ShawneeDispatch.com

If before the game, someone would have told the Shawnee Mission North's defensive football coaches they would hold Shawnee Mission Northwest running back Alex Reed to 43 rushing yards for the game, Indians' coaches would have been ecstatic.

Unfortunately for North, Northwest exhibited a multifaceted attack in a 33-0 win on Friday.

"The score says everything," North coach Ryan Majors said. "They (Northwest) were pretty dominant. They had their shots early and took advantage of it."

Northwest (4-0) dominated the Indians (0-4) from the outset on defense, through the air and on the ground.

"We have some skill position guys," SMNW coach Aaron Barnett said. "I think that's one of the strengths of our game, but nothing's going to work good unless our line plays well."

Senior wide receiver and return man Josh Douglas set the tone for the Cougars, by taking a slip screen pass 38 yards for the game's first score.

The drive finished a nine-play, 77-yard drive that featured Alex Carder completing four-of-four passes for all 77 yards.

The drive included a slot route completion to Douglas for 15 yards and a Carder pass over a North blitz into the waiting arms of senior tight end Bryce Murray for 19 yards.

Carder and Douglas finished the scoring drive when the quarterback found his receiver cutting right to left under the pass rush. Douglas caught the short pass and then took the ball down the left sideline for the game's first score. Douglas followed up his score with an extra point to give the Cougars a 7-0 lead.

A couple minutes later, Douglas returned a North punt 40 yards for another score to set the tone for a Northwest victory. North gained one yard on its first possession and punted from deep inside its own territory. Douglas received the ball at the North 40, cruised left to right, faked a reverse to junior Mark Fancher, benefited from a devastating crack back block from Murray, and then weaved through traffic for his second touchdown of the game.

The Cougar defense held tight the rest of the half. On offense, Northwest dealt with penalties and missed opportunities. On the next possession, the Cougars lost a fumble after a first-down gaining reception. Following that, 25 yards in penalties killed the next drive and, on the Cougars last possession of the half, a 16-play, 52-yard drive ended when a 31-yard field goal attempt was unsuccessful.

A lengthy halftime delay because of lightning-fronted rainstorm gave both teams a chance to mull over second half adjustments or motivation, and it was the Cougars who came out ready to seal the victory.

On North's first possession of the half, Northwest senior nose guard Joey Zdeb led the Cougars to another three-and-out shutdown of the Indians. The Cougars marched 57 yards on 11 plays behind Reed and junior tailback Bryce Atagi. Atagi capped off the scoring drive with a four-yard TD run on a counter play to increase the edge to 21-0.

Another three-and-out gave the Cougars excellent field position at the North 36 late in the third quarter. On Northwest's next play Carder found junior wide receiver Schuyler Jackson deep in the right corner for a 35-yard completion down to the North one. From there Atagi went over on the right side for the touchdown, increasing the lead to 27-0.

The Cougars stopped the Indians on three downs for the sixth time in seven North possessions and earned the ball back at their own 21. Northwest then embarked on a 10-play, 79-yard scoring drive that ended the third quarter and began the fourth. Senior tailback Elliot Kovach provided the fuel for the drive with three carries of more than 12 yards each. Carder punctuated the possession with a two-yard rollout sweep carry for the score and the Cougars had their final margin of the night, 33-0.

In all, the Cougar defense held North to six three-and-outs and kept the Indians' sophomore quarterback Arthur Rucker to only two completions in 15 attempts.

On offense, Carder completed 9 of 12 passes for 150 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. Douglas hauled in four passes for 75 yards and a score, while Kovach led all Cougar rushers with 73 yards on 11 carries.

After the game, Barnett praised all three phases of his squad's game but also noted that Cougar turnovers would be a key focus for the team as they get ready for a tough stretch of play that begins with Olathe South next Friday.

"It was an overall team effort," Barnett said. "We had a special teams touchdown, the defense did a good job, the offense did a good job. We're still turning the ball over. We can't turn it over. Period. One's too many. From here on out we can't turn the ball over."

Northwest will travel to Olathe District Activities Center for a 7 p.m. kickoff on Friday against Olathe South. North will play at Olathe Northwest on Friday.

Game statistics

SM North, 0, versus SM Northwest, 33

Passing atts comps TDS INTS yards

Arthur Rucker 13 2 0 0 30

Rushing atts yards TDS

Eddie Shields 4 21 0

O.J. Shields 10 3 0

Arthur Rucker 6 -4 0

Marquise Williams 1 1 0

Receiving catches yards TDS

Eddie Shields 1 16 0

Joe Sportsman 1 14 0

Punting punts yards

Kyle Goodburn 7 175

Punt returns attempts yards

Kickoff returns

O.J. Shields 4 115

Team atts yards TDS

Rushing 23 48 0

Passing

atts completions TDS

Arthur Rucker 13 2 0

Total plays yards: 78