2025 Team Preview: Blue Valley North Mustangs

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Now that we're about half through July folks can expect to see our staff ramp up for the 2025 season. We'll of course continue to feature players to watch for this fall. But in addition to that, it's about the time of year for team previews.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This is a period of the offseason I personally look forward to. It's a time of optimism, and it's a chance to highlight the potential of teams and their outlook this fall.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Our staff has already featured a few teams, so I figured I'd join in on the fun as well. My first team preview will be focused on the Blue Valley North Mustangs. The Mustangs may have finished the ‘24 campaign with a 3-8 record, but they caught fire late in the year and had their best postseason finish since 2020.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This program has made major strides over the past few years and they return quite a bit of experience for the ‘25 campaign. Things won't exactly be easy for them as they compete in one of the toughest leagues in the state. But the talent is absolutely there for them to be even better than last season.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Here's a look at some key players the Mustangs have returning on both sides of the ball.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><span style="text-decoration: underline">Offense</span></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blue Valley North's offense is without a doubt headlined by [player_tooltip player_id='904112' first='Lark' last='Anderson'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1113283' first='Alijah' last='Shaw']. Anderson is the 7th ranked QB in our Class of ‘26 rankings. He heads into his senior campaign with two seasons of varsity experience and is coming off a fairly efficient junior year. At 6-foot-9, 273 pounds, Shaw is a rising offensive tackle in the 2027 class, and he'll likely protect Anderson's blindside this season.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Mustangs' pass catching group is a little unproven. However, there is a lot of upside. Four pass catchers to keep in mind this season are seniors [player_tooltip player_id='1402667' first='Ziah' last='Hill'] and [player_tooltip player_id='904441' first='Bobby' last='Knighton'], along with up-and-coming prospects like [player_tooltip player_id='1556861' first='Wes' last='Riegel'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1285994' first='Jax' last='Lemmon']. North is also likely to once again have a solid rushing attack as [player_tooltip player_id='415448' first='Kayden' last='Augustus'] projects to be the Mustangs' lead back.  </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><span style="text-decoration: underline">Defense</span></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Defensively the Mustangs had their hiccups in 2024. This season looks to be a different story as multiple contributors are set to reprise their roles. The trio of [player_tooltip player_id='1610780' first='Aiden' last='Boulton'], [player_tooltip player_id='1277775' first='Henry' last='Houser'], and [player_tooltip player_id='1670191' first='Brock' last='Maslowski'] is the core of North's defense. They're likely to be the leaders at each level of the Mustangs' defense this fall.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>North's defense is much more than just those three though. They also have linebackers like [player_tooltip player_id='993089' first='Rett' last='Daniels'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1622499' first='Tommy' last='Knighton'] to go alongside Boulton. Folks won't want to overlook an athletic senior pass rusher like <strong>Frank Hall</strong> either. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>All in all, the Mustangs are poised to be a very competitive team this fall. They're a squad I'd like to check out, and I'm very interested to see if they can build on the success they had toward the end of the ‘24 campaign.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->