On the final play of the 14-7 win for St. Thomas Aquinas, Bishop Miege quarterback Marco Rodriguez scrambled and searched the field for an open receiver to tie the game.
By the time his pass made it to Howard Peoples in the end zone, the Aquinas defense was there to force the pass incomplete, ending Miege’s season in the regional round of the Kansas 4A state playoffs and advancing Aquinas.
It was one of many stops that Aquinas would make in what coach Randy Dreiling called one of the most complete games played by an Aquinas defense in the ten years he has been head coach.
“We did just a tremendous job, and then to keep them out of the end zone at the end there obviously was huge,” Dreiling said. “They just never panicked. They just played their game, and it was fun to watch.”
On offense, St. Thomas Aquinas struggled to make ground with its run-heavy Flexbone offense as the Miege defense also stepped up to the challenge in what became a battle in the trenches. The only offensive score of the game for Aquinas was with a short-field set up by an interception just before halftime.
With a few seconds left in the half, Aquinas ran a trick play where quarterback Aiden Skinner handed the ball to the running back, who pitched it to the receiver running a reverse, who pitched it back to Skinner to find receiver Joe Loughman in the endzone for a touchdown pass. That score gave Aquinas a 14-0 lead at the half.
“We did just enough on offense to win,” Dreiling said. He thought his team moved the ball better offensively in the first game against Miege, a 19-7 win for Miege.
With so little working for the Aquinas offense, the Saints relied on their defense. Senior defensive back Wyatt Lewis answered the call, making the interception that led to the passing touchdown, which wasn’t even his biggest play of the half.
Lewis prepared all season, working on timing his jumps to come over the top and hopefully block a field goal. It ended up paying off at a big moment in the first quarter with a scoreless game.
Miege was forced to settle for the field goal inside the red zone. Instead, Lewis jumped high enough with perfect timing to deflect the field goal over the middle of the defensive line. Defensive end Owen Charlton scooped up the ball and ran it back for a touchdown.
“It was perfect timing. The ball came to me, I hit it, then my teammates did the rest,” Lewis said after the game. “Shoutout to Owen Charlton. He took it back to the crib. Couldn’t be happier.”
A win in this rivalry always means something, but in the state playoffs, it means Aquinas will advance to play at least one more game in the sectional round next week. It also means they’ve knocked off the defending state champions.
“This means everything to us,” Lewis said. “Putting in all that work, sacrificing with our brothers. All this work that we’ve put in, just happy to see this finally pay off.”
