Park Hill stumbles into district play hoping to rebound

Park Hill’s first half last week against Lee’s Summit West was one to forget for the Trojans as a 31-0 score at halftime featured unsatisfactory results on all sides of the ball on the way to a 38-14 loss. With Lee’s Summit West out-sizing the Trojans on the line, Park Hill was already at a disadvantage in regards to their traditional power football approach, but poor special teams play gave the Titans early opportunities which they took advantage of. Park Hill (4-3) will begin district play this Friday against another tough opponent in Staley (6-1).

While the first half left a sour taste in Park Hill’s mouth, there was a simple message Coach Greg Reynolds had for his team going into the third quarter: get better.

“We have to win the second half,” Reynolds said. “It’s not likely we’ll win the game, but we have to get better in the second half to get ready for districts.”

When it would be easy for most teams to fold and allow the game to turn into an embarrassment, Park Hill came out with a humble approach in the second half. In one of the only offensive highlights of the game, Nate Wilson hit De’Aris Flint for a 44-yard reception to put the Trojans at the one yard line before Jordan Wang ran in Park Hill’s first touchdown. The seven play, six minute drive was followed on their next drive by an eight play drive ending with a two-yard Chris Heustis touchdown.

Control of the game could be shown through the amount of plays ran and rushing yards the Titans were able to post which kept Park Hill’s defense on the field for long amounts of time. Their 282 yards rushing outgained the Trojans’ 128 yards rushing and 72 yards passing combined.

“I’m pleased that our kids played hard all the way through,” Reynolds said of the second half.

This week’s game against Staley could possibly be a deciding game in who will take a tough District 16 title. Last week Park Hill South played Staley close, but Staley pulled out a 19-10 victory.