Mac Moore/Lawrence Sports
Mill Valley’s Max Piva follows his blocker as the Jaguars’ running back powers into the end zone for one of the team’s six touchdown scores in teh game in Week 4 action against Lawrence High.
The progress of the Lawrence High football team is evident to head coach Jason Thoren, even if it didn’t show up in the final score of Friday’s 42-21 loss on senior night to Mill Valley.
“I think we showed fight the whole game and we kept plugging,” Thoren said. “Our guys can see it when they have success against good teams. (We’ve) got to build off that and keep fighting.”
The Lions had chances to cut the score to one possession in the third quarter, but saw two separate drives in Jaguars’ territory thwarted by penalties. Mill Valley’s Max Piva made LHS pay with a four-yard touchdown run, one of the senior running back’s three rushing touchdowns on the night, to put the game out of reach early in the fourth quarter. He had a game-high 233 rushing yards for Mill Valley (3-1), which amassed 387 yards on the ground as a team.
“We made some mistakes, some unforced errors, and that’s the stuff we’ve got to fix,” Thoren said. “You can’t get behind the sticks on unforced errors, and we can’t make it hard on ourselves. We did that a few times.”
The loss dropped the Lions to 0-4 on the season. It’s the first time since 2009 that Lawrence has started a season 0-4, according to MaxPreps.
After not putting up much resistance on defense in the first half, the Lions found success stopping the run and outgained the Jaguars in the third quarter. But they couldn’t cut into a 28-14 deficit.
Sophomore Mason McClure recovered a muffed punt on the Jaguar 37, but the Lions’ drive stalled out after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The LHS defense forced Mill Valley’s only punt of the game on the following series, and sophomore quarterback Joey Dooley hit junior Ethan Curry for a 44-yard pass to put the Lions in Jaguar territory.
On the ensuing Mill Valley drive, Mill Valley senior quarterback Blake Jay converted a fourth and two with 11:10 remaining in the game. The Lions were called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the next play, and Piva punched in a touchdown for what turned out to be the nail in the coffin to give his team a 35-14 lead moments later.
“We’ve got to minimize those, because you don’t want to give them anything,” Thoren said. “I told them after the game, ‘we’re fighting hard for every inch out there; we don’t want to give them 15 yards.’ We can’t do that.”
However, Thoren saw plenty of positives from his team against one of the top teams in the state. The offensive line consistently created rushing lanes, and senior running back Tahj Edwards and Dooley found them. Edwards rushed for 110 yards and two touchdowns, and Dooley rushed for 116 yards. The Lions averaged 6.5 yards per carry.
Already trailing 14-0 and facing a third and one, Dooley telegraphed a pass on an out route that Mill Valley senior Ayden Mosley picked off and returned 39 yards for a touchdown. The Mill Valley defensive back delivered a stiff arm and broke multiple tackles before stretching the ball over the goal line.
The Lions didn’t go away, though.
Edwards darted for a 42-yard run to start the following drive. And then Dooley, who played his third varsity game and second with significant action Friday, showed resilience after an interception on the previous drive by using his legs. Dooley stepped up in the pocket for a 15-yard run and then, a few plays later, followed blockers on the left side of his line to for a two-yard touchdown run for the Lions’ first touchdown to pull them within 21-7.
“That’s Joey,” Thoren said. “Joey is the type of person he’s good at understanding that the next play is the most important play, not the last play. That’s critical at that position.”
Dooley split reps with Colton Curry in the first three games, but Curry is no longer with the team because his family relocated to Wichita, according to Thoren.
On the following Mill Valley Drive, the Jaguars used their rushing success to open up the passing game, as they dialed up a 33-yard play action pass from Jay to junior Stone Zambo to jump start the drive, which was capped off by a six-yard touchdown run by Jay on fourth and goal to give them a 28-7 lead.
But as Thoren said, the Lions continued to fight. Dooley launched a pass down the left sideline that drew a defensive pass interference, and then senior Jaxon Becker made a leaping grab inside the five a few plays later. Edwards powered in one of his two touchdown runs in the game to cut the deficit to 28-14 at halftime.
Thoren hopes that sort of resilience and execution is a sign of things to come.
“I think they can see we have a chance to be pretty dang good if we put it together,” Thoren said. “This thing is a marathon. Our goal is to keep getting better each and every week.
“We’ve got to play smarter, but we’re tough and we played hard. That goes a long way.”
Lawrence will host Shawnee Mission East at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3, during the Lions’ homecoming game at Lawrence High School.
