By Fred Liggett
FredL@lstribune.net

The current edition of the Lee’s Summit North Broncos football team is off to a strong start to their 2018 season. A 3-0 start and a first ever victory over Blue Springs will do that.

At this same time an ex-Broncos football player is helping elevate his current team so far this season, the Missouri State Bears linebacker Tyler Lovelace helped the Bears to an easy upset over #20 ranked Northern Arizona 40-8 last week.

Lovelace’s performance earned him the Missouri Valley Football conference defensive player of the week. Lovelace, a redshirt sophomore, accounted for two Bears takeaways, a pair of solo stops and three total tackles on the day. Lovelace is the first Missouri State player to earn player of the week honors since the 2016 season.

The news of Lovelace’s performance and award made it back to his alma mater this week. To those who coached and played with him they are not surprised to hear of his current work at Missouri State. Lee’s Summit North head football coach Jamar Mozee says Lovelace “is an outstanding player, tough, smart and gets the best out of his abilities.”

Mozee only coached Lovelace in his senior year with the Broncos football program but was quick to get an idea of Lovelace’s talents. Mozee states “Lovelace was a big part of my first season at North,” “a hard working guy with a good attitude.” Mozee has a “high respect” of Lovelace the person.

Coach Mozee still has a chance to see Lovelace from time to time and is happy that two other ex-Broncos are on this year’s Bears roster. Mozee believes having them both have the chance to look up to Lovelace will only help them grow into better players. Whether you’re a current or ex-Bronco one thing is for sure Tyler Lovelace is making everyone look at his current work as a player of the week.