OVERLAND PARK, KS - The Blue Valley Northwest Huskies rode junior running back Miles Alexander to a 37-26 victory over the rival Blue Valley Southwest Timberwolves in an Eastern Kansas matchup Friday night. Alexander went off on the Timberwolves, running for over 300 yards and three touchdowns.
“We ran a lot,” Alexander said. “I’m really tired. It was a good game, a tough game. It was really close until we were able to pull away.”
At the conclusion of the first quarter, things were not looking good for the Huskies (4-2, 4-2 Eastern Kansas). With 5:41 left in the quarter, senior quarterback Drake Herman danced into the end zone from the four-yard line for the first touchdown of the night. BVNW was unable to retaliate, and Herman scored again on the Timberwolves next drive with 9:36 left in the half as BVSW(3-3, 2-3) took a 13-0 lead.
“The highlight of the night was getting out 13-0 in the first half of the game,” BVSW head coach Bill Lowe said. “That was the biggest thing to get out ahead like that.”
However, the Huskies pulled themselves together on the next drive when Alexander ran on eight consecutive plays for 85 yards, and into the end zone with 6:19 to go in the half, shortening the Timberwolves lead to 13-7.
“[Alexander] ran all night long,” said BVNW coach Mike Zegunis. “His offensive linemen did a great job opening up holes for him … He’s a special running back. He does a good job and we are really happy for him.”
Moments later, senior Jordan Carroll picked off a pass from Herman intended for senior running back Johnny Dunlap, shifting the momentum in favor of the Huskies. They capitalized on the turnover when Alexander wove between diving defenders to score yet again with 2:14 left in the half. This gave BVNW its first lead of the night, 14-13.
The officials used their yellow flags in the second half as penalty after penalty plagued the Huskies. From personal fouls to holding calls, BVNW was unable to catch a break. According to Zegunis, it was embarrassing to get penalized as much as they did. The team has been trying to work on this problem since the beginning of the season, but there were too many mistakes made that were in BVNW’s control.
“We let them know that we are disappointed in them, and that they are the ones that have to clean it up or they will get taken out of the game,” Zegunis said. “I hate to do that because the guys are out there doing their best, but they have to exercise a little bit of self control. Hopefully they realize that this is something that really hurts our team and those penalties are going to matter once we get into the post season. Hopefully it’s something we can fix.”
However, despite the multiple setbacks from penalties, BVNW was able to put quarterback Jacob Rominger in position to punch it in from two yards out. This gave BVNW some breathing room, pushing the lead to 21-13.
“BVSW is a very good team,” Rominger said. “But tonight we were the better team. I’m very happy … the running backs were running the ball, the O-lines were blocking, and the receivers played awesome. The defense stepped up and stopped [BVSW] on necessary plays.”
On the Timberwolves' next drive, multiple runs by Dunlap brought BVSW into the red zone. However, the promising drive stalled at the end of the quarter when Herman fumbled the ball and Carroll recovered it at the 39-yard line.
“We need to tackle better, float the ball more, and finish our drives,” Dunlap said. “We just need to take care of the ball better and do a better job on the offensive line.”
The Huskies first drive of the fourth quarter featured a 10-yard pass from Rominger to senior Jaquwan Stone and four separate runs by Alexander that ended in his third and final touchdown of the night.
“I just want to do anything I can to help the team win,” Alexander said. “If that means I have to run the ball a lot, then I’m happy to do that. The offensive line did great and opened up a lot of holes for me … We could really do anything we wanted.”
The euphoric atmosphere on BVNW’s side of the stadium quickly faded away to sobering awe as Dunlap ran the kickoff return back 72 yards into the end zone, shortening the Huskies' lead to 28-20. Zegunis said, in hindsight it was not wise to kick the ball to Dunlap, as he is a very good player.
“It was a good ball on the kick off return,” Dunlap said. “I just had to run it, it was easy for me … I’d definitely say our offense was good. Even though we couldn’t finish the drives sometimes, we threw the ball down the field. We’re a quick team and we got to the ball good.”
With a lead or tie just within their grasp, the Timberwolves forced the Huskies to punt on their next drive, and got the ball at their own 1-yard line. When the ball was snapped however, BVNW senior Vince Fritz barreled toward Herman and sacked him inside the end zone for a safety to go up 30-20. Moment’s later, junior running back Kerriem Wilson pranced across the goal line for BVNW’s final touchdown of the night to go up 37-20 with 2:30 to go in the game.
BVSW, far from ready to give in, worked its way down the field in one minute and finished the drive with a Luke Wilmes rushing touchdown. In desperation, the Timberwolves attempted a two-point conversion but the Husky defense held fast and prevented any further scoring. BVNW walked away with the victory to increase its winning streak to three games.
“I thought our effort was good,” Lowe said. “Our kids played hard and never quit, never gave up. We got out manned up front. They were a bit bigger and stronger than us, which wore us down. But our kids played hard and I’m proud of them for that.”
While the Huskies got off to a bad start, they came back and executed well.
“Anytime you win an EKL game you’re really happy because those are tough games,” Zegunis said. “BVSW is a good football team. I’m happy we won, and there were some great performances. The kids did really, really well.”
