‘We needed this’: Derby makes statement as Panthers beat Carroll for 5th straight year

On the drive home from Newton last Friday night, the Derby Panthers’ group-text message thread was ablaze.

The Panthers came home winners in Week 2, but that wasn’t enough. The players were already critiquing the 12-point road win. Senior receiver Reid Liston said he knew the next game would take more.

Friday, Derby delivered more. The Panthers beat Bishop Carroll on the road 35-21. It was their fifth win in five tries against one of the best programs in all of Kansas.

“We needed this,” Liston said. “It feels great. Especially after two shaky weeks that we had, it feels good to come out here and see everything is clicking again.”

Liston scored twice in the win. He was everywhere for the Panthers.

As one of Derby’s senior leaders — one of 19 Panthers with just one regular-season loss since their freshman season — he said Friday’s win carried a ton of importance.

Leading into what has become arguably the most anticipated annual game of the Wichita high school football season against Carroll, Derby had provided more questions than answers through two weeks.

Coming into the 2020 season, Derby hadn’t lost a game, regular season or playoffs, since the 2017 state championship contest. The Panthers hadn’t lost in the regular season since Week 2 of that year to Goddard.

A loss Friday would have made Derby 1-2 for the first time since 2011.

Mill Valley, the defending Class 5A champion, blew out Derby 45-14 in the season opener. And Newton, which hasn’t had a winning season since 2009, had hung around the week before.

Coach Brandon Clark, in his 15th year at Derby, said his team needed to show some fight.

“We needed what we had in the locker room before the game,” Clark said. “We needed what we had at halftime. We needed what we had on our sideline.

“And that was passion. Now they know how to play with passion.”

This past week of practice featured heightened intensity, Liston said. Senior quarterback Lem Wash, who accounted for four touchdowns in Friday night’s win, said beating Carroll was a step in the right direction.

Derby has now beaten Carroll 183-85 through five years. And the Panthers have now arrived at what looks to be a more manageable segment of their schedule, with games against Salina South, Hutchinson and Campus — three teams Derby hasn’t lost to in the past three seasons.

“For us, this was a statement,” Wash said. “This game showed us that we are the real deal. We are the Derby Panthers. We aren’t satisfied with only winning by 12.”

This story was originally published September 18, 2020 at 11:43 PM.

Hayden Barber

The Wichita Eagle

316-269-6760

Wichita Eagle preps reporter Hayden Barber brings the area updates on all high school sports while adding those hard-to-find human-interest stories on Wichita’s student-athletes.