By Joanna Chadwick
The way Derby football coach Brandon Clark sees it, adversity can go one of two ways — tear a team apart or make that team better.
“Our kids used it as an opportunity to make them better,” he said. “I’m really proud of the kids of how they handled the adversity, and we’re a better team because of it.”
That adversity was a mix of injuries, as well as three losses. The Panthers opened the season with a one-point loss to Hays that included a touchdown with five seconds remaining, followed by the go-ahead two-point conversion. They also lost to unbeaten Maize and then Bishop Carroll.
“Everyone kind of talks about us losing three games, they talk about how that’s not supposed to happen with Derby football,” Clark said. “I talked to our team a couple Thursday nights ago — ‘you know, maybe we were supposed to lose those three games. Maybe we were supposed to learn how that felt and have some adversity in the season.
“Last year we didn’t have adversity, and then when we got some last year, it was too late. We lost in the playoffs. I think we’ve learned a lot about ourselves, we’ve grown from it.”
Derby went 8-4 in 2011 when it advanced to the Class 6A semifinals.
The Panthers’ improvement was on display in Friday’s win at Junction City.
Junior running back Arieus Finley, who has battled injury all season, had 99 yards on 15 carries with a touchdown. Despite his injuries, he has 1,294 rushing yards over nine games.
“We haven’t had a healthy Arieus all season,” Clark said. “He’s at the top of his game right now. He’s running the ball really hard, really well.
Junior quarterback Blade Clark took over the starting job in Week 5 and helped lead the Panthers to scoring 169 points in the next three games. Clark has 1,144 passing yards, completing 56.6%.
“Our offensive line is blocking well, our receivers are catching balls, and Blade’s putting them in the right position to catch some balls,” Clark said. “Blade’s doing a good job of reading the defenses and putting our kids in the right position to make plays. He’s doing a good job of managing the game.
“Our offense is playing better than they ever have this season.”
The defense has been key the past two weeks and will be critical Friday at Northwest.
“(Senior) Rey’zhian Shears-Montgomery keeps on getting better and better and knowing what he needs. Getting Mason (Moaliitele) back was important,” Clark said. “Braesyn (Williams) and Krys (Dorsey) are really good corners, so that helps us keep (Braylon) Reed at safety.”
Issac Nikolas had two interceptions and Dorsey one in the win over Junction City. Moaliitele has 84 tackles in eight games, Shears-Montgomery has 12 tackles for loss with six sacks and Nikolas has six interceptions.
“Our defensive line is playing really well,” Clark said. “They have all season. They’re demanding double teams and controlling the line of scrimmage. (Sophomore) Brody Hopper is playing our SAM; last game he was our leading tackler.
“Overall, the season has been fun. You want to peak in the postseason. We peaked Week 9 and we peaked again in Week 10. Hopefully this week we can peak again.”
