ShawneeDispatch.com

Photo by Chris Wristen

Mill Valley junior linebacker Kellen Kinnamon (22) celebrates after sacking Blue Valley West quarterback Mike King.

Photo by Chris Wristen

Mill Valley senior linebacker Slobodan Kanatzar is tackled after intercepting a pass during the second half against Blue Valley West.

Photo by Chris Wristen

Mill Valley senior running back Shawn Stene fights for extra yardage during the first half of Mill Valley's 19-0 loss to Blue Valley West.

Photo by Chris Wristen

Mill Valley senior running back Nick Woods hurdles past a Blue Valley West player as teammate Taylor Brown, a junior, throws a block. West defeated Mill Valley 19-0.

Stilwell — Mill Valley didn't schedule the defending Class 5A state champions for its football season-opener because it wanted an easy opponent.

There certainly was nothing easy about Blue Valley West on Friday night, even though West is rebuilding from its title run.

Still, Mill Valley gave West all it could handle for nearly three quarters before a series of miscues allowed West to pull away for a 19-0 victory in the clash of the Jaguars at Blue Valley Stadium.

Mill Valley turned the ball over four times and had a bad snap on a punt attempt that led to a safety. In a game with minimal offense, the little things added up.

"I compliment the guys on playing hard and finishing the football game, but that's probably about as many mistakes as we've made in a football game in a long time," MVHS coach George Radell said. "We've just got to coach a little harder and eliminate mistakes."

West returned just one starter from last year's offense, and the inexperience showed early as a veteran Mill Valley defense prohibited West from finding much room to operate on the ground or through the air.

West compiled 71 yards of offense in the first half, but its lone points came on a 36-yard field goal by Kyle Hillman with 58 seconds left in the second quarter.

The damage could have been worse, but West didn't capitalize on two Mill Valley turnovers in the first half. One of them - an early fumble - gave West a first-and-goal situation on the 8-yard line. The Mill Valley defense held strong and a 26-yard field goal try sailed wide left.

Mill Valley's scoring opportunities were equally limited during the first two quarters. The turnovers were part of the problem. Plus, the West defense returned seven starters from last year, and that speed and skill was evident.

Mill Valley had only 50 yards of offense at halftime, but it had loads of confidence while trailing just 3-0 at intermission.

"The defense was playing great. Everyone was running around. We were really confident coming into the game, and at halftime we were still feeling good about ourselves," senior linebacker Slobodan Kanatzar said. "We knew it was going to be a grind the whole game."

West threatened to score on its first drive of the third quarter, but an interception by Kanatzar thwarted the threat. Mill Valley was unable to ride the momentum into a score, however, and West used a big punt return to set up a short field situation. A 6-yard touchdown run by Mike Norris gave West a 10-0 lead.

Two minutes later a bad snap on a punt by Mill Valley led to a safety and West upped its advantage to 12-0.

Mill Valley threw an interception on its ensuing possession, and West turned it into a score when Norris punched in a 13-yard touchdown run. That made the score 19-0 with 8:39 left in the fourth quarter.

Mill Valley had another turnover late as it attempted to rally.

West compiled 184 yards of offense to 82 for Mill Valley. Senior running back Nick Woods led MVHS with 63 yards rushing on 14 carries.

Woods said he saw plenty of positives in his team's performance despite the loss.

"I think we came out pretty well in the first half," he said. "If we can continue to carry that on through the season I think we'll be all right."

Kanatzar said West proved to be the difficult opponent Mill Valley needed to face early.

"I think it's really going to help us because this is probably one of the tougher teams we're going to face all year," he said. "They're a great ball team and they're the defending state champs. I think it's going to help us a lot. I'm glad we played them our first game."

The key for Radell and his staff will be to clean up the rough areas that gave Mill Valley in trouble before the 7 p.m. Friday home opener against Piper. Areas of emphasis will be taking care of the ball and blocking.

"We'd have liked to come away with the win. We'd like to have not had so many mistakes," Radell said. "We certainly wanted to come out in the opener and play a good football team, play hard and be able to build on this. With that, I think we can correct the negatives and build on the positives."