Oak Park and Lee's Summit have played 30 times since 1979, and the Northmen are currently leading the series 17-13 versus the Tigers. Though these two teams have not had a history of crossing paths until just last year after conference realignment, Lee's Summit is near the top of the most common opponents list for the Northmen. Last season, the Northmen fell short by one point to the Tigers, and with a strong list of returners on offense and some key players returning on defense, it is not a doubt that these Northmen will be in for a battle and are ready to make a name for themselves in 2021.
Both teams match up well, with a good mix of upper and underclassmen, where we will see a first year starting Quarterback on the turf with Lee's Summit's Elijah Martinez, versus Oak Parks returning Quarterback '22
Ty Clemens. Lee Summit will also be in a similar situation as Oak Park where they will be returning a couple of offensive skill positions who they are looking to make a difference during this Friday's matchup. In an interview with PrepsKC, Tigers Coach Eric Thomas eludes to the inexperience of his skill positions on the varsity level while Oak Park will lean on their 8 offensive returners and look to take advantage of this week one matchup to get the season started on the right track.
Welcome Back Lumberjack
In the previous seasons the Northmen have been a more rushing oriented team on offense, but this year It will be exciting to see how they will utilize their passing game since all of the wide receivers have returned with a year or more of varsity experience. The Northmen believe they will have success with both methods of offense due to an experienced QB/RB combo from '22
KeAndre Braxton, who saw an increased workload late in the season last year, putting up 1,042 yards with only 48 carries and '22 QB
Ty Clemens who had upwards of 1,000 yards in Oak Parks pass game last year.
Leading the way for the backfield, will be a combination of a reworked offensive line that lost 3 All-Conference players from their 2020 team. Oak Park is confident in their new faces, looking to make their varsity debut vs. Lee's Summit. '22
Ian Risner (6 '2 260lb) looks to lead the Offensive line where he's accompanied by workhorse lineman '22
Jermaine Harris, '22 Juliano Sokoli, '23
Sharo Mahdi, '23
Wyatt Rueter, '23
Logan Westling and '24
Jalen Williams.
At the WR position we see all of the wide receivers from last year returning with the addition, of '23 Marlon Gant who was a favorite target for Clemens last season. Expect to see '22
Bubba Bogart take a share of those targets along with '23
Xavier Williams and '23
Churchill Coates who will contribute to the offensive success. Week 1 is always a guessing game, and the Northmen coaching staff will most likely have several wrinkles up their sleeve for the Tigers to worry about in this contest.
Defense Wins Championships
Defense was definitely one of the strengths of the Northmen in 2020. Oak Park kept several games close a year ago. Last year, the defense finished the season with over 10 sacks and 10 turnovers.
This season the team has three returning defensive starters who will have to use their experience to motivate the younger guys to get them up to varsity speed quickly in this contest. No doubt that a Jake Danneman coached defense will be ready to go this season, and look to build on the successes of last year. Danneman is known for his creative and aggressive defense that focus on playing fast, with athletic and smart players.
The Northmen's biggest question mark on defense will be that Linebacker spot, losing two to graduation, but returner '22 Paul Hernandez is looking to fill that spot and lead the way for Oak Park Linebacker core this season. Returners '22 Jett Sutton and '22 Jermaine Harris, are to take the defense to new heights in 2021 and continue the traditional of Oak Parks defensive success.
This 2021-22 football team contains a mix of young and experienced players. If it is the right mix, as the coaching staff believes, then our Northmen are in good shape to put up the first winning season for Oak Park since 2008. Better yet, would be to continue this run of success the Northmen have maintained now under the leadership of Head Coach
Ken Clemens. This would be a great momentum builder heading into Week 2 vs Grain Valley as the Northmen open their brand new stadium on September 3rd.
One week at a time though, and next up for the Northmen are the Tigers of Lee's Summit.
It all starts on Friday, August 27th at Lee Summit High School, against Lee Summit High at 7:00pm.
