OVERLAND PARK – It was maybe as helpless as Hayden Heller had ever felt during his football playing career.
In the midst of having a big junior season from his defensive tackle position and enjoying the biggest game of his career with a 15-tackle performance against Olathe North, the Mill Valley lineman went down with a torn ACL that ended his season.
And as painful as it was for Heller to miss the remainder of the season, the manner in which the Jaguars’ season ended was the most painful. Standing on the sideline for Mill Valley’s Class 5A state quarterfinal showdown with rival St. Thomas Aquinas, Heller had to watch as the Saints converted a game-winning two-point conversion on a running play that went right to the spot where Heller would have occupied – Aquinas’ 23-22 win ending the Jaguars’ five-year reign atop Class 5A.
“I wanted to be out there so bad, but I couldn’t,” Heller said. “I just wanted another chance against them.”
Heller and the Jaguars got it. And wouldn’t you know it, Friday’s Class 5A regional playoff game once again came down to a decisive two-point conversion attempt, this time coming with 54 seconds left in the game after Aquinas had rallied to within a point after trailing 28-14 early in the fourth quarter.
Just as they did a year ago, the Saints put the ball in the hands of All-State tailback Calin Arndt, who tried to power his way into the end zone over the right side. But this time, Heller was there.
Heller stuffed Arndt and Jaguar teammate Kendyn Charbonneau finished him off, stopping the Saints’ conversion attempt to preserve a 28-27 victory for Mill Valley.
“We were so confident, just straight belief,” Heller said. “We believed we were going to win the game and when we saw them coming out for the two-point conversion, we knew we were going to stop it. We knew it was our chance to show the type of team we were and we got the job done.”
Injured for last year's playoff loss to St. Thomas Aquinas, MIll Valley defensive tackle Hayden Heller came up huge this year, stuffing the Saints on a potential game-winning two-point conversion with 54 seconds left.
While Heller was relegated to the sidelines a year ago with his injury, teammate Blake Jay found himself there this year after being on the field for last year’s decisive conversion attempt. A two-way performer for the Jaguars last year at both defensive back and receiver, Jay has played exclusively on offense this year after taking over as Mill Valley’s starting quarterback.
Like Heller a year ago, Jay desperately wanted to be on the field to help the Jaguars get revenge for a year ago. Instead, he huddled with his teammates, watching the final sequence unfold.
“I have so much faith in my defense,” Jay said. “Me and Holden Applebee were standing out there and watching it happen. And we saw them hand the ball off and our defense just stuff (Arndt) immediately. We knew right away we’d won it and the game was over right then and there.”
With time still left on the clock, the game wasn’t exactly over as Aquinas lined up for an onside kick. But after seeing his defense get the penultimate stop, Jay ensured it was indeed a game-saving play as he snagged the onside kick and then took two kneel-downs for the win.
“They kind of did a weird little switcheroo when they were kicking it, but I saw a good bounce and went u to get it,” Jay said. “We’re in a Catholic place and I think God helped me out there and got four hands on the ball and I pulled it in for the victory.”
Mill Valley's Blake Jay celebrates after a first-half touchdown run.
The victory sends Mill Valley (8-2) into a semifinal showdown with St. James Academy (9-1), while Aquinas (8-2) saw its bid for a third consecutive state championship (5A last year, 4A in 2023) end with the heartbreaking reversal of fortune.
“We knew it was going to be this way, they always are,” Mill Valley coach Joel Applebee said of the playoff rivalry with the Saints – one that has seen the two teams meet in the playoffs eight times in the past 10 years with the only two years they didn’t meet occurring in 2022 and 2023 with Aquinas in Class 4A those seasons.
“There’s been a few that’s been lop-sided, but not very many. I respect the heck out of Aquinas and I love Coach (Randy) Dreiling, he’s one of if not the best to ever do it. He’s the standard and our kids know that walking in here. They know it’s going to be tough and they enjoy playing them. I think everybody does. Why wouldn’t you?”
The heavyweight battle in front of a capacity crowd at Aquinas’ home field got everything they could have wanted and more as a thrilling encore to last year’s epic clash. Trailing the Jaguars 22-15 late in the fourth quarter of last year’s contest, Aquinas converted an improbable Hail Mary halfback pass on fourth-and-16 from midfield to set up its late touchdown and game-winning conversion to stun Mill Valley.
In Friday’s rematch, the Saints again found their backs against the wall after Jay hit Stone Zambo for a 17-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-4 on the first play of the fourth quarter that gave the Jaguars a 28-14 lead.
St. Thomas Aquinas quarterback Carson Patrick had two touchdown runs, including one in the fourth quarter that helped the Saints have a shot at victory.
Unfazed, Aquinas came right back and engineered a five-minute drive capped by a Carson Patrick 9-yard touchdown run that made it a 28-21 game. The defense then did its part, coming up with two straight tackles for loss after Mill Valley had a second-and-1 near midfield, forcing a punt that gave the ball back to the Saints at their own 14 with just over three minutes left.
The long-field, short-clock scenario isn’t exactly an ideal situation for Aquinas’ run-heavy flexbone offense. But then again, Dreiling said, “We can go really fast. You don’t have to throw the ball to be fast.”
He was dead on. Arndt sandwiched runs of 14 and 15 yards around a 21-yard burst by Tyler Bartell to move the ball to the Jaguar 36 in less than a minute. The drive slowed momentarily when the Saints were hit with a holding and false start penalties back-to-back, but on second and 19, Patrick scrambled 16 yards and on third down he connected with Arthur Witherspoon to set the Saints up with a first-and goal at the 10 with just over a minute to play.
On the next play, Patrick found Rafferty Jackson alone in the end zone for a touchdown.
And at that point, there was no doubt in Dreiling’s mind what the decision was.
“We talked about it the whole last drive that if we made it, we were going for two,” he said.
Dreiling had planned for such a scenario and said he had a play in mind the Saints had practiced all week, “a pass.”
But during a time-out the Saints called ahead of the two-point conversion, his team lobbied for something else.
“Our guys wanted 22 Power,” he said. “That’s the play we run on that play against Rockhurst this year and we run all the time. Without watching the film, I can’t tell what happened, but obviously I did a poor job on that play. And hats off to Mill Valley, they made the play.”
Applebee admitted he was debating calling a timeout prior to the conversion attempt before the Saints called it first. In the Jaguar huddle, he had a simple message for his team.
“When they called that timeout, I was really glad because it got us a chance to get the kids over to the sideline,” he said. “We only had one left, so I didn’t know if I was going to call it or not, because last year we did call one. We just said to them, ‘Play to win the game, right now. Play to win the game. We’re not playing to lose.’ And they just went out and executed.
“It was just knowing that you were going to make this stop. Trust your keys, do your job and if everybody does their job, we get the stop and we did.”
Mill Valley's Ryder Farley celebrates after the Saints recovered an onside kick to seal the 28-27 win over St. Thomas Aquinas.
Heller said the confidence for the decisive stop came from an equally big stand the Jaguars made earlier in the game.
Aquinas had made its opening drive of the game look relatively easy, marching right down the field for a first-possession score with Patrick taking it in from 3 yards out. After Mill Valley had tied early in the second quarter on a 13-yard run by Jay, Aquinas was knocking at the door for a go-ahead score.
But after stopping the Saints at the 1 on third down, the Jaguars stuffed Patrick’s quarterback sneak inches short of the goal line to keep the game knotted 7-7. Mill Valley then drove the length of the field with Max Piva capping the 99-yard drive with a 27-yard touchdown run for a 14-7 Jaguar lead with 1:20 left in the first half.
“Three-yard line, I liked our odds especially after that goal-line stand we had,” Heller said.
The fast offense the Saints showed on the final drive of the game also showed up at the end of the first half as Arndt scored on a 6-yard TD run on the final play of the half to tie things 14-14.
That could have been a big momentum shift for the Saints. Instead, Mill Valley opened the second half with a big touchdown run that Piva finished with a 5-yard scoring run. The drive was kept alive by a huge 61-yard third-down conversion pass from Jay to Zambo, who came up huge for the Jaguars in the contest.
He also had a big third-down conversion on a Mill Valley touchdown drive earlier in the game and then caught the fourth-quarter touchdown pass that proved to be the game-winner.
“The trust I have in my teammates is unordinary,” said Zambo, who finished with three catches for 100 yards after having just 4 catches for 110 yards going into the game. “I love my guys and I couldn’t have done it without them. I’ve been through so much adversity and all you can do is learn from that and God gave me this opportunity.”
Mill Valley's Stone Zambo (88) catches a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter and was huge, having a career night in the Jaguars' win.
“Stone’s a freak athlete and I haven’t hit him enough this year like I should,” Jay said. “Today was his legacy game, as they say.”
Jay finished with a season-high 133 passing yards, completing 7 of 8 passes, while also rushing for 109 yards. Piva added 84 yards on the ground and had the two rushing scores.
Arndt, meanwhile, ran for 202 yards on 39 carries in the game to lead Aquinas.
St. Thomas Aquinas back Cal Arndt (left) ran for 2020 yards and a touchdown, but was stopped short of the game-winning two-point conversion by Mill Valley's defense in the final minute.
While Jay said the Jaguars’ focus all season hasn’t necessarily been on avenging last year’s playoff loss that ended Mill Valley’s title streak, once the opportunity presented itself, they were ready for the moment.
“We knew the feeling from last year and as a junior last year, seeing how those seniors felt, crying and everything, nobody wanted to experience that again,” he said. “It wasn’t necessarily a revenge game, we just wanted to come out and show everybody who we are.
“Obviously we weren’t going to think about them until the week comes. But once it happened, we were ready for it. Nobody backed down. We talked about facing your fears and coaches helped us just relax. Aquinas are just kids, too, we’re all gonna have fears. We faced ours and got the job done.”
As big as the win was for the Jaguars, there’s still plenty more left on the table with three more wins necessary to get back the title they didn’t get a year ago.
“A win’s good, but obviously now we’ve got to get back to work,” Applebee said. “That’s one thing our kids understand in this program. It’s always that next-play mentality, that next-game mentality. We’ve got to get better tomorrow and be ready for St. James.
“I’m just really happy for these kids. They’re working their butt off and they’re going to continue to do that. That’s what I’m most excited for. We get to be together for at least another week.”
Mill Valley's Max Piva (9) celebrates after one of his two touchdown runs in the game.
MILL VALLEY 28, ST. THOMAS AQUINAS 27
Mill Valley (8-2) … 0 … 14 … 7 … 7 … -- … 28
St. Thomas Aquinas (8-2) … 7 … 7 … 0 … 13 … -- … 27
St. Thomas Aquinas – Carson Patrick 3-yard run (Jacob Zinkus kick)
Mill Valley – Blake Jay 13-yard run (Mason Gallender kick)
Mill Valley – Max Piva 27-yard run (Gallender kick)
St. Thomas Aquinas – Calin Arndt 6-yard run (Zinkus kick)
Mill Valley – Piva 5-yard run (Gallender kick)
Mill Valley – Stone Zambo 17-yard pass from Jay (Gallender kick)
St. Thomas Aquinas – Patrick 9-yard run (Zinkus kick)
St. Thomas Aquinas – Rafferty Jackson 10-yard pas from Patrick (run failed)