Park Hill coach Josh Marchbank says after losing two games
to their rival they came to play with a different sense of urgency and focus.
“For our seniors, we said this was the last time we were
going to play Park Hill South on this field so after losing two games to them
earlier this season, for lot of these guys it was a motivator,” Marchbank said.
“We talked about how the first two games we let the environment and the
frustrations take hold. Tonight we really stepped up to the task. We possessed
the ball very well tonight.”
Park Hill defender Cain Winebrenner believed the victory,
compared to their previous two losses to the Panthers, came down to
determination and the will to win.
“We hope to use this as momentum to get the second half of
our season started and get ready for districts,” Winebrenner said. “We were hungrier
(than last time) and we came out ready to play.”
Park Hill South coach Joe Toigo says Monday’s loss has more
to do with not converting scoring opportunities than any kind of perceived
difficulty of beating a team three times, something the Panthers have struggled
with so far this season.
“It’s our fault for the margin of error. If we put the balls
away and score, we’re up 2-0. It’s our problem and has nothing to do with
beating them three times or four times,” Toigo said. “No matter who we play,
our margin of error has been very thin because we don’t finish the
opportunities that are there. If you take away our blowouts, we’re only winning
by an average of 0.8 goals a game.”
Leading up to their game Monday night, Park Hill South went
2-0 last week with a 1-0 win over Rockhurst in which Adam Weatherly scored the
winning goal in the final minutes as well as a 9-0 win over Ruskin. Park Hill
defeated Ruskin 10-0 and Truman 4-2 before losing to Blue Springs South in a
closely contested 3-2 match.
Park Hill, now 14-5, faces Liberty this week before finishing out the
regular season against Staley and St. Joe Central next week. Park Hill South,
with a record of 18-4, looks to Kearney Thursday
and next week will conclude their schedule against Truman and Oak Park. Just around the corner for both is
the postseason and a potential fourth matchup between the two teams in district
play, this time with the winner moving on and the loser ending their season.
With tough regular season schedules designed to prepare them for postseason
situations, both teams should be primed for the challenge.
“The goal is to play every game like the state championship,”
Toigo said. “That way you’ve played it 25 times before you get there.”