Week 7 games to watch in Kansas City area

There are plenty of top-10 showdowns across the state this week but perhaps none bigger than Class 6 No. 1-ranked (tie) Liberty North against Class 6 No. 4-ranked Lee’s Summit North. Without further adieu, there are some key games to watch: Liberty North at Lee’s Summit North The winner of this game will be in driver’s seat to win the Suburban Conference Gold Division title. North enters with a 4-1 record but has won four straight since losing to Bentonville, Ark., to open the season. The Eagles haven’t allowed more than two touchdowns since giving up 43 to Bentonville. The defense is led by sophomore linebacker [player_tooltip player_id="172304" first="Melvin" last="Laster"], who had one sack, two TFLs and six tackles last week against Park Hill. Defensive lineman Javon Smith is also a factor on the front line for a defense that allowed Park Hill to have 16 carries for only 22 yards. The Broncos (6-0) are coming off a 35-0 shutout over Blue Springs, where the offense rolled up 436 yards of offense. Freshman [player_tooltip player_id="177938" first="Isaiah" last="Mozee"] had a big game catching the ball with a a pair of TDs and quarterback [player_tooltip player_id="171825" first="Tre" last="Baker"] threw three touchdowns. The Broncos can do a little bit of everything though as seen in other games. If the passing game isn’t there, they can just load up [player_tooltip player_id="177944" first="Quincey" last="Baker"] and let him carry the load. That’s pretty easy to do with bookend tackles in [player_tooltip player_id="99439" first="Armand" last="Membou"] and [player_tooltip player_id="37658" first="Cayden" last="Green"], a duo that will likely both be Division I players at some point. Smithville at Raytown Another top-10 showdown, Class 4 No. 1 Smithville will play Class 5 No. 5-ranked Raytown. Smithville’s defense has allowed only 39 points all season and 12 of those points came last week against Grandview in the fourth quarter and the team leading 37-0. The defense had three standouts last week in that game, led by Dawson Strickland’s 13 tackles. [player_tooltip player_id="96260" first="Cody" last="Simoncic"] had 11 and Gabe Talley chipped in with 10. Strickland had five tackles for loss, while Talley had two. Raytown running back Zhamari Gary had 11 carries for 200 yards and four touchdowns in a 43-13 win against Belton last week. East Buchanan at Mid-Buchanan A Class 1 showdown pits No. 2 Mid-Buchanan vs. No. 5 East Buchanan and the winner likely locks up the KCI Conference title. Mid-Buchanan quarterback Rawlins Brant is 44 for 66 for 703 yards and 10 touchdowns passing, while running for 575 yards and 14 TDs. His top targets have been Blake Hunter (20/285/4) and [player_tooltip player_id="96771" first="Caiden" last="Bailey"] (17/271/3). Trevor Klein is an all-purpose weapon for East Buchanan. He has 1,122 all-purpose yards (665 yards rushing, 135 receiving, 322 return). Jack Archdekin has done a little bit of everything for the Bulldogs’ defense with 23 tackles, 3 sacks, 5 TFL and an interception. Lincoln College Prep at Maryville Lincoln College Prep enters as the No. 6-ranked team in Class 4 with a perfect 6-0 mark, which includes a big win over Cardinal Ritter. The Blue Tigers play Maryville for the fifth time since 2012. Three of those four meetings have came in the Class 3 playoffs but those teams are moving different ways with the Blue Tigers moving up a class and Maryville now in Class 2. Maryville (3-3) will get back senior fullback/linebacker [player_tooltip player_id="96262" first="Drew" last="Spire"] this week after missing the last three games with an injury. He was all-state linebacker for the Spoofhounds last year and that will be needed against the Blue Tigers. LCP has ran for 1,646 yards as a team and has a three-pronged attack. Sophomore John ’JB’ Price is the top guy with 587 yards and 12 touchdowns. Senior [player_tooltip player_id="206401" first="Jayden" last="Sudduth"] has ran for 463 and six scores, while junior [player_tooltip player_id="206399" first="Zackary" last="Shelby"] has 315 yards and 4 TDs. Park Hill South at North Kansas City Park Hill South will look to run its winning streak to 7 games when they play a 3-3 North Kansas City team that was ranked in the Class 5 polls earlier this season. NKC is coming off a tough loss last week, losing a 20-7 lead. However, Chase Porter had eight catches for 145 yards and all three touchdowns that quarterback Christopher Johnson threw. Park Hill South is dangerous when it runs the ball because three backs are as explosive as anyone. [player_tooltip player_id="103404" first="Briggs" last="Bartosh"] is lead the way with 593 yards and 4 TDs, but Lucas Oitker has 508 and five touchdowns. Darrien ’DJ’ Jones, who visited Oklahoma State last week, leads the team in touchdown runs with six, while rushing for 386 yards. Center at Odessa The Class 3 No. 1 ranked Odessa Bulldogs will get a test from 4-1 Center. Odessa hasn’t lost a regular season game since the final week of the 2017 season. That’s quite a run and the reason behind it is the running game. The Bulldogs are tough to stop and [player_tooltip player_id="96151" first="Blake" last="Heitman"] put up another monster effort last week. The Bulldogs ran for 396 yards as a team and the fullback ran for 227 on 21 carries. He scored four times in the team’s 40-0 win over previously state-ranked Warrensburg. Center is coming of a 46-6 thrashing over Harrionsville, another state-ranked team. The Yellowjackets aired it out last week with Joseph Vick completing 16 of 21 passes for 334 yards and four touchdowns. Armand Russell was the top target getting seven of those catches and finished with 159 yards and a score. Four different receivers had one touchdown.