Shawnee-Mill Valley and De Soto comprise USD 232. The high schools are located 14 miles apart. Mill Valley first started to play football in 2000. The teams were both in the Kaw Valley League. Mill Valley captured the first four victories in the series from ’00-03, all regular season games.
Then, the Jaguars and Wildcats didn’t face each other for the next 16 years – until a 18-7 Mill Valley win in the Class 5A quarterfinals last November.
De Soto changed from the Kaw Valley League to the Frontier League after 2002 and is currently a member of the United Kansas Conference. Mill Valley eventually played ’16-19 in the Eastern Kansas League and won three state titles in the previous five falls, including the 5A crown last season. The Jaguars are now in their first year in the Sunflower League.
Additionally, the schools generally had a school population disparity. De Soto is historically 4A, while Mill Valley is normally 5A, though bumped to 6A the last two school years in non-football sports.
De Soto coach Brian King, in his 12th season with the school and eighth as head coach, said the gap was “pretty significant.” When he started, Mill Valley had around 1,200 students, De Soto with 650-700.
The difference is smaller in the last KSHSAA student count with Mill Valley at 982 and De Soto at 758.
“It makes more sense to play them,” King said.
The teams were not originally slated to play this fall, but COVID-19 brought the schools together in a rare matchup this Friday.
Mill Valley, ranked No. 1 in 5A, will travel to De Soto, ranked fifth in 5A, for the first regular season game between the squads in 17 years. Each team had a quality Week 1 win, though De Soto standout senior safety Zach Willis is expected to miss several weeks with a knee injury.
COVID-19 cancellations yielded new schedules. The Jaguars started with the CDC, KSHSAA Johnson County health department coronavirus guidelines and then developed their own protocol.
“We kind of went a little above and beyond what they gave us,” Mill Valley coach Joel Applebee said.
Applebee and a couple coaches created an eight-page document with all the protocol the Jaguars would follow. Players kept with their cohorts as much as possible. Mill Valley made sure players wore masks when helmets weren’t on – and everywhere else they went as much as possible. Additionally, the Jags looked to keep six-foot social distance as often as could be.
“Just a few of the things that are on the eight-page document,” Applebee said. “So we went through it thoroughly with the kids, with the parents, and we talked about that ‘Hey, if we want to play, if we want to have a season, then we need to follow these protocols.’
“And we told our kids ‘you not only be leaders within our program, but you can be leaders in the school when school starts,’” he added. “Be leaders in our community and do all those types of things to where hopefully people see that as an example and follow along, so that we can have a season – and they have done a tremendous job with it.”
Mill Valley found new opponents, including versus Bentonville (Ark.) in Week 3 and at Lawrence, currently ranked No. 1 in 6A, in Week 4. Bentonville is 128-25 since the start of ’08.
“I accepted the challenge,” senior linebacker Kolten Jegen said of the schedule. “I think it’s great. I love competition, and our team never backs down from anyone, so we are ready for anyone. We have kind of grown up playing (De Soto), like definitely in our middle school years. It’s been around the same teams, so we all know each other.”
Last Friday, Mill Valley defeated Derby, 45-14 and ended the Panthers’ 26-game winning streak, a game that was announced in fall camp. It marked the worst margin of loss for the Panthers in 10 years.
“We honestly felt like we could have done better,” Jegen said. “The whole defense felt that we could have shut them out, and we are ready to just keep attacking week in and week out and see how long we can ride this.”
Jegen led Mill Valley 14 tackles, 3.5 for loss, and senior defensive lineman Ethan Kremer, the returning 5A Defensive Player of the Year, finished with a sack and a forced fumble. Jegen noted junior nose guard Aidan Shaffer, not as well-known as several other Jaguars, consistently garnered double teams.
“I really have got to give it to my d-line,” Jegen said. “They were down there in the trenches just eating it up all game.”
King said De Soto wanted to fill its schedule “as fast as we can,” and, if possible, wanted to lock up opponents which were “a little stronger.”
Originally, De Soto was going to play K.C. Turner and Blue Valley Southwest, teams that were a combined 3-17 in ’19. Free State and Mill Valley were 18-5. De Soto won at Lawrence Free State, 42-34, the first time the Wildcats faced the Firebirds in school history.
The Wildcats were 8-3 and 10-1 the last two seasons, but played the fifth-weakest strength of schedule in 5A, according to Prep Power Index. De Soto’s SOS is expected to drastically improve this fall.
“That’s the nice thing about nice opponents is you will find out in a hurry what your weaknesses are, see what we need to work on,” King said.
Both teams jumped out to big leads in Week 1. De Soto led 21-0 after the first quarter, and Mill Valley led 35-7 at halftime. Each team returns a Kpreps first team all-state senior player at quarterback with Mill Valley’s Cooper Marsh and De Soto’s Jackson Miller.
Marsh completed 12 of 15 passes for 170 yards and a score and rushed 18 times for 113 yards and three TDs.
Miller accounted for three scores, along with 146 rushing and 126 passing in the De Soto flexbone. This summer, Miller ran 4.44 seconds in the 40-yard dash, fourth-fastest of more than 400 athletes at the Sharp Combine in July.
De Soto senior Tyson Priddy recorded eight touches for 111 yards and two scores. In his head coaching tenure, King has had the same coordinators with offensive coordinator Mark Gastelum and defensive coordinator Joel Thaemert.
“A big reason why we have been able to have success,” King said.
A former head coach at Russell, Thaemert led the top-ranked 5A scoring defense last season at 11.3 points a contest. A teacher of higher-level math courses, Thaemert sometimes spends 25 hours a week watching film.
Gastelum, a former lineman at Baldwin and Baker, has led a more dynamic offense to stretch defenses vertically.
“For a flexbone team, we throw it quite a bit, and I think it helps keep defenses a little bit more honest,” King said.
King said De Soto’s offensive line was the team’s biggest surprise in Week 1.
“Being physical and firing off the ball,” King said.
Seniors Blaine Church and Carson Zitlow (center) returned up front. De Soto had several juniors, including Austin Mills, Chayce Chadwick, Jonathan Johnson, along with senior Wyatt Innis. Senior Ethan Ferguson, a transfer from Shawnee Mission Northwest, hasn’t played yet, though could factor in up front.
“I was really impressed with that group for sure up front,” King said.
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