LMS football off to good start to season

It may be only two games into the season, but the Louisburg Middle School seventh-grade football team is off to a dominant start.

The Wildcats have won two straight to begin the year, including a 28-0 shutout of Spring Hill on the road Tuesday. On Sept. 3, Louisburg outlasted rival Paola in its home opener, 14-6, thanks to two first half touchdowns.

In their most recent victory, the Wildcats jumped on Spring Hill early and the defense took care of the rest.

Louisburg did its damage on the ground as it got three touchdown runs from Elijah Johnson and another from Ben Wiedenmann to give the Wildcats a big lead. The Wildcats also converted on two 2-point conversions when quarterback Andy Hupp found Trevin Lohse on both occasions.

Spring Hill was in danger of breaking up the shutout late in the contest, but defensive end Justin Collins made a touchdown saving tackle to preserve the shutout.

“The kids have done a nice job playing both ways,” coach Kyle Wright said. “Matt Madison is a great leader on the offensive line at center and he is also making plays at linebacker. Keaton Light is doing well on both the offensive and defensive lines and Braden Aiken, who missed the first game with an illness, had a great second game on the line as well. Jay Scollin is also doing a nice job at tight end and safety.”

Against Paola, the Wildcats scored two touchdowns in the first half, which was all they needed. Hupp and Johnson scored on touchdown runs to put the Wildcats up 14-0.

The Panthers scored early in the third quarter, but the Wildcat defense held firm to get the season opening win.

Eighth-grade splits first two games

The LMS eighth-grade football team couldn’t have asked for a better beginning to its season as it rose to occasion with a 22-0 shutout of rival Paola on Sept. 4 in Paola.

Louisburg returned home Tuesday to face off with Spring Hill and nearly came away with its second straight win. However, Spring Hill rallied from 10 down at halftime to defeat the Wildcats 32-26 in overtime.

Against Paola, the Wildcats ran all over the field on the Panthers. Charlie Koontz put Louisburg up 14-0 with two long runs for scores, thanks in part to the blocking of his offensive line, led by Brayden White, Garrett Harding, Anthony Davis, Collin Hamilton and Sam Kratochvil.

The Wildcat defense held strong as they forced the Panthers to turn the ball over on downs in the redzone to prevent the Panthers first score. Louisburg put the game on ice a few minutes later when Dallas Newberry scored the Wildcats’ third touchdown, which was set up by a long run from quarterback Madden Rutherford.

In its matchup with Spring Hill, Louisburg had a 10-point lead at halftime, but the Broncos opened the second half with a 60-yard touchdown drive to cut the lead to two.

Louisburg responded right back when Rutherford found Michael Waldron on a 40-yard touchdown pass that led to an eight-point lead. Spring Hill eventually tied the game late in the fourth to force overtime and found the endzone to seal the win in the extra time.

Koontz led the Wildcats with three long touchdown runs in the contest, and could have had a fourth, but the play was brought back on a holding penalty.

“I told the players at the beginning of the season that I did not care about wins and losses,” coach Brian Keegan said. “I told them that if they gave all they could that the wins would take care of themselves. We focused a lot on mistake response and I thought after a few mental errors the kids did a great job of responding and never got their heads down. A loss like this hurts but they should not feel disappointed in their effort. The mistakes we made are things we can work on and correct.  I feel very confident going into the next game because the kids are starting to believe in each other and work together as a team.”