High school football playoffs underway in Missouri & Kansas: Friday highlights

Postseason high school football continued Friday evening, Halloween night, with teams playing some hotly contested games across the Kansas City metro.

Here’s a look at a few highlights from playoff games in Missouri and Kansas around the KC area:

Mill Valley 35, Blue Valley 26

In a first-round matchup of top Kansas programs, Mill Valley turned to its ground game and advanced in the playoffs yet again.

Quarterback Blake Jay rushed for three touchdowns and Mill Valley got two more on the ground from Max Piva in a 35-26 win over Blue Valley. Mill Valley, which won five straight Class 5A state championships from 2019-23, will next face defending 5A state champion St. Thomas Aquinas.

Blue Valley (4-5) actually held a 20-14 lead late in the second quarter. From the Mill Valley 45, junior quarterback Dan Sogard hit senior tailback Hayden Ward in the flat. Ward broke two tackles at the 40, then raced down the right sideline for a touchdown with 4:52 left in the half.

Mill Valley countered with a scoring drive in the final minutes before intermission. That march started from the Jaguars’ 15-yard line and was capped by Piva’s TD run from the 5.

That gave the Jaguars a 21-20 halftime lead — a lead Mill Valley would not relinquish.

Jay scored on a 26-yard keeper in the third quarter and culminated Mill Valley’s next drive with a two-yard TD. At that point in the fourth quarter, the Jaguars led 35-20.

Blue Valley clawed within nine points, at 35-26, on Sogard’s second TD pass to junior wideout Jordan Lockett. But the Tigers couldn’t draw any closer.

Blue Valley North 49, Washington 18

Blue Valley North endured a see-saw regular season but looks primed for another run in the Kansas Class 5A state playoffs.

The Mustangs opened this year’s postseason with a resounding win at Washington. Blue Valley North, which endured a coaching change midseason as Blake Mudd took over as interim head coach a month ago, improved to 4-5 this year.

Blue Valley North opened with a touchdown, but Washington answered when senior quarterback Savion Stone corralled a high snap and barreled through Mustangs defenders to the end zone.

Washington tried an onside kick, but it was recovered by Blue Valley North at its own 46. Junior Kayden Augustus took the ensuing handoff up the middle, weaved through tacklers and raced for a 54-yard TD and a 14-6 BVN lead.

Not long after that, senior Blue Valley North quarterback Lark Anderson found sophomore receiver Jax Lemmon for a 32-yard TD. The first quarter ended 21-6.

Blue Valley North wasn’t done — and neither was the first-half scoring. Senior running back Adrik Reeves-Portsche raced 43 yards for his first TD of the season to pad the Mustangs’ lead. Washington (7-2) scored on Stone’s 36-yard pass to senior receiver Jamari Williams, but BVN hit paydirt again via Anderson’s 2-yard scoring toss to senior tight end Ziah Hill.

That made it 35-12 at halftime, and the Mustangs were well on their way to the next round — Blue Valley North will travel to Leavenworth next Friday. The scenario is somewhat reminiscent of last year, when Blue Valley North entered the playoffs with one win but then won two straight — including a second-round elimination victory at Leavenworth.

St. Pius X 59, Winnetonka 27

St. Pius X lit up the scoreboard early and often and advanced in the Missouri Class 5 state playoffs.

The Warriors raced to a 28-0 lead in the opening 12 minutes thanks to two touchdown runs by junior Cannon Cruse and a pair of TD passes from quarterback Jake Nichols (to Brock Chisam and Charlie Ross).

Winnetonka’s first points didn’t come until the 9:28 mark of the second quarter, when Ryan Blaich connected with Kingston Peterson from 28 yards out.

“This is exactly what we talked about and why we played the schedule we did,” St. Pius X coach Anthony Simone said. “Let’s be dangerous when it matters. I feel like we’ve gotten ourselves to that point.”

Following a Pius field goal, Winnetonka got its longest score of the night, a 78-yard TD pass from Blaich to Derrick Coleman.

The Griffins chipped away and trailed by 11 with about four minutes left in the third quarter, but that was as close as they’g get.

St. Pius X sophomore Kaden Locke punched in a TD just before the end of the third period to make it 38-20. Another Locke rushing score and Nichols’ TD pass to Mason Wright made it 52-20 with less than six minutes to play.

The Warriors (6-4) move on to face the defending Class 5 state champion, Platte County, next week in Platte City.

This story was originally published November 1, 2025 at 1:35 AM.