Darrian Miller’s final stat line looked like something you’d see in a video game, not an actual game of football.
The junior running back finished with 337 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 20 carries in the Blue Springs’ 42-14 victory over Park Hill South.
Miller said he was surprised by his outburst considering he’s been feeling under the weather all week long.
“I didn’t expect it to come out like this,” Miller said. “I missed a couple days of school because I was sick, and I just expected to come out and get a couple of first downs and possibly have a couple good blocks. I actually had to carry a towel with me because every time I’d puke, it’d get caught on my facemask and I’d have to wipe it off.”
But Miller might have been the only one who thought his game was anything out of the ordinary. Senior quarterback Jared Lanpher said he’s come to expect these kinds of games from his running backs after playing with runners like Miller and Carlos Anderson (who graduated in 2008) for four years. Senior wide receiver Keeston Terry just shrugged his shoulders when asked about Miller’s explosion.
“He’s been doing this all year,” Terry said. “Today was just another day for him basically.”
Blue Springs coach Kelly Donohoe wasn’t about to downplay Miller’s efforts, but even he said he wasn’t all that surprised by what he saw Miller doing with the football.
“Huge game,” Donohoe said. “But I told the guys it was kind of a quiet 350 (yards) or whatever he had. It’s amazing, you take him for granted sometimes. But man, he just had tough runs, made something out of nothing, keeps his legs moving. We’re kind of expecting that out of Darrian and he understands that.”
While Miller was Friday night’s star, the Wildcat defense played the role of unsung hero by limiting the Panthers to 145 total yards of offense. Blue Springs’ defense allowed only three first downs after giving up a first quarter touchdown. Park Hill South’s only other score came off of a recovered fumble.
“We had a really good third quarter to finish the game,” Donohoe said. “And that’s what we wanted the kids to understand is that we’re going to have some games down the road where we’re going to have some adversity, overcome it and play hard. And we did.”
The victory improves the Wildcats’ record to 5-1 and is their third consecutive win. After the game Donohoe told his team that with disrict play on the horizon the next three weeks will be the “biggest weeks of their lives.”
“We had a big talk (after the game) about discipline,” Miller said. “About do you really want to be a part of this team? Do you really want us to go far? Discipline’s going to take us a long ways, especially these next couple weeks.”
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Darrian Miller’s final stat line looked like something you’d see in a video game, not an actual game of football.
The junior running back finished with 337 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 20 carries in the Blue Springs’ 42-14 victory over Park Hill South.
Miller said he was surprised by his outburst considering he’s been feeling under the weather all week long.
“I didn’t expect it to come out like this,” Miller said. “I missed a couple days of school because I was sick, and I just expected to come out and get a couple of first downs and possibly have a couple good blocks. I actually had to carry a towel with me because every time I’d puke, it’d get caught on my facemask and I’d have to wipe it off.”
But Miller might have been the only one who thought his game was anything out of the ordinary. Senior quarterback Jared Lanpher said he’s come to expect these kinds of games from his running backs after playing with runners like Miller and Carlos Anderson (who graduated in 2008) for four years. Senior wide receiver Keeston Terry just shrugged his shoulders when asked about Miller’s explosion.
“He’s been doing this all year,” Terry said. “Today was just another day for him basically.”
Blue Springs coach Kelly Donohoe wasn’t about to downplay Miller’s efforts, but even he said he wasn’t all that surprised by what he saw Miller doing with the football.
“Huge game,” Donohoe said. “But I told the guys it was kind of a quiet 350 (yards) or whatever he had. It’s amazing, you take him for granted sometimes. But man, he just had tough runs, made something out of nothing, keeps his legs moving. We’re kind of expecting that out of Darrian and he understands that.”
While Miller was Friday night’s star, the Wildcat defense played the role of unsung hero by limiting the Panthers to 145 total yards of offense. Blue Springs’ defense allowed only three first downs after giving up a first quarter touchdown. Park Hill South’s only other score came off of a recovered fumble.
“We had a really good third quarter to finish the game,” Donohoe said. “And that’s what we wanted the kids to understand is that we’re going to have some games down the road where we’re going to have some adversity, overcome it and play hard. And we did.”
The victory improves the Wildcats’ record to 5-1 and is their third consecutive win. After the game Donohoe told his team that with disrict play on the horizon the next three weeks will be the “biggest weeks of their lives.”
“We had a big talk (after the game) about discipline,” Miller said. “About do you really want to be a part of this team? Do you really want us to go far? Discipline’s going to take us a long ways, especially these next couple weeks.”
