“Five hundred yards in two weeks!” called out a massive Blue Springs offensive lineman as he walked off the field Friday night at Lee’s Summit North High School, following a 45-14 Blue Springs victory that further enhanced the Darrian Miller legend at Blue Springs High School.
“He’s the man!”
Miller, a highly confident young man who is always good for a great quote and 200 or 300 yards on the ground, just grinned and even looked a bit embarrassed.
“Gotta take care of my boys on the line,” Miller said, after a performance that simply defied description.
He was coming off a 337-yard performance in which he scored on runs of 7, 55, 55, 14 and 25 yards and averaged 16.9 yards per carry in a 42-14 win over Park Hill South.
He celebrated each of those scores by puking his guts out – on the field, on the sidelines, in the locker room.
“I was pretty sick,” Miller said, “but ya just gotta go out and do what ya gotta do.”
He missed most of school last week with a serious case of the flu.
“I didn’t get out of bed until Wednesday, and my mom wouldn’t let me do anything but lay around the house and watch TV,” he said. “I bet I watched 25 movies last week.
“I couldn’t practice and when I got back for the walk-through, it was rained out. So all I got to do was watch some film. I haven’t stretched, done a pushup – nothing.”
Yet Friday night against the Broncos – a team that handed Blue Springs South a 28-12 loss last Friday – he carried the ball 18 times for 200 yards and three scores.
In two weeks, he’s rushed for 537 yards and scored eight touchdowns.
That’s more touchdowns than many entire teams have this entire season.
“Maybe I should talk to coach about missing practice every week,” joked Miller, looking to see if coach Kelly Donohoe was within earshot. “I really don’t know how I did it tonight.
“I still feel pretty bad. Guess I can just thank the good Lord and a great offensive line.”
When asked about Miller’s performance, Donohoe had a question.
“How many times did he carry the ball tonight?” asked Donohoe, whose Wildcats are 4-0 in the Suburban Big Seven and 6-1 heading into district play next Friday at home against Blue Springs South.
“Twenty? We wanted him to get it 18-20 times – he didn’t even practice last week, and we didn’t want to overwork him. He’s a pretty special player.”
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“Five hundred yards in two weeks!” called out a massive Blue Springs offensive lineman as he walked off the field Friday night at Lee’s Summit North High School, following a 45-14 Blue Springs victory that further enhanced the Darrian Miller legend at Blue Springs High School.
“He’s the man!”
Miller, a highly confident young man who is always good for a great quote and 200 or 300 yards on the ground, just grinned and even looked a bit embarrassed.
“Gotta take care of my boys on the line,” Miller said, after a performance that simply defied description.
He was coming off a 337-yard performance in which he scored on runs of 7, 55, 55, 14 and 25 yards and averaged 16.9 yards per carry in a 42-14 win over Park Hill South.
He celebrated each of those scores by puking his guts out – on the field, on the sidelines, in the locker room.
“I was pretty sick,” Miller said, “but ya just gotta go out and do what ya gotta do.”
He missed most of school last week with a serious case of the flu.
“I didn’t get out of bed until Wednesday, and my mom wouldn’t let me do anything but lay around the house and watch TV,” he said. “I bet I watched 25 movies last week.
“I couldn’t practice and when I got back for the walk-through, it was rained out. So all I got to do was watch some film. I haven’t stretched, done a pushup – nothing.”
Yet Friday night against the Broncos – a team that handed Blue Springs South a 28-12 loss last Friday – he carried the ball 18 times for 200 yards and three scores.
In two weeks, he’s rushed for 537 yards and scored eight touchdowns.
That’s more touchdowns than many entire teams have this entire season.
“Maybe I should talk to coach about missing practice every week,” joked Miller, looking to see if coach Kelly Donohoe was within earshot. “I really don’t know how I did it tonight.
“I still feel pretty bad. Guess I can just thank the good Lord and a great offensive line.”
When asked about Miller’s performance, Donohoe had a question.
“How many times did he carry the ball tonight?” asked Donohoe, whose Wildcats are 4-0 in the Suburban Big Seven and 6-1 heading into district play next Friday at home against Blue Springs South.
“Twenty? We wanted him to get it 18-20 times – he didn’t even practice last week, and we didn’t want to overwork him. He’s a pretty special player.”
• Speaking of something special, the press box at Lee’s Summit North has a new look and a new, friendly demeanor that was missing last week.
If you happened to read my column last Saturday, I mentioned that the activities director at North directed one of her press box attendants to “kick out Bill Althaus.” That’s because the press box was loaded with members of the print, radio and television corps.
It was a first for the Broncos because of the newfound success of the football team, and everyone from North seemed overwhelmed by the attention.
Cooler heads prevailed, district athletic director Darwin Rold allowed me and the rest of the media – who hadn’t left the game – to remain in the press box and there were no further incidents.
This past Thursday, Examiner sports editor Karl Zinke and executive editor Dale Brendel joined me at Lee’s Summit North and we met with Rold and principal David Ulrich to address the way I was treated.
They were professional, apologetic and assured me there would be no more press box incidents. When I went to North Friday night, I found that a wall had been erected to separate the visiting coaches from the press area that new lights had been installed in each seating area (which drew rave reviews from the Blue Springs assistant coaching staff and the media members in attendance).
I made it a point to thank Ulrich after the game and want to take this opportunity to thank him and Rold for the professional manner in which a problem that could have lingered throughout the season came to a quick resolution.
