The winds of change are swirling around the MidAmerica Nazarene University football team. Long known as an explosive offensive bunch, the Pioneers are likely to hang their hat on defense this season, a remarkable change for a squad that has been ranked in the top 10 nationally in total offense four consecutive seasons. Updated: Aug. 31, 2010 7:15 PM |Full Story

There are no more Ottawas or Baldwins on the Gardner Edgerton football schedule. The rivalry with Spring Hill, if it could be considered a rivalry given the Trailblazers’ domination, is finished, and the season no long opens with a sure-fire victory against De Soto. Updated: Aug. 31, 2010 7:15 PM |Full Story

ONW GIRLS TENNIS NETS WIN Olathe Northwest opened its girls’ tennis season last Thursday with a 9-3 victory over KCChristian. Updated: Aug. 31, 2010 7:15 PM |Full Story

PELGER IMPRESSIVE IN KSU DEBUT Kaitlynn Pelger, a Kansas State freshman volleyball player, matched the second most block assists in a three-game match when she recorded 10 in a loss at fifth-ranked Hawaii last week. Updated: Aug. 31, 2010 7:15 PM |Full Story

Olathe East and Olathe Northwest will meet in the semifinals of the 29th Annual Olathe Soccer Invitational after notching opening-round wins Tuesday night at the College Boulevard Activity Center.

Olathe Northwest opened its girls tennis season Thursday with a 9-3 win against Kansas City Christian.

Reigning Kansas 6A state champion Olathe North was picked as the favorite in the Sunflower League again in a preseason poll of the league’s football coaches.

Olathe North’s practice jerseys tout last season’s Kansas 6A state championship along with the seven other 6A crowns the Eagles have won since 1996, but that’s about the only trace of last season’s title on the new turf practice field. “We’ve turned the page on last year,” North coach Pete Flood said. “We celebrated it for the rest of December, right up to our banquet, but then the younger guys had to start thinking about next year already.” Updated: Aug. 27, 2010 11:44 PM |Full Story

One week after Free State shredded Olathe East in the opening round Kansas 6A playoffs most of the juniors from that Hawks squad met at Trent Kuhl’s house.

Every new program has milestones it wants to check off. Finishing above .500, making the playoffs and notching a postseason victory are among the first goals for any squad. Olathe Northwest has been competing in the varsity football ranks since 2004, but only has accomplished one of those markers. Updated: Aug. 27, 2010 11:45 PM |Full Story

Jeff Gourley’s first two seasons at Olathe South produced only seven wins, which is not the kind of football to which the Falcons have become accustomed. In fairness, that first season was a transition year, which is always tough, and South only 13 seniors on last year’s 4-5 squad. Updated: Aug. 27, 2010 6:41 PM |Full Story

Shortly after he was hired as Gardner Edgerton’s next football coach five years ago, Marvin Diener took a trip to the middle school and met with the eighth-grade football team there. “In that meeting, he told us once we came to the high school we would win state,” Trailblazers senior Kyle Pacheco said. “He said it will be done and that we’d establish a great tradition here.” Updated: Aug. 27, 2010 6:41 PM |Full Story

Newcomer Gardner Edgerton was installed as the favorite to win the East Kansas League in a poll of head football coaches. The Trailblazers, who went 12-1 last year and reached the Kansas 5A state title game as members of the Frontier League, received three first-place votes and edged reigning EKL champion St. Thomas Aquinas for the top spot. Updated: Aug. 27, 2010 6:41 PM |Full Story

The opening salvo of the Anthony Orrick era brought only three wins for the Spring Hill football team, but it also laid the groundwork for better days. Those better days, the Broncos hope anyway, start now. Updated: Aug. 27, 2010 6:36 PM |Full Story

The city’s most dominant volleyball player in history, Kaitlynn Pelger, has moved on to Kansas State University, but that doesn’t mean her alma mater, Olathe South, won’t be a factor in the Sunflower League this season. “Brett and I think we can (get back to state), but we’ve got a lot of work to do because we are young in the middle and outside positions,” Falcons coach Ken Talcott said, referring to his son and assistant coach, Brett Talcott. Updated: Aug. 24, 2010 5:20 PM |Full Story