Encore! Park Hill upsets Liberty, hopes to continue success against Truman

How do you follow up one of the biggest wins in recent memory?

Well, for the Park Hill football team, the answer to that question is taking care of business on the road this Friday.

After upsetting Liberty last Friday night by a score of 20-11, Park Hill will travel to take on the Truman Patriots this week in their conference season opener. The Patriots (1-3) committed 11 penalties for 100 yards and fumbled at the goal line in a loss to Park Hill South last week 12-0. Last year the Trojans beat the Patriots by a score of 52-0.

Many were curious what the Trojans would do differently than normal to stop the top-ranked Liberty Blue Jays’ quick striking option offense and multiple defensive looks. The answer: nothing at all. Park Hill did what they do best, play smash mouth football.
“They’re a good ball club, really good team,” Coach Greg Reynolds said. “Nobody thought we could win.”

Park Hill scored first when Neal Sampson kicked a 36-yard field goal at the 5:54 mark in the first quarter. Liberty put together their only scoring drive of the game in the second quarter by traveling 69 yards in 3:39 completed when Liberty quarterback Kevin VanEgdom took the ball in for a 5 yard touchdown run.
The favor was returned on the next drive when the Trojan’s Sean Gorman took a handoff into the end zone. Gorman, at 6’0” and 190 pounds, finished with 81 yards rushing and has gained a reputation for his blocking and ability to drag defenders. Park Hill added a Sampson field goal as time expired in the first half to put the Trojans up 13-7.
Liberty WR Marcus Lucas, a highly touted college prospect, didn’t hurt the Trojans like he did last year. While there were several deep threats in the second half, Park Hill cornerbacks De’Rion Rambo and Nick Hughes provided quality coverage despite being sometimes outsized.

The Trojans struck the final offensive blow early in the third quarter. A 15-yard touchdown run by Trace Norfleet completed an eight play, 53-yard march to the end zone making the score 20-7. Liberty was unable to muster much offense in a second half featuring a number of penalties and dropped passes for the Jays. Even after Liberty recovered a Park Hill fumble, they turned the ball over on the next play when linebacker Jordan Wang recovered a fumbled exchange.
Trojan faithful erupted in the fourth quarter when linebacker De’Aris Flint came screaming off the edge to sack VanEgdom for a loss of 9 yards with just under ten minutes to play while Liberty continued to try to ignite a passing game. Next, it was defensive end Bryan Dale’s turn when he broke through the line for a sack and loss of 11 yards just under the five minute mark. Working the clock, the Trojans gave up a pair of safeties in the closing minutes to prevent Liberty from mounting any kind of comeback. When the clock finally reached zero, the Trojans rejoiced over their 20-11 victory.
It wasn’t the shootout fans had seen the previous week against Columbia Hickman, but the offense put together several time consuming scoring drives throughout the game to take any kind of momentum from Liberty. Then, there was the defense. In a year where they have allowed some big plays, but come back with even bigger plays, it was only the latter last Friday. The defense’s ability to contain the potentially explosive Liberty offense made all the difference.

Asked where the victory ranked in recent years Reynolds responded, “I think it ranks up there. They’re a class above us and it’s one of those games where you have to prove yourself.”

Panthers, Trojans peaking a right time

Last week at Tiffany Greens Golf Course was a chance to catch up with Park Hill and Park Hill South’s girls golf teams as they competed against each other in match play. It was the second time in a week the two teams faced each other, the first coming the previous Friday when Park Hill won by six strokes at The National. This time the Panthers were able to win the match by a margin of twenty strokes with medalist Stephanie Frailey shooting a 44.

Both coaches were happy with their teams’ progress so far. As the season continues their goal is to lower individual and team scores each time they play.

“We’ve dropped from a 454 to 424,” Park Hill South coach Larry Torgerson said of his team’s improvement from the beginning of the season.

“Sam (Brunker) has improved by 20 strokes,” Park Hill coach Tari Garner said.
With both teams improving, it will come down to two pivotal days, September 28th for the conference tournament at Paradise Point in Smithville and October 5th for the district tournament held at Liberty Hills in Liberty. Unlike many high school sports where standings develop over a season, golf championships are determined in single day tournaments. So while improving is important for teams, it’s all about playing your best golf at the right time.

“It’s whoever shows up to play, but we’ve got a great chance,” Garner said.

The Trojans have had strong play from Anna Kloeppel, Erica Crainshaw, Stephanie Atkinson, and Sam Brunker to start the season. This included an 8th place finish out of a field of 23 last week at Drumm Farm. Before their lose to South, they had yet to lose in match play. Garner is confident in her team’s ability and hopes it pays off in upcoming tournaments.

“We’ve got four players that can all shoot in the 90’s, being consistent and having it all on the same day will be big,” Garner said.

South’s Torgerson feels his team is coming along well. His top golfers include Sarah Shelton, Lindsey Gile, Stephanie Frailey, Kelly Jefferies, and Hillary Schmitz. Gile has been able to continue through a painful torn labrum in her shoulder to play for the Panthers. Last week South competed in the Sedalia Invitational, the course where the state championship tournament is played. Some of the best teams in the state were there to compete in what could be thought of as a practice round. Against the top competition, South finished 11th out of 19 teams. The top 15 scores received medals with scores all under 81. Frailey finished with a round of 88.
“We did really well at Sedalia,” Torgerson said. “There were some excellent teams down there.”

Between now and the quickly approaching conference tournament South will compete in the Notre Dame DeSion Tournament along with a match with Liberty. Park Hill will play matches against Oak Park, North Kansas City, and Winnetonka.

“They’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing, improving,” Garner said.

“We’re getting lower scores, getting better as the years goes on,” Torgerson said. “That’s the key.”