LS North is football king in its town after dominating Lee’s Summit

Lee’s Summit North’s trip on Friday night to rival Lee’s Summit was all business.

The Broncos came to Bud Hertzog Stadium looking for a win.

There was no prolonged celebration after LS North put the finishing touches on a 42-0 victory, running clock demolition of Lee’s Summit.

Nope. The Broncos went through the postgame handshake line, took a hard left toward the buses and presumably did their celebrating on the 3-mile ride back to their campus.

LS North is now the undisputed champion in town after also having knocked off previously undefeated Lee’s Summit West in convincing fashion last week. The new kids in town are starting to fight back.

“It’s a good feeling. Those two programs traditionally are better than us,” LS North coach Jamar Mozee said. “We’re trying to change things where I’m at. It’s our fourth year. We tell them about our history and the other school’s history. We’re trying to change that. One year doesn’t fix it, but it’s a building thing.”

The Broncos (5-2) set the tone with their methodical opening drive. It was old-school smash-mouth football in a spread formation.

The 12-play, 75-yard march took more than half of the first quarter to complete. The Broncos didn’t throw the ball because they didn’t have to. In fact, LS North rarely bothered to run outside the tackles.

Senior quarterback Christian Carter capped it off with a 2-yard dive. After that, it was all Broncos.

“Our basic plays that we usually run were working, so we were like, ‘We might as well just keep running it down the field,’” Carter said. “And they couldn’t stop us. Then the defense got the stop for us, and we kept doing the same stuff. We wanted to show our will against their defense and show that we could push it no matter what.”

The defense did its part by forcing three turnovers, which the offense turned into 21 points. Lee’s Summit (4-3) got no closer to scoring than the LS North 28-yard line.

“As long as we have each other’s back, we’ll be good. We know our offensive guys would do some stuff. We knew Christian Carter would get it done,” senior linebacker Dubem Okonkwo said with a smile to his teammate. “And we knew we’d get it done as a defense.”

Four different Broncos scored on the ground, led by 80 yards and two touchdowns from Ontario Russell. Carter even added a touchdown pass to cap off a two-play, 72-yard drive in the final minute of the second quarter.

“It feels good,“ Carter said. “It shows all of our hard work has been paying off, and we’re the best team to come through Lee’s Summit North.”

Friday marked LS North’s second straight victory over the Tigers, a streak that was preceded by a nine-year losing streak to Lee’s Summit.

The Broncos’ season was in danger of derailing two short weeks ago. LS North lost its second straight game of the season, against Liberty, with its two crosstown rivals looming on the horizon.

“When we lost to Liberty, we met with the defense Monday afternoon after school and I really challenged those guys,” Mozee said. “We were giving up things that we shouldn’t, and I didn’t feel like we were playing up to our capabilities. That’s all I ask. Play 100 percent, be assignment-sound, and fly around. They’re starting to buy in.”

Friday’s performance was a clear indication of that.

“I thought last week (was our best performance). This week was even better,” Mozee said. “They’re starting to like it, to like doing things right.”

It’s hard to argue with the results.

This story was originally published October 5, 2018 at 10:11 PM.