Photo Credit: Nick Smith/PrepsKC 
Bishop Miege coach Jon Holmes had a short and sweet message to his team prior to the Stags’ road matchup on Friday against St. Thomas Aquinas.
Start fast.
And start fast they did. Bishop Miege set the tone in all three phases of the game in the first four minutes of its 19-7 win over the Saints. The Stags defense forced a three and out on STA’s opening drive. Paddy Meara then blocked the Saints’ punt to give Miege the ball at the Aquinas 13-yard line. Then, Teryn Jackson hauled in a 3-yard touchdown pass from Marco Rodriguez five plays later in a game that the Stags never trailed.
“That was big because the last two games we really came out flat. We came out flat against Rockhurst and came out flat against Blue Valley,” Holmes said. “As a staff, we kind of rescripted practice and how we were going to do things so we could get a fast start in the game. I felt like it worked. The kids were fresh, and they came out and really executed that game plan.”
Points were at a premium for both teams after the first four minutes. Luke Whitmore drilled two 22-yard field goals to give the Stags a 13-0 lead, but Jack Baird really broke the game open late in the third quarter with a 34-yard pick six.
“The D-line pressure definitely helped,” Baird said. “We went over that play a lot in practice where their tight end was dragging across. I saw it and I picked it off.”
There was also credit due to the Aquinas defense for its play all night long, and Holmes gave it to them. The Stags had five drives after Jackson’s touchdown catch on their opening possession. They got inside the Aquinas 30-yard line on all five possessions. Miege came away with the two field goals from Whitmore, had a turnover on downs at the STA 5-yard line, had a missed 42-yard field goal attempt from Christopher Anderson, and ended the game at the Aquinas 1-yard line by taking a knee.
“We need to finish runs,” Holmes said. “I felt like there were a couple of runs that we didn’t finish that we probably needed to. And hats off to them. That’s a physical front seven. We’ll watch the film and see what happened. They have some really good football players that just made some plays. To be able to punch it in early with Teryn Jackson on the third down was big. It was a play we put in specifically for this week.”
Aquinas did answer Baird’s pick six with a 1-yard touchdown run by Blake O’Brien, who helped fill in for an injury-depleted Aquinas backfield. STA’s top two backs, Gianni Rizzi and Calin Arndt, were both sidelined.
O’Brien’s score came with 9:35 to go, but the Saints never got the ball back. Holmes was pleased with how his offense controlled the clock on their final drive, but the story of the night for the Stags was their defense.
“Coach (Pat) Hansen and his defense did a tremendous job,” Holmes said. “We knew it was a play-after-play mindset. They were going to make some plays. We just had to tell our guys to hit that reset button after every snap. They were able to do that and really make plays. Jack Baird’s pick six was huge for us in the second half.”
The Stags (5-1) will try to keep rolling at 7 p.m. Friday against Blue Valley West. The Saints (4-2) will attempt to bounce back from back-to-back losses when they take on Blue Valley at 7 p.m. Friday.
