Sports Radio 810 WHB Game of the Week
No.  1 Blue Springs (2-1) at No. 3 Park Hill (3-0)

• Even though Blue Springs lost last week, the Wildcats remained at No. 1 in the 810 Varsity Top 25. A 22-17 loss to the second-ranked team in Arkansas is nothing to hang your hat with, even though Blue Springs had chances to win the game. The Wildcats are still without star running back Jaylen Ivey, who has remained sidelined with an injury. That’s caused Cade Musser and Michael Warmack to carry the load and combined they’ve scored six rushing touchdowns in three games.
  
  Still teams have been loading the box against Blue Springs, forcing them to pass the ball. QB Chase Donohoe has done a good job, completing 56 percent of his passes and five touchdowns in the air, but the Wildcats’ passing game has been inconsistent at times.
  
  What has been consistent is the Wildcats’ defense. Blue Springs has shut down a dynamic Lee’s Summit West offense and bottled up Fayetteville for most of the game and the defense will have to come up big again this week against a prolific Park Hill offense.
   
• Park Hill is riding high thanks to the passing of QB Billy Maples. He set a national record with eight touchdown passes in a half in a Week 2 victory over Lee’s Summit and then he has stayed on track with a four-touchdown effort last week against rival Park Hill South. Maples already has 18 – yes, 18 – touchdown passes and getting him going against the state’s best defense is going to be key.
  
  Maples’ top target is the speedy Ronnie Bell with a 23 yard average per catch and nine touchdowns in three games. The keys for Park Hill will be whether or not they can find some sort of running game to keep the Wildcats’ blitzing defense honest and whether or not they can stop Blue Springs’ rushing attack.

• Park Hill couldn’t do either in last year’s game. After jumping out to an 18-0 second quarter lead, the Wildcats rallied with stingy defense and a dominating rushing game to capture a 42-25 victory. Plus, Park Hill made a number of key mistakes – two missed extra points, a failed two-point conversion, a bad snap on a punt that resulted in a safety and several fumbles. You can’t do that against Blue Springs.

No. 4 St. Thomas Aquinas (1-0) at No. 10 Blue Valley North (1-0)
Football fans in Johnson County are already looking forward to next week’s St. Thomas Aquinas vs. Bishop Miege game, but the Saints better not look past Blue Valley North. The Mustangs continue to be one of the metro’s most improved programs and they’ve found a quarterback in Graham Mertz. The Bishop Miege transfer threw for 267 yards and six touchdowns last week against Blue Valley Northwest. Mertz looks to be the real deal and he’ll be tested by an Aquinas defense that looks to be one of the best in 5A and features the top junior recruit in the city in Jayden Russell. STA’s option attack looked good in the first game, as quarterback Will Swanson, tailback Cameron Jackson and receiver Jack Morrissey all had big opening weeks. Swanson was an efficient 6 of 8 for 200 yards and two touchdowns. Morrissey was his main target grabbing four balls for 151 yards and a touchdown. Jackson finished with 12 carries for 103 yards and one score but was one of nine Saints to run the ball. This will be a real test for Aquinas. If they can get their offense going and keep the ball out of Mertz’s hands, then they should win. But if Mertz gets hot, then the Mustangs have enough firepower to win. 

No. 15 Raytown (3-0) at No. 9 Liberty (3-0)
This is a battle of two 3-0 teams that really haven’t been tested yet. Raytown is 3-0 for the first time since 1991, but opening victories over Truman, Liberty and Grain Valley still leaves some wondering how they’ll do when faced with stiffer competition.

It’s a similar situation for Liberty. The Blue Jays are 3-0 also with wins over St. Joseph Central, Belton and Liberty North. Liberty has one of the best players in the city in running back Robert Rawie, who has 359 yards and eight scores in his first three games, but the Blue Jays are more balanced this season, thanks to QB Thomas Henrichs.

Raytown sophomore quarterback Joe Campbell is coming off a career game where he threw for more than 400 yards and combined for seven touchdowns threw the air and on the ground. WR Dominic Gicinto notched the seventh highest single-game receiving yardage game in Missouri history last week with 284 yards and three touchdowns and leads the city in receiving yardage. They’re going to need to come up big again for Raytown to win. The winner of this game should be the favorite in the Suburban Red and get a leg up for seeding in district.

Will Blue Valley bounce back?
To say last Friday’s blowout loss to Miege was shocking would be an understatement. You certainly chalk a lot of what happened against Miege up to the emotional roller-coaster everyone in that program has been through over the last six months. And surely, some of it can be attributed to how good Miege is.

But it’s also not out of the question to wonder if Blue Valley just has too much to replace after that state-finalist team in 2016 and they might struggle some throughout the season. Usually Blue Valley reloads, but when you lose your QB, RB, all five OL, two star WRs, half your DL and your best LBs, even a program like Blue Valley can’t simply reload.

The schedule is going to be really tough for the Tigers and it wouldn’t be out of the question to see them struggle against EKL foes Blue Valley North, St. James, and Aquinas.

Is St. James for real?
One of the most shocking score lines last week was St. James’ 45-14 upset over two-time defending 5A state champs Mill Valley. It was St. James’ first victory over Mill Valley and it has the Thunder dreaming big now of what might be the rest of the season.

“This is a senior-laden team, and they worked their butts off all offseason, and we knew what we had,” Radke said. “You guys (the media) didn’t know what we had, but we knew what we had.”

The Thunder should roll over BV Southwest, Gardner-Edgerton and Blue Valley Northwest the next three weeks, setting up a huge game against Blue Valley in the last week in September.

What about Staley?
The Falcons might be the most under-talked-about top-10 team in the city. Staley has outscored its opponents 156-60 in the first three games of the year thanks to the play of QB John Raybourn and should roll past Blue Springs South this week. The only real tough test left on the schedule is Fort Osage in two weeks. If the Falcons get past that, they shouldn’t lose the rest of the regular season.