State Quarters

Game 19: 31 October: State Quarter Finals at Mill Valley (1-0)

We survived and advanced in a dicey 1-0 win over a very talented Mill Valley team.  Early in the second half, a Mill Valley player picked up a red card to take them to 10. They actually played better. Go figure.

BWhite named goalkeeper, Spencer Mogren, the BWhite Player of the Match. He had one really nice, complete game. He was aggressive in goal on set pieces. He held his line for some very nice saves, and he reacted well to a couple of dangerous flicks.  He will remember this one for a long time.

B also gave a shoutout to Ryan Holland. He was virtually flawless at right back from much of the match, and he did a great job of marking out Ashford for the last twenty minutes. But hey that back line of Payne, Farrar, Vance and Holland all had big-time games, and when Holland took on Ashford, Colling filled in well at right back.

We lost Jack Mason early to an ankle injury. He did return for the final 5 minutes of the match, but we did struggle offensively after her left. He and Landon have developed some true chemistry up top.  But Curt played up top some with Eli giving us some good minutes as well.

And Landon Wirt got, yet another, game-winning goal for us.  We have won 13 matches; I believe Landon has 9 game-winning goals. Just crazy stuff.

I applaud this senior class for getting us back to the final 4.  We have improved all season, become a real team.  The coaching staff loves the buy-in and the hard work our boys have put in to become one of the top teams in the state.

Carroll is up next.  Let's do this!

STATS:

Saints: Shots: 4 (3) Corners: 2 (Wirt 2)

16:18 Wirt (Joey drops to Curt who one-touches the chip over)

Jags: Shots: 2 (1) Corners: 0

Second Half:

Saints: Shots: 4 (2) Corners: 2 (Wirt, Mason)

Jags: Shots: 5 (1) Corners: 2

Aquinas edges Mill Valley, 1-0, in 5A soccer quarterfinals

Story by Chris Duderstadt

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

The scoring chances were there for the Mill Valley soccer team on Tuesday against St. Thomas Aquinas in the Class 5A Northeast quarterfinals, but for the first time all season, the Jaguars weren't able to put any of them in the back of the net.

Landon Wirt's goal in the 24th minute was all that Aquinas needed to earn a 1-0 victory over the Jaguars, who ended the season with a record of 14-5. Wirt was able to slip by two Mill Valley before pushing it past Jaguar goalie Aidan Veal.

"Tonight our defensive line did an amazing job. We had one mistake that cost us a goal," Mill Valley coach Arlan Vomhof said. "We had some really good opportunities that, like I told the boys, any other night would have gone in. Tonight it just didn't bounce our way. I'm disappointed in the loss. (Aquinas coach) Craig (Ewing) has got a good team. We've got a good team. It was a good match. Unfortunately, we just weren't able to capitalize when we needed to."

The Jaguars had two golden opportunities to strike first early in the first half on crosses from sophomore Ian Carroll. The first cross came in the fourth minute, but senior Kyle Hirner just missed connecting on the finish. Carroll's second cross was in the 15th minute. Senior Brent Stevenson tried to finish it on a bicycle kick, but it went over him and right to the foot of Hirner. The Mill Valley senior put the ball on frame, but Aquinas keeper Spencer Morgan was there for the save.

"We had momentum for the first 15 minutes and then we kind of lost momentum. We did some stuff that we weren't normally doing," Vomhof said. "The second half we came out stronger. We corrected some things."

Mill Valley came out firing after the break with junior Jake Ashford leading the charge. Ashford had back-to-back chances in the 47th and 48th minutes, but his header sailed high and his shot from 30 yards out was corralled by Morgan.

The Jaguars were then dealt a tough blow in the 54th minute when senior Carter Lawson was sent off after being given back-to-back yellow cards.

"It wasn't so much arguing as it was body language and just a comment made. That was the second one," Vomhof said. "It was two yellows. It wasn't a hard red. It was just unfortunate, but they don't have softer reds anymore so you're a man down."

Despite only playing with 10, the scoring opportunities continued to mount for Mill Valley. The Jaguars' best chance came on a breakaway from Stevenson, but he pushed the ball just wide of the left post. Despite the frustration of his high school soccer career coming to a close, Stevenson enjoyed being right in the thick of the Jaguar offense in his senior campaign.

"We had a lot of people moved up (from junior varsity to varsity), and I feel like this year we worked well," Stevenson said. "We all talked and had fun together. We all had good chemistry to work together."

Vomhof was happy to see Stevenson, Hirner, Lawson, Isaac Knapp, Trent Anderson, Kyle Franklin, Bradley Teasley, Myles Mustapich and Drake Brizendine be a part of a special season for their last go-around with the Jaguars. The nine seniors helped the Jaguars to their 200th win in program history and got to be a part of the game that the team's 1,000th goal was scored in. Carroll scored the historic goal.

"This season has been a huge success. I told the seniors they have a lot to be proud of," Vomhof said. "They hit some huge milestones this year for the program that had they not played as well, we wouldn't have hit. I'm really proud of our seniors. They did wonderful."

The win for Aquinas (13-4-2) was their second of the season over the Jaguars. The Saints advanced to the state semifinals, where they will play Bishop Carroll (17-1-1) at 7 p.m. Friday at Maize High School. Blue Valley Southwest (18-0-1) will take on Kapaun Mt. Carmel (15-3-1) at 5 p.m. in the other semifinal.

The only teams that Mill Valley lost to this season will be playing in the state semifinals between Aquinas, BV Southwest and BV West — who topped MV twice. Blue Valley West (13-5-1) will square off against Manhattan (17-1-1) at 5 p.m. Friday in the 6A semifinals at Hummer Sports Park in Topeka. The other semifinal will feature Olathe South (16-2-1) and Dodge City (17-2). Bishop Miege (16-1-1) will square off against McPherson (14-5) and Andover Central (16-3) will go up against Spring Hill (13-6) in the 4-1A semifinals at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Friday at the College Boulevard Activity Center.

Regional Finals

Game 18: 26 October in Regional Finals vs. Topeka Seaman (5-1)

We had some spring Kansas wind tonight, and we lost the toss.  The boys, however, grabbed the lead less than 5-minutes in, and then we had a couple of other early chances to make it 2 or 3. But that did not happen.

Seaman then put a deadball in the mix from 40 yards out that somehow made it into the net to tie the score a couple of minutes later. That goal took a lot of wind out of our sails.  For whatever reason, our play dropped off. We ended up going with a 1-top with about 20 minutes left in the half—just to make it to halftime tied.

Overall that worked out pretty well as we put 4 up in the second half to win the game comfortably. We did not put on our best performance of the year, but we got the job done during conditions we had not really had all year. It was windy.

BWhite named co-BWhite Players of the Match, going with Curt Whigham and Jack Mason who cashed two goals apiece.  

The boys earned the program's its 26th regional title in the school's 30 years, their 16th straight.  But our next game now becomes so important as we have put ourselves in a position to get back to the final 4; we must beat a very good Mill Valley team at their place.

STATS:

First HAlf: Saints: Shots: 5 (1) Corners: 5 (Wirt 3, Vance, Payne)

35:29 Whigham (rip from Joey's play)

Seaman: Shots: 2 (1) Corners: 2

32:55 Synder (drops a 40 yd deadball into the box and into the goal)

Second Half:  Saints: 10 (8) Corners: 6 (Mason 2, Eli, Wirt, Joey, Whigham)

22:24 Mason (Joey starts the deadball that is flicked by Welch, dummied twice and played forward by Farrar)

12:29 Mason (Howard chips it forward)

8:19 Wirt (Vance lifts it into the box)

6:35 Whigham (Esty taps the deadball sideways)

Seaman: Shots: 0  Corners: 0

Regional Semis

Game 17: 24 October vs. St. James in regional semi-finals (4-1)

We begin playoffs as we began the season with a home match against the defending state champs.  And if there is one thing we know, it is that 2017 will have a new state champion in 5A. Our boys came through with a nice 4-1 win.

The game did get a little dicey as St. James cut our 2-0 lead to 2-1 with a corner kick 13-14 into the second half. Our boys, however, responded quickly with a corner of our own basically to end the match. We did tack on one more.

I am not sure if St. James had a shot from the field during the entire match. They did create 4 second-half corners on us, and they did have 2-3 scary deadballs, but overall our defense in the back and our defense in the midfield stood pretty tall all game.

BWhite recognizes freshman centerback Mitchell Farrar as the BWhite Player of the Match. He was lights out for 80 minutes. He knows when to find feet, when to just live to play another day, when to head it, and when to find the keeper's feet—pretty darn savvy for a frosh.

B also gave huge shoutouts to Esteban Arias and Jack Mason as well. Our first goal was just a great Jack Mason t-ball for an Arias' back post finish. Keep in mind Esteban is coming from the center midfield spot to get that post framed—tremendous. Esteban also started the play with a brilliant switch to Holland. 

And then Arias takes a ball out of the air to hammer it off the post and onto the foot of senior Eli Weissend for our second goal. (That second goal was big with Eli's framing the backpost an important, sometimes overlooked, detail.) Jack got a nice assist on the 4th goal to Landon as well.

We had to love our boys' mentality as St. James seized the momentum of the match when they cut the 2-0 match to a 2-1 match. We immediately earned a corner, and then cashed it. 

The boys played well.  We now bring in Seaman out of Topeka to try to get our crazy regional championship string going (We have 25, 15 straight!).

I do want to mention our after-match prayer with St. James. Senior keeper Jake Dunsmore lead both teams in a heartfelt prayer followed by a Hail Mary. That prayer was so humble and aware. What a class act. And he made some great saves tonight as well. That young man makes you proud, and he is the EKL Goalkeeper of the Year to boot.

STATS:

First Half: Saints: Shots: 4 (3) Corners: 6 (Wirt 3, Curt 2, Mason)

11:57 Arias (Holland finds Mason who T's it perfectly)

Thunder: Shots: 0 (0) Corners: 0

Second Half: Saints: Shots: 6 (4) Corners: 7 (Wirt 2, Este 2, Curt, Parker, Weissend)

33:23 Weissend (Whigham's D-ball gets headed off the post by Arias)

26:12 Caragher (Whigham's corner gets a Farrar header off the post)

3:28 Wirt (Mason's through ball)

Thunder: Shots: 3 (3) Corners: 4

28:55 Bass (Foster's corner bends into the near post)

Aquinas upends St. James soccer, 4-1; all-EKL team announced

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Overland Park — St. James Academy boys soccer coach Rick Enna felt that his team was capable of another state title run despite a disappointing regular season record, but it was not to be for the Thunder.

St. Thomas Aquinas applied relentless pressure against the St. James back line and goalkeeper Jake Dunsmore with 10 corner kicks en route to handing the Thunder a 4-1 loss in the Class 5A Northeast regional semifinals on Tuesday.

"That's their thing. Aquinas is great on set pieces and they execute them well," Enna said. "Where we succeed against Aquinas is when we're able to match their intensity on the set pieces, really, and also stay discipline in the midfield. I think where the game got away from us is we lost our discipline in the midfield."

The Saints (11-4-2) struck first when Esteban Arias blasted home a cross from Jack Mason in the 29th minute. Aquinas took the 1-0 advantage into the half, but didn't waste much time in adding to its lead after the break. In the 47th minute, Arias ripped a shot off of the post before Eli Weissend tapped in the rebound opportunity to put the Saints up, 2-0.

The Thunder (4-12-1) had an answer, though, in the 52nd minute when Jonathan Bass scored on a header following a corner kick to cut the deficit in half. Enna said that the Thunder were right back in it, but the Saints responded two minutes later when Joey Caragher scored off of another Aquinas corner.

"That third goal was a killer. We just didn't mark," Enna said. "It is was it is. It this stage of the game, our guys were ready to play and so were theirs. It was a matter of who made mistakes and who executed. They did a better job executing and that's the difference."

The Saints added an insurance goal in the 77th minute from Landon Wirt to bring the final to 4-1. Aquinas advanced to the regional final against Topeka Seaman (11-6), which will take place at 6:30 p.m. 

Following the match, both teams gathered as Dunsmore led both teams in prayer. Dunsmore prayed for the Thunder's rival to have a long postseason run and for the Saints to stay healthy.

Enna said the moment following the game was indicative of the type of person Dunsmore was, and that it was a testament to the respect that the two teams have for each other.

"Every guy on our team has taken a knee at some point, whether it's in practice or in games, to give thanks and to pray for our opponents. That wasn't just Jake or just St. James," Enna said. "That was St. James and Aquinas coming together as a community even though we're rivals and giving thanks for the privilege of playing this game. It's just two great communities — still a great rivalry. They got us this year. I'm already thinking about next year."

While Enna is looking forward to next year, he shared another special moment on the bench with his son, Sam Enna, following the match. The loss to the Saints marked the end of the forward's high school career, and the last time that he will be coached by his dad. Rick Enna has had the opportunity to coach three of his four kids. He coached his oldest son Steven and youngest daughter Lizzy at St. James, while his oldest daughter Emily played at Aquinas.

"This was a bittersweet game for me. I really wanted this season to last," Rick Enna said. "I started coaching in 1995 before my kids started playing soccer. It was a couple of years in, I've got this picture of me and three of my four kids. Sam wasn't even born yet."

The St. James coach added, "Here today with this game, I just coached for the last time one of my kids with Sam graduating. It's pretty amazing how time flies. It's been wonderful coaching for all of these years. I'm very excited about next year, but it's unbelievable to think that I have no more kids to coach in high school."

All-EKL team announced

Prior to the match between the Thunder and the Saints, the all-Eastern Kansas League soccer team was announced on Monday.

Dunsmore was tabbed as the EKL Goalie of the Year and a first-team selection to highlight the honors for the Thunder.

"Jake is a class act. He's a great goalie. He's kept us in many games," Enna said. "Over the years, he's helped win many games. He was a key reason that we were the state champions, and he's one of the key reasons why we felt we had another run in us this year. Whenever you have a guy that can lead from the back like that, he truly is the best keeper, I think, in the EKL and the state in my opinion."

Sam Enna and Matt DuBois were named as all-league second team selections, while James Foster, Francis Nguyen, Luis Alvarado and Bass were picked as honorable mentions.

Mill Valley junior Jake Ashford was selected as the EKL Midfielder of the Year. Ashford and Ian Carroll represented the Jaguars on the all-league first team.

The Jaguars had two second-team selection in Brock Denney and Aidan Veal, and Kyle Franklin, Isaac Knapp, Brent Stevenson and Bradley Teasley were all named as honorable mentions.

Other top all-league honors went to Blue Valley West's Noah Mabry (Forward of the Year), Bishop Miege's Alex Rotert (Defender of the Year), BV Southwest's Jason Pendleton (Coach of the Year), Blue Valley's John Dale (Assistant Coach of the Year) and Gordon Wetmore (Referee of the Year).

EKL Finish and Awards

	EKL Wins	Losses	Ties
Blue Valley Southwest	7	0	1	0.938
Bishop Miege	6	1	1	0.813
Mill Valley	5	3	0	0.625
Saint Thomas Aquinas	4	3	1	0.563
Blue Valley West	3	4	1	0.438
Blue Valley Northwest	3	5	0	0.375
St. James Academy	2	5	1	0.313
Blue Valley	2	6	0	0.250
Blue Valley North	1	6	1	0.188
EKL Goalie of  Year	Jake Dunsmore	SJA	12
EKL Forward of Year	Noah Mabry	BVW	12
EKL Midfielder of Year	Jake Ashford	MV	11
EKL Defender of Year	Alex Rotert	BM	12
EKL Coach of Year	Jason Pendleton	BVSW
EKL Ass. Coach of Year	John Dale	BV
EKL Ref of Year	Gordon Whetmore

First Team EKL

First	Last	Year	Position	School
Jake	Ashford	11	Midfield	MV
Aidan	Bates	11	For	BVSW
Jack	Berg	12	defender	BV
Richard	Bowman	12	Midfielder	BM
Ian	Carroll	10	Midfield	MV
Jake	Dunsmore	12	GK	SJA
Jake	Glass	12	Defender	BVSW
Jacob	Hall	12	forward	BVNW
Mac	Knudsen	12	Midfield	BVN
Noah	Mabry	12	Forward	BVW
Ethan	Martinez	11	Forward	BM
Blake	Perott	12	defender	BVNW
Luke	Rafanan	11	For/MF	BVSW
Alex	Rotert	12	Defender	BM
Matt	Weaver	12	MF	BVSW
Curt	Whigham	12	Midfield	STA
Cooper	Wilson	11	defender	BVW
Landon	Wirt	12	Forward	STA
2nd Team EKL
First	Last	Year	Position	School
Joey	Caragher	11	Midfield	STA
Zac	Crespo	12	Midfield	BVN
Brock	Denny	11	Midfield	MV
Ethan	Diedel	12	Def	BVSW
Matt	Dubois	12	Def	SJA
Sam	Enna	12	forward	SJA
Conner	Faith	12	Midfield	BVW
Reid	Howard	11	Defender	STA
Diego	Loya	12	Defender	BM
Christian	Miller	12	Defender	BVW
Nico	Navarro	11	Midfield	BVN
J. P.	Pascarella	10	midfield	BVNW
Kyle	Pellen	11	defender	BVNW
Kyle	Ruder	12	midfield	BV
Anthony	Sobolevsky	12	forward	BV
Aiden	Veal	11	Goal keeper	MV
Sam	Wambold	10	Def	BVSW
Isaac	Ziglinski	11	Midfielder	BM
HM EKL
First	Last	Year	Position	School
Luis	Alvarado	12	Mid	SJA
Jonathan	Bass	12	Mid	SJA
Nick	Blackford	10	Defender	BVN
Dawson	Borninkohf	11	Defender	BVSW
Mitchell	Farrar	9	Defender	STA
James	Foster	11	Mid	SJA
Kyle	Franklin	12	Def	MVHS
Alejandro	Garcia	12	Defender	BM
Tyler	Gray	11	Goalkeeper	BM
Garrett	Hagen	10	Forward	BM
Quintin	Jarrell	12	Midfield	BV
Alex	Jiminez	12	Midfield	BVN
Issac	Knapp	12	Def	MVHS
Andrew	Lawrence	11	Forward	BVSW
Jack	Mason	11	Forward	STA
Jackson	Million	10	Midfield	BVNW
Braden	Mulkey	12	Defender	BVNW
Francis	Nguyen	10	Mid	SJA
Andrew	Payne	11	Defender	STA
Cole	Petri	12	Midfield	BVSW
Maclain	Petri	10	Midfield	BVSW
George	Quinly	12	Midfielder	BM
Matthew	Ricci	11	GK	BVSW
Ben	Sherwood	12	Midfield	BVW
Ryan	Smith	11	Midfield	BVN
Brent	Stevenson	12	Fwd	MVHS
Parker	Stoecklein	10	Midfield	STA
Bradley	Teasley	12	Def	MVHS