Maize beats Derby in another last-minute win to preserve a perfect football season
Don’t ask them to put it into words, but there is an undeniable belief on this Maize football team that it will find the way to overcome the obstacle.
Even if that obstacle is a fourth-quarter deficit to Derby, the two-time defending Class 6A champion who had won 29 straight league games, a streak dating back to 2014, entering Friday’s game.
For the second straight week, Maize rallied from behind in the fourth quarter — this time from nine points down — to preserve its undefeated season with a thrilling 36-35 victory over Derby. The Eagles improved to 7-0 this season, while defeating Derby (3-2) for the first time since 2014.
“It takes a special group of guys to come together and that’s what we have,” said Maize senior linebacker Kendall Norrod. “I’ve been playing with these guys for a while and we just knew we were going to get the job done. You look around and we know that this is our time, senior year.”
Just like last week’s 42-38 win at Maize South, Maize’s latest victory wasn’t sealed until the final minute.
Derby, trailing by one point, was marching down the field looking to set up a potential game-winning field goal and faced a 3rd-and-7 at the Maize 34-yard line with 59 seconds remaining. Derby’s Lem Wash dropped back for a pass, but Maize’s defensive line made a strong push and Caden Miranda nearly wrapped the quarterback up and linebacker Kyle Haas forced Wash into a hurried throw.
The ball floated in the air straight to Maize senior safety Scott Adams, who was occupying the flats looking to poach off for that exact type of throw. The interception sealed Maize’s second straight nail-biting victory.
“I watched (Wash) roll out and we knew we had to get a spot, so we were playing it pretty solid,” Adams said. “We got some pressure and made him throw a bad ball and I just happened to be there. The feeling was great. I’m just glad we got the win.”
To Derby coach Brandon Clark, the play, which saw Derby’s protection succumb to Maize’s pressure, encapsulated the reason for the loss.
“What it came down to was the line of scrimmage,” Clark said. “Their o-line beat our d-line and then our o-line got beat by their d-line.”
Maize faced a 35-26 deficit entering the fourth quarter after Wash connected with Drake Thatcher for a pair of third-quarter touchdown passes. The thrilling finish wouldn’t have been possible without a 41-yard field goal by Cole Segraves early in the fourth quarter to trim Derby’s lead to 35-29.
After a timely defensive stop, Maize reeled off a 10-play drive that took more than five minutes off the clock that was capped by a 1-yard touchdown run by Josh Sanders, who finished with 138 rushing yards and three touchdowns. The go-ahead score, which put Maize ahead 36-35 with 2:11 remaining, almost never happened — if not for a pass interference call on fourth down that overturned an interception on a pass thrown to Sanders.
“Once I got outside of the pocket, I just trusted Josh to make a play,” said Maize sophomore quarterback Avery Johnson, who threw for 134 yards and ran for another 75. “The (Derby defender) pushed him over, so there’s nothing you can do about that. We got the call and we knew once we got a second chance, we were going to make a play.”
Once Maize took the late lead, the Eagles knew the game would be decided by if they could manage their second straight defensive stop — something they hadn’t done all game.
The senior leaders of the defense admitted it was tense when Derby crossed midfield.
“It’s nerve-wracking, but at the same time when you’re out there on the field it’s like the nerves leave your body and you’re just focused on doing your job,” Haas said.
“Honestly, it’s like everything goes silent,” Norrod added. “You can hear everything in the world and you know that now it’s time to either step up or get stepped on.”
Thanks to some timely pressure by Haas, Maize stepped over its latest hurdle. The Eagles can complete their first undefeated regular season in more than three decades and win the AV-CTL Division 1 title next Friday at Hutchinson.
For Derby, it suffered its second regular-season loss for the first time since 2011.
“We can either get better or we can get worse and I know our kids and they’re going to want to get better from this,” Clark said. “This is different territory for us, but we can use this loss as a positive or a negative and hopefully we can get better. We only have one week to get better before the playoffs.”
| Derby (3-2) | 21 | 0 | 14 | 0 | — | 35 |
| Maize (7-0) | 12 | 7 | 7 | 10 | — | 36 |
D—Edwards 16 run (Simons kick)
M—Sanders 35 run (kick failed)
M—Stephens 27 pass from Johnson (run failed)
D—Edwards 46 run (Simons kick)
D—Edwards 2 run (Simons kick)
M—Sanders 1 run (Segraves kick)
D—D. Thatcher 7 pass from Wash (Simons kick)
M—Helm 23 pass from Johnson (Segraves kick)
D—D. Thatcher 19 pass from Wash (Simons kick)
M—Segraves 41 field goal
M—Sanders 1 run
Statistics
Rushing—Derby, Edwards 19-137, Wash 16-103, Liston 2-25; Maize, Sanders 23-139, Johnson 18-74.
Passing—Derby, Wash 9-17-2-83; Maize, Johnson 10-20-1-134.
Receiving—Derby, D. Thatcher 4-68, Liston 1-11, M. Thatcher 1-5, Edwards 3-(-1); Maize, Helm 4-54, Sanders 2-27, Stephens 1-27, Hanna 3-26.
This story was originally published October 17, 2020 at 12:23 AM.
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