810 WHB Game of the Week
No. 10 Blue Valley (3-1) at No. 15 St. James Academy (4-0)
To say this is the biggest game in St. James’ history would be an understatement. The Thunder are off to a 4-0 start after upsetting defending 5A champs Mill Valley and then running through BVSW, BVNW and Gardner-Edgerton with stingy defense and timely offensive production. Now it’s time for the real test. Even though Blue Valley has lost a game this season, it’s still Blue Valley. The Tigers destroyed Mill Valley 49-9 last week in a game that wasn’t even that close. Blue Valley did it on both sides of the ball, but its defense played outstanding, picking off three passes. St. James does have explosive ability on offense, scoring 83 points in the first two games, but it has leveled off some last in the last two weeks with 34 points. The Thunder’s offense will need to play big Friday night for them to get the biggest win in school history and keep them in the hunt for the EKL title. For Blue Valley, it would be a notch in its belt in the hunt for a quality seed in the 6A playoffs.

Other key games
No. 5 Lee’s Summit West (5-1) at No. 12 Fort Osage (5-1)
After dropping the heartbreaker to Blue Springs in Week 2, most everybody forgot about Lee’s Summit West. But the Titans proved once again they are one of the top programs in the city with signature 31-27 victory over Park Hill on the road last week. West’s offense has been downright explosive over the last four weeks averaging 41 points a game and led by running back Phillip Brooks, who should eclipse the 1,000-yard mark this week. Fort O has also been flying under the radar after a loss two weeks ago to Staley, but this is still a quality team with a very good defense. If the Indians can limit West’s ability to get into the end zone, then they have a chance to pull the upset. But that’s easier said than done, especially with the way the Titans have been playing lately.

No. 23 Raytown (4-2) at No. 13 Kearney (5-1)

Something is going to have to give in this game, as Raytown enters with one of the metro’s most explosive offenses while Kearney is built on defense. Raytown dropped back-to-back games to Liberty and Park Hill South, but they do enter 4-2 and averaging more than 37 points a game on offense. Kearney’s only loss came in Week 1 to Fort Osage and the Bulldogs have been playing lights out on the defensive side ever since, pitching two shutouts and giving up only six and 14 points in the other two games.

Movement in top 10 in 810 Varsity top 40
The top three remained the same, as Miege, Staley and Free State cruised last week. However, after losing to Lee’s Summit West, Park Hill falls to four. The Trojans climbed as high as No. 1 in the rankings after defeating Blue Springs earlier this season. Moving up were Blue Springs (4), Lee’s Summit West (5), Aquinas (7), SM East (8) and Blue Valley (10). While there is some jumbling in the top 10, it’s hard to argue against those teams separating themselves from the pack some, especially after Liberty lost to Platte County last week and fell to 14.

Player of the year race wide open
After moving into the front-runner’s spot after engineering the victory over Blue Springs, Park Hill QB Billy Maples’ stranglehold on the top spot has slipped some, especially after back-to-back losses in key games. Keep a close eye on Lee’s Summit West RB Phillip Brooks. He had nearly 350 yards against Lawrence, 120-key yards against Park Hill last week and has already amassed 1,253 total yards. Also making a strong case for consideration is Staley QB John Raybourn, who had 357 passing yards and 100 yards rushing against Blue Springs South and has gone over 90 rushing yards in three games. On the Kansas side, Miege QB Carter Putz has to be a serious candidate, even though his passing numbers are down from 2016 largely because of a better Miege running attack. And SM East RB Milton Braasch might be the best player in the city nobody talks about. He had 125 tough yards against Rockhurst and went for 235 and four scores against Olathe North.