Gardner Edgerton, Aquinas, Miege to play for Kansas high school football titles

Here are highlights from several big Friday night high school football games on the Kansas side of the state line around the KC metro.

The winners of Friday evening’s sub-state games advance to next weekend’s state championship games.

Gardner Edgerton 35, Blue Valley West 24

Gardner Edgerton’s quest to run it back is now just 48 football-minutes away from becoming reality.

The host Trailblazers, defending state champs in Kansas Class 6A, overcame a halftime deficit for the second straight week to survive Blue Valley West in a Kansas Class 6A semifinal.

Blue Valley West (10-2) led 19-13 at halftime, but Gardner Edgerton scored first in the second half. Quarterback Bravin Powell lobbed a 31-yard touchdown pass to Richard VanLerberg with 6:45 to go in the third quarter.

The Jaguars looked to take the lead early in the fourth, but a potential TD was called back on a penalty. Worse for the Jags, their 30-yard field goal attempt then went awry.

Powell scored on a 68-yard keeper to make it 27-19 with 9:20 left. Blue Valley West countered with Tate Miller’s second TD of the night, but the Blazers denied a two-point conversion — QB Tate Nagy scrambled but couldn’t find an open receiver.

The dagger came with 2:02 left, as Powell broke free for a TD run of 42 yards.

Gardner Edgerton (11-1) now takes on Manhattan at 2 p.m. next Friday, Nov. 29, in Emporia. It’s the third straight trip to the championship game for the Trailblazers, who lost 21-20 to Manhattan in double overtime in 2022 and then beat Derby 22-19 in 2023.

St. Thomas Aquinas 24, St. James Academy 17

A year after winning the Kansas Class 4A crown, St. Thomas Aquinas is closing in on making it back-to-back state championships — this time in Class 5A.

The Saints overcame a 10-0 deficit against Eastern Kansas League rival St. James Academy on Friday and went on to oust the Thunder in the 5A state semifinals.

St. James, which entered the postseason at 3-5, took a 10-0 lead in the first quarter on Tyson Beashore’s 4-yard touchdown run and Jack Bevitt’s 34-yard field goal.

Then the Saints (11-0) got rolling. First, Will Callahan broke loose for a 57-yard TD run with 4:40 left. Then a defensive stop led to a 17-play drive and 32-yard field goal from Michael Doerfler. It was 10-10 halftime.

Quarterback Elzie Slaughter capped a couple of Aquinas drives with two-yard scores to give the Saints a 24-10 cushion.

St. Thomas Aquinas will next face Hays in the Kansas Class 5A state final at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 30 in Emporia.

Bishop Miege 48, Tonganoxie 13

The Stags advanced to the Kansas Class 4A state championship game with a rout of the Chieftans.

Bishop Miege (5-7) moves on to play Andover Central (11-1) for the top hardware at 1 p.m. next Saturday, Nov. 30, at Welch Stadium in Emporia.

Andover Central advanced to the state final with a 41-14 win against Buhler on Friday night.

For stats, recaps, online broadcasts and more, visit 810Varsity.com.

This story was originally published November 23, 2024 at 1:01 AM.