Williams has lofty expectations for Lady Braves swim team

Angelique McNaughton, Special to the Chieftain

March 26, 2014

After a successful season last year as Kaw Valley co-champions, Bonner Springs High girls swimming coach Preston Williams has high expectations for his team.

With 15 on his squad this season, including returning varsity swimmers Robyn Lewis and Madison Stumbough, the second-year coach said he is encouraged with what he has seen since practice started March 3.

“They are working hard and I think they are doing well so far,” he said.

The Lady Braves lost four swimmers last season, but have a heavy freshman presence with swimmers that have experience in both the pool and with Williams.

He lauded freshman Brenna Holt and Alayna Dooley as strong breast strokers who will most likely contribute well to the relay teams.

“I want to get those relays to state again, and I want to see them improve,” Williams said. “And those girls can help.”

The Lady Braves qualified all three relays for state last season, as well as four individual events.

Lewis is the Lady Braves’ top returning state placer, after breaking two school records in the 200- and 500-yard freestyle as a freshman. She was also on the two freestyle relays, 200 yard and 400 yard, that broke school records, as well.

“Going to state was such a big thing for me as a freshman and I knew going into sophomore year that it was going to be crazy because everyone is going to have high expectations of me,” Lewis said. “That puts pressure on me but that also motivates me.”

Despite an injury prone off-season, Lewis said physically, she feels 100 percent but isn’t exactly where she would like to be mentally.

“That brought me down mentally and I just need to get my mindset back and have faith in myself,” she said. “I think after our first meet I need to put myself out there to just race and see where I’m at.”

Williams said he has named Stumbough, who was on three relays last year, as a team captain. The other captain will be chosen his week.

Considering her previous season, Williams said is looking forward to see how she will fare.

“She was real close to making it to state last year and I really want to get her to state in an individual event this year,” he said. “She swims pretty much anything and she’ll definitely be on all of our freestyle relays.”

Returning juniors Morgan Lawrence and Amber Lies will be competing for spots on relays, along with Australian exchange student Danielle Hasking.

“Freestyle is her strength and she is an experienced swimmer who will definitely be contributing on our relays,” Williams said of Hasking.

The Lady Braves have one senior — first year swimmer Sasha Bingaman — who could also be competing for a spot on a relay.

In anticipation of the squad’s first meet April 3 at the Hummer Sports Complex in Topeka, the Lady Braves will be running time trials all this week.

“Our first meet is actually huge,” he said. I’m excited about that and I’m just really excited in general because I think we should have a good season. Our numbers are growing and I’m ready to see where the season takes us.”

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.”

Jaguars cruise past Turner, set up big week with KVL title implications

By Angelique McNaughton

February 10, 2013

At the end of the first quarter, it looked like it could go either way during the Mill Valley boys basketball game at Turner on Friday.

Two players for the Jaguars got into foul trouble and the Golden Bears capitalized off of every of turnover, taking the lead 16-15 at the end of the first quarter.

But an explosive third quarter and 18-point lead down the stretch allowed the Jaguars (14-2, 9-1 in the Kaw Valley League) to cruise to a 67-55 victory over the Golden Bears.

“It was a good game for us because Turner has some size and that created some problems,“ Mill Valley coach Justin Bogart said. “They forced us to play different.”

Nathan Stacy and Pat Muldoon had two fouls apiece early in the first quarter, forcing Bogart to make some adjustments to his game plan.

“Turner did a nice job of taking it inside against us,” Bogart said. “It forced us to play a with a small line up.”

The Jaguars managed to end the first half with a seven-point cushion, 30-23, while shooting 70 percent from the field (12 of 17) despite 13 turnovers.

After struggling to find their footing, the Jaguars opened the third quarter with a 17-5 run after creating nine turnovers from nine steals within the first five minutes.

Bogart switched his defense to a zone, which his team hasn’t played since November, and then his team converted defensive opportunities into points to maintain a double-digit lead for the rest of the game.

Four players scored in double figures during the meeting and Logan Koch contributed 10 assists, four steals and six points.

Muldoon led the Jaguars with 14 points and Stacy and Wyatt Voorhes each scored 13 points, while Brett Hamilton scored 11.

“When we don’t turn the ball over, we’re working very effectively on offense and that’s a big part of how we were able to overcome that early adversity,” Bogart said.

The Jaguars play host to Bonner Springs on Tuesday, who is coming off of a close win against Basehor-Linwood High School on Friday.

“When we last played them (BSHS) it was tough but emotionally our guys are ready,” Bogart said. “The next game is the most important game and our guys will be ready to play.”

After Tuesday, a showdown with Lansing, tied for first in the KVL with Mill Valley, looms at home on Friday.