Four things to know from Derby’s thrilling shootout win over Bishop Carroll football
.JPG "Derby’s Dylan Edwards")
The battle between two of the best Kansas high school football programs lived up to its hype Friday night.
Derby and Bishop Carroll traded blows throughout the game, but in the end the Class 6A No. 1-ranked Panthers walked away with a 44-36 victory over the Class 5A No. 3-ranked Golden Eagles.
Here are four things to know from the annual battle between two of Wichita’s finest in Week 3 of the 2021 Kansas high school football season.
1. Derby’s defense comes up in the clutch
The momentum had been in Bishop Carroll’s favor the entire second half, as the Golden Eagles had rallied to score 19 straight points and trim Derby’s once-sizable lead to a one-score game in the fourth quarter.
When Derby needed to wrestle back momentum, its defense delivered not once, but twice in the closing minutes to preserve the win over Carroll.
Linebacker Roman Boden and defensive end Samuel Same each forced fumbles on sacks, as Derby recovered both to end both of Carroll’s drives that could have potentially tied the game in the final five minutes.
“Time was running down and the team needed a big play and we all made a big play together,” said Same, whose strip-sack sealed the game with under two minutes left. “I was able to hit the quarterback and he fumbled it and my teammate (Andon Carpenter) recovered it and it was over from there.”
The late-game turnovers highlighted an impressive performance from Derby’s front seven, as the Panthers recovered four fumbles and snagged two interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown by Kade Sheldon.
Derby coach Brandon Clark said the defense’s success all begins with the defensive line, which returned plenty of talent this season beginning with Carpenter and Quentin Dorsey in the middle. The emergence of sophomore Mason Hopper at end has also been a pleasant surprise for the Panthers, while Same is a 6-foot-5, 210-pound athletic end who earned a scholarship offer from Iowa State this summer.
“Those guys are the heart and soul of our defense,” Clark said. “We’ve got some big, old dudes in the middle and then we’ve got some young guys on the outside. Andon is kind of our staple in the middle and he demands double teams. He’s a snap-to-whistle guy and I love to see big guys play like that. And then Mason has a motor unlike anyone else on our team.”
Derby’s front line was a big reason why Carroll was unable to establish much of a ground game, as the Golden Eagles were only able to turn their 32 carries into 95 yards — less than 3 yards per carry.
And when Carroll was forced into obvious passing downs late in the game, that’s when Derby’s defense was most dangerous.
“They’re just so well-coached and a big, physical team,” Carroll coach Dusty Trail said. “They make it really difficult to run the ball on them. And then when they know you’re passing, those guys just take off and they have some big, strong guys who are going to get after you and it makes it tough.”
2. Carroll scores 19 straight but rally falls short
It’s not often a team falls behind by 24 points in the first half against Derby and has a chance to tie the game in the fourth quarter.
After Derby’s wave of momentum, capped by an interception return for a touchdown by Kade Sheldon, put Carroll in a 41-17 deficit, the Golden Eagles slowly but surely climbed out of the hole.
It began with a touchdown drive right before halftime, as Tate Blasi reeled in a contested 32-yard touchdown reception on third-and-long to give Carroll some momentum. On the first possession after halftime, Carroll successfully sandwiched touchdowns when Matt Holthusen weaved his way through Derby’s defense for a 51-yard touchdown catch from Chase Smarsh.
Just like that, Carroll had trimmed Derby’s lead to 41-30.
“I was so proud of our kids for the heart they showed and their togetherness,” Carroll coach Dusty Trail said. “We talk a lot about when bad things happen about maintaining our composure. To be able to do that tonight against Derby, I can’t say enough about our kids and the way they handled things from a mental and emotional perspective. They just kept battling.”
After struggling to register a stop in the first half, Carroll’s defense came up with timely turnovers and stops throughout the second half. Reed Haneberg and Ryan Pacha each came up with interceptions to end Derby drives, as Carroll’s defense held Derby to just three points and 3.8 yards per play (and 107 yards) in the second half.
Carroll scored 19 straight points, capped by a 1-yard Junior Fernandez touchdown run, to trim Derby’s lead to 41-36 with nine minutes still remaining. Derby tacked on a field goal by Scott Simmons for a 44-36 lead and Carroll would have two drives in the final five minutes where it could have potentially tied the game, but both ended in fumbles.
It was the first loss of the season for the Golden Eagles (2-1), ranked No. 3 in Class 5A, but Trail thought there was plenty to take away from a game where his team pushed the top team in the state despite giving away six turnovers on the road.
“The heart our kids showed is a big plus in our favor moving forward,” Trail said. “With heart like that, you can do a lot of things. We’re going to learn from our mistakes and I think we’re going to learn a lot about ourselves as a team from an emotional standpoint after this one. We know what we can accomplish together.”
3. Dylan Edwards looks as dynamic as ever
There’s a palpable buzz in the crowd every time Derby junior running back Dylan Edwards touches the ball, and for good reason — he can score at any time and from any spot on the field.
That big-play ability was on full display in the ranked showdown against Carroll, as Edwards made one cut and turned on the burners to score a 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the first quarter.
The very next time he touched it, Edwards once again made the defense look like it was moving in slow-motion and reeled off a 63-yard touchdown run to put Derby ahead 27-10.
“It’s that way every day in practice,” Derby coach Brandon Clark said. “The Dylan you see on Friday nights is the Dylan we see every day in practice and that’s what makes him special.”
Edwards finished the game with 204 rushing yards on 19 carries.
4. Derby is still searching for passing game
The three-time defending Class 6A champions don’t need much of a passing game.
That’s a luxury of having arguably the best offensive line in the state to go along with arguably the most dynamic player in the state in junior running back Dylan Edwards.
But coach Brandon Clark would like to see Derby improve on the passing numbers it managed against Carroll. The Panthers had just 34 yards through the air on nine attempts with two interceptions.
“We knew we could lean on them and run it up the middle,” Clark said after Derby piled up 302 rushing yards. “But one thing we need to do better is establish a passing game. Right now we don’t have much of a passing game. And I don’t just mean throwing and catching the ball. We need to be better in pass protection too.”
Derby did have one bright spot in the passing game, as senior quarterback Mercer Thatcher found his brother, senior tight end Drake Thatcher, for a four-yard touchdown on fourth down in the first half.
Derby 44, Bishop Carroll 36
Derby (2-0) 27 14 0 3 — 44
Carroll (2-1) 17 6 7 6 — 36
BC—Polley 36 field goal
D—M. Thatcher 7 run (Simmons kick)
D—M. Thatcher 2 run (run failed)
BC—M. Holthusen 41 pass from Smarsh (Polley kick)
D—Edwards 93 kickoff return (Simmons kick)
D—Edwards 63 run (Simmons kick)
BC—Blasi 5 pass from Smarsh (Polley kick)
D—D. Thatcher 4 pass from M. Thatcher (Simmons kick)
D—Sheldon 30 interception return (Simmons kick)
BC—Blasi 27 pass from Smarsh (kick failed)
BC—M. Holthusen 51 pass from Smarsh (Polley kick)
BC—Fernandez 1 run (run failed)
D—Simmons 24 field goal
Individual statistics
Rushing—Carroll, Fernandez 10-47, Smarsh 15-28, Williams 7-20; Derby, Edwards 19-204, M. Thatcher 16-68, Zerger 9-17, Hubbard 1-13.
Passing—Carroll, Smarsh 21-34-2-309; Derby, M. Thatcher 4-4-0-29, Zerger 1-5-2-5.
Receiving—Carroll, M. Holthusen 4-122, Blasi 10-90, L. Holthusen 2-32, Helton 2-30, Maul 3-20, Gray 1-15; Derby, Edwards 2-13, Brown 1-12, Keener 1-5, D. Thatcher 1-4.
This story was originally published September 18, 2021 at 2:55 PM.
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