Gerard Reed III ran for a touchdown and scored catching the football, allowing Olathe East to hand Lawrence a 24-6 setback and its first loss of the year Friday. Leading 7-0 with about five minutes remaining before halftime Thursday evening, Olathe East had to wait about 20 hours due to a lightning and rain delay before upsetting the then unbeaten Lions.
With the win at the College Boulevard Activities Center, Olathe East improved to 2-2 on the year and in the Sunflower League while Lawrence fell to 3-1 in both standings.
“When you’re facing Lawrence, you know you’re going to play a good football team,” Olathe East head coach Courtney Porter said. “They’re going to be big, strong, fast and well-coached. To be able to get a win against a 3-0 team, that’s huge for us.”
Reed opened the scoring Thursday evening when he rumbled into the end zone from four yards out with 43-seconds left in the opening quarter. Once play resumed Friday afternoon, Reed hauled in a 38-yard strike from Hawk senior quarterback Jack Cornell to put the hosts up 14-0 with 41-seconds left in the opening half.
The Hawk defense put points on the board midway through the third quarter when sophomore defensive back Milo Burton snatched a Banks Bowen aerial and raced 31 yards for a pick six to put Olathe East up 21-0 with 6:49 left in the third quarter.
Malcolm Paul answered later in the quarter for Lawrence when he bolted into the end zone from six yards out to avoid the shutout and cut the deficit to 21-6 after the extra point kick hit the upright and bounced back.
Sophomore kicker Cameron Speier allowed Olathe East to score in all three phases when he tacked on the final three points of the contest with a 39-yard field goal with 2:46 left in the game.
“We did a good job, I thought, of dealing with (the adversity),” Porter said of coming back out Friday and handling the adversity of resuming the contest. “I’m not saying they didn’t. But we thought that was huge for us just from a momentum standpoint.”
Reed carried the football seven times for 64 yards and the score while also catching four footballs for 71 yards and a touchdown. Seniors Jalen Proctor and Ray Smith III combined for 20 carries and 107 yards collectively.
Cornell was six-for-17 through the air for 93 yards and a touchdown. Senior linebacker Michael Costello led the Hawk defense with 12 tackles while Speier made all three extra-point kicks and the field goal.
Lion junior quarterback Banks Bowen completed 11 of 25 passes for 159 yards and two interceptions while running the football nine times for 74 yards. Paul carried the football eight times for 36 yards and a score while sophomore Tahj Edwards ran for 31 yards on nine carries.
Senior defensive back Zander Thomas led Clint Bowen’s squad with 12 tackles on the afternoon.
The Lion defense held Olathe East to 93 yards passing and 231 yards on the ground for 324 yards of offense while the Hawks limited Lawrence to 159 yards through the air and 141 rushing the football for 300 yards of offense.
Olathe East heads back out to CBAC Friday to take on 0-4 Olathe Northwest as the visiting team while Lawrence will try to get back in the win column when the Lions host 1-3 league foe Shawnee Mission North.
