Liberty settles on name for new high school

The second Liberty High School opens in the fall of 2010.
And what do you think it will be named?
It will be Liberty North, joining Lee’s Summit North, Blue Valley (Kan.) North, Olathe (Kan.) North and Shawnee Mission (Kan.) North as other high schools in the metropolitan area with the same name.
And some people refer to Blue Springs as Blue Springs North. And don’t forget there’s also North Kansas City and Shawnee Mission, Olathe and Blue Valley Northwest.
No nickname or colors have been decided for Liberty North, which was selected from six names by the Liberty board of education. Others were Liberty Freedom, Liberty Hills, Northern Hills, Liberty Highlands and Liberty Northwest.
• Rockhurst is ranked No. 11 nationally and No. 2 in the Midwest by USA Today in its preseason high school football listings.
The Hawklets tackle perhaps their most demanding schedule. After playing at Blue Springs South Sunday in a nationally televised game on ESPN, the Hawklets will host the Kansas state class 6A champion Hutchinson, which has won 28 in a row, on Sept. 5.
Rockhurst will host Blue Springs on Sept. 12, play at Denver (Colo.) Mullen on Sept. 19 and will host Minnetonka (Minn.) on Oct.10. Perennial powers Jefferson City and Columbia Hickman also on the schedule.
No other Kansas or Missouri team is ranked by USA Today.
• Sean Ransburg was the most gifted quarterback to ever come out of Harrisonville High School. Last year he passed for 2,556 yards and 29 touchdowns and rushed for 1,677 and 29 more TDs in leading the Wildcats to the state Class 4 title.
He was the first player to commit to Kansas from the class of 2008. But he has not been given the nod to play by the NCAA clearinghouse. KU coaches, though, are hopeful he can join the program in January
• East, or the former Van Horn, will play three football games in 12 days – at Rock Port on Sept. 4, at Kansas City (Kan.) Sumner Sept. 8 and play host to Tulsa (Okla.) Cascia Hall on Sept. 12.
The odd scheduling came about when it was discovered  the Rock Port and Sumner games were scheduled for the same day. East coach Greg Smith agreed to play the three games in 12 days so the contracts could be honored.
So East, with its game against Rock Port, will be the final metropolitan team to open the season. At least Smith will find out what to expect from Rock Port because it meets St. Mary’s at Kaw Field in Sugar Creek Friday night.
East will play a tough 10-game schedule that also includes Springfield Kickapoo and Glendale. But the Bears, because of the lateness of deciding if the Van Horn students would be kept together at another school, will not be able to play in a district for two years.