football championship and proved all the people that doubted this team wrong. With two huge plays in the fourth quarter, this team finished off their season the way they wanted to.
South came into the game with the underdog label as Wichita Heights was looking for its 26th consecutive win and to defend their state title from last season. But South came out fighting, with an early 63-yard touchdown run by Teddy Colbert, senior running back.
Consecutive touchdowns by Heights put the Falcons down 14-7, but they rebounded with a two-yard touchdown run by Jordan Ward, senior running back, who finished with 27 carries for 265 yards and four touchdowns. Ward added another touchdown to end the half, and the Falcons went into the locker room with a 21-19 deficit.
The second half opened with a bang, as Ward went up the middle 83 yards for his third touchdown of the game, and gave South back the lead at 27-21. But another scoring run by Heights made the score 34-27 going into the final quarter of the season. That’s when the magic happened.
As Heights was driving early in the final quarter, they were threatening to take a two possession lead, which would have been a dagger to the Falcons. But Taylor Sheffield, senior cornerback, stripped the ball at the one-yard line and recovered it to put South back in possession.
“That was the biggest play I have ever made because it was the biggest game and we knew we needed a stop and we got it,” Sheffield said.
On the very next play, Frankie Seurer, junior quarterback, threw a long bomb down the right sideline which was caught by a streaking Drew Johnson, senior wide receiver, for a 99-yard touchdown, which tied the game at 34.
“Those two plays were the difference in the game,” Johnson said. “The ball was inches away from being a 14-point game, and suddenly within two plays, things were tied up and we had all the momentum.
A field goal with 3:36 left in the game put Heights up 37-34. South went with their bread and butter on the final drive, pounding the ball up the middle. But on a fourth and 10 with their season on the line, Seurer hit Matt Elliott, junior running back, on a pass in the flat for a first down.
“It means the world that Coach Gourley put the game in my hands, and me and Frankie knew we could make the play,” Elliott said.
Two plays later, Ward danced his way through the line for a 45-yard touchdown, to put South ahead; they never looked back. It was the first football state championship in the schools 30-year history.
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DECA
DECA is on its way to nationals after doing well in the district and state competitions.
Nationals will be in Salt Lake City from April 28-May 3. Eric Novelli, Brady Cox, Brian Kearney- Spaw and Ian Leverich, seniors, and Maggie Carter, junior, are the five national finalists.
Japanese contest
Three students took awards at the 14th Annual Japanese Language Contest on Saturday, March 3, at Olathe North High School. Ian Graham, sophomore, took first in poetry recitation. Alena Lam, sophomore, placed second in the beginner kanji bee. Brandon Danford, junior, received third place in the talent show.
Forensics
The forensics team started March by placing second at the Olathe Northwest Invitational as a squad. The next week, March 9-10, they got first at the Shawnee Mission Invitational and received another first March 16-17 at Gardner Edgerton.
“March was definitely a good month for us,” Catherine Smith, coach, said.
All Star Basketball
Megan Balcom and Alex Hugo, seniors, were representatives in the Kansas- Missouri Basketball All-Star game last Friday at Shawnee Mission South. The two girls were also selected to play in the Kansas Basketball All- star game at Topeka in August.
They were two of the four 6A representatives selected.
Poetry Out Loud
Robbie Winslow, senior, took second place in the Kansas Poetry Out Loud competition Saturday, March 31, at the Lawrence Arts Center in Lawrence, Kan.
For his win, Winslow received $100, and the school will also receive $200 to purchase poetry books.
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