Bobcats thump Kaws to keep postseason hopes alive

By Angelique McNaughton

October 30, 2013

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From the start of the second half, Basehor-Linwood began a powerful running game that allowed Tim Sanders and company to go to work in a 37-16 win Friday at Perry-Lecompton.

Jahron McPherson found a hole on the first possession of the third quarter, resulting in a 12-yard carry for a Bobcat first down. The Bobcats would maintain control of the ball for the next 4:49 before McPherson scored a nine-yard touchdown, giving the Bobcats the lead for good.

Before McPherson’s 12-yard run, the Bobcats (3-5, 1-1 Class 4A District 2) spent most of the first half struggling to pick up the blitz, and picked up penalties.

“Although we made some plays on offense (in the first half), we had far too many negative plays and penalties, negating big plays for us, and we gave up three quarterback sacks,“ BLHS head coach Steve Hopkins said. “The defense gave us the ball over and over again, however, so we were able to get the two scores.”

After McPherson’s touchdown, the Bobcat defense forced a quick punt and Sanders drove his squad down the field, setting up McPherson for a 39-yard run that was called back for an illegal hit.

The Bobcats later widened their lead to 29-0 and weren’t seriously threatened by the Kaws (3-5, 0-2) again for the rest of the game. Hopkins said he chose not to pass in the second half because he felt like the Bobcats “had some holes to run at and that made a big difference.”

Sanders ended up throwing for 85 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions. He ran for 87 yards, second only to McPherson’s 172 yards, and two touchdowns. McPherson rushed for more than half of the Bobcats 293 yards on 22 carries.

“McPherson had a great game for us, and he was about an inch away from going all the way,” Hopkins said.

The Kaws gained 200 yards on the ground, but the Bobcat defense teed off on quarterback Mitchell Bond, forcing four fumbles and an interception.

“I really thought our defense played well in controlling the line of scrimmage,“ Hopkins said. “(Defensive lineman) Nick Chaney was our second leading tackler from his position, which is unusual as linebackers nearly always lead in tackles.

“In fact, Cory McCleary, our middle linebacker, had the most tackles largely because our defensive line did a good job at times of keeping their offensive line off of the linebackers.”

McCleary led the team with 12 total tackles and played on every special teams play, while Chaney made eight tackles, including one for a loss, while effectively shutting down the gaps.

The Bobcats will travel Thursday to Tonganoxie (7-1, 2-0) in the hopes of stopping the Chieftains defense and making a playoff appearance.

“We have to start better in picking up blitzes as Tongie plays defense really well, and when they do blitz, it can be a problem,“ Hopkins said. “They are a veteran team which makes few mistakes. We need to avoid negative plays on offense such as penalties and drive the ball effectively, much like we did in the second half last week.

“It will be a great game Thursday with much at stake, which is what you hope for when you enter district, so we hope to play well,” Hopkins said.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Beatty Field. The Bobcats can win the district outright with a win and a Jeff West loss at Perry-Lecompton. All possible district outcomes are available here.

Jaguars earn No. 1 seed in playoffs after undefeated regular season

Angelique McNaughton

November 4, 2013

Lansing — Logan Koch ran for 281 yards and six touchdowns in a little more than a half to lead Mill Valley to a 68-8 victory over Lansing on Friday.

After the quarterback’s first touchdown since returning from an injury-delayed season, his game was back. Koch didn’t display any signs of weariness having missed the last five games, running for 194 yards and four touchdowns in the first quarter.

Nick Wilson rushed for 132 yards and a touchdown, and Dylan Cole also ran one in for the Jaguars (9-0) to take the lead 47-8 at the end of the first half.

Koch played one series in the third quarter before letting Cole and Drew McGee take the helm and add another three touchdowns before completely shutting out the Lions (4-5) the entire second half.

“We didn’t give up any points the second half and they did a great job of doing what they were supposed to do,” MVHS head coach Joel Applebee said. “We wanted to shut them out the second half and we did.”

As was the story for most of the season, the Jaguars’ defense held the Lions to just 54 yards on the ground and less than 200 yards all game. Christian Jegen led the team with three tackles, and TJ Philips and Tyler Garrison each added two. Henry Midyett added an interception and a fumble recovery to the effort.

“That (the defense) was a big part of it,” Applebee said.

The Jaguars’ 544 yards were the most the team has rushed for all season. Isaiah Young had seven carries for 66 yards and one touchdown, and Cole had 4 carries for 63 yards and one touchdown.

“Up front, we played extremely well and I can’t give enough credit to our offensive line,” Applebee said.

The Jaguars enter the playoffs as the No. 1 East seed and undefeated for the first time in school history. MVHS will host St.Thomas Aquinas (3-6) on Friday at 7 p.m.

“We always tell our kids that the best playing of football begins weeks seven, eight and nine, and I feel like we’ve done that,” Applebee said. “While we’ve still got room to work this week in practice, I feel good about this team because our kids understand that we are in the playoffs now and that it is another level of play.”

Jaguars coast to easy win over Schlagle

Angelique McNaughton

October 21, 2013

On its opening drive, Mill Valley effectively worked its way down the field and senior Nick Wilson scored a touchdown Friday night against Kansas City-Schlagle in the Jaguars’ first district match up.

It was not only the first series of the night, but it turned out that the drive would set the tempo for the remainder of the game, as once again, the Jaguar (7-0) defense dominated all night long in a 48-0 senior night victory over the Stallions (3-4).

It is the second time the undefeated Jaguars have held an opponent scoreless this season, after defeating Basehor-Linwood 38-0 last month.

“To be honest, everybody played well: Offense, defense and special teams,” MVHS head coach Joel Applebee said

The defense’s dominance allowed quarterback Ty Bruce and squad to go to work, offensively, jumping out to a 26-0 lead after the first quarter thanks to touchdowns by both Wilson and Bruce, and a 30-yard touchdown pass to Christian Jegen. Bruce threw for 86 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran for 90 yards and a touchdown.

His offense notched a few more touchdowns to end the half 41-0, while keeping the Stallions scoreless.

“It was probably the most complete half we’ve played all year,” Applebee said. “It was a really clean half and I felt comfortable where we were at.”

The second half started exactly like the first — with a quick drive resulting in a Wilson touchdown.

After that one series, Applebee pulled his starters in order to rotate in the rest of the Jaguars.

“We only scored one touchdown the second half but I felt like we played really well,” Applebee said. “It doesn’t matter what game it is, it is never easy to shut out an opponent and I thought they did a good job of staying focused.

“We got a lot of JV guys in tonight, so it was good to see,” he said.

The Jaguars forced three turnovers and the Stallions were held to just 72 yards rushing and 30 yards passing.

Senior TJ Philips had two interceptions and one sack, while fellow senior TJ Midiros had an interception and a fumble recovery.

“When our defense plays like that, it sets our offense up,” Applebee said.

Wilson had 13 carries for 67 yards and two touchdowns. Jegen scored three touchdowns and junior Zach Hanna added one. By the end of the night, the Jaguars compiled 271 yards of total offense.

“I felt comfortable looking at the fact that we hadn’t played a complete game all year,” Applebee said. “And that was our goal and it was good to see how we played.

“Obviously the first district game is always important because everyone is technically 0-0,” he added.

MVHS will travel to Washington on Friday in the hopes of going 2-0 in the league and 8-0 for the season. This time last year, the Jaguars were 6-1.

Dylan Cole returned to play Friday night but Evan Applegate and quarterback Logan Koch didn’t, though Applebee said both will likely play this week.

“Honestly, this is the healthiest we’ve been heading into the week and we’re excited because we have an opportunity to finish 8-0,” he said. “Washington is going to be talented and they are going to be disciplined — it’s what they do— and we just need to do the same thing as always which is control the ball, run the ball and play defense like we have all year.”

Weather delay doesn’t slow Bobcats vs. Turner

Angelique McNaughton

October 9, 2013

The Basehor-Linwood football team turned a two-day game into a 49-13 victory against Turner on Saturday.

Tim Sanders threw two touchdown passes to Dalton Inlow in the first quarter and Jahron McPherson had a 75-yard carry for a touchdown in the second quarter before the Golden Bears even scored.

Sanders and the Bobcats (2-3, 2-3 Kaw Valley League) picked up another touchdown to take a 28-7 halftime lead Friday night before rain and lightning forced the remainder of the game to be postponed until Saturday afternoon.

“It ended up working perfectly for us,” BLHS head coach Steve Hopkins said.

After receiving the second-half kickoff, the Bobcats opened the third quarter with a six-minute drive for a touchdown.

The Bobcat defense held the Golden Bears (1-4, 1-4) before the offense took the ball down the field again, making the score 42-7 at the end of the third quarter.

“The defense played extremely well,” Hopkins said. “And we started a lot of freshmen (Friday).”

The Bobcats are playing freshmen on their special teams and moving others into different positions while seniors Jay O’Bryan, Bret Fritz and Logan Potts remain sidelined with injuries.

“Nick Chaney has been a rock in the middle of our defense and he has been really, really consistent,” Hopkins said. “Behind him, Cory McCleary has made play after play at linebacker, while with Broc Lindsay and Boston Henry, we have not asked them to play both ways, but (we’ve) got so many injuries and they give us a big lift.

“Our front seven are really starting to come along now.”

The Golden Bears second and final touchdown came with less than a minute left in the game.

“They ended up scoring on some of our younger guys, but that is something that is going to happen,” Hopkins said.

Sanders ended the two-day game with 218 yards on 13-of-21 passing with two touchdowns. McPherson had 18 carries for 160 yards, including four rushing touchdowns and four receptions for 71 yards. Inlow had four receptions for 84 yards, including his two scores. In total, the Bobcats finished with 532 yards of offense.

Basehor-Linwood will host rival Bonner Springs (4-1, 4-1) at 7 p.m. Friday.

“Seven of nine drives were touchdowns for us this weekend and we didn’t punt until the end, so that was encouraging,” Hopkins said. “We’ve got to start with great defense (against BSHS) and when we get a turnover, we need to finish the drive in the end zone and we’ll be fine.”

The Bobcats defeated the Braves last season, 35-11.

Jaguars defense propels them to another victory, move to 6-0

Angelique McNaughton

October 13, 2013

Kansas City, Kan. — For the second week in a row, Mill Valley’s defense was the key component in helping the Jaguars maintain an undefeated record, after topping Piper 21-14 on Friday night.

Defense was the story for the Jaguars (6-0), who sit alone atop the Kaw Valley League standings. The Jaguars defense, which has allowed only 58 points all season, had one interception, sacked Tanner Eikenbary six times and held Piper (2-4) to 103 yards rushing.

“Defensively, we are continuing to play really well,” MVHS head coach Joel Applebee said. “We did the things we needed to do, when we needed to do them.”

Following a scoreless first quarter, junior quarterback Ty Bruce put his team on the scoreboard in the second quarter when he ran one in for a touchdown before halftime. Bruce ran for 55 yards, including one touchdown, and completed 7-17 passes for 151 yards.

“He (Bruce) did a nice job of managing the game,” Applebee said of the junior, who replaced sophomore starter Logan Koch who is sidelined with an injury.

The Jaguars came out in the second half and handled the ball well from the opening drive, with senior Nick Wilson putting his team ahead 14-0 after a 17-yard run.

Things got a little rough after that, with the Jaguars’ offense committing a slew of turnovers.

“We started to turn the ball over and they took advantage of it like a good team should,” Applebee said. “Offensively, we are very young on that side of the ball and while that’s not an excuse, we just need to continue to get better.

“But fortunately, we were never behind,” he said.

It took a pickoff by sophomore Christian Jegen in the third quarter to help preserve the Jaguars’ 14-7 lead.

After holding the Pirates to three-and-out, Piper punted to the Jaguars, who had an unsuccessful drive and were forced to punt as well. Jegen’s interception followed and the 10-yard carry gave the Jaguars the momentum to widen the gap 21-7.

“Jegen had a huge game for us,” Applebee said.

The sophomore led the offense with 122 yards receiving, including a 33-yard touchdown reception.

When the Jaguars turned the ball over on their own 25, it set up the Pirates for their final touchdown of the game. From there, the Jaguars controlled the ball well, punted once and held the Pirate offense on a fourth down.

The Pirates got the ball back with 45 seconds left in the game but it was too little, too late.

“It was a back and forth game during the forth quarter and we need to better our offense,” Applebee said.

Like many teams this time of the season, the Jaguars offense is running thin and young as it battles a different kind of opponent with four starters remaining sidelined due to injuries. Applebee said three of the four players- Dylan Cole, Sebastian Peterson, and Evan Applegate- should be able to return next week, while Koch is being evaluated week by week.

MVHS will host Kansas City Schlagle at 7 p.m. Friday night for district play.

What will be key to playing well against Schlagle and remaining undefeated?

“We need to continue to play good defense and improving on offense with the young guys we have over there,” Applebee said. “Being that time of year and in district play, everyone is 0-0 and we are going to look to get that first district win next week.”

BSHS football again 3-0 entering rematch against Piper

By Angelique McNaughton

September 23, 2013, 5:09 p.m.

Updated: September 25, 2013, 2:11 p.m.

For the third straight week, the Bonner Springs High football team amassed more than 40 points, this time coming out on top at Bishop Ward, 41-13.

The Braves (3-0) scored their first touchdown in the first quarter of Friday’s conference game at Bishop-Ward (0-3) but the Cyclones took advantage of a face mask penalty and delayed hit to tie the game 7-7 before halftime.

“We wanted to make sure we didn’t overlook Bishop Ward,” BSHS coach Lucas Aslin said. “We came out, played hard and scored early and so did they.”

But the Cyclones were never able to capitalize off their early-game momentum like the Braves were.

Senior quarterback Jordan Jackson threw a couple of long-fade passes, including one to Jonah Freese — who had more than 100 receiving yards — and senior running back Trevon Mason also scored two touchdowns.

For the first two games, the Braves averaged about 470 rushing yards and Aslin said he wanted to see the ball thrown more against Bishop-Ward.

“Offensively, we wanted to have better ball security and work on our passing game,” Aslin said. “Which we did.”

Junior defensive back Roman Glenn’s interception right before the half capped a game-turning sequence that put the Braves in control.

“It’s nice to be able to take control of the game and put it away pretty early,” Aslin said.

Aslin was able to move the linebackers and defensive line around to see if they could play certain spots, while working on base defense.

Senior linebacker Devin Burke had more than 10 tackles and first-year starting defensive lineman Jacob Klingele continues to have a strong presence on the field.

“We figured we could got out there and wear them out offensively,” Aslin said.

Despite winning both games, the Braves special teams struggled in the first two games against Turner and Lansing giving up three kickoff returns for touchdowns.

“We’ve been doing a lot of prepping for our kickoff coverage and last night we did a good job,” Aslin said. “That was a main focus because we’ve given up some cheap points and we won’t win any of the next three games if we keep doing that.”

The season so far looks eerily familiar to last season when the Braves started out 3-0 but then ended up losing six in a row.

The Braves will host Piper (1-2) on Friday and then travel to Mill Valley the following week.

“Piper is going to be a huge test for us and we have got to play really well,” Aslin said. “The kids are confident and think they can play, which us as coaches want our kids to have confidence. But they have to have enough humility to know that anything can happen, especially against Piper.

“If we are willing to do that and have a good week of practice, we will be all right.”

St. James football rebounds at Bishop Ward

By Angelique McNaughton

September 17, 2013

St. James Academy’s football team relied on its defense in a redemptive performance against Bishop Ward on Friday.

The Thunder (1-1) held the Cyclones (0-2) to just 36 yards on the ground in their 50-13 victory.

“We jumped out early and our defense played great,” St. James coach Tom Radke said. “I also really liked the way our guys really focused on flying around the ball.”

After dropping the season-opener to Paola last week, the Thunder spent the past week simplifying its offense.

“All week we didn’t do much hitting and instead focused on running plays and eliminating any confusion,” Radke said.

Senior quarterback Alex King led the offense with 53 yards, completing 5 of 8 passes. King ran for 80 yards, including a 47-yard run and one touchdown.

“We executed our offense up front so well that the quarterback had so much room to do what we needed to do,” Radke said.

Senior outside linebacker Keith Winger returned an interception for a touchdown toward the end of second quarter, putting the Thunder ahead 37-7 at halftime.

“It kind of sealed the deal and at that point we knew that we were going to win the game,” Radke said of Winger’s interception.

Winger tied for a team-high six tackles, including three tackles that resulted in a loss of yards. Defensive lineman Dylan McHugh also had six tackles, with one resulting in loss yards, while junior defensive back Braxton Lewis came up with two interceptions Friday to bring his season total to three.

Six players scored a touchdown during the victory, including two from senior tailback Jake Bade. Bade had 18 carries for 155 yards, with a rushing and receiving touchdown.

Juniors Zak Hensely and Jake Lecluyse each scored one rushing touchdown, contributing to a total of 284 total rushing yards for the game.

The Thunder will travel to Baldwin (2-0) on Friday in a non-conference match up.

With Baldwin’s size and strength, Radke said the team will mainly be honing the defense this week in preparation.

“We had too many missed tackles so far and we can’t have that against Baldwin,” he said. “We didn’t dumb anything down last week, we just spent more time focusing on the fundamentals.

“If we stay focused on that and make a few more tackles, we will be good to go this week,” Radke

Miscues cost BLHS football in 12-6 loss at Piper

By Angelique McNaughton

September 14, 2013, 9:58 a.m.

Updated: September 17, 2013, 2:03 p.m.

Two mistakes.

That’s all it took to send the Piper football team to a 12-6 conference victory against Basehor-Linwood on Friday.

A missed snap in the first quarter put Piper within the 20-yard line and led to a touchdown. Another poor snap in the fourth quarter generated similar results and led to the Pirates’ second touchdown.

“We had some very poor punt snap issues,“ BLHS coach Steve Hopkins said. “We felt like our defense would match up well against them and I think that is exactly right. We just did not generate enough offense.”

With four new starters on the line, the Bobcats were struggling with basic running and blocking fundamentals.

“We did not pass protect and we had receiver breakdowns,” Hopkins said. “We basically shot ourselves in the foot many times and a lot of that was Piper.”

One of the few times the Bobcats did pass protect was in the fourth quarter when quarterback Tim Sanders threw a 17-yard pass to hit receiver Jahron McPherson for the only Bobcat touchdown of the evening.

The Bobcats (1-1) did manage 13 first downs to Piper’s nine.

At the other end, the Bobcat’s held the Pirates (1-1) to less than 100 total yards and were an explosive team against the run.

“I was really pleased with our pass defense,” Hopkins said. “We only gave up two and that was over our heads.”

Tremendous pressure on the Piper offense contributed to quarterback Tanner Eikenbary being sacked five times, three times by senior John Hopper.

Nick Chaney on the defensive line had at least four tackles for lost yards and played every position on the line.

Seniors Jay O’Bryan, Bret Fritz and Logan Potts remain sidelined with injuries, while junior defensive lineman Cody VanGosen was sidelined this week as well following an injury he sustained during the Bishop Ward game.

“We’ve lost four starters on our line in the last eight days and unfortunately we’re facing the juggernaut this coming week,” Hopkins said.

BLHS will host defending KVL champions Mill Valley on Thursday.

“It’s a short week of preparation but the kids are really looking forward to it and it’ll be good to be at home. What a great challenge,” Hopkins said. “We’ll have to play hard and work on getting better.”

St. James football falls short against Paola in season opener

By Angelique McNaughton

September 7, 2013

Too many missed opportunities in the first half of the season-opening game on Friday  contributed to St. James Academy’s football team losing to Paola, 28-14.

“We had too many turnovers in that first half,” St. James coach Tom Radke said.

The Thunder (0-1) failed to take the lead in the first two quarters and entered the second half down, 14-7.

A little momentum was established in the third quarter when quarterback Alex King completed a 35-yard pass to Keith Winger to put the Thunder within scoring position.

“We got it going a little bit in the second half but with some poor decision-making offensively and missed tackles defensively, it put us in a bad position,” Radke said.

With 10 returning seniors and 18 juniors, a significant amount of players received first-time varsity minutes Friday night but failed to mimic last year’s success.

“It was a case of 10 guys doing what they were supposed to do and one guy not,” he said. “It’s not going to work out and that’s what happened tonight — it was just so many little things but luckily, it’s the first game.

“We hope to learn from our mistakes and get better,” he added. “That’s the plan anyway.”
The next opportunity for the Thunder will be an away-game at 7 p.m., Sept. 13 against Bishop Ward High School.

“You know, we are just going to have to see how much we improve from the first game to the second game,” Radke said.

Mill Valley to travel to Lansing for district title showdown

In preparing for the district championship this week against Lansing, Mill Valley is focused and looking to build off of the momentum of Friday’s 63-40 victory against Washington.

“We’re concentrating on what we do as a team (this week),” coach Joel Applebee said. “Our goal all year long is to concentrate and improve on what we do.”

At least on paper, there didn’t appear to be much for the Jaguars (7-1) to improve upon from Friday’s senior night victory against the Wildcats (3-5). In its second district game, the Jaguars put up 42 points in just the first half.

“We played well,” Applebee said. “We jumped out early, and I was very happy.”

Senior quarterback Skyler Windmiller led the Jaguars the first half, completing 14 of 20 passes for 211 yards, including three touchdowns. Windmiller frequently targeted senior L.J. Hatch, who caught four passes for 89 yards and a touchdown.

Senior Kendall Short ran for two touchdowns to follow up his three-score performance from a week ago against Schlagle. Against Washington, Short carried nine times for 105 yards and also brought in a 38-yard reception.

The 36-point halftime cushion prompted Applebee to start rotating in his second- and third-string underclassmen.

“Our kids got some great experience,” he said. “We played a lot of freshmen fourth quarter.”

Behind freshman quarterback Logan Koch, who ran for three touchdowns and 189 rushing yards, the seemingly inexperienced players held their own against Washington’s starters.

Amassing 331 rushing yards, the Jaguars surpassed the season average of 220, effectively moving the ball downfield all night.

Senior Staton Rebeck had an 89-yard punt return in the second quarter for a touchdown, while junior linebacker T.J. Philips led the defense with seven tackles and a sack.

Senior Coleman McCann remained on the sideline Friday after an injury sustained at Tonganoxie on Sept. 21. Joining him was junior Adam Swearingen, who injured his leg against Turner. Applebee called both players’ status “week-to-week.”

Applebee said the Jaguars were pumped up after the decisive senior night performance but that they needed to take it to another level against the Lions (3-5) at 7 p.m. Friday in a game that will decide the district title.

“Lansing is going to be a challenge,” he said.

The Lions are coming off a one-point victory against Schlagle.

While the Jaguars are already guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, a district championship would ensure Mill Valley’s chance to host a game.

“We’ve clinched the playoffs, but that’s not what we are about,” he said. “We want to win the district.”