Park Hill looks to 'King of the Hill' match-up after season's first win

A win is a win. In Park Hill’s second game of the season against Ruskin last Friday, that’s all that mattered. Their 35-13 victory showed signs of improvement, but they realize there are still areas to improve and hope to build on their first win in this week’s King of the Hill matchup against rival Park Hill South.

Park Hill will be somewhat familiar with the new system South coach Mark Simcox has as he’s a former Park Hill assistant. Park Hill coach Greg Reynolds knows a few things about Simcox teams.

“They’re very well coached,” Reynolds said. “One thing I learned when Mark was our coordinator is he’ll find the one thing you need to take away and he’ll usually do it. This year we’re able to throw the ball a little better, which will help us.”

“Game three, nothing more,” Reynolds said of the rivalry. “The only thing more important is district play. It has no bearing on whether we make the playoffs or not.”

Special teams remained a point of concern again early in the first quarter last week after Park Hill was able to force a Ruskin three and out. The following punt was fumbled around the Park Hill 40-yard line and recovered by Ruskin which led to the first score of the game on an 18-yard touchdown run from Fred Kelley putting the Trojans down 7-0.

“They’re a team that you need to be ready for,” coach Greg Reynolds said of Ruskin. “They’ve been like that since I started coaching.”

Nathan Wilson and the Trojan offense rattled off 21 unanswered points putting Park Hill up 21-7 at halftime. The defense didn’t give up a scoring drive the rest of the game and held Ruskin to 110 yards rushing and 43 passing.

“I told them if we remained disciplined then we’d be able to overcome their speed advantage,” Reynolds said. “Defense did a lot better this week.”

Trace Norfleet gained 115 of the 217 total yards rushing for the Trojans on 18 carries. He added a two-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter to put Park Hill up 28-7.

A Ruskin 68 yard kick-off return for a touchdown put focus again on the Trojans’ special teams units.

“Hopefully we’ll get it fixed and everyone where they’re supposed to be so that it doesn’t cost us a game,” Reynolds said.

Ruskin wouldn’t score again though as Park Hill’s Luke Bossert scored on a 33-yard touchdown pass from halfback Norfleet to bring the final score to 35-13.

Fall Roundup: August 30 - September 3

Park Hill Volleyball
The Park Hill Volleyball team didn’t get off to start they wanted to last week as they opened their season with two losses to Liberty (20-25, 23-25) and Oak Park (14-25). Jenny Riddle led the defense with seven digs against Liberty ahead of Halley Knudson and Angelica Pasek’s five. Knudson added 11 digs against Oak Park and Molley Lien had six. Alyssa Moran led with six kills on offense. Park Hill will play Lee’s Summit West on Thursday.

“Our defense is working hard and we are working on getting better every day,” said first year coach Lindsey Hood.

Park Hill Girls Golf
The girls golf team continued to win against local competition as they beat North Kansas City and Oak Park last week at Paradise Pointe Golf Course. As a team, the Trojans shot a 214 in the rainy weather. Anna Kloeppel was a medalist with a score of 48. Park Hill will play in two tournaments this week.

Park Hill Cross Country
The Park Hill Girls Cross Country team placed fourth out of 11 teams last weekend at the Liberty Invitational with a score of 111. The boys team finished eleventh in the field with a team score of 253.

Park Hill Girls Softball
The Trojans were able to improve on their 2-3 record coming into last week by adding two wins to their total. Makenzie Porter added her third win in a 7-4 victory against Staley early last week. Michele Rupard threw out two runners on defense along with Micalla Rettinger’s double and RBI’s from Rupard, Liza Hill, Samantha Snodgrass, and Paige Downs.

An 11 strike-out performance from Truman’s Paige Parker led to a shutout of the Trojans in a 10-0 loss last Thursday in their first conference game.

Rallying from four runs down to take a 7-6 lead, St. Joe Central tied to the game in the sixth inning to go into extra innings. Park Hill pulled away in the eighth to win 10-7. The Park Hill offense was led by Rettinger, Nikki Moss, Bethany Sullinger, and Rupard. The win was Porter’s fourth of the year on the mound for the Trojans. With a 4-4 record and 1-1 in conference play, Park Hill will play Lee’s Summit West, Park Hill South, and Liberty this week.