Park Hill South volleyball wins Winnetonka Tournament

After a loss to Liberty on the road in the season’s opening week, Park Hill South’s volleyball team was hoping in the back of their mind that they’d have the opportunity for revenge this past weekend at the Winnetonka Tournament. From across the bracket, their only chance would come if they advanced to the championship match. They not only earned that chance, but they did it in convincing fashion as they dominantly advanced out of pool play and through the title bracket.

In fact, the Panthers didn’t loss a single match in the final three rounds of the tournament as they defeated Liberty North in the quarterfinals (25-9, 25-20) and Smithville in the semifinals (25-14, 25-20). They topped it all off with 25-19, 25-22 wins against Liberty to vindicate their early season loss and claim the Winnetonka Tournament’s team title, adding another chapter to the two teams history of battling for Northland volleyball supremacy. Emma Hagedorn led the Panthers with 36 kills in the tournament while Tori Kerr added an extraordinarily high amount of aces with 24.

For South, it concludes a successful week in which they added two wins against Fort Osage and Winnetonka and increased their overall record to 9-1. The Panthers will look to make it two tournament titles in a row this weekend as they travel to the Lee’s Summit North Tournament. As a fairly young team and one not considered having size as an advantage, the Panthers’ success must come from fundamentals and chemistry, more so than most teams.

“Emma (Hagedorn), our senior, matches up with these team well size-wise, she’s our tallest player. It’s a big kids game so the bigger teams have the advantage,” head coach Debbie Fay said. “Since we’re not real big overall, that means we really have to move the ball a lot and have longer volleys.”

Having a balanced team aids that need and reinforces each player’s individual importance and role.

“Ball control and a balanced offense, we count on everyone to score. Team chemistry, hustle, and doing our jobs each night,” Fay listed as her team’s strengths. “Passing is important. The team that passes well has the best chance of winning. Servicing and passing are the keys to our success.”

Following this weekend’s tournament, the Panthers will head into the heart of their conference schedule.

South hopes to build on big King of the Hill win

It had all the makings of a classic rivalry game.

Great defense, hard hits, and an energized fan base. Park Hill and Park Hill South’s annual rivalry matchup did not disappoint those in attendance or those viewing the live television broadcast from home last week. Both teams now focus their attention on their next opponents this week after participating in one of the more dramatic King of the Hill matchups in recent memory which left the Park Hill South Panthers topping the Park Hill Trojans 13-7, a game in doubt going into its final minutes.

Fresh off their victory, Park Hill South (2-1) and head coach Mark Simcox will go on the road to William Chrisman (0-3) to take on a Bears team probably still reeling from a 47-20 beating by Liberty North in a game which was 47-7 at halftime. Park Hill (2-1) hopes to rebound as they host Truman (2-1) who comes off an embarrassing 54-3 loss to Blue Springs. In the meantime, coaches and players try to regain their composure after such an adrenaline rushing early-season rivalry game.

Park Hill South quickly drove down the field in their opening drive on the shoulders of running back Myles Hammonds, but Hammonds fumbled shortly before breaking the plane of the end zone which allowed Park Hill’s Gage Wright to recover it in the end zone. The only scoring highlight in the first half came on a 21-yard Anthony Arens touchdown reception midway through the second quarter putting Park Hill up 7-0, the score remained unchanged at halftime. Quarterback Tyler White had his best outing of the season going 11 of 18 passing for 134 yards on the night.

“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.

While a hair-puller for those looking for a high scoring game, those who enjoy defense were treated to quite a game. Highlighting the defenses was a position usually getting little attention, the nose tackles. South’s Ron Anderson and Park Hill’s Ondre Pipkins fought double teams all night and still wrecked havoc on the opposing offenses, proving why they are some of the Metro’s top players.

The offensive stalemates continued into the third quarter before Park Hill South went on a five minute, 11 second drive which ended when Hammonds fumbled once again at the goal line, but instead of a Trojan recovery, South receiver Craig Scott was there to recover for the Panthers’ first touchdown. The recovery caused a slight controversy when replays later showed doubt to whether Scott’s foot was out of bounds when he recovered the ball. Nonetheless, the touchdown and extra point tied the game at 7-7 going into the fourth quarter. A steady dose of hard-nosed running from Hammonds, who ran for 170 yards on 40 carries, was complemented by an extraordinary 31-yard leap and grab by Scott on an eight minute clock-killing drive which eventually ended with a one-yard touchdown dive from quarterback Eddie Sola to put South up 13-7 after a missed extra point.

“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,” Simcox said of the amount of carries his star running back.

With three minutes to play, Park Hill marched 50-yards on the ensuing drive deep into South territory, but on a fourth-and-thirteen play, faced with their final chance, came up short of the first down marker resulting in a turnover on downs.

“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.”

In a moment seven years in the making, South received the ball with under two minutes to play only needing to run the clock out in order to secure a 13-7 victory, their first against Park Hill since 2004. Sola took a snap and ran around the left end before cutting up-field, when he saw an opening. Sprinting down a Park Hill South sideline exploding in excitement, he wasn’t brought down until 78 yards later on Park Hill’s five yard line. The Panthers opted out of an additional score, allowing the remaining seconds to expire before a combination of players and students stormed the field in celebration.

“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.”

Fall Roundup: Sept. 5-10

Park Hill Boys Soccer
...did not have a very encouraging week as they suffered four losses. Earlier in the week they dropped two close games to Oak Park (3-2) and Liberty (2-1). All three goals for Park Hill came from Matt Russell. They then traveled to Springfield where they were dealt their final two losses over the weekend Glendal (1-0) and Kickapoo (3-2). The Trojans battled Kickapoo to a 2-2 tie which sent the game into overtime before they scored the winning goal in the second overtime. Park Hill's goals were accredited to Russell and Shane Belew. They are now 1-6 on the season and will host Ruskin on Wednesday before playing at North Kansas City Thursday night this week.

Park Hill South Girls Golf
... defeated Pembroke Hill besting their 206 team score with 185 at the Kansas City Country Club. Lindsey Gile medaled in the competition. The Panthers brought home a pair of fourth place finishes in the Richmond and St. Joe Central Tournaments. They'll play in the Platte County Invitational and Lee's Summit West Classic this week.

Park Hill Girls Tennis
... traveled to Columbia last week hoping to bring back a victory, but weren't able to as they were downed 7-2. In a conference matchup to end the week, they successfully blanked Lee's Summit West 9-0. (plays South today, have asked for individual scores from last week as well.)

Park Hill South Girls Tennis
... beat St. Joe Central in a 6-3 victory last week. The Panthers top four singles players all brought home victories including Adele Royle's 10-3 win over Logan Taylor and Marie Gehrke's 10-4 win against Katie Brinkley. Emily Jackson defeated Brooke Shionenan 10-4 and Katie Smith pulled out a close 11-9 win over 11-9. Royle and Gherke put South well on their way to sealing the dual victory with their 10-3 win in the doubles portion.

Park Hill Girls Volleyball
... recorded their first win of the season last week with wins in straight sets against St. Joe Central. They dropped a game later in the week against Lee's Summit West before heading into the Winnetonka Tournament. They came out of their opening games in pool play with a 1-2 record improving their record to 2-6 on the season. Although early in the year, Park Hill is fighting key injuries to Angelica Pasek and Katie Reichert for what is a relatively young team.
"It's still kind of a building year," coach Lindsey Hood said. "Right now we're fighting some injuries.We're just trying to figure out where everyone fits still.

In terms of strengths and weaknesses, the Trojan Volleyball sees the handful of seniors of the team as something they'll lean on in terms of leadership while Hood says serving is something they need to improve on to be successful. Halley Knudson and Haley Vernon led the team in digs with 23 a piece coming into last weekend's Winnetonka Tournament. Knudson also leads in aces with four. They host North Kansas City Thursday before participating in the day-long Lee's Summit North Tournament over the weekend.

Park Hill South Girls Cross Country
.... placed third in the Bishop Miege Invite behind Olathe East and Lansing. The Panthers top finisher was Audrey Rothers who finished 14th with a time of 17:45. Followed by Rothers were Kerry Maas (17th), Lauren Blair (19th), Raven Jennings (21st), Danielle Black (25th), Madeline Homoly (27th), and Erica Guzman (28th).

Park Hill South Boys Cross Country.... placed second to Olathe East in the Bishop Miege Invite, but it was freshman Tucker Melles taking home a first place finish for the Panthers. Landon Calhoun at 14th, was the next closest Panther followed by Mason Homoly (17th), Peter Thomas (20th), Keaton Murry (23rd), Chase Whorton (26th), and Alex Gross (32nd).

Park Hill Girls Cross Country
.... came in third as a team at their meet in the Ray-Pec Invite over the weekend. Kim Rau was the Trojans top finisher with her sixth place finish. Other finishes for Park Hill included Brooke Bischof at 16th, Emma Gaiser at 17th, Maddie Bischof at 23rd, Maggie Lanham at 26th, Abby Muller at 27th, and Libby Lund at 30th. They will compete next in the Wildcat Invitational in Blue Springs over the weekend.

Park Hill Boys Cross Country
... Joe Walton came in second at the Ray-Pec Invite last Saturday as did his Park Hill overall as a team behind host school Ray-Pec. Coming in behind Walton in tenth place was Kainen Utt, James Adams in 14th, Nate Thomas in 15th, and Jon Steven in 18th place. They will compete next in the Wildcat Invitational in Blue Springs over the weekend.

Park Hill South Soccer
... started off last week with a 3-0 victory over William Chrisman, their second shutout in a row at the time. A trip to Springfield left them with a sour taste in their mouth over the weekend as they were defeated by Springfield Kickapoo 3-2 and then by Springfield Glendale 3-1. Tyler Easton and Chris Blevins scored for the Panthers against Kickapoo while Kintner added the lone goal against Glendale. The Panthers are now 2-3-1 on the season with a home game against Winnetonka Thursday.

Park Hill South Softball
.... slipped to 6-6 on the year after going 1-3 last week. They started the week off with a win against Raytown 3-2 before dropping the next three games to Belton (4-0), Raytown South (4-1), and Park Hill (9-2). Coach Josh Walker doesn't think his team is where it should be at this point in the season, but believes it will come together if they're able to improve on their early season mistakes and get healthy after a string of injuries.

"The hitting hasn't held up because we're not making adjustments to the pitching," Walker said. "We've struggled, but we'll be alright."


Park Hill Softball
... rattled off three wins last week to improve to 7-3 on the season. The Trojans' bats remained active in a 16-6 win against St. Joe backed by three hits each from K.K. Rettinger and Bethany Sullinger. Cierra Ellis, Keylee Burks, and Lindsey Horstmann added two more apiece including Ellis' homerun. Makenzie Porter allowed gave up one earned run in four innings. Nikki Moss and Sullinger contributed three hits in an 8-1 victory over Lee's Summit West. Porter put in five innings resulted in no earned runs. It was the usual suspects again to end the week with a 9-2 victory against Park Hill South. Adding additional support was Samantha Snodgrass's two hits, Lexi Santoro's round-tripper and a hit from Katherine Lawrence. Porter recorded the win with a complete game. The Trojans have home games Ruskin and Truman this week before playing in the Platte County Tournament over the weekend.

"Our hitting up and down the line up has been a nice surprise," head coach Stuart Sullinger said. "Our approach has been consistent and smooth as we are hitting a lot of balls up the middle. When you put pressure on the other team, good things happen."

Park Hill Girls Golf
... continues to see quality results in their early season. The Trojans placed fifth in the Blue Springs South Tournament at Lakewood Oaks. Adrianna Elliott placed second overall with her 89. Anna Kloeppel tied for fifth with a 92. They placed second in St. Joe Central Tournament towards the end of last week. Kloeppel and Elliott both medaled with their scores of 86. Park Hill as a team shot a collective 377. They play against Winnetonka and Fort Osage on Thursday.