The combination of a balanced offensive attack featuring a new explosive quarterback-wide receiver connection and a defense that forced three turnovers propelled Rockhurst football to a dominant 42-25 win over Olathe North Friday. The victory improved the Hawklets to 3-0 to start the season.
Rockhurst received the opening kickoff, which they returned to the 40-yard line. They then proceeded to march down the field with an even mix of runs and passes. Junior running back Pierce Fisher ran eight yards up the middle for a touchdown to cap off their opening drive. The extra point was missed, making the score 6-0.
On Olathe North’s first possession, sophomore linebacker Cash Lewandowski single-handedly forced a three-and-out with a sack, tackle for loss and a tackle at the line of scrimmage.
“He doesn’t play like a sophomore,” head coach Kelly Donohoe said. “I’m really proud of where Cash has gotten to already.”
On the first play after the Eagles punt, Loose dropped back to pass, rolled right to evade pressure, and launched it downfield to sophomore receiver Blake Thomas, who caught it and took it 87 yards to the house. This was Thomas’ first game of the season after he dislocated his shoulder and tore his labrum leading up to Week 1.
Fisher punched in the 2-point conversion to make the score 14-0.
Lewandowski again ended Olathe North’s next drive after recovering a high snap that went over the Eagles quarterback’s head. In the closing seconds of the first quarter, Fisher took the handoff, then ran the ball into a wall of linemen, but he bounced outside and walked the tightrope on the sidelines for a 22-yard touchdown. The first quarter ended with a score of 21-0.
Rockhurst forced a turnover on downs from Olathe North to get the ball back to start the second quarter.
Later, Loose rolled out right and found Thomas once again in the back of the end zone for a 29-yard touchdown.
Olathe North was able to capitalize off Rockhurst’s first big mistake, a fumble on their side of the field, and scored their first touchdown of the night before intermission. Rockhurst went into the half leading 28-7.
In the third quarter, the new QB-WR duo completed the hat trick, as Loose hit Thomas in stride down the sideline for their third touchdown of the night.
Olathe North matched that touchdown with one of their own, then recovered a squib kick on the kickoff to set them up with good field position. From there, they scored another touchdown to make the score 35-19 at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth, senior fullback Beau Neuburger punched in a one-yard touchdown run to cap off a long, clock-eating drive.
Olathe North connected on a deep ball to score one last time before the end of the game, but the game was over much earlier than that. Rockhurst controlled the entire game and rolled to a 42-25 victory.
Loose went 12/14 passing for 261 yards and 3 touchdowns. On Thomas’ three receptions, all of them scores, he accumulated 157 yards.
“We’ve been developing chemistry all summer long, but his injury just put a pause on the connection,” said Loose. “But it is back and better than before.”
Fisher, the junior running back, also posted 174 all-purpose yards and a touchdown.
“People struggle to play us because we are so effective running the football, but now that they know we can throw, it just opens up more,” said Loose.
Both the running and passing games saw upticks in production in this game. The Hawklets didn’t lean into either phase more than prior games. They were just more effective at piling up the yardage. They threw the ball a comparable number of times to their first two games, but exceeded their previous output by more than 100 yards in this game. Their rushing total also increased by more than 100 yards, with Fisher receiving the majority of the snaps.
It’s not hard to see how the addition of Thomas as a deep-threat receiver could help other offensive players.
“(Senior wide receiver) Riley Sullivan should be really thrilled right now, because, if it wasn’t for Blake, I would have a couple guys double covering him,” said Donohoe. “You’re gonna notice our tight ends getting open more because of that too.”
Rockhurst will look to keep the offensive momentum rolling when they host Lee’s Summit West this Friday. The Hawklets last played the Titans in districts last season, winning convincingly 31-8.
