Blue Valley Northwest fired out to a 14-0 lead just minutes into its road match-up against Eastern Kansas League foe Blue Valley West. Despite the slow start for the home team, the Jaguars were seemingly unphased by the multiple haymakers they received moments after the opening bell.

Blue Valley West erased that two-touchdown deficit by the end of the opening quarter and took control in the second half of a 42-35 victory over previously undefeated Blue Valley Northwest.

Jaguars head coach Josh Koerkenmeier said that one reason why his players did so well shrugging off the double-digit deficit minutes into the game was because they’ve already experienced a very similar situation this season.

“Unfortunately, we started the Week 1 game against Aquinas the exact same way,” Koerkenmeier said. “We were able to kind of come back there, so that was a good lesson for our kids to just keep believing when bad things happen. 

“Football games ebb and flow like that and we have a pretty mature group with a lot of seniors. They believe in themselves and they never flinched, they never batted an eye and just kept on powering through.”

Another reason the team stayed cool in those circumstances is because of the play of their starting quarterback.

Blue Valley West senior Tate Nagy threw four touchdowns while completing 18 of 23 passes for 285 yards and rushing for 55 yards as he helped flip the game script from comeback to shootout to protecting a big lead late in the game.

“First of all, he probably makes me look like a lot better coach than what I am,” Koerkenmeier said. “But for our team, it just gives them so much confidence that no matter where we are and what we’re doing, he’s going to give us a chance.”
 

Nagy said it felt great to deliver Blue Valley Northwest its first loss of the season.

“When you beat an unbeaten team, there’s no better feeling,” Nagy said. “It’s a great team win. I just have to shout out all the offense, defense and special teams. It was a team win.”

Blue Valley Northwest looked just as good as its record indicated, especially in the first few minutes of the game. On the team’s opening drive, Huskies junior running back LJ Bowens took off for a 52-yard touchdown. Bowens finished with 150 rushing yards on 18 carries.

On Blue Valley West’s first possession, Blue Valley Northwest senior Micah Handke recovered a fumble to give his team the ball right back in scoring territory. The Huskies capitalized with senior quarterback Nathan Baxter scoring a rushing touchdown to put his team up 14 just minutes into the game.

The Jaguars finally responded on their next drive as Nagy connected with senior tight end Tyler Peterson on a corner route for a 20-yard touchdown pass. The Jaguars defense forced a punt on Blue Valley Northwest’s next drive, getting their offense the ball back near their own 20-yard line.

As they started driving into Blue Valley Northwest territory, Nagy took a deep shot to junior wide receiver Kian Lammers, which drew a pass interference penalty on the defense. Nagy followed up with a short connection with senior wide receiver Luke Goodale to reach the edge of the redzone. Nagy connected with senior wide receiver Quin Myers to reach goal-to-go from the 5-yard line. 

Senior running back Tate Miller scored a rushing touchdown on the next play to tie the game up at 14-all before the end of the first quarter.

Nagy said the team stayed confident down 14-0 partially because it happened so quickly.

“They scored 14 in, I don’t even know what it was, two minutes,” Nagy said. “We had over 40 minutes to still come back and we’re never a team to just give up. Our coaches preach, ‘Just keep going, keep going, keep going.’ We had faith in our whole team. We knew we were going to fight until the end.”
 

After forcing another quick stop on defense, the Jags struck quickly with Nagy finding Myers on a comeback right along the left sideline. Nagy lofted the ball just over the outstretched hands of Huskies defensive back, allowing Myers to reel in the ball and turn up field for open sprint to the end zone on a 34-yard touchdown reception.

“Quinn, he’s been my boy since kindergarten, so I have all the faith in the world in him,” Nagy said. “I know he’s gonna make the play when it matters. Obviously, he’s a quick guy out there, so when he catches the ball, he’s pretty hard to tackle.”

With Blue Valley Northwest trailing for the first time in the game, the Huskies got their offense rolling again. Facing a fourth-and-4 from the team’s own 41-yard line, Baxter fired a deep shot over the top of the defense to find junior wide receiver Ayden McGibboney for a 59-yard touchdown reception.

The Jags responded with another drive into the red zone. With goal-to-go, Nagy rolled out to his right to find Blue Valley Northwest lineman Brock Heath running straight at him. Nagy threw a sidearm around Heath to find Jack Cook on a 8-yard touchdown reception, which was the first score of the year for the senior. Blue Valley West led 28-21 with three minutes remaining.

“I’ve been close a few other times, but it took a lot not to celebrate that one,” Cook said. “I try to get open, but I don’t really expect the ball too much. When I get it, I try to make something happen.” 

Nagy was more than happy to give Cook a chance to get into the end zone there.

“Cook, he’s my guy,” Nagy said. “That was definitely a play to him. He’s our first read on that play and 55 (Brock Heath), he’s a big guy to have to throw the ball around. Cook made a great adjustment to where I could see him and just throw a little sidearm right to him and he did the rest.”

Before his touchdown catch, Cook already made a few big plays for his team on defense early in the game. With Blue Valley Northwest facing a second-and-short on its drive after Blue Valley West scored to make the game 14-7, Baxter tried to take a shot down the field. Cook leaped into the air at the line of scrimmage and got his hand on the ball to knock it down. 
 

After the team tied the game at 14-all, Cook fired into the backfield to pull down the Huskies’ running back and forced another punt, which resulted in the team going down to score a go-ahead touchdown for its first lead of the game.

“Forcing them to punt there and then getting our offense the ball back, that really gave us a ton of momentum there,” Cook said.

But the Huskies players stayed calm as Baxter led Blue Valley Northwest on another drive down the field using a mix of passes and rushes to reach scoring territory in the final minute of the second quarter. After the Jags finally looked like they’d be able to clamp down on the edge of the red zone, Baxter fired a shot over the middle to freshman wide receiver Baron Marshall on a 23-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 28-all.

Blue Valley West opted to run out the clock knowing that the Jags were set to get the ball to start the second half. They wasted little time reclaiming the lead with a touchdown score in the first two minutes of the third quarter. After reaching the red zone, the Jags went back to Miller for a 7-yard rushing touchdown. Miller finished with 36 rushing yards, adding to an already strong rushing attack with senior Wayne Carter leading the way with 117 rushing yards.

The Jaguars defense got a stop on Blue Valley Northwest’s first drive of the second half. Senior Sam Clay chased down Baxter on a scramble toward the right sideline, pulling him down for a sack and forcing the Huskies into a fourth-and-15 from their own 24-yard line. After the punt, Blue Valley West took over at its own 40.

Nagy got the Jags on the board again just two minutes later. He threw a fade to Lammers in the left corner of the end zone. Lammers had a defensive back trying to wrestle the ball away from him as they both went to the ground. Lammers emerged with the ball in his grasp and the referees indicated touchdown as the Jags went up 42-28 midway through the third quarter.

Just like with his own touchdown score, Cook had to give credit to his quarterback using his legs to extend plays before using his arm to make strong, accurate passes down the field on plays like that final touchdown pass to Lammers.

“Nagy’s such a magician, dude,” Cook said. “I don’t know where we’d be without him, but the play is never over with him. You’re going have like, 15-20 second plays with him. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen at any level. Just having him on our team is amazing.”
 

As much as Nagy seems to turn broken plays into big-time gains, many of the plays are completed exactly as they are drawn up.

“We were talking about it on the sidelines and we saw it on film,” Nagy said. “We just thought we’d give it a shot and he made an outstanding catch coming down with that ball. It was a 50-50 ball and he does it in practice, too. When you practice like you play, great things happen.”

Nagy has built quite a highlight reel already this season, but what has impressed his coach the most has been how much the dual-threat signal caller has avoided trying to force a big play to happen.

“He’s done a really good job of taking what the defense gives us and letting those big plays come to him,” Koerkenmeier said. “That’s been his biggest improvement this year and as he continues to do that, we’re going to be a better and better team.”

Baxter responded by leading the Huskies on their own two-minute scoring drive. Senior wide receiver Trevor Garlington converted a third-and-6 using his speed on the perimeter and Baxter picked up 18 yards on keeper, thanks largely to a pin-down block by Bowens right at the first-down marker to spring his quarterback free for more yards.

After a deep shot to Marshall in the end zone netted another defensive pass interference penalty against the Jags put the Huskies in the red zone, Baxter used a pair of gritty runs to ultimately score on a 9-yard touchdown run. Blue Valley Northwest pulled the game back to a one score game at 42-35 with a few minutes left in the third quarter.

Baxter finished with 186 passing yards and two passing touchdowns to go along with 84 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns.

The Jags reached their opponents territory on a six-minute drive during their next possession, but couldn’t come away with points. Nagy made magic happen while facing a fourth-and-8 from the BVNW 30-yard line. He scrambled to his left before firing a dart down the sideline and finding Myers for the completion at the 20-yard line.

But after a few short plays put them into third-and-long, Nagy tried to roll to his right for another first-down making play, only for sophomore Grant Hale to blitz right into his path. Before Nagy could get out of Hale’s grasp, Handke ran up to make the sack and force Blue Valley West into a fourth-and-long at the 24-yard line.

The Jaguars opted for a field goal, but senior kicker Joey Svoboda could not get his attempt to go through the uprights. Svoboda did finish 6 for 6 on point-after attempts in the game.

Blue Valley Northwest reached scoring territory with more than four minutes remaining, but the Jags clamped down from there. 
 

Facing a fourth-and-3 from the BVW 26-yard line, Baxter connected with McGibboney on an 11-yard reception to move the chains. On the next play, Baxter threw a pass to Bowens in the flat and the ball went just over the running back’s outstretched hands. If he could have reeled in the ball, Bowens seemed to have enough space to get his team in goal-to-go and possibly score a touchdown.

Instead, the Huskies ended up facing a third-and-15 from just inside the 20-yard line, Baxter pulled out a QB keeper to reach the 4-yard line and set up a goal-to-go inside the final two minutes of the fourth quarter.

Then a fumbled snap pushed Blue Valley Northwest back to the 9-yard line and a short run on the next play put the Huskies on third down from the 7-yard line. Baxter took two shots at the end zone, but both passes ended up falling to the turf to end the drive with a turnover of downs.

Koerkenmeier credited his defense with making those big defensive stops when the team needed it.

“We do a weekly red zone, 7-on-7 drill and my gosh, it’s hard to score on them when you get down in that confined area,” Koerkenmeier said. “I had a lot of confidence that they were gonna go make a play and come out with it.”

Blue Valley West went to the victory formation to hold on for the 42-35 victory and deliver the Huskies their first loss of the season.

“That’s a huge win for our program,” Cook said. “Huge win for us, but it’s a whole team effort. All 11 guys on both sides of the ball. You gotta have trust in the guy next to you and when you do that, special things happen. We went into that game expecting to win and that’s what we did tonight.”

Blue Valley West (4-1) will go on the road against Blue Valley Southwest (2-3). The Timberwolves started the year 2-1, but they head into this game with two back-to-back blowout losses as the team has been outscored by at least 31 points in all three of their defeats. Blue Valley Northwest (4-1) will host Blue Valley (4-1) in Week 6. The Tigers are on a two-game win streak, including a 42-14 win over Blue Valley North last week.