Buckner: Aquinas puts a stop to losing streak against Blue Valley

Friday September 21, 2007 7:00 PM
Team (Record)	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Total
Blue Valley (4 - 5)	3	0	0	0	3
St. Thomas Aquinas (8 - 5)	7	10	6	0	23

“I feel like we’ve got as good as shot as ever to take on the defending state champions and get a win,” senior center Trey Byrd said before the game. “I feel like we’ve got one of the better teams we’ve had here in a long time.”

Blue Valley, the defending Class 5A state champion but at its most vulnerable these days, had taken down Aquinas in two straight seasons for four losses. Heartbreaking, but nothing stung as bad as those substate losses.

So when Blue Valley began the year with just one returning starter and entered Friday’s showdown without its starting quarterback, Aquinas had to take advantage.

The Saints left little doubt about who’s the better team this time around, dominating Blue Valley in a 23-3 win on Aquinas’ home field.

“We just wanted to beat them so bad,” Aquinas junior running back Ryan Nelson said. “We wanted to kill them. We’re weren’t going to stop.”

Nelson backed up his words, setting the tone and cruising 80 yards for a touchdown on the first offensive play of the game. During the week, coach Kevin Kopecky moved Nelson, usually a defensive player, to the backfield to jump-start the running game, and he finished the night with 11 carries for 107 yards and two touchdowns.

“(The win) means more for the guys who played last year and didn’t get it done,” Kopecky said. “There’s just no feeling like victory.”

submitted by Candace Buckner - 2007-09-22 00:00:00

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