Park Hill Boys clinch first Conference title since 2002, look to districts for more

Pending an unexpected slump that has yet to come for the Park Hill Boys Basketball team this season, next week they will complete their regular season at the top of the standings as Conference Champs for the first time since 2002. Last week, they defeated their closest rival in the standings, Truman, to remain undefeated and stay two games ahead of the Patriots in the Big Six Conference standings. After being down nine at halftime, the Trojans played what could have been their most complete half of basketball of the season in pulling out the 70-63 victory at Park Hill High School to improve to 16-5, 7-0.

“They played a two-three zone and that got us standing around a lot,” head coach David Garrison said. “We weren’t hitting any shots.”

“We came out in the second half and it was the best we’ve played in a long time with the amount of intensity and focus to get a hard fought win,” Garrison said.

The Trojans see the conference title as accomplishing just one of the goals they set out to achieve at the beginning of the season.

“You approach it like you’ve now accomplished one goal,” Garrison said of the conference title. “It’s not our main goal, it’s just one step. Hopefully it gives you confidence when you go for your next goal, which is to be competitive and try to win that district title.”

Garrison, in his third season as head coach, talked about the progress the program has made since he started and how he’s approached the continued improvement.

“I think every group we’ve had has taken steps. You want to be successful every season, but you want to be successful for the school and the community. The first year we won nine games, 14 games the second, and now we’ve won our 16th. That’s our mindset, we’re happy with where we’re at, but we’re not satisfied,” Garrison said.

The Trojans will play William Chrisman on Tuesday as a part of Senior Night festivities and finish off the regular season at Winnetonka on Feb. 19th before district play begins the following week. Park Hill is on course to be slotted as the number two seed behind Liberty.

Park Hill Punter signs with SEC's Auburn

Last weekend the Auburn University Alumni Club-Kansas City Chapter sponsored a signing event for Park Hill Senior Steven Clark as he looks toward punting for the Tigers in the Southeast Conference (SEC) next year as a true freshman. On hand were friends, teammates, alumni and fans of Auburn living in the Kansas City area along with head football coach Greg Reynolds, head basketball coach David Garrison, and assistant basketball coach Kevin Levetzow who all spoke about the work ethic and continued success they are excited to see Clark display in the coming years in one of the top football conferences in America.

Clark, at 6'5" 230 pounds, is currently ranked as the fourth best punter in the nation by ESPN after earning all-state honors by averaging 40 yards per punt his senior season. Clark is making some history as the first D-I football signee from Park Hill in the last ten years.

A highly sought after recruit, Clark used a series of criteria to make his final decision. First, was the area of study he wanted to go into which is exercise science and kinesiology, a specialized degree not necessarily available at many local schools. Second, was finding a university in need of a punter next year and whether they put emphasis on their special teams development. Lastly, a coaching staff he was comfortable with spending the next four years of his life with. Those main criteria narrowed a search that started with schools from all over the country, including local Big 12 schools, down to Auburn says Clark. The event was concluded with an enthusiastic singing of the Auburn fight song.

Lady Trojans split ugly pair of games with South

Bodies flying after loose balls, unforced turnovers leading to fouls, and coaches venting their frustrations led to an overall ugly game for both teams last weekend as the Park Hill Lady Trojans played against rival Park Hill South. With leading scorer Laura Bennett out for the season with a knee injury, the Trojans were left at a slight disadvantage to the Panthers who were just coming off an upset victory against Platte County. A back and forth game throughout, Park Hill’s Shelby Blanchard made two free throws with less than ten seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime. The overtime period may have left many feeling déjà vu, as the game started to become a series of repeated unnecessary fouls, with the outcome of the game laying in the free throw shooters’ hands. South converted a majority of their opportunities while Park Hill did not, leading the Panthers to a 50-46 victory.

“We didn’t make shots. If we make shots this game isn’t even close. We missed free throws and a ton of lay-ups, they (South) didn’t. That’s the whole story of the game,” Park Hill Coach Brian Rockers said of the loss.

So concludes another unsatisfying week for the Lady Trojans, who also hit a speed bump at the North Kansas City Tournament earlier in the week when they fell to St. Joe Central and Platte County before beating Oak Park in the 7th place game. Junior Michele Rupard also suffered an injury setback with a concussion for the Trojans as she missed a series of games as well. The Trojans are now 12-9 after starting the season 5-0.

“It’s been a rough week, a lot of injuries,” Rockers said.

Asked how the injuries would affect his game strategy Rockers replied, “We’re going to have to play a lot more guards.”

Another issue Rockers wants his team to focus on is their mental approach to the game and how it applies to the foul problems they’ve been experiencing.

“We’ve been in foul trouble all year long,” Rockers said. “I’ve got some people we can’t afford to have on the bench that end up on the bench. They are very valuable to the team and it hurts us.”

The Trojans turned around on Monday and once again faced the Panthers, this time at Park Hill South. They tied the season seasons by taking their revenge with a win by a score of 49-35. They’ll finish out the season with three games starting with a Feb. 11 game at Grandview followed by games against William Chrisman for Senior Night and Winnetonka on Feb. 17 and 18.