MORAN — Marmaton Valley High’s receivers offered a familiar tune Friday. Specifically the one that says, anything you can do, I can do better.
The Wildcats offered up a season’s worth of highlight reel catches and spectacular runs in a tad more than two quarters, rolling past visiting Marais des Cygnes Valley, 58-12.
The win evens MV’s record to 2-2 on the season. More importantly, the win comes in the Wildcats’ district opener, which determines a team’s playoff seeding.
“The boys played pretty well. I’m happy with our effort” Wildcat head coach Max Mickunas said, noting the Trojans were much more physical than one would expect from a winless team.
“They tackle really well, and those guys play hard,” Mickunas said. “We knew they were gonna come out and be physical with us. The boys responded well. We hope we can keep rolling against Hartford.”
The Wildcats’ aerial attack was clicking from the outset. Sophomore quarterback Brayden Lawson threw for 215 yards on 10 of 16 passes and four touchdowns.
Two of the scores went to senior (and Homecoming king) Dylan Drake, who had 103 yards on four catches, including a brilliant diving catch in the end zone early in the third quarter. T“I went up to Coach and told him there’d be a good chance I’d be open on the play,” Drake said. “My defender was pretty short, and I was just able to make the play.”
hat pass covered 25 yards and allowed MV to end the game on the next play when Jaedon Granere outraced the Trojan defense to the end zone on the two-point conversion. The conversion extended the point spread 46 points, the trigger for Kansas eight-man football’s mercy rule.
Lawson previously connected with Drake on a 60-yard touchdown pass midway through the second quarter, after Drake slipped unnoticed down the left sideline.
Lawson, who also rushed for 85 yards on eight carries, added a pair of scoring passes to freshman Tyler Lord, covering 45 and 14 yards.
“And he’s only a sophomore,” Mickunas said of Lawson. “He’s gonna continue to get better, and we’ve got some good receivers.”
The win was hardly a masterpiece, Mickunas noted.
Both teams were whistled for a few too many penalties than either coach liked. The Wildcats were whistled for six penalties; MdCV seven.
“Any time, especially with a district opponent, it can get chippy when things start to get lopsided, but you still have a lot to play,” Mickunas said. “It’s super important we keep our composure. I thought we did a pretty good job, but we weren’t perfect. We’ve got to keep working in the right direction.”
A Wildcat penalty indirectly led to Marais des Cygnes Valley’s first score of the game.
The Wildcats, leading 22-0, were flagged for illegal procedure on a kickoff. The five-yard mark off on the re-kick allowed the Trojans’ Ryan Baker to take the subsequent return 72 yards for a score. (It was the first time all night an MV kickoff hadn’t reached the end zone for a touchback).
