Leave it to Bishop Miege's rival to halt the Stags quest for a state title repeat.

St. Thomas Aquinas halted the Stags attempt for a Kansas Class 4A repeat, handing Miege a 14-7 loss at Dixon Doll Stadium on Friday night.

The Saints (7-3) flipped the script from the teams' first encounter - a 19-7 loss in which Aquinas was saddled with injuries. This time, Aquinas was at full strength when it mattered most while Miege sustained injured to its tailback David Garcia, top wideout Teryn Jackson and even its kicker to the state soccer tournament.

Bishop Miege (8-2) looked to thwart the Saints early after a punchout of an Aiden Skinner run, and Jack Baird returned the ball into the Aquinas red zone. But three plays later, on a field goal attempt, St. Thomas Aquinas blocked a field goal that skipped out to midfield. Eventually senior defensive end Owen Charlton scooped up the ball and rumbled to the end zone for a 7-0 lead with 4:15 left in the first quarter.

Then just before the half, the Saints went to trickery at the Stags 18 on a reverse, then flip back to Skinner who lobbed it to the right side of the end zone. Senior receiver Joe Loughman caught the ball over the shoulder, and landed in bounds for a 14-0 halftime lead.

Bishop Miege eventually got on the board on a Marco Rodriguez pass to Cole Wofford to cut the margin to 14-7 with 10:50 left.

The Stags got their chances, getting the ball again in the Aquinas red zone but went four-and-out from the Saints 9 with 7:28 left, as Rodriguez threw long twice in the right corner. Miege later got the ball but again St. Thomas Aquinas held.

The Saints will face Basehor-Linwood next week at St. Thomas Aquinas.

Olathe North Eagles moved onto the Kansas Class 6A state quarterfinals on Friday night, defeating Blue Valley West, 35-14, at ODAC.

Olathe North rushed out to a 28-7 halftime lead on the strength of two scores from senior running back TJ Porter and an 80-yard kick return TD from Aiden Bruce. The Eagles would keep the 21-point edge in the second half as both teams would trade touchdowns leading to the 35-14 final score.

Meanwhile, the red zone defense of the Eagles proved strong. Blue Valley West's offense, led by quarterback Tate Nagy and top target wide receiver Crew Myers, was able to move the ball well between the 20s. However, in the red zone Olathe North rose up to make stops, as well as sacking Nagy six times in the game, to hold the Jaguars to just 2-of-8 on red zone possessions. Sophomore Nate Gunderson led the Eagles defense in both tackles and sacks.

Blue Valley West ends their season at 4-6, while Olathe North will play host to Blue Valley in a showdown of two historic 6A powers at ODAC.

Louisburg’s dream season ended with a haunting ending on Friday night.

The Wildcats, which entered the weekend at 9-0, lost 22-20 at home to Basehor-Linwood in the second round of the Kansas Class 4A playoffs. LHS seemingly played catch up all night, and in the end, couldn’t get past the Bobcats.

Basehor-Linwood built an early 16-7 lead, but Louisburg scored with seconds before the half on a Battle 18-yard pass to a diving Conley Hovee for a 16-14 deficit at intermission.

But the Bobcats opened the second half by driving from its own 41 to the Louisburg 24. Facing fourth and five, Brady Van Donge fired a pass to Caleb Scott at the 5, who spun to elude a defender and walked into the end zone for a 22-14 lead with 8:43 left in the third period.

Louisburg looked to tie the game in the fourth quarter after driving from its own 21, and went on a 17-play drive, capped by an Ashton Moore nine-yard touchdown on third-and-goal to bring the score to 22-20. But a two-point conversion pass attempt was shot as Moore was drug down at the 1.

The Wildcats managed to stop Basehor-Linwood and burned its timeouts to take over at its own 18 with just 1:01 left. But Declan Battle heaved a pass to Caden Caplinger who caught the ball over the shoulder at midfield, then was pulled down at the BLHS 24. The Wildcats got inside the 10, but a fourth-down pass attempt was batted down at the 3 to conclude the game.

Basehor-Linwood (7-3) will play at St. Thomas Aquinas next Friday night in the state quarterfinals.