Trojans, Trace to tangle with Tonka

You won’t be hearing a lot from Trace Norfleet over the next two years, but you’ll be hearing a lot about him. The soft-spoken junior running back for the Trojans won the state championship in the long-jump last spring and now he’s making noise on the football field this fall. Sharing time with senior Josh Eatman through the first four games, they served as great complements.
With Eatman out with an injury the past two weeks, Norfleet has been able to showcase what he can do. Two weeks ago against Truman, Norfleet rushed for 144 yards on 18 carries with a touchdown, and then bested his previous performance this last week against William Chrisman by gaining 169 yards on 11 carries with three touchdowns as the Trojans shutout the Bears 46-0. Keep in mind, Norfleet along with a majority of the Trojan starters only played in the first half of both games.
“Just gaining more confidence,” Norfleet said when asked what the increased carries meant.

Score aside, the game on paper may have looked closer. In the first half Chrisman held possession far longer, allowed only five first downs, and didn’t punt. This was mostly due to the Trojans’ drives resulting in long scoring plays including a Norfleet 69-yard touchdown run on the game’s second play, another Norfleet 64-yard touchdown run, and a 40-yard touchdown pass from Corey Sterling to receiver Nick Hughes. Hughes’ first touchdown catch of the season has been in the making, as him and Sterling had barely missed opportunities earlier in the season to connect on the long ball.
“It was bound to happen at some point,” Hughes said. “I think we understand each other a little more now.”

Well deserved credit should be given to the Trojan defense in their second shutout of the season. In addition to constant pressure from the defensive front, several big plays were made by LB De’Aris Flint who was involved in a pair of fumbles. DB De’Rion Rambo intercepted an early first half pass to put the Trojan offense only 20 yard away from another touchdown.
Park Hill (5-1) will come home to play Winnetonka (5-1) as a part of the school’s homecoming festivities this weekend and a chance at redemption as the Griffins edged out the Trojans 28-27 last year. Winnetonka is coming off a 21-6 victory against Truman last week. The story for the Griffins this season has been running back Darrell Jobe, who had 236 yards on 40 carries last Friday. With the amount of carries he gets, it’s no secret what the Trojan defense will be targeting this Friday.

“They’ll have a good running game and it’s always our focus to stop the run so we’ll be working really hard to do that,” Coach Greg Reynolds said. “On offense, we’re hoping to be a little more diversified with being able to run and pass.”

Park Hill Volleyball looking to pull all the parts together

Consistency. If there was one word Park Hill Volleyball coach Janell Deville could use to describe what her team needs to do to be successful, consistency would be it. As the Trojans go into the final three weeks of their season, they have seen their share of ups and downs, but are optimistic about the rest of their season.

After a victory against Raytown last week in consecutive sets (25-15, 25-7) featuring 7 kills from Alex Leggett and six digs each from Halley Knudson and Kelsey Borgardts, Deville believes her team has a lot of potential and is a lot better than their 8-10-1 record might indicate.
“We’ve got a lot of volleyball ability and experience on our team,” Deville said.

When Park Hill is playing well, their strength comes from their passing game and the attack sets that are created from it. Another area they draw success from is the excitement and ‘go-getting’ attitude they can bring to the court.
One aspect of their game the Trojans have been missing lately is the leadership and play of senior Heather Schieber, who has been troubled with an ankle injury. This has led to the opportunity for other seniors to step up who Deville has said will shape the direction of this team. They’ve also changed a few things up and moved people around, especially when it comes to underclassmen that have been expected to step in and play at a higher level.

Park Hill comes into this week in 3rd place in the conference standings with sights beginning to be set on the district tournament which starts October 26th. Although they will come in as underdogs, Deville believes anything can happen.
“Regardless of what seed we are, I think our district is wide open,” Deville said. “Some of the higher seeds can be upset by the lower seeds.”

Although only halfway through the season Deville sees some big improvements over last year, especially in regards to team cohesiveness and overall atmosphere within her program. This will play a big part for the Trojans as they head down the stretch.