4B
|
Friday, September 23, 2011
SPORTS
.
L AWRENCE J OURNAL -W ORLD
KANSAS FOOTBALL
Shealy: Defense has to move on By Matt Tait mtait@ljworld.com
Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo
FREE STATE HIGH GOLFER MADISON BRUMLEY TEES OFF during the Lawrence High Invitational on Thursday at Alvamar Golf Course. Bramley shot a 102 for the day, and Free State finished 15th out of 20 teams.
LHS finishes 11th, FSHS 15th at Alvamar By Corey Thibodeaux cthibodeaux@ljworld.com
It’s a good thing Attie Pennybaker practices every day at Alvamar Golf Club. Because of her putting and familiarity with the course, she shot a personal-best 94 at Thursday’s Lawrence Invitational while the other teams quickly realized how sneaky the speed of the greens were. “The girls I played with were having a horrible time putting,” Pennybaker, a junior, said. Lawrence finished its home tournament 11th out of 20 teams, with a team score of 398. Garden City domi-
nated the tournament with a score of 322. The goal for the Lions in the 18-hole meet was to break 400. Pennybaker’s performance impressed coach Mike Lewis and helped the team score look significantly better. “She played outstanding today,” Lewis said. “She’s a hardworking girl, and she’s somebody who has the talent to keep getting better.” Sophomore Abigail Schmidtberger, who shot a 98, was the only other Lion below 100. Last week, in an 18-hole tournament, Pennybaker shot a 99. She said recently she has had trouble putting,
and Thursday’s breakthrough came from the ability to sink a couple of 20-foot putts. Lewis said the team as a whole performed up to expectations, but Pennybaker’s score was the only thing that surprised him. “I knew she had it in her,” Lewis said, “but I wasn’t quite expecting her to go into the low 90s like that.” Some girls on other teams reached the low 80s, and one, Jordan Chael from Saint Thomas Aquinas, shot a tournament-best 70. After the match, Lewis assessed what his team needs to do better. The girls already know, as
some of them admitted they didn’t do their best. Senior Payton Covert couldn’t capitalize on the tournament being at home and, unlike Pennybaker, she struggled on the greens. “I went in thinking I was going to do good,” she said. “This was my home course.” After the tournament, Covert said she didn’t know if that expectation stressed her out or if it was something else. But she wanted to do better than her 105. “It was just a hard day,” she said. Free State finished 15th in the tournament, led by Madison Bramley, who shot a 102.
BRIEFLY LHS tennis loses dual to Manhattan The Lawrence High School girls tennis team lost a dual against Manhattan High, 8-1, Thursday at the Lawrence Tennis Center. The Lions were led by No. 3 singles player Abby Gillam, who defeated Manhattan’s Anne Hodges, 8-5. LHS coach Chris Marshall praised Gillam’s aggressiveness in her match. Gillam was the only LHS player to win a match in singles or doubles play, but Marshall said he was proud of the progress the team made since its meet on Monday. “We played a lot of good points, and a lot of those games went to deuce, so overall, I’m pleased. Even though it doesn’t look like we played that well, we did,” Marshall said. LHS will play at Shawnee Mission East in the Sunflower League meet on Tuesday at Harmon Park.
but beat Olathe Northwest, 25-15, 21-25, 25-16. SM East beat O-Northwest, 26-24, 12-25, 25-22.
Lawrence volleyball defeats SMN, SMNW Lawrence High’s volleyball team defeated Shawnee Mission North 25-18, 25-17 and SM Northwest 25-15, 25-19 on Thursday at the Lions’ gym. Krista Costa had 14 kills and six blocks, Monica Howard 11 kills and 16 digs, Kailey Wingert seven kills and 11 digs and Brea May 32 assists for LHS, 7-5 overall and 4-1 in the Sunflower League. “It was our home opener. The girls played very focused,” LHS coach Stephanie Magnuson said. “We had a great fan base there. Everybody contributed. It was a good night.” LHS will compete Thursday at Free State.
Lions soccer falls FSHS volleyball to SM East, 1-0 splits matches at tri Shawnee Mission East deFree State High’s volleyball team split a pair of matches at a triangular Thursday at FSHS. The Firebirds lost to Shawnee Mission East, 28-26, 25-15,
feated Lawrence High soccer, 1-0 Thursday at LHS. The Lions are 2-4-1 on the season and will play next on Tuesday at Olathe East.
LAWRENCE HIGH’S ABBY GILLAM RETURNS the ball in doubles match play Thursday against Manhattan. Gillam was the only LHS player to win a match in the dual.
LHS
ing junior quarterback Brad Strauss’ ability to carry the team by throwing the ball. But for the past two games, the Lions have failed to establish the type of balanced offense they have wanted. Ideally, Wedd said, the team wants to get senior running back Charles Jackson 100 yards rushing. It’s not about the quantity of rushes, but the quality. LHS wants a 50-50 split in throwing and passing, and the yards-per-carry need to increase for that to happen.
“We don’t run the ball a lot,” Wedd said, “but we have to run it better than what we’re doing.” Statistically, Leavenworth is similar to what LHS has been. The Pioneers throw in the spread offense 68 percent of the time versus 32 percent in running formation. That’s a drastic change from the first three games for the Lions, when they played teams that could get by with five passing attempts for the entire game.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B
in Leavenworth’s three games, Wedd said he has seen a talented defense that has been strong against the run. Right now, the Pioneers are second in the league in that category. On the surface, that statistic doesn’t seem like a problem for LHS, consider-
FSHS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B
last few teams we’ve played,” McFarland said. McFarland threw for four touchdowns last week but still found areas to improve on during practice this week.
“I tried to focus on hitting my targets more and being more accurate,” McFarland said. “Our line is picking up all their blocks, usually, and our receivers are staying on blocks. As quarterbacks we’re making better reads now,” McFarland said. The Firebirds kick off at 7 tonight at Free State High School.
Kevin Anderson/Journal-World Photo
Sunflower League Standings
Olathe N Olathe S SM East Olathe NW Free State Olathe East Lawrence SM NW SM West SM North SM South Leavenworth
W 3 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 0 0
L 0 0 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3
PF PA Lge Ovl 122 42 3-0 3-0 115 42 3-0 3-0 97 45 2-1 2-1 108 84 2-1 2-1 63 68 2-1 2-1 70 76 2-1 2-1 77 66 1-2 1-2 57 86 1-2 1-2 71 114 1-2 1-2 40 109 1-2 1-2 90 100 0-3 0-3 32 100 0-3 0-3
Dist 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0
The defensive approach will have to be different and it is an opportunity to get sacks, Vinoverski said. Since the Lions run the same type of offense, the defense will basically be playing against what it regularly sees from the practice squad. “Thank goodness during two-a-days and the early season our defense defended us,” Wedd said about the spread offense. “That’s what we are.”
Today’s games Free State v. SM Northwest Leavenworth v. Lawrence SM South v. Olathe North Olathe Northwest v. Olathe East SM North v. SM West Saturday’s game SM East v. Olathe South Last Friday’s games Olathe North 48, SM West 21 Free State 26, SM South 21 Olathe East 21, Lawrence 20 Olathe South 37, Leavenworth 6 SM Northwest 23, Olathe Northwest 20 SM East 42, SM North 7
The Georgia Tech game notwithstanding, Kansas University’s football team has not panicked regarding its defensive approach during the bye week. “It’s pretty much been the same thing we always emphasize,” said cornerback Dexter McDonald. “Run to the ball, aggressive play, when ball carriers are stood up you want to strip the ball out, finishing through the play, all that stuff.” All that stuff without drastic position changes, scheme overhauls and the ever-popular sky-is-falling attitude that sometimes can accompany losses like the one the Jayhawks suffered at Georgia Tech. There’s good reason for Kansas to stick to its guns regarding its defense and it has as much to do with the present as it does the future. For starters, the Jayhawks are just three games into their time with Vic Shealy as the defensive coordinator. In addition, they’re just three Shealy games into their time as a 3-4 defense. After spending most of the offseason transitioning in both areas, many believe it would be foolish to scrap it now in some sort of overreaction to one game. After Wednesday’s practice, Shealy, who was noticeably upset by the performance of KU’s defense last weekend in Atlanta, went into great detail about what the team has done to improve defensively during its week off. “In the last 48 hours, we have done a lot of self-scouting,” Shealy said. “You put up all the different cut-ups from the different packages and coverages and you look at what you are doing well and what you are doing poor. Then you have to ask, in the things you are doing well, if it was a physical attribute that caused it or was it a scheme advantage. On the other hand, you have to look at areas where we are not playing well and you have to (ask) is it a younger guy who is not executing technique-wise and can they get better, or are you asking something from someone that they physically cannot do. You have to make the decision on where you go from there.” Overall, Shealy said the Jayhawks’ youth had played a big role in allowing 132 points and 1,650 yards through three games. He made sure to point out that he was not tagging the Jayhawks’ underclassmen as an excuses, just as an answer to the many questions that have kept him up all hours of the night. “Some of what we have to correct involves our lessexperienced players taking what they’re doing well on the practice field and transferring it to the game field,” Shealy said. “We are practicing better in some areas than we are playing or performing.” While a good chunk of KU’s self-analysis this week has taken place in film rooms and team meetings, the Jayhawks have not been encouraged to kick back and take it easy. Players dealing with injuries were given time to heal. But the rest worked as hard as any other week. “For it to be the off week, we’ve definitely been banging,” McDonald said. “Our coaches are after us, making sure we’re physical.” Added safety Keeston Terry: “We’re basically just focusing on what our defense is all about. We’re still trying to focus on getting off the field on third downs and getting some turnovers to help our offense.” As for Shealy, he feels the pressure to get this thing turned. Most of that, he said, had come from inside his own head. He added that KU
“
We have to adjust. The game is about adjustments. But our compass is set on (the) direction that goes forward, and we just have to make sure that our sails are set with more precision.” — Kansas defensive coordinator Vic Shealy coach Turner Gill had been nothing but supportive. “We’ve talked in detail about what we need to do to get better,” Shealy said. “He makes it clear and I understand the accountability that I have without him even having to say it. I understand exactly what we have to do to get better. He has conveyed exactly what he expects.” Shealy said he believes the team has responded to this week’s message and he expects the Jayhawks’ young talent to improve each week. “We have to adjust,” Shealy said. “The game is about adjustments. But our compass is set on (the) direction that goes forward and we just have to make sure that our sails are set with more precision. With that comes increasing some accountability for some players to get better now, and having a little more sense of urgency in some areas we need to improve.”
Offense ahead of schedule While the defense has done some work to try to figure out how to improve, the offense has focused its efforts during the bye week on continuing to cruise. Through three games, Kansas (2-1) has scored 111 points and racked up 1,343 yards, good for nearly 450 yards per game. That’s not even the most impressive part. Offensive coordinator Chuck Long on Wednesday marveled at how well his unit protected the ball during the first three games of the season. “I think to a certain degree, we may be exceeding expectations,” Long said. “If you look at our last game, we had six-to-eight freshmen or sophomores handling the ball. To have all those guys handle the ball and only have one turnover in three games, that’s exceptional. That’s the best part.” The KU offense currently ranks first in the Big 12 in red-zone offense, converting 11 touchdowns and two field goals in its 13 trips inside the 20 thus far. The Jayhawks also rank second in rushing offense (235 yards per game) and third in pass efficiency, with a team pass rating of 181.6. “I think we’ve done a good job as a staff to make sure we package things for those guys and not give them the whole playbook,” Long said. “But they’ve done a great job of staying eager and wanting to play and getting in there and playing well.” Bye week not bad With their next game not until Oct. 1, the Jayhawks will practice just three times this week and will take the weekend off before getting back to work on Sunday in preparation for their Big 12 opener against Texas Tech. With a big chunk of the bye week spent on self-evaluation, the Jayhawks said Wednesday that the down time had helped. “I think it is a good situation for us to have the bye week after coming off a huge loss like that,” Terry said. “We definitely didn’t show up, but getting this week will help us get our minds back together.” McDonald, who enjoyed extended time on the field at cornerback against GT because of an injury to Isiah Barfield, said the memory of the loss and the fact that they have to wait to do something about it has fueled the team’s fire. “In the bye week, you get a chance to get your legs fresh, watch some extra film and that definitely makes you hungry,” he said.