Panthers look to overcome injuries, put more points on board

After coming out of the gate quickly in the first half the previous week against William Chrisman in a 42-18 victory, Park Hill South was hoping to build on their momentum against Raytown last Friday. It wouldn't be so, as a scoreless first half led way to two second half Raytown touchdowns putting the Panthers down by 12 late in the fourth quarter. An attempted comeback was cut short as Raytown pulls out the mild upset by a score of 12-7. Although, a solid defensive performance, the Panthers weren't able to overcome the absence of some key players including running back Myles Hammonds and linebacker Robert Lane.

"We came out defensively real strong," coach Mark Simcox said. "Our depth hurt us because of the injuries we're currently dealing with right now."

South now looks to Raytown South (2-3) as they host the Cardinals at Park Hill District Stadium. The Cardinals are coming off a tough 36-0 loss to Fort Osage last week. Park Hill South will look to keep the Raytown South offense neutralized, as they've only scored once in the previous two games, and allow their own offense the chance to get into a rhythm. On the other side of the ball, quarterback Eddie Sola, who played running back in Hammonds absence, and company will look to stimulate a Panthers offense which has either been red hot or stone cold this season. Raytown South entered the season ranked in the Class 5 state rankings, but has recently falled out while Park Hill south remains in the fold, currently ranked sixth.

"They're a good team," Simcox said. "I remember from last year their front eight or nine guys are real tough. It's going to be another test."

Raytown's Justus McMullen ripped a 29-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to put the game's first points on the board last Friday putting them up 6-0 after a failed point after. Then it was a 50-yard pass from Bobby Bradley to Chris Jackson in the fourth quarter that would eventually serve as the game winning touchdown, putting the Blue Jays up 12-0, once again after a failed extra point. A 5-yard pass from Carson Reid to Craig Scott got South on the board late in the fourth quarter, but it wasn't enough as the Panthers fall to 3-2 on the year and suffer the first blow to their conference record, now at 2-1.

Trojans looking forward after tough loss

It’s all eyes forward for the Park Hill Trojans (3-2) as they enter this Friday’ game against North Kansas City after an ugly 42-0 loss to Jefferson City on homecoming last weekend. The Hornets (1-4) are under the direction of first year head coach Leon Douglas, previously a defensive coordinator, and coming off their first win of the year, a 19-0 victory over Ruskin. While the Trojans have handedly beat the Hornets in recent years including a 49-6 win last year, Park Hill head coach Greg Reynolds says now is the time for his team to make the adjustments towards improvement.

“At some point you have to fix it,” Reynolds said. “If we’re going to get away with not doing things correctly against certain teams because we think we’re going to win, then we’re never going to be seen like the Jeff City Jays or any of the other quality teams we play. At this point, I don’t think we can guarantee a win against any team.”

There were several improvement areas available to choose from last Friday against Jefferson City and it started from the first play at scrimmage when Jeff City quarterback Thomas LePage hit receiver A.J. Miller for a 75-yard catch and run for a touchdown to put the Jays up 7-0. Two Devon Moore touchdown runs would extend the score to 21-0 before the end of the first quarter.

“I told them this team is like the old Jefferson City teams, who used to win state championships right and left. They’re very physical, don’t have very many holes. The only hole I saw was their long snapper being a little erratic and if that’s your only weak link, then you’ve got a pretty good team,” Reynolds said.

Park Hill struggled to find any offensive rhythm throughout the night, only producing 28 yards in the first half. Their closest opportunity came when the Trojans recovered a fumbled Jefferson City punt return, giving Park Hill the ball at the Jays 37-yard line and their best field position of the night. But several plays later, Trojan quarterback Tyler White was picked off by a Jay defender to end the drive. Despite a missed field goal attempt on the ensuing drive, Jeff City put an additional score on the board following another interception before halftime when Moore caught a screen pass and ran 18 yards for a touchdown reception, adding to his impressive three touchdown night. The Jays went into the locker room at halftime with a commanding 35-0 lead.

“We concentrated on ourselves,” Reynolds said of the way they handled being down. “We did some things decent. The problem was they were so athletic that they were filling the gaps too quickly.”

Jeff City increased their lead in the second half with what would be one final score when Elijah Sherwood ran for a three yard touchdown putting the Jays up for good, 42-0. Their nearly 500 yards of total offense was no match for what would be 123 yards of offense from Park Hill.