The Mill Valley football team defeated the Olathe South Falcons 77-21 Friday, Sept. 29. After a hard loss to Gardner Edgerton last week, the Jaguars bounced back with the landslide win.
The Olathe South Falcons struck first and scored on the first drive of the game. Mill Valley fought back as senior Tristan Baker scored a touchdown with 8 minutes still left in the first quarter, tying the game at 7-7.
It was back and forth throughout the first quarter with touchdowns by Baker and junior Clayton Sondgeroth on a kickoff return, putting the scoreboard at 21-14, but the defense couldn’t hold off South’s explosive offense and they tied the game 21-21 at the end of the first quarter.
According to senior defensive back Jackson Lawler, South’s offense is a formidable opponent for the Jaguar defense.
“[Olathe South has] an athletic quarterback who can scramble out of the pocket and make some good throws and #1 is really fast so he’s hard to guard, but we did a good job,” Lawler said.
In the second quarter, Jaguar defense made significant improvement with three turnovers, two fumble returns and an interception, resulting in a lead of 49-21 at halftime.
Senior running back Jaden Scobee remarks on the improvement in the second quarter.
“We just kept fighting,” Scobee said. “We had a couple turnovers go our way and then [we] just ran with it.”
The fight paid off as the Jaguars finished out the game with a record-breaking final score of 77-21. Junior wide receiver Andy Watts comments on how the team made the win possible in training.
“We had concentration and were locked in all of practice,” Watts said. “We did hard work, we put in effort and made a lot of plays.”
After a full week of practice and two days off of school, Lawler reflects on how the team adjusted their practice in preparation for Friday’s game.
“We just prepared more this week,” Lawler said. “We got into film and really worked on being more physical. [During the game] we locked into our keys and weren’t worried about doing someone else’s job. We just outworked them.”
