Trojans look for first win against Ruskin after up and down game against Liberty

Coming off an uncharacteristic performance in a 35-14 loss in week one against Liberty, Park Hill will travel to Ruskin this Friday hoping to earn their first win of the season. They’ll be facing a Ruskin team newly consolidated with the former Hickman Mills High School and coming off a 45-6 thumping of Truman.

“I expect them to be a wide open team with a lot of speed and their line to be big enough to use it with the two schools combined,” Reynolds said. “If we can’t tackle then it’s not going to be just eight yard, but 80 yards.”

If there was one thing the Trojans took away from last Friday’s loss to Liberty, it was the importance of tackling. Liberty used its size advantage on the offensive line to utilize their quarterback and the option game to pick on the Park Hill defense. The Blue Jays methodically drove down the field several times in the second half which contributed in part to 29 points in four consecutive scoring possessions.

It was a tale of two halves for Park Hill as they went into halftime with a 14-6 lead after quarterback Nathan Wilson impressively found Trace Norfleet and De’Aris Flint for touchdown passes of 18 and 42 yards. Flint finished with seven receptions for106 yards while Wilson went 28 for 42 with 249 yards passing, some of the highest passing numbers for a Park Hill team in recent years. This has been mostly due to the Trojans’ historically strong running game which wasn’t able to build momentum against Liberty.

“We probably threw more tonight than any time in the last couple years,” Reynolds said. “There will be more passing than in the past, but no, we’re not going to throw that much. We still need to get the ball to two or three running backs we think are pretty good.”

Even with the passing game performance, the Trojans had several mental mistakes hurt them in the second half including dropped passes, a lost fumble, and a failed punt attempt. All of which followed a Liberty 81-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to open the half.

“We played a good football team, if you take away special teams and tackling, then it’s a lot closer game,” Reynolds said.

The Trojans believe they will improve as younger players become more comfortable and aren’t seeing the early season loss as a signal to go a different direction.

“I don’t think we’re going to have to change anything. Whether they believe it or not, some guys came in and doubted themselves tonight,” Reynolds said. “We found out in the first half that this is fun and worth all the hard work though.”

Fall Roundup: August 24-28

Park Hill Softball
The Trojan softball team had a busy first week of the season with five games in the Greater Kansas City Tournament. They went 2-3 with wins against Smithville (5-3) and Oak Grove (7-3). One of the losses came at the hands of Staley (10-4) earlier in the week,

Park Hill Girls Tennis
The Park Hill girls tennis team got off to a hot start last week as they defeated Liberty 7-2 and Park Hill South 6-3 to start the season 2-0. Against Liberty, top singles player Suzanne Barth won 10-8, but the doubles team of Barth and Brooke Barnard fell 11-10 when they lost the tiebreaker 7-3. Later in the week, the Trojans hosted Park Hill South where the number two doubles team of Kate Skorija and Anna Karsiewicz came back from a 2-7 deficit to win 11-10 after they won the tie-breaker 7-1. They'll play St. Theresa's Thursday at the Country Club Plaza.

Park Hill Girls Golf
Anna Kloeppel helped the Park Hill girls golf team win their first match of the season last week against Winnetonka and Park Hill South at Hodge Park as her 44 gained her a medal in the nine hole match. As a team, the Trojans compiled a score of 193. Earlier in the week, they started the season at the Liberty Invitational with Bailey Warlan and Stephanie Atkinson placed in the top 20. They play Winnetonka again this week along with Oak Park.

Park Hill Girls Cross Country

Coach Jason Parr's voice could be heard across the Park Hill campus last Saturday when the team held their first ever time trial event on the two mile course Parr designed and created. With constant team messages of 'Run Strong' and 'It's not about you' filling the air, the time trial set the tone for next week's first race at Liberty.

"I've spent four years on this course, developing it so we can have some races hosted here. We hope to plan a quad meeting sometime next year. It's two miles and another lap could turn it into a 5k," Parr said.

Freshman Kim Rau took first place with a time of 12:10 with the top seven comprising of three freshmen and four sophomores.

"We're very experienced and talented, but young and we've got a lot to learn and work to do. We're excited," Parr said.

"A race like that will give girls an opportunity to have some fun. I think we'll do really well on our varsity and jv levels to build success," Parr said of the Saturday's upcoming Liberty race.