Photo Credit: Roman Puno/PrepsKC 
After a 28-point loss to Bishop Miege to end the regular season, Blue Valley Northwest head coach Clint Rider questioned how far his team could go in the Class 6A playoffs. BVNW rolled to a first-round win against Olathe Northwest but got all it wanted and then some in Thursday night’s second round shootout against Olathe South.
The Huskies got the fourth down stop they needed with two-and-a-half minutes to go, though, as they edged the Falcons, 47-42. They’ll face the winner of top-seeded Gardner-Edgerton and Shawnee Mission Northwest on Friday, November 10, with a trip to the state semifinals on the line.
“We had a really tough game two weeks ago where we didn’t handle some situations well. They understood that from this point on that we need to stick together, and they did a great job of that tonight,” Rider said. “Offensively, we needed to understand that we could only control what we could control. The defense stepped up when the game was on the line. We needed a stop and went out there and did it.”
The Huskies (6-4) were only able to get one other defensive stop in addition to the stand on 4th and 13 in the fourth, but that proved to be just enough. The BVNW defense had its hands full with Olathe South quarterback Bryce Noernberg, who rushed 18 times for 254 yards and five touchdowns. Noernberg also completed 8 of his 11 passes for 71 yards.
The Olathe South quarterback scored on runs of 1, 2, 14, 36 and 72. His 72-yard score came just before the half. Noernberg then completed a 2-point conversion pass to Cooper Warren to tie the game up at 28-28 going into the half.
“He’s a dude. If he’s not the most dangerous skill guy in the city, he’s certainly right up there,” said Rider of Noernberg. “He’s gotten more physical as he’s gotten older. He can put his shoulder down and is just a tough cat. He can reverse field.”
Rider added, “For us, it’s great to see tape about taking proper angles and continuing to be aggressive. Thought process wise, we got our guys scared of him early on, but there’s a reason to be because he’s such a good player. But we can learn from that and get better. I think that only makes us better as a team for our defense to be able to survive that and get a stop when it mattered.”
The Falcons (6-4) also had a big night on the ground from running back Max Armstrong, who rumbled for 126 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries.
But the Huskies had a potent one-two punch in the backfield as well that gave the Falcons defense fits. Quarterback Nate Livingston had 18 totes for 175 yards and three scores on the ground and completed 10 of 14 passes with two touchdowns through the air.
“All week, we knew we were going to dominate them physically up front. We could run on them all day,” Livingston said. “They couldn’t really stop it. I don’t know how many rushing yards we had, but it was pretty evident.”
Livingston had plenty of help in fueling the BVNW run game, as Lovie Pulliam rushed for 166 yards and two touchdowns on 24 touches. The Huskies offense also got a big early spark from tight end Gavin Hoffman, who got behind the Olathe South secondary to corral a 63-yard touchdown pass on BVNW’s first drive. Hoffman led the Huskies with 102 receiving yards. Livingston also threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Trevor Garlington late in the first half.
The Huskies are hungry for another shot at a 6A state title after winning it all in 2021. If Gardner-Edgerton is able to get past SM Northwest, it would set up a playoff rematch between the Huskies and Trailblazers. Gardner-Edgerton upended BVNW, 28-19, last season en route to being 6A runner-ups.
“Going into this game, we had a lot of naysayers. From the beginning of the season, people were saying we weren’t the same team anymore and not as good,” Livingston said. “We want to come out and prove to everybody that we’re still the same team that’s going to go all the way. This is just one step. Next, we have Gardner. That’s who we really want. It's a revenge game for us. Moving on to that is all I’m thinking about. We expected to be here and expected to win.”
