SM Northwest knocks off Olathe South to move on to state semis

Source: The Star

Keith Myers | The Kansas City Star

Shawnee Mission Northwest’s David Fancher (right) and Brenson Fisch celebrated after clinching a trip to the Kansas 6A semifinals.

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Shawnee Mission Northwest’s boys soccer team moved within two Jon Kankam backflips of the Kansas 6A state title Tuesday night.

A boisterous student body essentially turned the Olathe District Activity Center into a home venue for the Cougars, who withstood a furious Olathe South onslaught in the closing minutes to knock off the defending state champion Falcons 2-1 in 6A quarterfinal action.

The victory sends SM Northwest, 12-7, on to the 6A state tournament beginning Friday at the Blue Valley District Activities Complex.

“We came through so much adversity to get to this point, so it means so much,” said Kankam, who punctuates every Cougars’ victory with a post-game backflip. “It took us a while to learn to play as a team, but it’s definitely paying off.”

SM Northwest started the season 4-6 and lost twice to Olathe South, but has now won eight of nine games and heads to state on a roll.

“At the beginning of the year, we were a bunch of individuals who wanted to try to do everything on our own, but as the season progressed we figured out we’d have to work as a team to get where we are right now,” Kankam said.

Despite playing without three ill starters, Nate Opperman, Cameron Hundelt and Kyle Vassar, the Falcons didn’t make it easy.

SM Northwest grabbed the early lead when Kankam converted an Olathe South miscue in its own box into the game’s first goal at the 12-minute mark.

The Falcons answered two minutes later when senior Trey Bristow beat Shawn Miles, sliding the game-tying goal barely wide of the Cougars’ goalkeeper.

But after senior Sam McCrillis booted SM Northwest back into the lead during the 65th minute, it was Miles — and the crossbar — who made sure the lead would stick.

Olathe South had two corner kicks and three golden scoring chances in the final 90 seconds, but the crossbar saved a header by freshman Ryan Hill and Miles punched away the Falcons’ final chance to with 25 ticks left.

“It was very frantic,” Miles said. “The best I can describe it is nerve-racking, extremely nerve-racking. I was so nervous. I was shaking there at the end, but our defense came up big.”

And Kankam got to do his backflip.

“To win the 6A title, you’re going to have to play tough teams,” SM Northwest coach Todd Boren said. “We’re certainly going through a tough draw, but we just have to keep playing our style, keep playing good defense and keep on rolling hopefully.”

•FREE STATE WINS: Lawrence Free State also punched a ticket to the Kansas 6A semifinals. The Firebirds, 15-4, broke a tie against Blue Valley West, 13-6, with a goal in the opening minutes of the second half and held on for a 2-1 win.

submitted by TOD PALMER - 2009-11-03 23:23:02