Class 6A football championship: Derby vs. Blue Valley

Class 6A

BLUE VALLEY (10-2)

Top players: WR Taylor Debey, sr.; QB Colton McCumber, sr.; RB William Evans, jr.; LB Jake Watkins, sr.; LB Michael Maffry, jr.; DE Jeff Gurley, sr.

Key stats: Maffry has a team-high 155 tackles, while Watkins has 116. McCumber has 1,437 passing yards. Evans and McCumber have more than 980 rushing yards apiece.

Championships: 1991, 1998, 2003, 2006, 2010, 2013 (all in 5A)

Tigers coach Eric Driskell

What has gotten you here: “I really think that adversity brought us together as a team, refocused us just about what it takes to be successful. We’ve grown as a team immensely since those losses in the middle of the year.”

What will it take to win: “Derby’s a great football team, well coached, so it’s going to take a great effort.… We’ve been pretty balanced offensively, running and throwing the ball, spreading it out a little bit. Defensively, kids play extremely hard and try to fly around and get a lot of people to the football.”

DERBY (11-1)

Top players: QB Brady Rust, sr.; OL Trevor Hudson, sr.; WR Kenyon Tabor, jr.; DL Peerlus Walker, sr.; LB Dan Conner, sr.; LB Tommy Carter, jr.

Key stats: Rust has 1,563 passing yards and 1,809 rushing yards. Tabor has 634 receiving yards, while Kai Lemons has 500.

Championships: 1994, 2013

Panthers coach Brandon Clark

What has gotten you here: “Team ball and being unselfish. We’ve had some guys move roles, change positions to do things that aren’t as glamorous because they’re team players and they want to win.”

What will it take to win: “We’ll have to play physical. Blue Valley’s a very physical team. We’ll have to fly around on defense and play physical on offense. We have to attack more. More technique and leverage will allow us to be physical. We’ve got to work on the little things.”

Joanna Chadwick’s pick: Derby

This story was originally published November 25, 2015 at 12:16 PM with the headline "Class 6A football championship: Derby vs. Blue Valley."