Ranking the Mill Valley state championship teams

This one should be fun. I’m calling it my Champion of Champions. Starting on Monday I’ll rank the seven Mill Valley state championship teams counting down from seven to one. I’ll be taking in things like overall record, strength of schedule and the overall makeup of the team.

This is just my personal rankings. Everyone who does a list will have their own opinions and that’s great. Lists like this are meant to be fun and stir a little debate – but also to remember the greatness of each of these teams. There are no “bad” teams on this list. They were all champions. Please keep all debate civil and respectful and lets have some fun remembering these champions.

Let’s kick off our countdown to the top Mill Valley team of all time with a scrappy bunch of guys who defied the odds and went back to back.

7. 2016

The 2016 team won Mill Valley’s second state championship. After the 2015 team won Mill Valley’s first state championship ever, the question was, could the Jaguars sustain a championship caliber team or was 2015 just a fluke? Well the boys from this team answered that question. Mill Valley was for real and the rest of 5A was going to have to deal with it. This team won one of the most thrilling state championship games ever with a back and forth double overtime victory over Goddard 35-34. Lead by QB Brody Flaming, sophomore running back Cameron Young and a great trio of wide receivers in Ben Hartman, Evan Rice and Logan Tally, this team went 9-4. The reason it’s number seven on the list is it has the most losses for a Mill Valley state championship team and some of those losses were pretty ugly (45-28 to Blue Valley, 64-21 to Miege and 52-23 to Blue Valley North). Admittingly these guys played one of toughest schedules ever. They did have quality wins over St. James Academy (twice), Blue Valley Northwest and Gardner-Edgerton. In the substate matchup the Jaguars ground out a tough 14-13 victory at Aquinas in the brutal cold to punch their ticket to state. Their state championship win cemented Mill Valley as a new force to be reckoned with in 5A.

The Jaguars defense lead by Garrett Cronin (#4) and Evan Seifert (#23) stifle the Kapaun-Mt. Carmel running game.

Today’s entry is our most recent state champions. These guys gave us some thrills and an some heart attacks along the way.

6. 2023

This team is the Rodney Dangerfield of all the Mill Valley state championship teams – no respect. They finished with an 11-2 record but all season long there were whispers. This team was vulnerable. This team wasn’t as talented as years past.  It wasn’t a good passing team. The run defense was suspect at times. And there was that ugly 49-10 loss to Gardner-Edgerton. One thing this team did very well, though, was run the ball. Led by running back Tristan Baker and a talented offensive line the running game racked up the most rushing yards in Jaguars history.  Who needs a passing game when you can just run over people. And that’s what the 2023 team did – they steamrolled the competition. And when the playoffs came around, they put up points like you wouldn’t believe. 56, 72, 48 and 62 points in their four playoff games. This version of the Jaguars kept grinding and got better each week and captured a 5th straight state championship. This team will forever be known for its thrilling 48-47 sub-state victory over Blue Valley Southwest. QB Daniel Blaine’s dive into the end zone with no time left is one of those iconic moments for Jaguar football. The state championship game featured Mill Valley at its best, running over the opposition on their way to a 62-37 win over Kapaun-Mt. Carmel. I put this team at number 6 because of its lack of balance on offense and a defense that was vulnerable at times. Also, you will hear this again as I make my way through this list, the strength of schedule was not as tough as in years past.

Zach Mills with a nice catch and run in the 2019 state championship game.

5. 2019

I really wanted to rank this team higher. I really did. But I can’t get past those three loses. This team finished 11-3 but really had no bad loses. Each of the three defeats were by 7 or less points. But as the saying goes, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.  And well, three losses are still three loses. I love this team though and think that losing those close games helped them win the close games down the road. The 2019 team started the current streak of 5 straight state championships. Their 34-31 OT victory over St. Thomas Aquinas still ranks at the greatest game in Mill Valley history (in my opinion at least). These guys started 1-3. Some fourth quarter mistakes lead to a season opening 28-21 loss to Blue Valley West. A furious comeback in game three against Bishop Miege ended when the Stags returned a kickoff for a touchdown with no time remaining resulting in a 42-35 loss. A 28-21 loss vs Aquinas was the last time these Jags would lose in 2019. In the playoffs they had a close call against DeSoto in what was the most electric atmosphere I’ve ever encountered. After trailing for most of the first half against DeSoto, the Jaguars hitched their wagon to the running game and started to dominate the line of scrimmage. Ultimately the Jags would win 18-7. In the state championship game, Mill Valley would finish off Wichita Northwest to win their third state championship.

Head coach Joel Applebee holds up the 2021 state championship trophy.

4. 2021

The 2021 version of the Mill Valley Jaguars was a bit unknown. They replaced almost everyone and there were questions everywhere. But this team pretty much rolled from the start. Hayden Jay proved to be another in a long line of quality Mill Valley quarterbacks. Reice Kennedy came out of nowhere and rushed for over 1000 yards. Kendrick Jones put up a remarkable senior season. The Jaguars were rarely challenged. There was a 21-14 win over Lawrence that wasn’t as close as the final score looks. The only blemish on the Jags record was a 41-20 loss against Lawrence Free State where nothing went right for the Jags. Their run through the playoffs wasn’t particularly close and ended with a 28-14 victory over Maize in the state championship game. So why are they number 4? To me it comes down to strength of schedule. This team just didn’t face the quality of opponents that the teams ahead of them did. That’s not their fault, it’s just the way the pieces fell.

Preston Oliver gets the Jaguars on the board with long touchdown catch in the second quarter against Maize in 2022.

The next team on our list liked serving up donuts. 

3. 2022

My biggest struggle with this list was whether the 2022 team should be number 3 or number 2. It’s close. Damn close. This team finished 12-1. The defense never gave up more than 14 points in a game. They recorded six shutouts – 4 in the playoffs. This defense is the best Mill Valley defense ever in my opinion. The defense was a terror led by Mikey Bergeron and Broc Worcester (both of who were named Class 5A defensive player of the year by different publications) as well as Truman Griffith and sophomore sensation Jayden Woods. On offense, Hayden Jay had another fine season and Hayes Miller transferred in to have an amazing season at wide receiver. Tristan Baker emerged as the lead back racking up lots of rushing yards and touchdowns and this team cruised to another 28-14 victory of Maize in the state championship game. What hurts this team in the rankings, if I’m being honest, is again, the strength of schedule, particularly in the playoffs. Four shutouts if 5 games. The question that haunts me is this: Was the competition in 5A down this year or was Mill Valley just that much better than everyone else? Maybe a little bit of both?

Broc Worcester swats down an Wichita Northwest pass attempt in the 2020 state championship game that the Jaguars won 49-35.

The next team on our list started out like a powerhouse but then hit a speedbump. It still ended that way most Jaguars seasons do – with a state championship.

2. 2020

After the first two games of the 2020 season I thought this team might challenge for the top Jaguars team of all time. They started off with an absolute dismantling of Derby. Derby! The game wasn’t close and there was a running clock in the fourth quarter. Who does that to Derby? Nobody, that’s who. But these guys did it. They followed that up with a destruction of DeSoto, scoring 70 points in the process. Then there was a hiccup. A 35-28 loss to Arkansas powerhouse Bentonville could be forgiven but they followed that up with a 28-26 lost to Gardner-Edgerton that wasn’t as close as the final score. After the GE loss the team regrouped and got back to rolling over teams. They lose a few points in the ranking system for a too close for comfort win against DeSoto in the playoffs. They scored 70 points in the first matchup but could only muster 16 in the rematch and hung on for a 16-13 win. They crushed Aquinas the following week and then won the state championship the next with a 49-35 victory over Wichita Northwest. The Jaguars were led on offense by Class 5A offensive player of year Cooper Marsh and on defense by Class 5A defensive player of the year Ethan Kremer. I ended up putting this team at number two over the 2022 team because, I feel, that if the two teams met on the field, this one would win a close one.

We’ve finally reached number one on our list. Was there any doubt?

1. 2015

The first is still the best. The 2015 Jaguars were loaded and it showed on the field. They were rarely challenged and, for the most part, were at least two touchdowns better than their opponent. The Jaguars coming of age party started in week one where they went in and dominated number 1 ranked Aquinas. The Jags took over the number 1 ranking after that and never looked back. Two weeks later Derby came to town and the Jaguars came away with a 27-20 victory that wasn’t really that close. Derby would not lose again that season and take the Class 6A crown. The Jaguars would fall 28-21 to Missouri power Staley in week 5 but from there it was smooth sailing. The Jaguars were lead by the Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year Christian Jegen who had one of the greatest single seasons in Jaguar history. Logan Koch quarterbacked the high scoring Jaguars while tight end Lucas Krull proved to be a mismatch for most defenses. The defense was largely overlooked by the shiny objects on offense but interior lineman Anthony Brown was dominate in the middle and linebacker Seth Burnett led the team in tackles. This was truly a great team in every sense of the word and the clear number 1 or greatest Mill Valley team of all-time.