Landsharks eat up the Bison

Jaguars defensive end Larry Jones sacks the Shawnee Mission North quarterback on the Bison’s first possession of the game.

By Todd Habiger

The Swamp was infested with Landsharks Friday night. And they were vicious. 

Shawnee Mission North came into The Swamp with a shiny 4-1 record, their best in years. They left shredded by a relentless defense that yielded nothing.

“We knew we needed to step it up this week and we did that,” said senior safety Kendyn Charbonneau. “We had a really good week of practice. All the leaders stepped up and it really clicked for us this week.”

“Clicked” might be the understatement of the year. The Jaguars were downright nasty. Every time the Bison got a little momentum the Jaguars defense shut them down. 

The final score was 58-13 but none of those points were given up by the defense.

The defense set the tone right away. The Bison went for a fourth and two at midfield on their opening drive. Jaguars defense end Larry Jones made them pay as he got into the backfield and sacked the quarterback.

“We have a motto about ‘11 hats,’” said Jones. “Every time anything happens the defense needs to swim to the ball - hustle. Eleven hats, everyone hustling to the ball fixes everything.”

The Mill Valley offense immediately took advantage as Holden Applebee connected with Anthony Clem for a 43 yard touchdown on the Jaguars first offensive play. 

And the Jaguars offense kept humming from there.

Running back Max Piva continued his stellar senior campaign with three first half touchdowns to put the Jaguars up 28-0. Mason Gellender connected on his first field goal attempt of the year, to give the Jaguars a 31-0 lead with 44 seconds until halftime.

Then things got weird. 

The Bison return man fumbled around the kickoff but managed to finally gain control and weave through the Jaguars coverage team for a touchdown to cut the lead to 31-7. 

Not to be outdone, Jaguars return man Braydon Jones took the following kickoff down the sideline for a touchdown of his own to put the score at 38-7 at the half.

Kick returner Braydon Jones takes the ball to the house to give the Jaguars a 38-7 lead at halftime.

North opened up the second half with a pick-6 touchdown but they would get no closer. 

Jaguars finished off the Bison with touchdowns from Piva, Lucan Mendez and AJ Davis to make the final score 58-13.

“We prepared all this week at a high level,” said senior offensive lineman Quinn Vaka.”It showed tonight. The O-line played really well. Max played really well. Everyone across the board played really well.”

It was just another day at the office for Piva who rushed for over 100 yards and four touchdown on the night. 

Piva credited his offensive line with the success he’s had this year.

“Oh my gosh. I always feel honored to be able to play every week with those guys,” Piva said. “They work so hard. I couldn’t do anything without them.”

After giving up 21 points last week to Free State, Mill Valley head coach Joel Applebee said that the defense was disappointed in their performance against the Fire Birds.

“I think that was unwarranted on their part,” Applebee said. “They have goals and they were a little bit disappointed, but effortwise, I wasn’t complaining about that at all last week.”

Applebee felt the defense had a great week of practice and put forth a great effort against Shawnee Mission North. 

“We challenged them to really focus on the play what was at hand,” he said. “Don’t focus on the scoreboard. Don’t focus on anything else. No distractions. Just focus on what is my execution this play and they did a tremendous job.”

The Jaguars have a Thursday night matchup next week against Olathe West at home. The Owls came into The Swamp last year and handed the Jaguars their worst defeat in years, 52-36. Game time is at 7 p.m.