South road trip resumes at Raytown

After improving their record to 3-1 on the season with a 42-18 victory over William Chrisman Friday night, Park Hill South will go on the road once again this week to battle a 2-2 Raytown Blue Jays squad still looking to define itself in the early season after a close 13-9 victory last week over Belton. Raytown is a team still establishing itself as a program, which makes it even the more difficult for South to prepare for them at the mid-way point in the season especially when the Jays have a quality win against a tough Class 6 team in the likes of Lee’s Summit North.

“They have had some early success, they beat Lee’s Summit North,” head coach Mark Simcox said. “I’m sure they’ll be up to the challenge of us for sure.”

If you got caught in traffic on the way out to Independence to watch Park Hill South play William Chrisman last Friday night, you may have missed the opening act of what would eventually be a first half that can only be described as the Craig Scott Show. In the first four minutes of the game Scott had a 15 and 81-yard touchdown catches. He would add two more on two-yard and 17-yard touchdown receptions in the first half edging the score to 28-0 before Chrisman was able to put a long drive and score on the board to make it 28-6 going into the locker room

“We trust we can throw it up to him or at least know the other guy won’t get it. When we can do that, it makes a big difference. He understands in order for us to be successful, we have to run the ball and control the clock,” Simcox said. “He’s going to get about four or five plays every game and he has to take advantage of them.”

Scott finished the night with 133 yards receiving on five receptions.

“It feels pretty good, like a dream almost,” “You just have to go into every game looking to do whatever you can do and help out however you can,” Scott said of his career night.

Chrisman had several close scoring opportunities they were unable to convert on throughout the game and the score remained unchanged going into the fourth quarter before Bears running back DeMarco Hill scampered 42-yard run to give Chrisman a glimmer of hope at a comeback. But those were all but dismissed after a time-killing drive capped off with a six yard touchdown run from Jalen Ross and a 47-yard interception return for a touchdown by South’s Dylan Worth on the ensuing Bear’s possession increased the lead to 42-12. Hill ripped off a 66-yard touchdown run in the game’s final seconds to narrow the final margin to 42-18 and complete a Park Hill South victory.

“We came out real well, we’ve been preaching that,” Simcox said. “We weren’t as disciplined on defense as I would have liked. Had a little flat spot in the second quarter with that drive which sticks in my throat the most.”

While Scott rang up many of the Panthers’ scores Friday night, it was only possible because of William Chrisman’s dedication to stop South’s run attack usually headed by Myles Hammonds. With such a commanding lead early in the game, Hammonds was sidelined for precautionary reasons, so the running duties were left to a committee of backs that were still able to rack up 198 yards on 41 carries.

“We wanted for them to save some gas in the tank, especially when we had some guys that need experience and deserve the chance to play,” Simcox said.

It’s a balance South has been working for, one which focuses on a strong running game, and then allows them to strike with the pass as defenses begin to concentrate their efforts too much. Against Chrisman, they noticed a strong focus at the line of scrimmage.

“Our plan was still to do what we do, but when they do what they were doing on offense, we’re not going to just run into nine guys in the box,” Simcox said.

Although South experienced being banged up injury-wise at different parts of the game, one of the more serious injuries came at the end of the second quarter when linebacker Robert Lane came shaken off the field. He was later carted out of the stadium and taken to a hospital. Immediate information was not available, but it was believed to be a concussion situation.

Trojans enter tough stretch

A 21-3 victory over Truman last Friday night will bring the Park Hill Trojans (3-1) into the first of a three week span in which they will being playing some of the top teams in the state including Jefferson City, Lee’s Summit, and Staley. The first of those three will be Jefferson City, ranked seventh in Class 6, this week as Park Hill holds homecoming festivities. Jeff City comes to the Northland with a record of 4-0 as they come off a 31-14 victory over Columbia Rock Bridge. Last season when the Trojans traveled to Jefferson City they held the lead going into halftime before the Jays opened the flood gates on the way to a 40-14 Jeff City victory.

“The next four weeks we probably play one of the toughest schedules that anyone can play. It will be a big stretch for us to see how we react to an environment of possibly not being favored. Sometimes that’s not what you want, but you’ve got to have the attitude of ‘let’s see what we’ve got,” head coach Greg Reynolds said.

While Jefferson City, one of the most storied programs in Missouri high school football history, will have a solid football team top to bottom, the Park Hill defense’s top target will be running back Devon Moore who is coming off a four touchdown game just a week ago.

“Everyone knows when you play Jeff City it’s one of the top programs in the state, possibly the nation. I don’t think our kids will back down to them, it’s these types of games where you find out who is going to step up and play,” Reynolds said. “We’re going to need to be on top of our game and we’ll have to take advantage of the opportunities we get.”

Last Friday, Park Hill didn’t come out of the gate in the first half like they would have wanted to against Truman. While their defense only allowed what would be the lone score of the game with a 27-yard field goal on the last play of the first quarter, the offense was unable to get into a rhythm and establish the running game so pivotal to the Trojans game plan. Only facing a 3-0 deficit to start the second half, Park Hill was able to capitalize on Truman’s fumble of the opening kickoff and began to move the ball the way they had hoped they would have in the first half. Starting from near midfield, Tyler White capped off a ten play drive with his one-yard touchdown run to first put the Trojans on the board 7-3.

“We just got our heads back on and came back to what we should’ve been doing,” Reynolds said. “We were able to establish our running game there.”

Truman battled mistakes and penalties of their own which cancelled several of their bigger plays out. To begin the fourth quarter, Park Hill kept to the ground and put together a 63-yard, nine play drive completed when Chris Heustis ran the ball in for a three yard touchdown to put the Trojans up 14-3. Dondrell Hardiman sealed the victory on a 4th and 3 play when he preceeded to catch and run 24-yards for a touchdown widening the margin to the final score of 21-3. Running back Eddie McDonald led Park Hill’s rushing game with 104 yards on 22 carries while Heustis followed it up with 68 yards of his own on 15 carries.

The Trojans defense is currently battling several injuries, including top linebacker Will Gaye who sat out last Friday’s game, but has allowed less than an average of one touchdown per game so far this season, just a total of 23 points in their first four games.

Fall Roundup: Sept. 12-17

Park Hill South Boys Soccer
….improved their record to 5-4 on the season and edged above the .500 mark for the first time this season after three convincing conference victories last week. Brody Bouillon, Tyler Easton, and Adam Weatherly teamed up to put in scores against Raytown South in a 3-0 shutout. Heath Turner added his second shutout of the week in a 5-0 win against William Chrisman on the heels of Adam Weatherly’s three-score hat trick and additional scores from Andrew Gonzales and Jordan Lindsey. Bouillon scored two goals and Gonzalez added a third in a 3-0 victory over Winnetonka. Mark DeJesus was credited with the shutout. Coach Joe Toigo said his team is improving, but will experience a real test this Thursday when the play Liberty.

Park Hill Volleyball
….went 2-0 last week with conference wins against Truman and North Kansas City. Lyndi Plattner leads the team with 55 kills while Haley Knudson leads with 39 digs in conference play over four games. The Trojans advanced to the quarterfinals of the Lee's Summit North tournament before falling to the host school 25-16, 25-17. They are 7-8 overall coming into play this week.

Park Hill Softball
…is hitting on all cylinders at the midway point in their season. They increased their record to 10-3 with conference victories against North Kansas City (10-0), Ruskin (15-0), and a big momentum boasting win against Truman (3-1). Audrea Allen pitched no-hitters against North Kansas City and Ruskin while Bethany Sullinger, KK Rettinger, Samantha Snodgrass, Keylee Burks, and Katherine Lawrence contributed to the Trojans’ offensive bombardment. Allen and Mackenzie Porter teamed up to hold Truman to one run as Park Hill’s win brought them to the top of the conference leader board. Rettinger had a triple and two of the Trojans’ three runs.

Coach Stuart Sullinger says the quality of the defense is an area which he didn’t expect to be as solid as it has with an impressive .963 fielding percentage, but believes the combination of centerfielder KK Rettinger and shortstop Bethany Sullinger provide for one of the city’s best one-two punches offensively along with contributions from Sam Snodgrass and Nikki Moss. Pitchers Makenzie Porter and Audrea Allen are beginning to hit their stride with their control and challenging batters. Overall, Sullinger says it’s been a complete team effort.

“I know when I mention specific players, I leave someone out,” Sullinger said. “That’s too bad because every girl is doing all they can to make us successful. It has been good start. I believe if we keep doing the little things right, the rest of the season will take care of itself: one pitch at a time.”

Park Hill South Volleyball
…two points is all that separated Park Hill South Volleyball last weekend from back to back tournament victories on consecutive weekends. After securing an easy 25-13, 25-8 win against Raytown during the week in their only scheduled match, the Panthers traveled to the Lee’s Summit North Tournament.

Much like they did previously in the Winnetonka Tournament, South sailed through pool play and into the championship bracket. There, they advanced past Rock Bridge (25-15, 25-16) and onto the semi-finals where they defeated Liberty for a second time in as many weeks when, after dropping the first set, South came roaring back for a (19-25, 25-16, 25-21) victory to put in into the title match against host school, Lee’s Summit North. In a competitive three-set match, Park Hill South eventually battled to a title game victory and tournament championship by a score of 25-20, 21-25, 25-23.
The Panthers are now 16-1 with a game scheduled at William Chrisman Thursday before matchups against Belton and Park Hill early next week.

Park Hill South Softball
….secured two conference victories last week against William Chrisman (14-0) and Fort Osage 7-0). The Panthers had 20 hits including two triples against Chrisman while Makayla Walker threw a one-hitter. Madison Price pitched for the win against Fort Osage. Jordin Woodward was three-for-three with three runs batted in while Mallory and Courtney Land went two-for-two.

Park Hill Boys Soccer
…added three wins to their conference record last week with victories against Truman, Ruskin, and North Kansas City. Timmy Hay scored two goals while Devon Belew added another in their 3-1 win over Truman. Hay added a hat-trick with three goals against Ruskin in the Trojans 10-0 win. Matt Russell, Alec Fiest, and Chris Zdvorak scored two goals apiece. Blake Barnard also scored. Mason Fannin recored his second shutout of the week with a 3-0 win over North Kansas City. Zach Stuhlman, Hay, and Belew scored for Park Hill. Parker Melott contributed five assists in the three game span. Park Hill is now 4-6 on the season with Blue Springs at home on Wednesday.

Park Hill Girls Tennis
…Park Hill girls tennis rattled off two 6-3 victories last week. The first win came against St. Joe Central with top singles player Suzanne Barth defeating Logan Taylor 6-2, 6-0 to jumpstart the Trojans. She teamed up with Anna Karasiewicz to defeat Central’s doubles team 7-5, 6-0. Park Hill went on to beat Oak Park in much the same way as Barth defeated Oak Park’s Ali McDaniel 10-2 before her and Karasiewicz beat McDaniel and teammate Jenna McDaniel 10-5.
Over the weekend, they competed in the Liberty Tournament where they placed third behind Rock Bridge and Kickapoo. They host North Kansas City and Ruskin before competing in the Suburban Northland Tournament this weekend.

Park Hill Girls Cross Country
…finished lower than they would have hoped for at the Platte County Invitational last week with their eighth place finish out of ten teams with complete finishes. Kim Rau placed 35th with teammate Brooke Bischof shortly behind in 36th. Other finishers include Emma Gaiser (39th), Abby Muller (43rd), Maddie Bischof (47th), and Gianna Tutorino (54th). They compete in the Rim Rock Classic this weekend.

Park Hill Boys Cross Country
…finished 17th out of 20 with 458 team points at the Platte County Invitational last week. The Trojans top two finishers were Hanok Tekle at 74th and Mark Prose at 94th. Over the weekend, they competed in the Blue Springs Invitational where Riley Fahrenholz finished fourth overall. Nathan Huffer (18th). Kainen Utten (27th), Joey Walton (45th), Jon Steven (56th), and Nate Thomas (57th) rounded out the Trojan results as they placed fifth out of 12 teams.They compete in the Rim Rock Classic this weekend.

Park Hill Girls Golf
Park Hill girls golf third overall in the 18 team field at the Truman tournament Monday with a team score of 378. Adrianna Elliott tied for second with a score of 85 while Anna Kloeppel finished in 13th and Tara Patneau came in 15th.

Park Hill South Girls Cross Country
...finished fifth out of nine teams at the Blue Spring Invitational last weekend. Lizzy Jurries was the Panthers top finisher with a time of 21:39, good for 17th place. Other Panthers finishing included Lauren Blair (25th), DeDe O'Toole (26th), Audrey Rothers (27th), Raven Jennings (34th), and Kerry Maas (39th). They compete at Grandview this Thursday.

Park Hill South Boys Cross Country
...finished sixth at the Blue Springs Invitational last weekend with Tucker Melles leading the way as he came in at 13th place. Lendon Calhoun (23rd), Peter Thomas (41st), Mason Homoly (47th), Jacob Bowlin (61st), and Eli Williams (66th) completed the Panther field of runners. They compete at Grandview this Thursday.

'In shape' a relative term

From skipping and jumping to pushups and sit-ups, these basic physical activities are what we were taught from an early age as healthy exercise suggestions. So why is it that a routine encompassing all this and more without the use of standard gym equipment left this writer, who had previously considered himself in decent shape, completely and utterly exhausted? Maybe because what I, like many others, consider ‘in-shape’ isn’t quite what we thought it was when we compared it to our daily schedule.

When you imagine your local gym, you’re probably like most people who envision rows of treadmills, a variety of weight machines, and of course, bench presses and dumbbells. It could be your 24-hour fitness or even the YMCA down the street. This is become the imprinted idea we’ve come to know as exercise and path to life-long fitness. Although it may be the default for many, a spin on the traditional workout regime has emerged across the country in recent years, and as of this week the Northland will have a location for those looking to switch their fitness routine up a bit.

Crossfit Northland is a new training facility that provides programs based on the strength and conditioning brand, CrossFit, which incorporates a wide range of sports and fitness training. While basic definition of CrossFit can be simply described as varied, high intensity, and functional movement, the basic idea involves having a program designed around things you actually do in the real world.

“Every day you bend down and pick things up, you put things over your head, squat down, stand up, run after your kids or jump over a puddle. CrossFit prepares you for all that and then some by performing those exact movements into our workouts,” said Brian Martorana, one of three founding partners for the Northland location. “When was the last time you saw someone walking down the street doing dumbbell flys?”

Martorana along with partners Dustin Sollars and Manny Catano, all in their mid-30’s, were looking for something different from their regular workout routines so they attended several classes offered in downtown Kansas City where their interested was sparked. The group sessions include between 15-25 people on average and combine exercises from areas like weightlifting, gymnastics, track and field, plyometrics, and strength building.

“Here’s how I look at it. I was paying $40 a month at the ‘Y’ without any results. I looked into a trainer, but it was really expensive especially over the long-term. If I did that weekly, it could be close to $50 a session in certain cases,” Martorana said. “This is really a happy medium.”

While Sollars, an English teacher, and Catano, a firefighter, were already familiar working with athletes as head coaches of the boys and girls soccer teams at Park Hill High School, Martorana knew the key to success would first be an interest and motivation to teach.

“It wasn’t about just starting a business, turning on an open sign, and hoping people showed up. I wanted to see if I actually liked teaching first,” Martorana said.

He was hooked immediately just like his college classmate and fraternity brother Sollars, who had an early realization.

“It’s addictive. I felt real bad after my first workout, because I thought I was in good shape, but it was a different kind of training than I’d ever done before,” Sollars said. “Most people feel like they can do certain exercises pretty easily. Once you go through it though, it’s actually pretty humbling. I got the bug to get better.”

Not only do the principals full-heartedly buy into the program, they have a core group that’s stuck with them since casual workouts started earlier this year and continue to show up on a regular basis now that their facility has opened in Platte Woods.

“I think it’s one of the more attractive things to people. I mean a trainer will give you a set routine, it’s pretty much the same handful of exercises from week to week, but here we won’t have the same workout for maybe three months,” Sollars said.

Since the CrossFit brand took off in 2005, physically demanding professions like firefighters, police officers, and members of the military have taken to this type of training as it parallels the work they do daily.

“A lot of those institutions receive grants to update or build places to work out and they turn their facilities into CrossFit gyms,” Martorana said.

The programs are intended to be scalable based on each participant’s fitness level, but simultaneously provides group motivation.

“We (the trainers) are going to give you the fundamentals and be there with you throughout the workout,” Martorana said. “Some people like a person to be with them like a personal trainer the whole time, while others in any given session, we won’t even need to talk to because they’re comfortable with the workouts and pushing themselves on their own.”

CrossFit Northland hopes to position themselves separately from other well-known gyms by maintaining that they don’t measure weight, bench press, or mile time. Those are all by-products, not ultimate goals, of the workouts.

“We feel like if you stick with us for three months, you’ll look different, you’ll feel different, and you’ll be stronger than you were before,” Martorana said.

With several membership packages to choose from and uniquely named workouts such as Barbara, Fran, and Nancy, variety is not lacking when it comes to CrossFit routines. There was even a workout named 31 Heroes after the 31 service members who lost their lives in Afghanistan last month. All a part of the unique fitness culture the new owners of CrossFit Northland hope people will try first hand with the opening of their new location.

“I mean you can play in recreational basketball leagues to get into shape and other things, but it’s not quite the same,” Sollars said. “This is just more exciting to be a part of; it makes you feel like an athlete again.”