Panthers look to contain Liberty North running game

A 24-6 win over St. Joe Central (3-4) last week gave the Park Hill South (4-3) football team a boost in the district standings, putting them in contention to play for a coveted first round district tournament bye over the next two weeks. While a highly anticipated matchup with Park Hill is on the horizon for the regular season’s final game Oct. 19^th, the Panthers must first focus on the immediate task at hand which is traveling to face Liberty North (3-4). Park Hill South coach Mark Simcox says threat number one is the talented speed of Eagles running back Antwynn Beavers who ran for 254 yards in Liberty North’s 33-22 win over Platte County last week.

“He’s probably faster than anyone we’ve got,” Simcox said. “We’ll have to do a good job of scheming against him so he doesn’t get away from us.”

It will go from one defensive focus to another as Park Hill South shutdown a pass-heavy St. Joe Central offense last week, preventing the Indians from scoring until late in the fourth quarter. With district implications on the line, both teams knew their postseason outlooks would be affected by the result.

Park Hill South posted their first score on the opening drive when quarterback Shaefer Schuetz connected with receiver Craig Scott for a 17-yard touchdown early in the first quarter. While the Panthers were frustrated with their defensive efforts early in allowing several first downs, they were able to prevent St. Joe Central from scoring on their most productive drive of the first half.

“Their offense is pretty dynamic, so we tried to hold on to every (offensive) possession as long as could. We don’t like giving up yards in chunks like we did. It turns the game into something we don’t want it to be,” Park Hill South coach Mark Simcox said. “It’s hard to play defense knowing you’re going to give up some plays, but if you make them snap the ball one more time and do that enough, it’s tough for the other team to keep it going.”

Myles Hammonds tacked on a two-yard touchdown run in the second quarter to increase the Panther lead to 14-0 going into halftime.

Jacob Sneden put a 36-yard field goal through the uprights with under five minutes left in the third quarter to increase the Panthers’ advantage to 17-0. An early fourth quarter 32-yard pass from Schuetz to receiver Nick Griffith set up a one-yard touchdown run from Hammonds, his second of the night, to increase the lead to 24-0. Hammonds would finish the night with 40 carries for 125 yards. Another Panther who had a big night was Scott who pulled in seven receptions for 123 yards despite finding himself in double coverage most of the night.

“When they do that, we have to be able to run it, and tonight we did it,” Simcox said.