Mill Valley vs. Wichita Northwest (Saturday 1:00) - WATCH HERE
Mill Valley senior defensive end Cole Knappen has offers from Division II schools Fort Hays State, Emporia State and William Jewell, along with Independence Community College. Last season, Knappen collected 40 tackles, 12 for loss and helped the Jaguars defeated Wichita Northwest in the Class 5A state championship game. This fall, the 6-foot-2, 245 Knappen opened with 16 tackles in four games, and then was lost for the year with a knee injury.
“Pretty big blow to our team,” coach Joel Applebee said. “He was a big leader. Still is, as far as being a part.”
After four contests, Mill Valley had beaten Derby 45-14 in the season opener, the Panthers’ biggest margin of loss in a decade. However, the Jaguars fell in Weeks 3 and 4 to quality teams by a combined nine points. Star senior quarterback Cooper Marsh suffered injury at the end of the Week 3 loss to Arkansas power Bentonville.
Junior Cody Moore stepped up in Knappen’s place at defensive end. Moore hadn’t played since middle school. Mill Valley tried to convince him to come out the last two years. Moore nearly elected to play as a freshman.
This summer, Moore decided to join. He has delivered 27 tackles, 6.5 sacks, 5.5 for loss, along three fumble recoveries.
“Just loves being a part of this and soaks everything in and really prepares extremely hard, so he can play well on Fridays,” Applebee said.
Last Friday, the Jaguars held rival St. Thomas Aquinas to under 100 total yards in a 42-7 victory. It marked the Saints’ biggest defeat to a Kansas team since Week 8 of ’10. Moore finished with 2.5 tackles for loss.
“He’s not only a good football player, he’s a great kid,” Applebee said.
Moore is part of likely the pivot point for this Saturday’s Class 5A state championship rematch. No. 1 Wichita Northwest (10-0) faces No. 2 Mill Valley (8-2) at Pittsburg State’s Carnie Smith Stadium. Start time is 1 p.m.
Last year, Mill Valley led by two scores in the fourth quarter only to see Northwest tie the game with two touchdowns in approximately :30 seconds of game time. Mill Valley then scored a touchdown and added a late field goal for a 40-31 win. The Jaguars are 3-0 all-time in state games with titles in ’15 and ’16. Applebee is 90-34 in 11 seasons.
“Their offensive line and defensive line are the reason why they are successful,” Northwest coach Steve Martin said. “Now Marsh and all those guys are great football players, but they wouldn’t be as successful without their offensive and defensive lines.”
Wichita Northwest is 0-3 all-time in state finals and fell to St. Thomas Aquinas in the championship two seasons ago. Martin stands 78-21 in nine years with the Grizzlies and 109-32 in his career. This marks the fourth time ever that 5A squads have met in back-to-back state finales, the first since Liberal and Salina Central in ’93-94, according to KSHSAA records.
“They understand us a little bit better, so we are going to have to match their speed and their physicality,” Applebee said.
In addition to line play, the teams feature arguably the state’s top-two kickers with Mill Valey senior Chris Tennant (59 touchbacks this season, K-State commit) and Northwest senior Carson Arndt, who recently set a state record with 270 kick points.
Arndt, a Butler County commit, is 231 of 244 on extra points and has 13 career field goals, according to MaxPreps/Kpreps research. The former record is 263 points set by Phillipsburg’s Jonathan Hunnacutt. Currently a Fort Hays kicker, Hunnacutt, a senior in ’18, recorded 263 kick-scoring points via 197 extra points and 22 field goals. He broke a record that had stood for 22 years, via Kansas Sports Hall of Fame archives.
Northwest leads 5A in scoring offense and defense with an average score of 56-8. Last week, 6-foot-7, 330-pound senior right tackle Caleb Nott earned team’s offensive player of the game.
“He put on a clinic Friday,” Martin said. “He played his best game of the season.”
Mill Valley, against a more challenging schedule, has an average margin of 43-14. The Jaguar defense has been impressive even in a loss; Bentonville scored 28 versus the Jaguars and 46.6 against all other opponents. Northwest’s defense has allowed just 1.8 yards per carry. Before last week’s 41-21 win versus Carroll, Northwest’s starting defense had permitted just 19 total points.
“It’s going to be a really fun time to see what offensive line can just do enough against each other’s defensive lines to be successful on offense, because I believe both teams’ strengths of their teams are their defensive lines,” Martin said.
Mill Valley senior Ethan Kremer has multiple FCS offers and is the reigning 5A Defensive Player of the Year. He leads the Jaguars with 14.5 tackles for loss and seven sacks. The Jaguars’ top-10 tacklers are all seniors, led by linebacker Kolton Jegen at 94.
The 6-foot, 265-pound Kremer, a two-time state wrestling champion, starts both ways at guard and defensive tackle and plays virtually every snap. He has 42.5 TFLs and 21.5 sacks in his career, both school records he set this season. In ’19, he broke Mill Valley’s single-season sacks mark with 11.5.
Applebee said Kremer, known for his high intelligence, physicality and powerful ability, is one of the best players he’s ever coached. During the week, Kremer mainly practices defense, though executes every offensive rep in the games.
“He has probably the best body control I have ever seen a high school kid,” Applebee said. “…He makes some very good players – some very good players – look kind of silly at times because of his technique, so I know our offensive line hates playing against him.”
Northwest, led by second-year defensive coordinator Marc Marinelli, features its outstanding front of junior nose guard Nathan Carter and seniors Zac Daher and Nathan Hale. Carter has 27 tackles, 11 for loss. Hale has 52 stops, 13.5 for loss. Daher, an Army West Point commit, has 37 tackles, 12.5 TFLs.
“Playing some of their best football,” Martin said.
Northwest features linebackers Jacob Younkman, Darius Diaz and Ja-ron Tolefree. Younkman paces the Grizzlies with 19.5 TFLs and is the school’s all-time leader in tackles for loss.
Northwest has four seniors at defensive back: senior Joziah Hill, Zaire Adkins, Todric McGee and Wetu Kalomo. McGee has double-digit collegiate offers, and Kalomo has committed to Division I Northern Illinois.
“Our secondary is one of the best in the state of Kansas,” Martin said.
Both teams have navigated through trying times with COVID-19 concerns. Well-documented in the preseason, Wichita Public Schools started late because of coronavirus and played a league-only regular season. Including the playoffs, Northwest has only faced one non-conference school. Northwest required comebacks to beat conference rivals Kapaun Mt. Carmel and Bishop Carroll the last two weeks.
“Great for us to be able to rise to our expectations of who we thought we could be before this whole COVID situation and threw a really wrench in our schedule,” Martin said. “We’d thought that we’d have a chance to be very good, but we were pretty worried that we weren’t going to have a chance to show the type of work we’d put in in the offseason to get back to where we are now.”
Mill Valley had to reshuffle its schedule to add its games versus Derby and Bentonville. On Oct. 23, Mill Valley was at Shawnee Mission North prepared to play when SM North announced a positive test. Mill Valley elected not to play. Applebee credited his team and families for following COVID-19 protocols “as much as they possibly could.” He said the program had “minimal” coronavirus issues.
“It ended up being a good decision, because I think they ended up having like 15 kids quarantined for their first playoff game,” Applebee said of the cancellation.
Marsh eventually missed just two contests. He has completed 83 of 136 passes for 1,342 yards with a 13/4 TD/INT ratio. Senior Quin Wittenauer missed one game and has 168 carries for 1,173 yards and 14 scores. Senior Jacob Hartman has delivered 101 offensive touches for 1,223 yards and 16 TDs. Hartman stepped in at running back when Wittenauer was out and has 1,580 all-purpose yards.
Northwest has senior Julius Bolden with 139 carries for 1,358 rushing yards and 23 rushing scores after he tallied 1,567 yards last season. The Grizzlies have used two quarterbacks with senior Mason Ross and junior Geremiah Moore.
Martin labeled Moore “a difference maker” whom the team calls “Slash.” Moore can impact the game at QB/RB/WR/special teams. He has 1,021 all-purpose yards. Last week, Northwest elected to move Moore to quarterback in the middle of the first quarter because of his running ability. He rushed for 207 yards and two scores and helped Northwest come back from a 14-0 deficit.
“We talked about the last couple days of not flinching when bad things have happened,” Martin said. “And I think that’s the testament to the kind of things that we saw this year, because we just lined up, and we just figured out a way to get it done time after time the past two weeks, and especially with so much on the line.”
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