Mill Valley trounces Derby in showdown of defending state champs: high school football

Friday night’s high school football game at Mill Valley was supposed to be a real showdown.

Week one of the 2020 season: Kansas Class 5A state champion versus Class 6A state champion.

Instead it was a 45-14 blowout for the Class 5A champion Mill Valley Jaguars over 6A champ Derby.

“It’s week one — you never know what to expect,” Mill Valley coach Joel Applebee said. “I knew we had a good team; I knew we had great seniors who lead us and do a great job with everything, whether it’s on the field, off the field with everything that’s going on right now with the protocol that we follow.

“I’m just so proud of our seniors leading us and I’m proud of all these kids. They all invested a lot of time and they deserve this win.”

Quarterback Cooper Marsh was a star right off the bat for Mill Valley (1-0). The senior enjoyed a career night: three rushing touchdowns and a passing TD, too, for 192 total yards.

“I thought it was going to be a tough battle, and I thought it was going to come down to whoever secured the ball better,” said Marsh, who scores all three of his rushing TDs before halftime.

Each time Mill Valley scored, all of the floodlights in the stadium flashed off and on simultaneously for a couple of seconds. They were constant strobe lights Friday as the Jaguars made stop after stop and scored TD after TD..

The first came just under six minutes in. Winning the toss and deferring kickoff, Mill Valley forced a quick three-and-out — the first of five for Derby.

The Jaguars then embarked on a three-and-a-half-minute drive. On a third-and-10 at the Jags’ 36, Marsh connected with wide receiver Kendrick Jones for a 28-yard gain.

Jones became a favorite target for the quarterback, piling up six catches for 107 yards.

“Kendrick has been one of my main targets in practice this last week. and he ran clean routes tonight and got open,” Marsh said. “We knew we could get the out-routes and short game, considering their corners were playing off ... and that’s really what we do.”

Running back Quin Wittenauer took the reins of the drive from there. His opening touchdown was the first of two for Wittenauer, who finished with 102 yards rushing on 20 carries.

“He did an outstanding job, too,” Applebee said. “He ran the ball hard, had some nice cuts, held onto the ball. He just did a great job.”

Mill Valley didn’t waste any time in extending its lead, forcing Derby into a second three-and-out. Marsh linked up with Jones, then scored on a 25-yard keeper to make it 14-0.

Derby offered a semblance of fight on its next drive as sophomore running back Dylan Edwards pulled in a screen pass from QB Lem Walsh and ran for an 85-yard TD. Edwards finished with 33 yards on 11 carries.

Before halftime arrived, Marsh ran for two more touchdowns and found senior wide receiver Jacob Hartman in the end zone. The Jags led 35-7 at intermission.

Wittenauer scored in the third quarter, pushing it 42-7, and a running clock was instituted for the final period. Derby’s final TD came courtesy of Walsh, capping a 10-minute drive to close out the game.

This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 10:25 PM.