Park Hill South received the opening kick and easily drove into Trojan territory, but what would have been a touchdown run for Myles Hammonds resulted in a turnover when he fumbled at the one yard line and Park Hill’s Gage Wright recovered the ball in the end zone. Both teams traded drives throughout the first quarter as South’s Hammonds and Park Hill’s Eddie McDonald carried to load for both run-emphasized teams. The first half’s only score came midway through the second quarter when a Park Hill drive was sparked by a 21 yard completion to fullback Chris Heustis. Three plays later it was quarterback Tyler White throwing to receiver Anthony Arens for a 21-yard touchdown pass to put the Trojans on the board up 7-0.
With hard hitting, smash mouth defense being highlighted by both teams, it remained that score until late in the third quarter when the Panthers capped off a 5:11 drive with a Craig Scott touchdown when Hammonds received a handoff but fumbled short of the goal line. This time, it wasn’t a Park Hill defender that recovered the ball, but teammate Craig Scott to secure the South score and tie the game at 7-7.
The theme of the night for Park Hill South was established in the games’ defining drive as they took possession with 11:03 in the fourth quarter. A steady dose of Hammonds on the ground was mixed in with a huge 31-yard reception by Scott putting the Panthers well into Trojan territory. With nearly the entire Panthers crowd on their feet, Eddie Sola capped off a drive that took over eight minutes of time off the clock when he drove in for a one-yard quarterback sneak for a touchdown and the lead. The point-after attempt failed, putting South up 13-7.
“We’re going to see that. As long as he (Hammonds) can carry it, he’s going to continue to get it because they’re eventually going to get tired and we’re going to find a soft spot,” Park Hill South head coach Mark Simcox said of the amount of carries his star running back.
On the ensuing drive, Park Hill, with a chance to tie, and possibly win, the game with a touchdown drove nearly 50 yards in under a minute fueled by a Park Hill South unsportsmanlike penalty. Unable to build a steady running game throughout the game, the Trojans were forced to go to the air in their final drive.
“We weren’t doing a real good job of consistently run blocking and they were shutting us down so we had to go with what works,” Park Hill head coach Greg Reynolds said.
Facing fourth and thirteen from the South 28, Trojan quarterback Tyler White looked to receiver Ariyan Trawick on a route to the sideline who pulled in the pass, but fell short of the first down marker resulting in a turnover on downs. White completed 11 of 18 passes on the night for 134 yards and the Trojans’ sole touchdown.
“That’s a good football team, they’re a good defense. We got the ball three times within their 25 yard line and we don’t score,” Reynolds said. “You can’t do that.”
South now only needing to run the clock out with 1:56 left in the game sealed the deal in a huge way as Sola takes a quarterback keeper 78 yards for a first down near the Trojans goal line. Opting out of tacking on an additional score at the goal line, South chose instead to run the clock out as the Panthers win their first King of the Hill matchup since 2004. Swarmed by students on the field, Simcox talked about the significance of his team’s win.
“It means a lot because they are a very good program and it legitimizes what we’re trying to do as a program,” Simcox said. “Now we can talk about what we’re going to do moving forward, not just in week three against Park Hill because hopefully this isn’t going to be the biggest game we play.”
“Our guys are going to learn from that, they will,” Reynolds said. “That’s what you do when you lose a game, you find out what you need to do better.”
