ShawneeDispatch.com

Dramatic finishes are becoming the norm for the Mill Valley football team.

Fortunately for the Jaguars, they’re pretty good at winning them.

For the third straight week Mill Valley played a game that came down to the wire, and it won all three of them.

First came a 12-7 thriller at Bonner Springs on Sept. 19. Then came last week’s 36-31 nail-biter against Turner. On Friday night at Atchison the Jaguars played catch-up all night before scoring a late touchdown to claim a 25-21 victory.

The ending was great for Mill Valley, but the beginning wasn’t.

“We spotted them two touchdowns and chased them the whole night trying to catch up,” MVHS coach George Radell said. “In the first quarter we ran three plays. They had 131 yards rushing in the first quarter.”

Nicholas Woods scored a 4-yard touchdown before halftime and the Jaguars trailed 14-6 at intermission.

After an uninspired first half, the Jaguars returned to the field in the third quarter refocused and ready to rally.

“It seemed like certainly we played with more intensity coming out of the locker room in the second half than we did coming out of the locker room for the first half,” Radell said.

Woods ripped off a 55-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter. The 2-point conversion attempt failed, but Mill Valley was back within 14-12. Atchison answered with a long touchdown and took a 21-12 advantage late in the quarter.

A 5-yard touchdown run by Woods early in the fourth quarter cut the deficit to 21-19. Atchison got the ball back and quickly mounted another drive. With about five minutes left Atchison had first and 10 at the Mill Valley 12-yard line. A couple of sacks pushed the Redmen back to the 35-yard line.

“That gave us an opportunity to win the game,” Radell said of the defensive effort.

After the defensive stand, Mill Valley got the ball back and went nowhere. Then, faced with fourth and 19, Radell called for a fake punt. The direct snap went to Woods who squirted through the defense and sprinted 71 yards for a touchdown.

With 1:48 left, Mill Valley had its first lead at 25-21.

Moments later, Atchison attempted to come back but Woods intercepted a pass that put the game away.

Woods finished the game with 202 yards and four touchdowns on 24 carries.

Although it was the second straight game where Mill Valley squeaked by, Radell said the postgame mentality was different. Rather than lectures about a lack of focus early, the Mill Valley coaches let their players enjoy the win on the bus ride home.

“The players were excited tonight, so for the first time this year we didn’t talk about ‘we’ll fix it on Monday,’ or ‘districts start next week,’” Radell said. “We said, ‘hey, let’s enjoy it.’ We hung in there and we got the win, so that’s how we left it.”

Monday will be different, though. District play starts at 7 p.m. Friday at Schlagle, so Radell expects more at practice.

“We haven’t played our best football yet,” he said. “We’ve had a couple games go down to the wire in consecutive weeks. We certainly recognize — if we didn’t figure it out a week ago I think we certainly figured it out tonight — that it takes four quarters. I don’t think a team wants to peak with a month left in the season or three weeks left on the schedule, but we need to start getting there. We’re making some strides, but we’re not there yet, so we’re going to approach it from the standpoint that we’re not satisfied. We’re not going to spend any time patting ourselves on the back. We’ll enjoy (the win) this weekend. We’re happy to be 5-1, but as of Monday we’re 0-0.”

MILL VALLEY DISTRICT SCHEDULE

Oct. 17 — 7 p.m. at Schlagle

Oct. 24 — 7 p.m. vs. Washington at Mill Valley

Oct. 31 — 7 p.m. vs. Lansing at Mill Valley (this game will determine the Kaw Valley League champion)