Derby rides wild end of first half to threepeat as Kansas football champs in Olathe

There were shades of 2017 in the early stages of Saturday’s Kansas Class 6A state championship high school football game.

Once again, it was the Derby Panthers and Blue Valley North Mustangs fighting for supremacy ... and once again, the game started out as a track meet — each team scored on its first three drives.

Blue Valley won that 2017 game 49-42. But this time, thanks to a wild 150 seconds to wind down the first half, the story was all Panther green. With the score to that point knotted at 21-all, Derby scored three ultra-quick touchdowns en route to a 56-31 victory at the College Boulevard Activity Center in Olathe.

“Blue Valley North was doing a great job of keeping up with us throughout the whole game,” Derby quarterback Lem Wash said, “and we knew they were getting the ball second half, so we had to go out with a bang if we wanted to stay in this game.”

The championship is Derby’s seventh in school history and third in a row. The Panthers beat Blue Valley North in 2018 and Olathe North in 2019. Derby also claimed 6A state titles in 1994, 2013, 2015 and 2016.

“We beat a really good Blue Valley North team,” Derby coach Brandon Clark said. “They have a lot of talent — they’re really well-coached.

“Our kids won this game Monday through Friday. We’ve had an extraordinary week of practice. Our kids were focused. We had a lot of fun, but at the same time they were focused on the outcome of this game.”

For much of the first half, it looked like the win might go to whoever made a crucial stop and had the ball last. That’s how North defeated Derby in 2017, taking home the state title in the final moments of the game on a quarterback sneak.

The Mustangs finally made the first stop of the game on the seventh overall drive. Possessing the ball second and with the score tied at 21, it was the first chance for Blue Valley North to take the lead.

But if anything, the stop was what it took for the Panthers to kick into the next gear ... and instead put into motion one of the most stunning periods of play that Derby has seen all season. The Panthers responded with a stop of their own, taking over on the Blue Valley 44-yard line. That was followed by the first of several huge connections between seniors Wash and wide receiver Reid Liston.

Wash connected with Liston on the first play of the drive on a post route to take the ball all the way to the end zone — and retake the lead for the Panthers with 2:29 remaining in the first half.

A little over a minute later, Wash connected with Liston on a floater to the back of the end zone to take a two-score lead with a minute left to intermission.

“He’s been my guy since freshman year — we’ve been connecting,” Wash said. “So for us to do it on the biggest stage is only right.”

If that wasn’t enough, an interception by safety Cason Lindsey of BV North quarterback Henry Martin in the final minute of the half set up Derby’s most exciting play of the game.

It started with a typical pitch from Wash to running back Dylan Edwards — the Panthers had been burning the right side of North’s defense on the ground all half. But a surprise reverse into the hands of Liston left the wide receiver with plenty of space on the left side of the offense.

“(Clark) called in the huddle and I was like, ‘No way ... we’re actually running this play,’” Liston said.

All it took from there was a pitch and catch to wide-open receiver Drake Thatcher to punch in the touchdown with seven seconds left in the half. Liston recorded three receiving touchdowns in the game.

“We’ve been preparing for that,” Clark said. “A lot of those plays that we ran in the second quarter we’ve been holding into the playbook and we knew we’d use it when we needed to use it.”

Wash and Liston connected again just minutes into the second half as Wash racked up a championship-worthy stat line: seven total touchdowns, four through the air and three rushing, for 330 total yards of offense.

Wash, who was wanted by college teams as a running back but opted to commit to Tennessee Tech as a quarterback, showed exactly why schools liked him as a fullback at the next level.

“I’d say that was my best game by far,” Wash said. “I don’t even know how to describe it, bro, just the feeling I’m having right now is crazy.”

Despite the loss, the Mustangs still have plenty to look forward to in 2021. Team leaders Martin and wide receiver Mekhi Miller will return for their senior years. On Saturday, that pair connected on 10 occasions for 157 yards of Martin’s 441 total. A 30-yard connection between the pair set up Blue Valley’s final touchdown with a little over a minute left in the game.

“They fought to the end,” BV North coach Andy Sims said. “That loss wasn’t because they didn’t want it enough or anything like that. We just didn’t put the boys in the position to win this week.

“It’s tough because we don’t have a next week and things like that, but as a coach, I just didn’t do a good enough job of having them ready.”

This story was originally published November 28, 2020 at 5:03 PM.