ShawneeDispatch.com

Mill Valley quarterback Luke Lawyer and wide receiver Miles Malec turned the team’s offense into the run and shoot Friday as the team’s passing game went from potentially potent to lethal.

The pair combined for four touchdowns and led the Jaguars to a 35-0 win over Tonganoxie.

It was a game where Jaguars’ coach George Radell had to work with what the defense gave him. Tonganoxie was committed to shutting down the team’s running game, and Malec and Lawyer went to work on the defense.

Malec caught six passes for 201 yards and four touchdowns. The first four Jaguars’ scoring drives finished with Malec touchdowns from sophomore quarterback Luke Lawyer, who completed 8-of-11 passes for 237 yards and four scores.

“Their quarterback put it right on the money,” THS coach Mark Elston said. “We were too run heavy with our secondary people and they didn’t make their first reads like they were supposed to. They torched us on it.”

Lawyer didn’t look like a sophomore, particularly on the Jaguars’ opening drive.

On a 2nd-down-and-12 situation from the Mill Valley 35-yard line, Lawyer aired out his first pass. Malec didn’t establish many steps of separation against the THS defense; he was simply taller than the Chieftains secondary. He grabbed the ball out of the air with his long arms and sprinted down the left sideline untouched for the score.

Malec finished the first half with five catches for 190 yards and three touchdowns. He scored on passes from 65, 55 and 26 yards.

“Even in a crowd, we take our chances with Malec, he has such strong hands, that if he gets his hand on ball in a crowd, he is going to get it,” Radell said. “He is very sure handed.”

The Chieftains made halftime adjustments for guarding Malec, who only caught one pass in the second half. However, it resulted in an 11-yard touchdown.

“First, you have to get more pressure on the quarterback, so he’s not allowed to just unleash it,” Elston said. “Second, you have to make sure the cornerbacks are taking their proper steps and their proper reads and not trying to guess. When you guess, bad things happen.”

Offensively, Tonganoxie moved the ball with occasional success. Freshman quarterback Jeremy Carlisle ran for 111 yards, including a 55-yard run in the second quarter. Carlisle appeared to be tackled on the play, but somehow sprung free of the pile and broke for the left sideline.

Fittingly, the only player separating Carlisle from the end zone was Malec, who tracked him down at Mill Valley’s 25-yard line.

Tonganoxie couldn’t score on the drive when Carlisle’s pass fell incomplete on 4th-and-12. The Chieftains actually backed up to the MVHS 27-yard line before the fourth down because of a false start penalty.

Tonganoxie had seven penalties Friday — five were false starts.

“It’s ridiculous,” Elston said. “It’s just a lack of concentration, lack of desire, lack of effort. It’s embarrassing. I’m very disappointed and disgruntled with that.”

Radell said he was pleased with the way his team’s defense played in the game.

“The pass defense was excellent. We got an interception. I don’t have statistics, but we held to under 50 yards. We gave up a 55 yard run, make a rushing night look pretty good.”

Kicking and special teams also played a pivotal role in the game. Zak King had 5 touchbacks, twice punted inside the 20-yard line.

“They had long fields to drive on,” Radell said. “I thought they played well, too. Anytime you get a shutout, the defense has to be happy with that.”

Tonganoxie (0-4) will play host to Santa Fe Trail next week, while Mill Valley (4-0) will play host to Bonner Springs (3-1).

Game statistics

Individual Football Statistics

Mill Valley vs Tonganoxie, 35-0

Rushing Attempts Yard TDS

Nicholas Woods 2 7 0

Zak King 13 48 1

Shawn Stene 4 11 0

Luke Lawyer 2 5 0

Passing Attempts Completions Yards TDs

Luke Lawyer 11 8 239 4

Receiving catches yards TDs

Miles Malec 6 202 4

Shawn Stene 2 37 0

Kickoffs kicks yards

Zak King 6 346

Punting

Zak King 4 167

PAT

Zak King 5 5

Field Goals 0 0

Returns

Kickoff

Justin Muldoon 1 0

Punt

Nicholas Woods 1 0

Defense

Tackles

assist unassisted total

Tanner Rainbolt 0 1 1

Kellen Kinnamon 5 4 9

Slobodan Kanazar 0 2 2

Matt Acree 1 1 2

Miles Malec 1 1 2

Nicholas WoodS 0 1 1

Scoring by quarter:

Mill Valley 14 7 7 7 — 35

Tonganoxie 0 0 0 0 — 0

Scoring summary:

First quarter

MV — 5:08 — Miles Malec 65 pass from Luke Lawyer (Zak King kick)

MV — 1:23 — Malec 55 pass from Lawyer (King kick)

Second quarter

MV — 2:54 — Malec 26 pass from Lawyer (King kick)

Third quarter

MV — 2:48 — Malec 11 pass from Lawyer (King kick)

Fourth quarter

MV — 10:06 — King 2 run (King kick)

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