It’s only five weeks into the high school football season and Free State football players and coaches are no longer surprised by many of the highlight plays from junior running back Jax Dineen.

Once again Thursday, Dineen worked his magic with the ball in his hands, rushing for 180 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-6 victory over Olathe South at the Olathe District Activity Center.

Dineen’s performance included a pair of touchdowns where he was hit by a defender in the backfield or line of scrimmage. At the end of the third quarter, on a 4th-and-4 play, Dineen nearly fumbled the handoff from quarterback Jordan Preston, but instead turned into a 5-foot-10, 225-pound bowling ball and ran through defenders on his way to a 14-yard touchdown.

“That was a little scary,” Dineen said of the near fumble. “But once I got a hold of it, I started getting downfield and it worked.”

Dineen helped the Firebirds erase a slow start when he broke two tackles in the backfield and sprinted down his team’s sideline for a 50-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter.

“We can count on him to make a big run when we really need it,” senior linebacker Bo Miller said of Dineen.

The Firebirds (5-0, ranked No. 1 in Class 6A) certainly hurt themselves on offense throughout the first half. There were penalties in the red zone, including an illegal formation penalty that wiped out a touchdown pass. They missed two field goals.

But in the final minute of the first half, Free State took advantage of a roughing-the-passer penalty. On the next play, senior quarterback Gage Foster, who played a few series in spell of Preston, connected with junior Keenan Garber on a 35-yard pass. Dineen eventually scored on a one-yard run.

Except instead of celebrating in the locker room, Olathe South (1-4) senior Jamison Phelps returned the ensuing kickoff for a 96-yard touchdown, cutting Free State’s lead to 14-6.

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