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.