Week seven on the Kansas side means the first part of the season ends and the real part begins. It's where the boys are separated from the men, where teams begin to dream of hoisting a state championship while others wonder what could have been.
Two teams coming into Friday night with high hopes were Olathe South and Gardner-Edgerton. Both teams generated a buzz around the game and both had star collegiate recruits playing. Dealing with the cold temperatures Gardner-Edgerton ran past the Falcons 52-7 on the night led by Kansas commit Traevohn Wrench who finished the night with 240 yards rushing off 24 carries and six, yes six touchdowns.
"Traevohn had a big night for us but he had some help from the line," said head coach Marvin Diener.
Wrench started the fireworks early as he scored his first touchdown of the night just 55 seconds into the game. Wrench took a pitch 43-yards for the touchdown giving the Trailblazers an early 6-0 lead after a missed PAT. Six minutes later and Wrench would strike again, this time from just one yard out.
Though Wrench was torching the Falcons on offense, the Trailblazer defense was making noise of their own forcing Olathe South to go 2 of 11 on third down.
"Our defense did a great job of keeping our offense on the field and giving us great field position all night," said Diener.
After Gardner-Edgerton forced a turnover on downs Wrench would find his way to the end zone yet again in the first quarter as he sprinted past Falcon defenders 67 yards for the touchdown giving the Trailblazers a 19-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
With 11:53 left in the first half Wrench would continue his strong night with his fourth touchdown of the half coming from nine yards.
After trading punts for the next 11 minutes the Trailblazers would tack on one more touchdown in the half as Marshall Wade would bulldoze his way past South defenders on fourth down finding the end zone giving Gardner Edgerton a 33-0 lead at the half.
The second half would be much in the same as Gardner Edgerton continued to roll. Wrench would pick up right where he left off scoring touchdown number five with 9:34 left in the third quarter. Wrench took the handoff one-yard through a tough defensive line from South for the score. Wrench's final touchdown on the night would come with 3:59 left in the third giving the Trailblazers a 46-0 lead.
South would get on the board with 10:12 left in the game as Cameron White sprinted in from eight yards out preventing the shut out. Gardner Edgerton would score one more time on the night when Anthony Cisneros scored on a 16-yard touchdown run providing the final tally of 52-7.
With the win Edgerton jumps out to a 1-0 record in district play and gets a coveted 13 points on the week. Up next for the Trailblazers is a home game with Olathe North, which will likely be for a district championship. Olathe South will remain at home in what has become a do or die game for their season against Olathe Northwest as the loser will likely be eliminated from playoff contention.