Blue Valley defeats Blue Valley West 42-21

Friday October 30, 2009 7:00 PM
Team (Record)	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Total
Blue Valley West (3 - 6)	7	0	7	7	21
Blue Valley (4 - 6)	6	15	7	14	42

Blue Valley entered Class 6A District 3 play with a 1-5 record, but the Tigers have advanced to the state playoffs after winning two of their three district games.

On Friday, the Tigers spotted archrival Blue Valley West a 7-0 lead in the first quarter but then scored the next 28 points and won 42-21.

“Our opponents in the first six games made us a better team,” said Tigers coach Steve Rampy, whose team improved to 3-6. “No one played a better schedule. That made us better.”

Going into Friday’s game at Blue Valley, the Tigers had lost to unbeaten Manhattan, once-beaten St. Thomas Aquinas and BV Northwest, and twice-beaten Bishop Miege. Their lone district loss was 49-35 to unbeaten Olathe North.

Senior quarterback Anthony Abenoja completed 17 of 24 passes Friday for 196 yards and four touchdowns.

Three of the touchdown passes went to junior wide receiver P.J. DeBey, who had six catches for 60 yards. Senior running back Brandon Meyers rushed for 78 yards in 15 carrries and had a 2-yard run for the Tigers’ first touchdown. Early in the season, Meyers had been the third-string running back.

“The other two guys were not running hard,” Rampy said. “He came in and gave us a big lift.”

The Tigers’ first possession was not a success. Abenoja’s third-down pass was intercepted by the Jaguars’ Matt McKinnis. He returned the pass 18 yards to the Blue Valley 27. Senior quarterback Connor Embree connected with junior receiver Zach Epps on a 15-yard touchdown pass on the fourth play.

The Tigers came right back on a 10-play, 86-yard drive capped by Meyers’ 2-yard run with 5 minutes and 13 seconds left in the first quarter. The extra-point snap was mishandled.

Blue Valley scored on its next drive, going 69 yards in 10 plays. The touchdown came on a 10-yard Abenoja-to-DeBey pass on the first play of the second quarter. The two then combined on a two-point conversion, making it 14-7 just 5 seconds into the second quarter.

The Tigers made it 21-7 at half. The touchdown came on a 17-yard pass from Abenoja to junior Jacob McDermott with 1:50 left until halftime.

Blue Valley senior Ben Wilmes intercepted an Embree pass at the BV West 15, setting up the fourth touchdown. Abenoja hit DeBey on a 2-yard TD pass. Sophomore Austin Johnson’s extra-point kick made it 28-7 with 3:34 left in the third quarter.

Blue Valley made it to the 6A state semifinals last year before losing to Lawrence Free State.

submitted by CHARLES REDFIELD - 2009-10-30 23:22:02

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