Season Preview: 5A Football

Wichita Northwest's Steve Martin enjoys analyzing statistics and searching for trends that help him as a football coach.

Most of the numbers he's discovered during his decade at Northwest have been favorable to the Grizzlies.
But an alarming stat matches what his eyes have seen on the final Saturday of November each of the last three seasons at Pittsburg's Carnie Smith Stadium, site of the Class 5A championship game. Northwest, which typically owns a double-digit advantage in season turnover ratio, is minus-7 in title games.

As a result, all three of the Grizzlies' losses in their last 37 games since the start of the 2018 season have come in the state championship. St. Thomas Aquinas stopped Northwest's bid for its first 5A title three years ago, while Mill Valley upended the Grizzlies in the 2019 and 2020 title games.

"What we've addressed because of it is taking care of the football," said Martin, whose teams have evolved into one of the state's highest scoring with a fast-paced tempo offense. "In these big games, our kids have been put in situations where we are pressing. We've worked in practices to put stress on our guys so they are very wary of putting the ball on the ground in similar situations."

Northwest has been a well-oiled machine most of the past three seasons. The Grizzlies averaged 55.8 points in 2018, 51.5 in 2019 and 50.7 a year ago, when it won its first 10 games in a pandemic-altered season before falling 49-35 to Mill Valley in the finale.

As another season arrives, so does the question: Is this Northwest's year to win the title?

"I can embrace that," said Martin, who is 79-22 with the Grizzlies. "I think our kids may still have that on their minds. Do we have the skill set and the weapons to be able to do that? Absolutely. But as a team, we still don't know our identity."

Northwest will try to establish it with senior Geremiah Moore at quarterback. Moore, a 5-foot-9 point guard for the Grizzlies' basketball team, moved behind center with Northwest trailing Bishop Carroll 14-0 in last year's 5A semifinals. Moore guided three consecutive touchdown drives in the first half, then added a go-ahead, 54-yard touchdown run in the third quarter as Northwest pulled away 41-21.

Moore backed up his performance by passing for 197 yards and running for 109 in the loss to Mill Valley.
"Geremiah is 100 percent our signal caller," Martin said. "He's one of the most unselfish kids I've been around. He could do a lot of things by himself, but he realizes it's best to do it together as a team."

Moore, who ran for 961 yards and 12 touchdowns last season, will be joined in the backfield by 190-pound junior LJ Phillips. Phillips ran for 644 yards and 13 touchdowns. Both will benefit from an experienced line led by 285-pound senior Kevyan Stallins and James Gilbertson, a 250-pound senior. Defensively, senior lineman Nathan Carter, who had 3.5 sacks, and senior linebacker Darius Diaz, who registered 58 tackles, provide experience.

Northwest maintained its place among 5A's top teams last season after dealing with the brief cancellation of its season and all fall activities at Wichita's public schools due to COVID-19. Martin and his players were vocal petitioners of the Wichita USD 259 Board of Education to reverse the decision, which occurred less than two weeks after the initial action.

"You start with very high expectations in your program," Martin said. "We felt like last year was going to be a very special year for us. Our kids had to weather a lot of storms in about three weeks' time. I'm very grateful we had a senior class of 25 great leaders who set a great example."

Mill Valley's bid for a 5A three-peat will depend on the emergence of several new starters. The Jaguars return two starters on each side of the ball, with the offense led by wide receiver Kendrick Jones, who had 32 receptions for 348 yards and five touchdowns last season.

Carroll, which along with Kapaun Mount Carmel stepped out of the Greater Wichita Athletic League to play the 2020 regular season, posted an 8-3 record with quality wins over Junction City, Kapaun, Bishop Miege, Aquinas and Maize. The Golden Eagles return seven offensive starters and six on defense.

Aquinas brings back six offensive and defensive starters, including senior defensive end Jalen Marshall, off a 6-4 team. Maize, 9-2 a year ago, will try to go deeper into the postseason with junior Avery Johnson, a highly coveted recruit who passed for 1,699 yards and ran for 369, back at quarterback.