Photo Credit: Justin Flor/PrepsKC 
The Shawnee Mission East football team had a chance to match its win total from the 2023 campaign on Friday against Olathe North, and the Lancers knew it wouldn’t be easy. It became an even taller task after losing fullback Nate Phillips to injury in the second quarter, but the upstart Lancers prevailed for a 39-34 victory over the Eagles.
“It feels great. It was a competitive game with a lot of scoring, and then we kind of slowed down in the second half,” SM East coach Mark Simoneau said. “We lost our fullback, which was tough. He’s a great player, but our guys responded. We played complementary football and took care of our job when we needed to.”
Shortly after his team won its third straight game to improve to 3-1, Simoneau told the Lancers to continue trying to improve day by day as they prepare to take on another flexbone squad next week in defending 6A state champion Gardner-Edgerton. The Lancers are very much looking forward to the opportunity—both to embrace the challenge to get better each day and to take on the defending state champs.
“We haven’t been 3-1 in a long time,” SM East junior quarterback Jack Reeves said. “We’ve put in so much hard work and it’s paying off.”
Reeves had the Lancers offense firing on all cylinders for the first two-and-a-half quarters. The SM East junior accounted for four touchdowns—three on the ground and one through the air. However, it was Phillips and the offensive line the was doing much of the heavy lifting for the first quarter and change. Phillips rushed 127 yards on seven carries, including touchdown runs of 50 and 51 yards.
Phillips departed with the Lancers leading 20-14, but Reeves was able to finish off the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run to keep momentum swinging in SM East’s favor. Reeves’s other touchdown runs went for 13 and 55 yards. He connected with Chris Beikmann for a 21-yard touchdown pass to push the SM East lead to 33-14 with 46 seconds left in the first half.
“Chris has been a clutch player,” Reeves said. “He’s made a bunch of big-time catches and a bunch of big-time touchdowns. He’s a great part of our offense.”
The Eagles (1-3) didn’t pack it in for the rest of the half, though. Quarterback Jamo Sarver missed most of the first half after getting banged up following a late hit on the first play of Olathe North’s second drive. Sarver showed off his wheels on the play he got hurt on—running for 47 yards. The Olathe North quarterback re-entered the game right after Biekmann’s touchdown catch and gave the Eagles a quick answer before halftime. After back-to-back passes of 16 and 13 yards to Cole Smither, Sarver hit Jeremiah Rhoades for a 40-yard touchdown pass with 19 seconds to go in the half.
Two of Sarver’s three touchdown passes went to Rhoades, who also corralled a 13-yard touchdown reception with 49 seconds remaining to pull the Eagles within five. The Eagles couldn’t convert the two-point conversion or the ensuing onside kick attempt, though, and the Lancers ran out the clock.
“We’re young. We’re figuring things out,” Olathe North coach Chris McCartney said. “We’ve got a lot of guys that are inexperienced that play for us. It takes us a little bit to get things figured out. It’s been that way all year. Hopefully we’re playing for the end of the season and not right now. That’s kind of what we’re looking forward to see what happens at the end.”
Sarver’s other touchdown pass went to Sam Simmons, who caught five balls for 80 yards. Smither led the Olathe North receiving corps with six balls for 82 yards. Blaise Adger paced Olathe North on the ground with nine carries for 99 yards and two touchdowns.
Aidan Armstrong, Henry Nelson and Max Youngers all contributed to help fill the void left by Phillips in the SM East backfield. Reeves led the Lancers ground game with 22 carries for 193 yards and the three scores. Biekmann hauled in three catches for 52 yards and a touchdown to account for all the SM East receiving yards.
The Lancers will hit the road again when they play Gardner-Edgerton at 7 p.m. Friday. The Eagles will try to get back in the win column with a road tilt against Mill Valley at 7 p.m. Friday.
