St. James upends Mill Valley in wild contest

Sectionals 

Mill Valley and St. James engaged in a shootout on the football field Nov. 14 - both hoping to advance in the Kansas 5A playoffs. In the end, it was St. James with a score with 14 seconds left in the game that pulled out the victory 45-41. The second half featured eight lead changes.

A somber Mill Valley head coach Joel Applebee praised St. James for their effort on the football field.

“I give them all the credit,” Applebee said. “They played very, very well.”

Both offenses played very, very well all night. For the most part, they were unstoppable. 

Moments after being knocked out of the game, Mill Valley quarterback returned to the contest a broke off a 50 yard touchdown run.

The two teams, like the prizefighters of old, kept throwing haymakers all night. Both Blake Jay and Max Piva scored first half touchdowns, but it was St. James who went into halftime with the lead scoring with 28 seconds left to make the score 20-14.

But Mill Valley received the second half kickoff and promptly moved the ball down the field to take a 21-20 lead. St James would answer with a field goal to make it 21-23 and the see saw battle was on. 

The Jaguars faithful held their breath when quarterback Blake Jay was knocked out of the game midway through the third quarter. Jay would miss one play before returning to the field and reeling off a dramatic 50 yard touchdown run.

But St. James continued to answer the Jaguars point for point.

With the score 41-38 the Jaguars defense forced St. James to punt with 5:23 remaining in the game. The Jaguars ran the clock down to 2:16 before facing a 4th and 2 at their own 26 yard line. The Jaguars decided to punt and St. James calmly marched down the field for the winning score.

With tears in his eyes, Applebee praised this year’s senior class. 

“I love them. I love them like they’re my own and I always will,” he said. 

Mill Valley ends their season with a record of 8-3. This year marks their final year in Class 5A as they will make the jump to Class 6A in 2026.