Photo Credit: Justin Flor/PrepsKC 
Tate Nagy passed for 282 yards and two touchdowns and added 67 yards rushing and another score as Blue Valley West advanced in the Kansas Class 6A state playoffs with a 35-20 win over Shawnee Mission Northwest Friday.
The Jaguars, which won their 10th consecutive game after falling in the season opener to St. Thomas Aquinas, advance to the state semifinals and will travel to Gardner-Edgerton to play the defending state champions next Friday night. Gardner-Edgerton, 10-1, advanced with a 44-29 win over Blue Valley Northwest in its sectional playoff game Friday.
Shawnee Mission Northwest, which had won seven straight after a 1-2 start to the season, finishes 8-3.
“I am happy with the way the kids played, and proud of the way we came out,” Blue Valley West coach Josh Korkenmeier said. “Hats off to Shawnee Mission Northwest. They played a heck of a game and made it tough on us and never quit. “It’s what you would expect in a quarterfinal between two good teams.”
Nagy, the senior quarterback and Kansas commit, came out on fire to start the game. He completed his first nine passes and finished the first half 15 of 16 with the only miss being a breadbasket drop that would have been a sure touchdown pass. He led the Jaguars to touchdowns on all four possessions in the half – not counting a 28-second possession that ended the first half.
West jumped to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter and led 28-14 at the half. Nagy threw a 24-yard TD pass to Lawson McGraw and a 20-yarder to Quin Meyers and power back Tate Miller finished off the other two scoring drives with 1-yard TD runs.
“We challenged our guys, because we knew they had the ability to keep the ball away from us, which they showed in the third quarter,” Korkenmeier said. “We knew getting off to a hot start would be very important for us.”
Northwest’s flexbone rushing attack battled for small gains most of the game, but it hit on two big explosive scoring plays in the first half to keep within striking distance. After sticking with runs on their first nine plays, Cougars quarterback Logan Morley surprised the West defense with his first pass of the game, a 44-yard bomb to senior receiver Dominy Brown, who had sprinted alone behind the Jaguars secondary to make it 14-7. A few minutes later, now down 21-7, senior wingback Joshua Mackiewicz broke free on a sweep for 43-yard touchdown run.
Each time, though, Nagy answered with a touchdown drive. As he has all season, he proved elusive in the pocket, buying extra time to find receivers with a combination of spins and sudden cuts, then while on the run hit receivers while with pinpoint passes. He had 222 yards passing and 52 yards rushing in the first half alone.
The third quarter, however, was a different story, as Northwest took the second half kickoff and completed a laborious 18-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that took 9:03 off the clock. The Cougars made an adjustment by having Morley, who had just one rush in the first half, do the heavy lifting on quarterback keepers. He toted the ball nine times on the drive, including a 1-yard score. The Cougars then forced West to punt the ball the only time in the game and got the ball back with a chance to mount a tying drive, but a fumble recovered by West on the 48-yard line turned the momentum around, and the Jaguars effectively clinched the win as Nagy scored on a 7-yard run just six plays later.
Morely had 84 yards rushing and 82 yards pass on the night to lead Northwest.
Blue Valley West senior linebacker Jack Cook, who iced the game with an interception in the final seconds, was happy to get the win and advance in the playoffs.
“It was a great team win, a great opponent we played,” Cook said. “We’ve played great so far, we’ve played some pretty good teams, and the teams are only get bigger and better from here. We’re excited for the challenge. This is what we work for.”
