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For the past seven seasons, Derby head football coach Brandon Clark has had his Panthers preparing to play the weekend after Thanksgiving.
Incredibly, Derby has reached the Class 6A state championship game for a seventh consecutive season, a feat achieved by only six other schools. Blue Valley North’s 49-42 victory in the 2017 state title game is the only time during that period that the Panthers haven’t raised the trophy.
Derby has won three consecutive 6A crowns and will seek the schools’ eighth state football championship on Saturday against Blue Valley Northwest (11-1).
Kickoff is set for 1:00 pm at Emporia State’s Welch Stadium.
The Panthers have again gone wire-to-wire as the state’s top-ranked team, blitzing opponent defenses with an explosive offense that averages 55 points per game. Derby features a talented senior class that is trying to complete its high school career with a fourth consecutive state title and only two losses.
Derby features one of the state’s top players in junior running back Dylan Edwards. The speedy Edwards has rushed for 2,431 yards and 36 touchdowns this season. He’s averaged 221 yards per game on the ground and more than 13 yards per carry.
Edwards explosive play-making ability combined with Derby’s talented offensive line makes the challenge for opposing defenses daunting. Derby is led up front by seniors Dylan Conn (6-4, 290), Alex Key (6-4, 290), and Jonas Vickers (6-3, 290). Tight end Drake Thatcher (6-4, 200) is a strong blocker and also provides a solid receiving target for his twin-brother, quarterback Mercer Thatcher.
Mercer Thatcher (6-4, 190) has produced a solid first season as starter for the Panther offense. He’s passed for 839 yards and 12 touchdowns, and proven to be a capable runner with 769 rushing yards and 16 scores. Drake Thatcher leads the team in receiving with 276 yards and five touchdowns, while Cayden Brown has added 223 yards and five more scores.
In Blue Valley Northwest, Derby’s opponent on Saturday will be a group of players and coaches that have put in a tremendous amount of work building a program to reach this point. It is the schools' first state football championship appearance.
Clint Rider took over the Northwest program in 2017 after leading Hesston to a state runner-up finish in Class 3A the year prior. The Huskies finished 2-7 in his first season, then went winless with a young team in 2018 when the current seniors were freshman. Northwest rebounded 2-7 in 2019 before finishing 5-2 and reaching the second-round of the 6A playoffs last fall.
This season, the work and experience has come together to produce an 11-1 campaign and an Eastern Kansas League title – widely considered to be the best high school football league in Kansas.
Blue Valley Northwest enters Saturday’s title game having won five consecutive games since their lone loss – a 35-16 decision at Class 5A semifinalist St. Thomas Aquinas.
The Huskies are led by standout senior quarterback Mikey Pauley. The 6-foot-5, 200-pound Pauley is a Division I baseball commit to Nebraska, and a dual-threat on the gridiron. He was recently named a semifinalist for the Thomas A. Simone Award recognizing the most outstanding player in the Kansas City metro.
Pauley, a four-year starter, has set school records for career rushing and passing touchdowns, and passing yards. This season, he has completed nearly 68 percent of his passes for 1,759 yards and 22 touchdowns. Pauley has added 1,057 yards and 18 touchdowns on the ground.
Pauley is complimented in the backfield by junior running back Grant Stubblefield. Stubblefield has rushed for a team-high 1,535 yards and 23 touchdowns and averages nearly 128 yards per game.
When the Huskies look to pass, Pauley has a trio of senior receivers that have emerged as primary targets. Steven Whitter leads the team with 38 receptions for 607 yards and five scores. Nick Cusick has a team-high nine touchdown catches and 425 receiving yards, while 6-foot-4 Max Muehlberger presents a big target and has 364 yards and four scores.
The Huskies average 44 points per game. The key to their offense is an athletic offensive line led by Buck Buchanan Award semifinalist Gabe Peterson. Peterson (6-2, 240) is joined by Christian Repass (6-6, 260), Aidan Behymer (6-4, 215), Joel Deppe, and Easton Wasinger up front for the Huskies.
Blue Valley Northwest will face a Derby defense that is a bit unheralded given their offensive prowess. It’s a defense that has forced 28 turnovers this season. The Panthers have surrendered nearly 21 points per game this season, but those numbers close victories against Bishop Carroll (44-36) and 5A finalist Maize (42-41).
Junior linebacker Miles Wash (5-11, 205) leads the Panther defense with 113 total stops (43 solo). Wash has added 12 tackles for loss and is tied for the team high with five sacks. The Derby defensive line has been a strength as well with seniors Andon Carpenter (76 tackles) and Quentin Dorsey (31 tackles, 9 TFL), junior Sam Same (32 tackles, 6 TFL), and sophomore Mason Hopper (29 tackles, 7 TFL).
Carpenter leads the team with 22 tackles for loss, while Same and Hopper have equaled Wash with the team lead with five sacks. The secondary is led by Bryan Murph, III, Demaria’e Baker, and Corey Atkins.
On the other sideline, Northwest’s defense will face the difficult challenge of slowing down Edwards and the Derby offense.
Seniors Drew Ranallo and Drew Kaufman lead the Huskies with 84 and 73 tackles, respectively. Kaufman is the team leader with 12 tackles for loss and five sacks. The Husky secondary features Zachary Yates (68 tackles) and Sebastian Meriano (43 tackles, 18 passes broken up).
Limiting the big play from Edwards will be key for Northwest as they try to prevent Derby from winning its sixth state title during the past seven seasons.
Among the six other schools that have reached the state championship game seven consecutive times, only Lawrence (8 titles in 10 consecutive appearances) and Hutchinson (6 titles in 7 consecutive appearances) have achieved the six titles that Derby is aiming for on Saturday.
Consecutive State Championship Game Appearances & titles during that span:
- Lawrence – 10 appearances (1986-1995) – 8 titles
- Derby – 7 appearances (2015-21) – 5 titles (playing for 6th on Saturday)
- Hanston – 7 appearances (1998-2004) -- 4 titles
- Hutchinson – 7 appearances (2003-09) – 6 titles
- Liberal – 7 appearances (1991-97) – 4 titles
- St. Mary’s Colgan – 7 appearances (1999-05) – 4 titles
- Silver Lake – 7 appearances (2002-08) – 1 title
- Baileyville B&B – 6 appearances (2008-13) – 4 titles (school closed after 2013 season)
- Bishop Miege – 6 appearances (2014-19) – 6 titles
- Claflin – 6 appearances (1997-02) – 3 titles
- Smith Center – 6 appearances (2004-09) – 5 titles
- Midway-Denton – 5 appearances (1984-88) – 5 titles
- Northern Valley – 5 appearances (1986-90) – 5 titles
- Olathe North – 5 appearances (2000-04) – 4 titles
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