By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
Ranked fourth in Class 6A, the Blue Valley Northwest Huskies traveled to Washburn Rural Friday night to validate that ranking. The Huskies jumped out to a 35-3 lead, then held on to defeat the Junior Blues, 49-23.
Washburn Rural sophomore Jadyn Baum bursts loose for an 80-yard touchdown run in Friday's 49-23 Rural loss to Blue Valley Northwest. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Junior Kellan Roth caught 11 passes for 99 yards and a TD in Friday's 49-23 Washburn Rural loss to Blue Valley Northwest. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
For the Junior Blues, it was their third consecutive game against a Kansas City-area school, a gauntlet that has not been kind. Washburn Rural fell to 1-3, but can look forward to facing more familiar foes the rest of the season.
“The first four weeks, that was the challenge,” said Washburn Rural coach Steve Buhler. “Now, next four weeks, we have league games that we have to defend the league championship from last year. We’re going to come back and get busy on that part of the season.”
The Junior Blues visit Topeka High next Friday to start a string of Centennial League games that includes Emporia, Junction City and Manhattan.
Running behind a line led by Andrew Babalola – one of the nation’s most coveted recruits – and Brock Heath – a Kansas State commit – Blue Valley Northwest plowed to two early touchdowns Friday.
The Junior Blues responded with a field goal in the first period but fell behind 21-3 when the Huskies added another touchdown just before halftime. Washburn Rural’s offense showed it could move the ball against the visitors in the first half, but two costly fumbles limited the Junior Blues’ output.
“The last three games, we get in about about a five- or six-minute stretch where we lose control of the game and let it get out of hand,” Buhler said. “It happened again tonight. We had some situations where, if we take care of the mistakes that we’re making and be more consistent…we’ve got some young guys playing, but we’ve got to quit leaning on that excuse. We’re four weeks in. We’ve got to get better.”
The Huskies’ star-studded offensive line blew open holes for touchdown runs of 59 and 83 yards on the first two series of the second half. Buhler acknowledged that the Junior Blues were up against some special opponents.
“I don’t think our guys were worried about it,” Buhler said. “Sure, you respect them. You’re really amazed at how good they are – they are some great athletes. We’ve seen that the last few weeks with all three teams we’ve played out of Kansas City.
“But that makes us better, and that’s what we want to take from the last three games. Can we compete? Yes. But you have to understand, when you don’t equal that caliber of athletes, you have to do all the other stuff right because your margin for error is really small.”
Washburn Rural junior quarterback John Hoytal threw for 235 yards in Friday's 49-23 loss to Blue Valley Northwest. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Down 35-3, the Junior Blues’ offense kicked into gear and made things interesting. Leading the attack was junior quarterback John Hoytal, who completed 23 of 32 throws for 235 yards. Junior receiver Kellan Roth hauled in 11 of Hoytal’s throws for 99 yards and a score.
Sophomore Jadyn Baum exploded for an 80-yard touchdown run and junior TJ Minikwu blasted in from 10 yards out for another score.
“We have to be able to take the positives out of these things. There are some positive things happening,” Buhler said. “Defensively, we see some good things. We get some tackles for losses, we get some big stops. But then we turn around and give them a big play. We can’t do that.
“On offense, we’ve got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot. We keep hurting ourselves.”
One of the Huskies’ top weapons was junior receiver Ayden McGibboney, who played his freshman year at Hayden. McGibboney grabbed seven passes for 105 yards and a touchdown in his return to Topeka.
BLUE VALLEY NORTHWEST 49, WASHBURN RURAL 23
Blue Valley Northwest (4-0) 14 7 21 7 -- 49
Washburn Rural (1-3) 3 0 7 13 -- 23
Blue Valley Northwest – McGibboney 16 pass from Baxter (Rudd kick)
Washburn Rural – Austin 30 FG
Blue Valley Northwest – Bowens 4 run (Rudd kick)
Blue Valley Northwest – Garlington 7 pass from Baxter (Rudd kick)
Blue Valley Northwest – Bowens 59 run (Rudd kick)
Blue Valley Northwest – Waldorf 83 run (Rudd kick)
Washburn Rural – Roth 11 pass from Hoytal (Austin kick)
Blue Valley Northwest – Chandler 7 pass from Baxter (Rudd kick)
Washburn Rural – Minikwu 10 run (kick failed)
Washburn Rural – Baum 80 run (Austin kick)
Blue Valley Northwest – Marshall 9 pass from Baxter (Rudd kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing – Blue Valley Northwest: Bowens 15-162, Baxter 3-17, Bevins 3-1, Waldorf 5-90, Erickson 3-15, White 3-16. Washburn Rural: Baum 5-90, Hoytal 12-24, Minikwu 12-69, Thompson 1-7, Ditch 1-(minus)1, Vantuyl 1-(minus)3.
Passing – Blue Valley Northwest: Baxter 13-15-0 200 yards, Bevins 4-7-1 43 yards, Ihm 1-1-0 2 yards. Washburn Rural: Hoytal 23-32-0 235 yards.
Receiving – Blue Valley Northwest: McGibboney 7-105, Marshall 4-84, Garlington 3-30, Waldorf 1-8, Chandler 2-16, Stevens 1-2. Washburn Rural: Baum 1-11, Roth 11-99, Thompson 7-81, Selm 2-16, Recinos 1-10, Lone 1-18.
Punting – Blue Valley Northwest: Rudd 2-33.5. Washburn Rural: Vantuyl 3-39.7.
