The Cougars opened the season by winning the four out of their first five games of the year. After a loss to the highly-esteemed Rockhurst Hawklets, the Cougars fell into a winless streak that lasted until they destroyed the SM South Raiders in a 7-0 blowout.

That win inspired the frustrated Cougars, motivating them to win three of the last four games of the season. The one loss came at the hands of the Olathe South Falcons, who had already beaten the Cougars in a preseason tournament.

The Cougars have outscored their opponents this season by a three-to-one ratio, and the defense, combined with the outstanding play of senior goalkeeper Shawn Miles, has accumulated 10 shutouts. Senior Sam McCrillis leads the team in scoring with 12 goals.

After easily handling league play and winning the regional title by defeating the Blue Valley Tigers, and sneaking past a solid Olathe East team, the Cougars continued on the road to the state championship game with high expectations.

“Right now it’s really about maintaining your [playing] style, working on the things you can do well,” coach Todd Boren said of his plans for preparing for the rest of the postseason.

The Cougars have had one of the largest fan bases throughout out the year, but they have seen especially huge numbers in attendance in the postseason.

“I think it makes a big difference,” senior John McNair said. “Some people might think it doesnt make a big difference in soccer when the crowd is loud and rowdy, like it does in basketball, but it really does affect you as a player. People say things and they can kind of get to you sometimes.”

On Tuessday in the first round of the state playoffs, the Cougars, who were the number four seed in their bracket, upset the number one seed Olathe South Falcons, 2-1.

“We really became a family, and everyone started to believe in themselves,” senior Sam McCrillis said. “I think that is our source of success right now.”

The Cougars will face Washburn Rural in the state semifinals. The Junior Blues boast a 17-1-0 record, and have already defeated the Cougars once this season.

“We had chances in that game, we just didn’t take advantage of them,” Boren said. “I don’t think we really have to change a whole lot, we know their style of play, we just need to contain their offense and play our game.”

Washburn is a bigger, stronger team with a very physical style of play.

“We need to get tough, they are a lot bigger team of than we are and they play really physical,” McCrillis said.

The Cougars play Washburn at 4 p.m. today at Blue Valley District Soccer Complex at 135th and Switzer. The team will play again on Saturday either at noon or at 2 p.m., depending on the outcome of today’s game.

Coming into the season, the football team expected to secure their third consecutive playoff berth since coach Aaron Barnett took over the program in 2006. Even with the loss of some key offensive players to graduation, the Cougars still returned a strong group of seniors led by tailbacks Trey Jacobson and Jon Hauk.

Jacobson, however, suffered a broken arm early in the year, that put him on the bench for the entire season.

After winning the first game of the season against SM South, the team’s toughest test of the season was against Olathe North, the top team in the Sunflower League. Even though the Cougars started the game with a 95 yard kickoff return by senior Chris Mankser, they were unable to stop the rushing attack of the Eagles who ended up winning 41-12.

“We played a little bit tentative, and maybe a little bit scared at the beginning of the game and it cost us,” Barnett said following the game.

Starting the year with a 4-2 record, the Cougars entered district play versus SM West. This looked to be the deciding game of the district playoffs. The winner would have the edge in the four-team round robin. A stagnant offense led to another NW loss, forcing them to win their last two games of the season to reach the state playoffs for the third consecutive year.

The second game of districts looked to be much more promising against SM East. But a combination of tough defense and successful scoring efforts by the Lancers led to a shocking one-point loss, leaving the Cougars out of the playoffs.

“The way our football team played tonight was embarrassing,” Barnett said following the loss, “Our effort tonight was very poor… something I have not been used to since I’ve been at Northwest.”

That made the final game of the season against archrival SM North seem less meaningful, but that didn’t mean that the seniors did not care about their last game as Cougar football players. Senior Jon Hauk rushed for a season-high 222 yards in the 28-12 victory.

“The offensive line did everything for me tonight,” Hauk said following the game. “There was rarely time where there at least wasn’t a hole where I couldn’t get something.”

The final performance by the seniors did not come without emotion. After the coaching staff, talked to the players for over 10 minutes after the game, several players came out of the locker room with tears of joy as well as sadness knowing, for most of them, this would be the last time they would ever play football.

It is one of the accomplishments every senior class that goes through Northwest wants to be remembered for: beating SM North all four years.

“ It’s great for those guys to finish with a win,” Coach Aaron Barnett said, “I’ve said that it’s been a long time for me as a coach and for our program that the first three years we’ve always been playing for a chance on the last game of the year. But the upside of that is we get to check in our equipment after a win and very few teams get do that.”

The Indians chewed up most of the first quarter on a 15-play drive that took the ball all the way down to the Cougar 7-yard line using a balance of running and passing. But a 25-yard field goal attempt by junior quarterback/kicker Kyle Goodbum sailed wide left.

“ I thought we got a little rattled because we were nervous about the game,” Barnett said,  ”But I thought we settled down, making some tackles, playing some assignment football.”

The first quarter ended on a series of fumbles by both teams with none of the turnovers leading to points.

Following the scoreless quarter, the Cougars pushed down the field ending with a 18-yard touchdown by senior tailback Jon Hauk, his first of two touchdowns.

Three plays later Northwest followed up Hauk’s touchdown with a fumble recovery and touchdown by senior Nick Caldwell that went for 41 yards and a 14-0 lead.

Beginning the second half, the Cougars insisted on pounding the football down the field using Hauk on 12 of the 14 carries on the drive. His 5-yard touchdown run to end the drive almost insured a Cougar victory.

“ It’s very important for us to not only have a good drive in the second half,” Barnett said, “but to finish it off in the end zone.”

Hauk finished the game with a season high in carries (36) and yards (222) and two touchdowns

“ The offensive line did everything for me tonight,” Hauk said, “There was rarely time there wasn’t at least a hole where I could get something.”

“ All the momentum we had coming  from this week: Homecoming, light show, Senior Night… we just wanted to end that with a bang,” senior offensive lineman Grant Berning said.

The final performance by the seniors did not come without emotion. After the coaching staff talked to the players for over 10 minutes after the game, several players came out of the locker room with tears of joy mixed with tears of sadness knowing, for most of them, this was the last time they would play football.

“It’s kinda bittersweet  but, if I had to pick a way for it to end, I don’t think I’d change it,” senior Will Greenhaw said, “I guarantee, 40 years from now, tonight is gonna be a night that I will remember.”

Game Summary:

Second Quarter:

SNW: TD John Hauk 18-yard run (Matt Nowak kick) 9:40 ( 7-0 SMNW)

SNW: TD Nick Caldwell 41-yard fumble return (Nowak kick) 7:51 (14-0 SMNW)

Third Quarter:

SNW: TD J Hauk 5-yard run (Nowak kick) 5:37 (21-0 SMNW)

SMN: TD Joe Haas 13-yard run (kick failed) 2:18 (21-6 SMNW)

Fourth Quarter:

SNW: TD M Nowak 1-yard run (Alex Geis kick) 10:11 (28-6 SMNW)

SMN: TD Kevin McCleary 2-yard pass from Kyle Goodburn (kick failed) 2:31 (28-12 SMNW)

After a a tough loss against Shawnee Mission West last week, the football team looked to get their playoff aspirations back on track against a rebuilding Lancer program under new head coach Chip Sherman. But the night did not go according to as the Cougars struggled offensively  once again.

” The way our football team played tonight was embarrassing,” coach Aaron Barnett said following the loss,” Our effort tonight was very poor. Something I have not been used to since I’ve been at Northwest for my four years.”

The Cougars opened up the game with a hard earned 12 play drive that drove them inside their opponents 5 yard line. But Northwest was unable to stuff the ball into end zone after four attempts. After turning over the ball on downs, the Cougars defense swarmed the backfield forcing fumble which was recovered by junior Drew Goodger giving them the early 6-0 lead.

After failing to score again on their first drive of the second quarter. Northwest tacked on a 31 yard field goal by senior Matt Nowak midway through the second quarter. The Lancers quickly countered with a touchdown pass of their own cutting the lead to three points heading into halftime.

Following another stop of Shawnee Mission East offense, Northwest looked to take another long drive down the field using senior Jon Hauk to take time off the clock. But an inherent pass by Nowak that was returned by Lancer  junior Josh Meis set up the go ahead score for the Lancers.

During  in suing drive, the Cougars pounded the ball once again, running the ball 11 of the 14 plays of the drive with most of the carries for Hauk. However they were forced to settle for another field goal even though they were inside the Lancer ten yard line for the second time.

After stopping the Lancers on their first drive of the fourth quarter,  the Cougars looked to have a comeback drive to secure their first win of district play. But the offensive line was unable to get a fourth down push and were stopped for no gain giving the Lancers the ball and the win.

With the loss the Cougars are now eliminated from playoff contention in their district. The loss makes the October 30th  Homecoming game against arch rival Shawnee Mission North just for bragging rights and the opportunity to send the seniors out on a high note.

The game will start at 7 p.m. Along with the homecoming festivities, it will also be Football senior night and the annual light show.

First Quarter:

SMNW: TD Drew Goodger fumble recovery in the end zone (Extra Point No Good) 5:23 SMNW 6-0

Second Quarter:

SMNW: FG Matt Nowak 31 yards 4:24 SMNW 9-0

SME: TD Kevin Hertel 44 yard pass from Robby Moriarty (Extra Point No Good) 1:53  SMNW 9-6

Third Quarter:

SME: TD Kevin Hertel 14 yard pass from John Schrock ( Brennan Burns kick) 5:27 SME 13-9

Fourth Quarter:

SMNW: FG Matt Nowak 24 yards 11:48 SME 13-12

SMNW Statistics

Passing

Matt Nowak 11/18 101 yards, INT

Rushing

Jon Hauk 29 car 123 yards

Matt Nowak 8 car 33 yards

Nick Caldwell 1 car 9 yards

Receving

Chris Mansker 5 rec 25 yards

Will Greenhaw 1 rec 23 yards

Jon Hauk 2 rec 18 yards

Kosh Khan 1 rec 17 yards

Alex Geis 1 rec 14 yards

Frankie Hernandez 1 rec 4 yards

The story of the year for Northwest has been their struggling offense in the games against the top teams in the Sunflower League. First against Olathe North early in the year. Then the loss to Lawrence Free State in which they were shut out. And now the disappointing loss  to Shawnee Mission West to open district loss.

The Cougars started the game by stopping Vikings offense deep in their own territory on fourth down. Following the turnover on downs Northwest put together a 15 play drive taking the ball all the way down to West’s eight yard line. But after three attempts at a touchdown senior Matt Nowak could not convert a 25 yard field goal attempt.

West finally broke the tie 6 minutes into the second quarter with a 2 yard run by junior Cordi Pascal. After stopping the Cougars offense once again, the Vikings senior quarterback DJ Balazs bursted through an open whole in the defense for a 69 yard scamper putting them up by two scores.

Northwest was able to run the ball efficiently throughout the game with senior Jon Hauk recording over 100 yards once again, but quarter back Matt Nowak was unable to complete a positive pass until the final drive of the game.

After the failing to score on their first drive of the second half, Northwest defense made a major play. Senior Will Greenhaw wrestled the ball away from a Vikings receiver giving the the Cougars another chance to score. But were unable to score in the red zone once again.

West added on their final score of the night later in the quarter with Pascal scoring his second touchdown of the night.

The Cougars finally put points on the board with 32 second left in the game with Nowak scrambling into the end zone to put the final score at 20-8.

Northwest tries to get back on track next week against Shawnee Mission East. If the football team wins their last two games of the season they will qualify for the playoffs for the third consecutive year.

Photo by Hannah William

Earlier this season, after repeated helmet-to-helmet contact at football practice, junior Jake Todd knew something wasn’t right.

“It hurt so bad,” he said. “It felt like there was a knife sticking into my brain.”

Todd had suffered a concussion.

“For the next couple of days, I couldn’t focus on anything, and my head was killing me. Even the lights in classrooms were giving me headaches,” Todd said.

Todd’s circumstance is not an unusual one. The severity of concussions in high school sports has often passed under the radar of officials, parents and coaches. But in light of recent studies being conducted on concussions, and the increasing number of concussions suffered annually, the issue has finally received the attention it is due.

“Players won’t usually tell us that they think they’ve had a concussion, especially varsity players, because they don’t want to have to sit out,” said Dr. Daniel Schmoll, a family physician at Shawnee Mission Medical Center. “We usually look for dizziness, nausea, memory loss, some of the key symptoms. We ask other players if they saw the individual pass out briefly or do anything unusual.”

Schmoll also said that players often don’t realize the potential danger that is inherent with concussions. In North Carolina last year, two high school football players died from concussion-related symptoms. Each had returned to play within two days of being concussed. Fourteen high school football players died in 2008, according to the Annual Survey of Football Injury Research.

“You know, I would like to think that in my years of coaching, there are always two things I don’t mess around with: lightning and concussions,” varsity football coach Aaron Barnett said. “Head trauma, I think, is something where there can be some long-lasting effects.”

A study from the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, reported that 40.5 percent of high school players who suffer a concussion return to play prematurely, setting themselves up for serious health related repercussions later in life, namely depression, memory loss and early-developing dementia.

“The thing that kind of puts us coaches in a bind is a concussion isn’t something you cant just X-ray or look at. You have to rely on the player telling you about it,” Barnett said. “And what makes it tough is the fact that some kids may have a concussion and never say a word.”

In the event of a possibly concussed player, trainer Kodi Bauer is often the first on the scene.

“The first thing I ask them is if they have a headache, if they are dizzy, have blurry vision, ringing in the ears or any other symptoms. After those questions, I ask more cognitive questions like if they know where they are or what the score is,” Bauer said.

The problem is that players can deny most of these minor symptoms, such as headaches or dizziness. A report published by USNews.com indicated that only about 42 percent of high schools in the country have trainers, so even severe cases can go undiagnosed simply due to the lack of knowledge of stand-in trainers.

In some cases, the player may suffer a concussion unknowingly.

“It’s not uncommon to hear players say, ‘Oh, I just got my bell rung,’ or ‘That last one really got me,’ and then they just keep playing,” Bauer said. “Even if you only have a headache, and that’s the only symptom, that is technically a concussion, and it should be treated accordingly.”

The state of Washington has passed a law declaring that all athletes under the age of 18 suspected of having a concussion must have written consent from a doctor prior to returning to play. Coaches must receive concussion education, whether at seminars or through approved online material, and parents are required to sign off that they have read and understand the new requirements.

Though Kansas legislators have not proposed a bill similar to the one in Washington, Kansas State High School Activities Association guidelines support some of the same ideals of the law.

“Any athlete suspected of receiving a concussion is to be removed from the activity for the remainder of the event. The athlete should then not be allowed to return to sports until they have received written clearance from a physician,” said Brent Unruh, KSHSAA office manager and certified athletic trainer.

Legislative action is not the only way the issue of concussions is being dealt with. Equipment advancements are made every year, with new technology in the padding used in helmets becoming more effective.

Xenith, an equipment company that has emerged in the last couple of years, offers a new type of helmet that is supposed to reduce the likelihood of concussions. While most helmets use gel or a combination of foam and air for the interior padding of the helmet, the Xenith helmet uses highly durable thermoplastic polyurethane pads. The pads are designed to adapt to each hit the helmet receives and reduce the jarring effect on the brain, which is thought to be the main cause for concussions. The Xenith X1 was available for purchase to NW players this year, and 15 bought the $350 helmet.

“I think it works pretty well. I definitely can’t remember any huge headaches this year, as opposed to last year when I had a Riddell helmet,” senior Kosh Khan said.

While the Xenith allegedly reduces the risk of concussion, it is only available to players who are willing, or able, to pay for it. Even with this new technology, according to USNews.com, the number of concussions suffered each year— not just in football, but in all high school sports— continues to increase.

Football might be the first sport that comes to mind when head trauma is mentioned, but concussions can occur in almost any form of athletics. Sophomore Luke Schnefke suffered his sixth concussion last year in a collision with another player during basketball practice. Doctors told Schnefke that he should not continue playing contact sports. They told him if he suffered another concussion, he could begin having problems with his memory and basic motor skills.

“After my sixth concussion, I went to a neurologist and they did computer testing. They also said that the most concussions anybody they had seen was seven, and they are having memory problems,” Schnefke said.

That testing is known as the ImPACT test. The ImPACT test was developed at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and was first used in the NFL in the early 1990s. The test measures functions such as verbal memory, visual memory and reaction time.

“I couldn’t really tell if I was doing badly in the testing, but when the data was compared to other kids’ scores, you could tell,” Schnefke said. “It doesn’t really affect me on a day-to-day basis, but the doctors told me that if I get hit in the head again, I would be more likely to suffer another concussion.”

Another sport where head trauma can occur is soccer. In soccer, players often strike the ball with their head. While this might seem harmless, if a player hits the ball with his head incorrectly, if the ball simply has too much force behind it or if his or her head somehow collides with another player’s head, they could suffer a concussion.

“I wouldn’t say concussions are a huge problem in soccer, but it does happen,” soccer coach Todd Boren said. “Usually it happens when two players go up for a head-ball, and their heads collide.”

Concussions occur in virtually all sports: hockey, wrestling, basketball, UFC. Because many sports are played on a hard surface, all it takes is one slip and a player’s career could be over. And because there is no defense for simple clumsiness or for the occasional accident, concussions may just be a risk that players, parents and coaches have to live with.

“I don’t think that there is really anything that the coaches or players could do to try to prevent concussions from occurring. It really is just kind of a part of the game,” Bauer said.

Athletes in general continue to become more and more lethal to each other. As bench-presses increase, and 40-yard dash times continue to drop, collisions will only grow more violent, resulting in more injuries. While researchers work to develop more effective safety equipment, and coaches and legislators continue to try to protect athletes, in the end, the people who are most capable of protecting an athlete from permanent brain damage are the athletes themselves.

It was an incredible shock that the Northwest football team was shutout by Lawrence Free State 49-0 last Friday night. The question was how would they respond?

“ We bounced back after a poor effort last week, coach Aaron Barnett said, ” I want to give credit to my assistant coaches they did a great job this week making sure our team was focused.’

The Cougars answered quickly capitalizing on a Stephen Manglesdorf fumble recovery with a 17 yard touchdown run by senior Jon Hauk. This was the first game since Hauk’s lingering knee injury where he recieved 21 carries and 150 yards.

Northwest tacked on a 38 yard field goal by senior quarterback/kicker Matt Nowak which gave the football team a 10-0 lead.

After trading interceptions later in the first quarter, Olathe Northwest got on the board with a 23 yard field goal by senior kicker Nick Prologo.

Shawnee Mission Northwest started the second half with nine straight runs by Hauk. But after a few failed attempts to punch the ball into the endzone, Nowak found junior tight end Drew Goodger in the right corner of the end zone for a touchdown which put the Cougars up by two touchdowns.

After adding another field goal in third quarter, Northwest held a commanding 17 point lead entering the fourth quarter.

Olathe Northwest countered with their first drive of the fourth quarter with a 1 yard touchdown run by senior quarterback John Lemke.

But a Matt Nowak 51 yard pass to Kosh Khan helped set up the Cougars final score of the night, a one yard touchdown by Nowak securing a Cougar victory.

The football team starts disrtict play next week against rival Shawnee Mission West. The Vikings (5-1) and the Cougars (4-2) are the teams with the two best records in their district, so this game will most likely determine the winner of this district.

Game Summary:

First Quarter:

SMNW: TD Jon Hauk 17 yard run(Matt Nowak kick) 11: 02 ( 7-0 SMNW)

SMNW: FG Matt Nowak 38 yard field goal 4:59 (10-0 SMNW)

ONW: FG Nick Prologo 23 yard field goal :11 (10-3 SMNW)

Third Quarter:

SMNW: TD Drew Goodger 3 yard pass from Matt Nowak (Nowak kick) 7:00 (17-3 SMNW)

SMNW: FG Matt Nowak 32 yard field goal 3:08 (20-3 SMNW)

Fourth Quarter:

ONW: TD John Lemke 1 yard run (Nick Prologo kick) 9:35 ( 20-10 SMNW)

SMNW: TD Matt Nowak 1 yard rum (Nowak kick) 6:33 (27-10 SMNW)

ONW: TD Mike Eichenberg 18 yard pass from John Lemke (Prologo kick) 3:25 ( 27-17 SMNW)

SMNW Stats

Passing

Matt Nowak 5/8 80 yards 1 TD

Stephen Manglesdorf 1/2 11 yards, INT

Rushing

Jon Hauk 21 car, 150 yards, TD

Nick Caldwell 8 car, 51 yards

Matt Nowak 8 car, 23 yards, TD

Chris Mansker 2 car, 2 yards

Receiving

Kosh Khan 1 rec, 51 yards

Chris Mansker 2 rec, 21 yards

Alex Geis 1 rec, 12 yards

Drew Goodger 2 rec, 7 yards, TD

Last year, Camren Torneaden and Chucky Hunter tore apart the Sunflower League with their read-option running attack. But with Hunter’s graduation the Firebirds were forced to break in new running back senior Kirk Resseguie.

A new season showed that Free State had not missed a step with Torneaden piling up 266 total yards on the night, most of which came in the first half in the 49-0 thumping of Northwest.

Torneaden’s highlight of the night was a 57-yard punt return for a touchdown where he dodged Cougar defenders all over the field.

Reeseguie chipped in 193 yards of his own along with three touchdowns.

Northwest struggled to counter the explosive offense from Lawrence. Even with  multiple scoring opportunities in Fire bird territory,the Cougars were unable to convert important fourth downs throughout the game.

Some of the only highlights came from the special teams when senior Matt Nowak attempted a 50-yard field goal in the first half, and bombed a 63 yard punt just before the end of the game.

Another set back for the team was not having senior Jon Hauk play the entire game. There was concern that he might have re aggravated  a knee injury from early this year. Hauk only played in the first series.

The Football team looks to bounce back against Olathe Northwest. The game is at 7 p.m. at SM North District Stadium on October 9.

Game Summary:

First Quarter:

LFS: TD Camren Torneden 19 yard run (Gabe Ballard-Hanson kick) 7:31 (7-0 Free State)

LFS: TD Kirk Resseguie 2 yard run (Ballard-Hanson kick) 4:05 (14-0)

Second Quarter:

LFS: TD Kirk Resseguie 2 yard run (Ballard-Hanson kick) 11:21 (21-0)

LFS: TD Chandler Schmidt 32 yard pass from Camren Torneden (Ballard-Hanson kick) 3:56 (28-0)

LFS: TD Camren Torneden 57 yard punt return (Ballard-Hanson kick) 1:13 (35-0)

Third Quarter:

LFS: TD Kirk Reeseguie 7 yard run (Ballard-Hanson kick) 3:28 (42-0)

Fourth Quarter:

LFS: TD Cody Oller 4 yard run ( Colin Phillips kick) 4:41 (49-0)

On a cool, wet Thursday night Northwest took care of business, defeating a struggling Leavenworth team in preparation for the heart of their schedule.

The Cougars started off the game taking their second play from scrimmage in for touchdown. Senior Matt Nowak completed a screen pass to Junior Frankie Hernandez who scurried into the end zone. Hernandez was returning from an ankle injury.

After recovering an onside kick, Northwest chewed another 3 minutes off the clock with Senior Jon Hauk recording all 6 carries on the drive including a 1 yard touchdown run.

” We definitely like to run the football,” Coach Aaron Barnett said, “but whenever your balanced it helps you out.”

In the second quarter, the teams offense production slowed down. But the defense continued to stop the Pioneers running attack, and recovered two fumbles in the quarter.

” I told our kids at halftime, we’re gonna win the football. But are goal the second half is to try to improve and get better and I thought our kids did a pretty good job of that,” Barnett said.

Following the struggle to move the football offensively, Northwest opened up the third quarter with a five play drive ending with another Matt Nowak touchdown this time finding Senior tight end Alex Geis.

Nowak and the starting offense finished off their night with a 42 yard pass to Senior wide receiver Kosh Khan to start the fourth quarter.

Although the offense was efficient, the defense stood strong not allowing the Pioneers inside the red zone the entire night.

The Cougars travel back to Lawrence next week to take on the Free State. The Firebirds were the team that knocked Northwest out of the playoffs last year with a 41-21 victory.

” You wanna play the best teams,” Barnett said, “Hopefully our kids will respond to the challenge.”

Scoring Summary:

1st Quarter

SMNW: TD  Frankie Hernadez 27 yard pass from Matt Nowak (kick failed) 8:12

SMNW: TD Jon Hauk 1 yard run (Nowak kick) 5:18

2nd Quarter

SMNW: TD Jon Hauk 2 yard run (Nowak kick) 1:07

3rd Quarter

SMNW: TD Alex Geis 19 yard pass from Matt Nowak (Nowak kick) 9:42

4th Quarter

SMNW: TD Kosh Khan 42 yard pass from Matt Nowak (Nowak kick) 11:43

Stats:

Passing:

Matt Nowak 10/13 196 yards, 3 TDs

Rushing:

Jon Hauk 19 car, 78 yards, 2 TDs

KC Waterman 6 car, 18 yards

Chris Mansker 2 car, 8 yards

Levi Plaschka 3 car, 6 yards

Nick Caldwell 1 car, 6 yards

Receiving:

Kosh Khan 1 rec, 42 yards, TD

Chris Mansker 3 rec, 34 yards

Frankie Hernandez 1 rec, 27 yards, TD

Jon Hauk 1 rec, 27 yards

Kenny Mings 1 rec, 20 yards

Alex Geis 1 rec, 19 yards, TD

Nick Caldwell 1 rec, 16 yards

Kent Hollingsworth 1 rec, 11 yards

Playing in front of a Lawrence High fan base that was settling in to their brand new stadium, Northwest still looked a shaky in the first quarter struggling to move the ball efficiently and burning two timeouts in their first series of the game.

“They started the game exactly how they wanted to and exactly how we didn’t want to,” Coach Aaron Barnett said after the game.

But it took only the second play of the second series before senior quarterback Matt Nowak scrambled for a 52 yard run putting the Cougars up 7-0.

After Lawrence chewed up six minutes of the clock with their ground attack, the first quarter ended with a bang. The two teams recorded three turnovers in less than 13 seconds. After the Cougars forced a fumble near their goaline, junior KC Waterman fumbled for the first of two times on the night.

However, senior Kosh Kahn grabbed down an interception in the right corner of the end zone as time expired for the quarter.

” We’re a good enough football team that we can compete with anybody we play,” Barnett said, ” But anybody we play can lineup and beat us on a friday night.”

In the second quarter, the Cougars took control of the game with a pair of Jon Hauk touchdowns from inside the red zone. After missing last week, Hauk returned to playing both defense and offense, and contributing three of the five total touchdowns for Northwest.

” He’s a difference maker there’s no doubt about that, and you can see that tonight,” Barnett said, ” He takes us to a different level.”

Even being down 21-0 at halftime, the Lions fought back taking the opening drive of the third quarter in for a touchdown. Lawrence then made the Cougars punt on their first possession, but a massive hit on punt coverage by senior NIck Caldwell, which Northwest recovered, gave then the ball back and resulted in another touchdown.

” We didn’t respond well (to the touchdown), but we made a big play on special teams,” Barnett said.

The Cougars tacked on another touchdown in the fourth quarter with a 17 yard run by senior Chris Mansker.

The football team improved to 2-1 on the season and face Leavenworth at SM North District Stadium next Thursday.

” I don’t think we’re playing our best football right now, Barnett said, “we just got to get everybody healthy and practice.”

SMNW Stats:

Passing-

Matt Nowak 8/11 159 yards 1TD

Rushing-

Matt Nowak 9 carries, 97 yards, TD

Jon Hauk 10 carries, 72 yards, 3 TDS

KC Waterman 10 carries, 44 yards

Drew Goodger 6 carries, 3o yards

Chris Mansker 1 carry, 17 yards, TD

Austin Vanderpool 1 carry, 4 yards

Receving-

Chris Mansker 6 rec., 6o yards

Jon Hauk 1 rec., 56 yards

Will Greenhaw 1 rec., 43 yards

Scoring Summary:

First Quarter

6:16 TD Matt Nowak 52 yard run (Matt Nowak kick) SMNW 7 Lawrence 0

Second Quarter

7:19 TD Jon Hauk 3 yard run (Nowak kick) SMNW 14 Lawrence 0

:13 TD Jon Hauk 1 yard run (Nowak kick) SMNW 21 Lawrence 0

Third Quarter

6:43  TD Traye Jenkins 1 yard run (Anthony Rosen kick) SMNW 21 Lawrence 7

2:51 TD Jon Hauk 12 yard run (Nowak kick) SMNW 28 Lawrence 7

Fourth Quarter

6:54 TD Chris Mansker 17 yard run (Nowak kick) SMNW 35 Lawrence 7