Scoring in just about every way imaginable in their 56-8
stomping of Oak Park last Thursday in the opening round of district play, Park
Hill South (6-4) now looks to their matchup with the Kearney Bulldogs (6-3)
Wednesday night in the district semifinals. The Bulldogs received a first round
bye and will be well rested to host the Panthers. Park Hill South coach Mark
Simcox says his team will face an opponent with a long history of success, but
one he can also see glimpses of his own team in based on the balance of their
offenses.
“They’re used to winning and they’ll expect to win, no
question about that,” Simcox said. “We haven’t played them in a long time so
we’re going to have to study up a bit. In some ways they’re a lot like us on
offense. They run more of a double-slot where they’re able to do what the
defense gives them, so they’re pretty balanced.”
That balance was on full display last week in their opening
round playoff game against Oak Park. If there was any doubt Park Hill South
would be able to carry the momentum from their 45-14 win over Park Hill last
week into this week’s first round district game against a struggling Oak Park
team, it was quickly put to rest.
“We want to be efficient and we know we can’t be on an
emotional high every week, but it can’t affect our efficiency,” Simcox said of
coming off the previous week’s rivalry game.
The Panthers stuck with the legs of running backs Myles
Hammonds and Ronnie Bertelsmeyer to rack up a 21-0 lead in the first quarter.
Bertelsmeyer punched in a two-yard touchdown run in between Hammonds touchdown
runs of 4 and 37 yards. That lead would eventually build into a 35-0 at
halftime after Hammonds added his third touchdown and receiver Nick Griffith
pulled in a 62 yard pass from quarterback Shaefer Schuetz.
Runs of 20 yards from Craig Scott and 15 yards from Corey
Land produced two more touchdowns in the second half to widen their lead to
49-0. With a running clock in the second half, Oak Park was able to put their
first points of the game on the board when Joe Anderson took a double handoff
that went 25 yards for a touchdown.
Freshman Collin Faro posted the game’s last points with a
two yard touchdown run in the game’s final minutes to bring the contest’s final
score to 56-8. The Panthers would combine for 467 yards of offense and did so
fairly evenly between their playmakers as Hammonds ended the night with 97
yards on nine carries while Bertelsmeyer compiled 67 yards from seven carries.
Scott who added a touchdown on the ground, caught five passes for 115 yards.
Simcox talked about his team’s depth and how that has helped
them not only fill in when injuries occur, but also how it creates options to
spread the ball around.
“That’s the advantage of having numbers to where kids are
competing against each other in practice for positions, for playing time,”
Simcox said. “In a game like this one, it really pays off.”
