Photo Credit: Todd Habiger/Special to PrepsKC 
St. Thomas Aquinas senior Will Callahan felt a rollercoaster of emotions during the fourth quarter of the Saints’ 23-22 5A quarterfinals win over Mill Valley on Friday.
Trailing 22-15 and facing a 4th and 16 late in the fourth quarter, the Saints’ dream of a perfect season was on life support. The Saints dialed up a halfback pass from Cal Arndt, who evaded a tackle from Mill Valley defensive end Jayden Woods before heaving up a pass that was deflected into the hands of Callahan for a first down.
“Honestly, I ran the wrong route. I think I was supposed to block, but I ran the wheel,” Callahan said. “I saw it go up and I’m like, ‘I can’t catch that.’ I saw who was going to catch it. Three Mill Valley guys went up for it and it miraculously just pops into my hands, and I caught it.”
After the fingertip catch by Callahan, Arndt scored three plays later on a 15-yard run to cut the deficit to one. Mill Valley then jumped offside prior to the PAT, which gave the Saints the ball at the 1½-yard line. Arndt punched it in to put the Saints up 23-22. It was the second time that the Saints went for two and converted following an offside penalty by Mill Valley.
“We had a yard and a half. That’s what we do is run the ball and get a yard and a half,” Aquinas coach Randy Dreiling said. “What a game. That was unbelievable. We messed up quite a bit to put them in a good position, but our kids fought back and I’m really proud of them.”
Callahan got high praise from Dreiling after the game, but Callahan's mood was anything but jubilant earlier in the fourth quarter. The Saints held a 15-14 edge and forced Mill Valley to punt, but Callahan muffed it. It was recovered by Mill Valley senior Zach Zaldivar at the Aquinas 42-yard line.
“I was really down. All my teammates told me to keep my head up,” Callahan said. “I trusted them and trusted what they told me, and we got it done.”
On the next play, Mill Valley dove into its bags of tricks, as Blake Jay took a handoff from Connor Bohon and then threw it to tight end Isaac Sauder for a 38-yard completion. Reggie Reece scored three plays later on a 3-yard run and Bohon found Sauder for a successful two-point conversion pass.
“I’m just so proud of our kids and so proud of our seniors,” Mill Valley coach Joel Applebee said. “Everyone saw the fight that our kids had. I’m really, really proud of them.”
Reece accounted for both Mill Valley touchdowns in the second half, as he also scored on a 32-yard run with 10:49 left in the third quarter. The Jaguar running back’s touchdown and Aiden Standley’s extra point trimmed the Aquinas lead to 15-14.
The Saints scored 15 unanswered in the second quarter after finding themselves in an early 7-0 hole. Aquinas coughed the ball up on the opening kickoff to give the Jaguars the ball at the STA 28-yard line. Bohon found pay dirt on a 3-yard quarterback keeper to cap the short scoring drive.
Bohon’s counterpart showed off his wheels as well to close out the first quarter. Aquinas quarterback Elzie Slaughter ran for 39 yards on the final play of the quarter and then punched it in from 1 yard out to put the Saints on the board. Then came Mill Valley’s first offside penalty on an extra point attempt. Dreiling went for two and Arndt rewarded him for it to give the Saints an 8-7 edge.
“Our line did a great holding up for us,” Arndt said. “They kept blocking for us and did a great job.”
Arndt got stronger as the half went on as well. The Aquinas junior scored on a 2-yard run with 1:33 to go in the second quarter to lift the Saints to a 15-7 lead going into the locker room.
Aquinas improved to 11-0 and extended its overall winning streak to 16 games. The Saints and Jaguars had split their previous 12 meetings, but they hadn’t played each other since the 2021 5A semifinals.
Mill Valley (10-2) had won three straight matchups against the Saints—all in the 5A semifinals—but its streak of five straight 5A state titles has come to an end. The last team to win a 5A crown prior to Mill Valley? That would be the Saints, who find themselves one game away from the state title game. Standing in their way is another rival, St. James, which coasted past Blue Valley North, 45-0, on Friday.
“Enjoy tonight and go to work Sunday. Obviously, there is no state championship trophy handed out right here,” Dreiling said. “We’ve got to win another game before we can even talk anything about that, so it’s back to work for another week of practice. I love global warming. This weather is great.”
