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Under the direction of Air Force commit Ty Black, Shawnee Mission Northwest’s high-flying offense has been tough for opposing teams to slow down the past two seasons. Black tossed two first-half touchdown passes to Duke Henke and Jack Meylan, and that was plenty for the Cougars to claim a 36-6 victory over Shawnee Mission East on Saturday at the College Boulevard Activity Center.

The SM Northwest defense had a dominant performance to make life easy for Black and the offense. The lone Lancers’ score came on a short field, so SM Northwest coach Bo Black was delighted to see the defense come so close to pitching a shut out in the season opener.

“I thought they (the defense) did an absolutely fabulous job. I went for it (on fourth down) on our own 25-yard line and it was just a terrible, terrible call,” Bo Black said. “I put them on a short field, so I’m the one that cost us six points in my opinion. They played great all day.”

The Lancers were rolling on their opening drive, but it stalled in the red zone, forcing a 26-yard field goal attempt. The kick was blocked by Phillip Vesta to keep the Lancers off the board. Vesta later added a sack to help highlight five consecutive three-and-out stands by the SM Northwest defense to close out the half.

The Lancers got off to another hot start with their first possession of the second half. SM East capitalized on the Cougars’ turnover on downs with a 9-yard touchdown pass from Price Terrill to Preston Reynolds. The senior wideout paced the Lancers with seven catches for 57 yards.

“I think he’s a big-play threat and he creates mismatches,” SM East coach Justin Hoover said of Reynolds. “What we’ve got to do is spread it around and take some pressure off of him and find a way to get him into some one-on-ones.”

It was all Cougars after, though, as Ty Black led SM Northwest down the field for a quick answer. The SM Northwest senior quarterback connected on a 25-yard pass to Justin Mitchell and a 25-yard dime to Blake Reeder to set up a touchdown run by Mitchell.

Mitchell served as a swiss army knife of sorts for the SM Northwest offense with his ability to run after the catch and contribute to the Cougars ground game. Mitchell tied Reeder with a team-high 80 receiving yards and added touchdown runs of 7 and 16 yards.

“I feel like versatility is the best weapon,” Mitchell said.

Malik O’Atis added a third rushing touchdown in the second half for SM Northwest when he found pay dirt on a 35-yard run. The SM Northwest defense putting the icing on the cake with a safety midway through the fourth quarter, tackling Terrill in the end zone after a mishandled snap.

“We need more practice. Coming in this quick to get ready this quick with as many new starters as we have, we knew we would have some struggles,” Hoover said. “We just need to take advantage of some big plays and when we’ve got the opportunity, we’ve got to punch it in.”

The Cougars will look to move to 2-0 when they take on Shawnee Mission North at 7 p.m. Friday at Shawnee Mission North. The Lancers will try to bounce back against Olathe South at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Shawnee Mission South.