At Lawrence High School, Josh Lawrence tried to work the word “rapscallion” into every article he wrote for the school paper.

He should like this one.

Lawrence’s team, The Rapscallions, outlasted 17 other teams to take the intramural 4-on-4 flag football championship Saturday evening with a 39-26 victory over Beta Black.

Beta Black, consisting of members of Beta Theta Pi, never made the game close.

The action started at 11 a.m. Saturday. By 6 p.m., only four teams remained. Beta Black knocked off J.R.’s Bail Bondsmen 41-20, then the Rapscallions crushed Extreme 41-18 to punch their ticket to the title game.

With a thunderstorm looming, the teams hurried into the championship game.

Beta Black won the coin toss, and chose to play with the wind in the second half.

With the wind and the ball, the Rapscallions wasted no time going to work.

Facing a third and final down on their opening drive, quarterback James Lawrence threw a pass to Jamie Huston, Lawrence freshman, for the touchdown.

“Our receivers are so good that I just threw it to them and they caught it,” Lawrence, Lawrence freshman, said.

Huston turned around and contributed defensively. With pressure being applied to the quarterback, Huston intercepted a wild pass.

The next drive was more of the same for the Rapscallions. This time the touchdown pass went to Jacob Rahmeier, Lawrence freshman.

The teams took different defensive strategies.

The Rapscallions played man-to-man with the three receivers while the fourth man blitzed the quarterback. Beta Black kept all four defenders back in a zone.

“Our first game, the team decided to blitz us and we just got by them and got the first down every time,” quarterback James Lawrence said.

As halftime approached, the teams provided more theatrics. Beta Black took the ball with 20 seconds remaining. Quarterback Chris Hermreck, Ottawa junior, scrambled to the sideline, where he saw Rhodes Kelley, St. Louis freshman, open.

Kelley towed the sideline while making the catch, which brought the team within seven points of the lead.

Six seconds later, however, Huston responded with his second touchdown catch of the game, also on a pass that went the length of the field.

Coming out of halftime, James Lawrence intercepted the ball after the quarterback was forced to throw while scrambling. The Rapscallions’ next touchdown put the team up 33-13 with just minutes remaining in the game.

The next three possessions resulted in touchdowns as well, and the Rapscallions ran out the clock in style, using a play with three laterals to elude tacklers.

Josh Lawrence has a different idea for next year’s tournament.

“If this were tackle football, we still would have dominated,” he said.

Winning the championship next year would also be yet another occasion to see “rapscallion” in the paper.

4-on-4 flag football championship

Beta Black:

Chris Hermreck, Ottawa junior

Rhodes Kelley, St. Louis freshman

Jeff Larkin, Garden City junior

Trevor Blattner, Cape Girardeau, Mo., junior

Matt Ferguson, Leawood junior

Rapscallions:

Jamie Huston, Lawrence freshman

Josh Lawrence, Lawrence freshman

James Lawrence, Lawrence freshman

Andy Stiles, Lawrence freshman

Jacob Rahmeier, Lawrence freshman