Turnover lifts Olathe North to victory over Blue Valley

For most of the night Blue Valley was able to match Olathe North blow for blow.

That is until a fatal fourth-quarter fumble ended their shot at a Kansas Class 6A sectional championship.

The Tigers trailed by seven points and were driving at the Eagles’ 21-yard line when Josh Moore jumped on the loose ball. Olathe North would end up scoring once more for a 27-14 victory on Friday night at the Olathe District Activity Center.

“It’s what good teams do that have athletes,” Olathe North coach Gene Wier said. “I told our kids all week that we were going to get our plays. We just had to hang in there and be patient. Our kids have trouble with that, to be honest.”

Both teams struggled through a frigid and scoreless first quarter that featured punts on the first five drives before Olathe North got on the board in the second.

The Eagles used a few explosive pass plays from Cole Murphy to Venus Triplett, Josh Moore and Mark Keeling to drive 79 yards in eight plays, and then Triplett ran it in from the 15.

That long, patient drive was almost as quickly canceled out when Blue Valley’s Gannon Cornley fielded the ensuing kickoff at the 8-yard line and raced all the way to the opposite end zone. The Tigers missed the extra point and took that deficit into the half.

Olathe North came out of the break to score on another long drive that started on their own 14-yard line and ended with a 16-yard run by Marcel Spears.

Again, the Tigers answered with a 10-yard touchdown run from Colton McCumber. He then tied the score with a two-point conversion pass to Trenton Schroeder.

The Eagles responded with the night’s second explosive play when Murphy connected with Triplett for an 83-yard pass on the first play from scrimmage.

That’s when Moore and the defense finally came up with an answer and stopped the Tigers with 2:38 on the clock.

“We caught them slipping a couple times and broke them down a little bit,” Moore said.

Murphy added a 10-yard pass to Isaiah Simmons to seal the victory.

Blue Valley, which won the Class 5A championship last season, finished with a 9-2 record as Olathe North improved to 11-0.

Olathe North’s victory sets up a state semifinals rematch against the Sunflower League’s other undefeated team, Shawnee Mission East. The Lancers, who won the matchup 37-27 last season, shut out Shawnee Mission West 41-0 to advance.

“I’m not so sure they’re not the best team in the world,” Wier said. “Nobody has even come close. We just hope we can hang in there and give them a battle.”

This story was originally published November 14, 2014 at 10:35 PM with the headline "Turnover lifts Olathe North to victory over Blue Valley."