Big man smile has produced big time results, Leathers defines positive attitude

With all the pressure and expectations that come with being a varsity athlete, it isn’t hard to understand how every mistake or disappointment can easily be seen on a player’s face each time something doesn’t go their way. Justin Leathers, a senior center on the boys’ basketball team at Park Hill, can be seen as an exception.

As the Trojans look to finish their season with a conference championship and set their eyes on a district title, one thing has held constant throughout the season that can’t always be said about a lot of high school sports teams over the years, a good attitude.

“Justin's attitude, both in school and in basketball, is second to none,” head coach David Garrison said. “He has worked extremely hard to make himself better in both areas.”

Although the first thing you might notice about Leathers is his tall frame along with his average of 19 points and nine rebounds per game, the second you’ll notice is a positive floor presence and a constant smile. As a part of a group of three seniors on a young Trojan basketball team, Leathers has set the tone for a team that follows his example and shows they enjoy playing the game. No one ever said ‘nice’ wins basketball games and Leathers uses it as a way to get into opposing players’ heads.

“It’s kind of a psych thing,” Leathers said. “They see me smiling, but they’re so serious.”

But it isn’t just a way to bother his opponents, it’s an attitude he’s grown up with and made a priority since fourth grade when he started playing basketball.

“My Mom always told me to have fun with the game, and don’t take it too serious,” Leathers said. “I take it serious, but I make sure to have fun.”

It could be said him and his teammates have had some serious fun as they’ve compiled a 16-5 record overall and are currently undefeated in conference with a 7-0 mark. Leathers has been a part of a program that has steadily improved in recent years and hopes his class can start a new chapter.

“We haven’t had a strong tradition of winning, so my class wanted to start it by winning conference and districts,” Leathers said.

“All year, we look at the banner in the gym that says ’02 and we want to add another year to it,” Leathers added as he referred to the school’s basketball conference banner.

Leathers sees himself as a motivator on the team and tries to be an example to his teammates because he knows the effect that positive encouragement can create.

“I come out and set the tone. If I’m slacking, they might slack, so I want to come out with more energy,”

Garrison has noticed the difference the positive attitude Leathers brings to his squad and recognizes how much better it makes his team.

“His work ethic, enthusiasm, and leadership are contagious to everyone he is around,” Garrison said about Leathers. “He is a big part of the success that we are having this year, and I cannot be happier for him."

Like any tested leader, Leathers is always looking to the future and knows his team’s goals established at the beginning of the season will come down to some of the smallest things.

“All we have to do is finish, every play counts,” Leathers said simply.

Park Hill Boys clinch first Conference title since 2002, look to districts for more

Pending an unexpected slump that has yet to come for the Park Hill Boys Basketball team this season, next week they will complete their regular season at the top of the standings as Conference Champs for the first time since 2002. Last week, they defeated their closest rival in the standings, Truman, to remain undefeated and stay two games ahead of the Patriots in the Big Six Conference standings. After being down nine at halftime, the Trojans played what could have been their most complete half of basketball of the season in pulling out the 70-63 victory at Park Hill High School to improve to 16-5, 7-0.

“They played a two-three zone and that got us standing around a lot,” head coach David Garrison said. “We weren’t hitting any shots.”

“We came out in the second half and it was the best we’ve played in a long time with the amount of intensity and focus to get a hard fought win,” Garrison said.

The Trojans see the conference title as accomplishing just one of the goals they set out to achieve at the beginning of the season.

“You approach it like you’ve now accomplished one goal,” Garrison said of the conference title. “It’s not our main goal, it’s just one step. Hopefully it gives you confidence when you go for your next goal, which is to be competitive and try to win that district title.”

Garrison, in his third season as head coach, talked about the progress the program has made since he started and how he’s approached the continued improvement.

“I think every group we’ve had has taken steps. You want to be successful every season, but you want to be successful for the school and the community. The first year we won nine games, 14 games the second, and now we’ve won our 16th. That’s our mindset, we’re happy with where we’re at, but we’re not satisfied,” Garrison said.

The Trojans will play William Chrisman on Tuesday as a part of Senior Night festivities and finish off the regular season at Winnetonka on Feb. 19th before district play begins the following week. Park Hill is on course to be slotted as the number two seed behind Liberty.

Park Hill Punter signs with SEC's Auburn

Last weekend the Auburn University Alumni Club-Kansas City Chapter sponsored a signing event for Park Hill Senior Steven Clark as he looks toward punting for the Tigers in the Southeast Conference (SEC) next year as a true freshman. On hand were friends, teammates, alumni and fans of Auburn living in the Kansas City area along with head football coach Greg Reynolds, head basketball coach David Garrison, and assistant basketball coach Kevin Levetzow who all spoke about the work ethic and continued success they are excited to see Clark display in the coming years in one of the top football conferences in America.

Clark, at 6'5" 230 pounds, is currently ranked as the fourth best punter in the nation by ESPN after earning all-state honors by averaging 40 yards per punt his senior season. Clark is making some history as the first D-I football signee from Park Hill in the last ten years.

A highly sought after recruit, Clark used a series of criteria to make his final decision. First, was the area of study he wanted to go into which is exercise science and kinesiology, a specialized degree not necessarily available at many local schools. Second, was finding a university in need of a punter next year and whether they put emphasis on their special teams development. Lastly, a coaching staff he was comfortable with spending the next four years of his life with. Those main criteria narrowed a search that started with schools from all over the country, including local Big 12 schools, down to Auburn says Clark. The event was concluded with an enthusiastic singing of the Auburn fight song.

Lady Trojans split ugly pair of games with South

Bodies flying after loose balls, unforced turnovers leading to fouls, and coaches venting their frustrations led to an overall ugly game for both teams last weekend as the Park Hill Lady Trojans played against rival Park Hill South. With leading scorer Laura Bennett out for the season with a knee injury, the Trojans were left at a slight disadvantage to the Panthers who were just coming off an upset victory against Platte County. A back and forth game throughout, Park Hill’s Shelby Blanchard made two free throws with less than ten seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime. The overtime period may have left many feeling déjà vu, as the game started to become a series of repeated unnecessary fouls, with the outcome of the game laying in the free throw shooters’ hands. South converted a majority of their opportunities while Park Hill did not, leading the Panthers to a 50-46 victory.

“We didn’t make shots. If we make shots this game isn’t even close. We missed free throws and a ton of lay-ups, they (South) didn’t. That’s the whole story of the game,” Park Hill Coach Brian Rockers said of the loss.

So concludes another unsatisfying week for the Lady Trojans, who also hit a speed bump at the North Kansas City Tournament earlier in the week when they fell to St. Joe Central and Platte County before beating Oak Park in the 7th place game. Junior Michele Rupard also suffered an injury setback with a concussion for the Trojans as she missed a series of games as well. The Trojans are now 12-9 after starting the season 5-0.

“It’s been a rough week, a lot of injuries,” Rockers said.

Asked how the injuries would affect his game strategy Rockers replied, “We’re going to have to play a lot more guards.”

Another issue Rockers wants his team to focus on is their mental approach to the game and how it applies to the foul problems they’ve been experiencing.

“We’ve been in foul trouble all year long,” Rockers said. “I’ve got some people we can’t afford to have on the bench that end up on the bench. They are very valuable to the team and it hurts us.”

The Trojans turned around on Monday and once again faced the Panthers, this time at Park Hill South. They tied the season seasons by taking their revenge with a win by a score of 49-35. They’ll finish out the season with three games starting with a Feb. 11 game at Grandview followed by games against William Chrisman for Senior Night and Winnetonka on Feb. 17 and 18.

Trojan Wrestlers 'on course' to title repeat

Park Hill Wrestling Coach Bill Erneste says he challenges his team to set their goals high and with that, they have high expectations. So to say Park Hill’s goal of winning its second consecutive state championship and placing as many wrestlers as possible at the state tournament later this month is a high expectation would be an understatement. As the Trojans going into what they call their state-third of the season, they’re happy with their progress, but mindful of the room to improve as everyday brings them closer to the opportunity to fulfill their goal.

“The first third of our season went well and we improved on a lot of the things we need to,” Erneste said of his team’s start.

Park Hill finished second at the Toshiba Wrestling Classic at the KCI Expo Center in December where they put an unprecedented six wrestlers in the finals with four netting first place as they competed against some of the top teams in the region. Then, last month they won the Capitol City Wrestling Invitational in Jefferson City followed by the Winnetonka Tournament where they were able to get ten kids into the top three with six of them gaining first place.

“I think we’re on course,” Erneste said. “But every single match you watch and you lose, you know you have to get that much better.”

Just by looking at the lineup Park Hill has, you can see how so much is expected out of this team. For example, Bricker Dixon in the 112 weight class is undefeated and hoping to avenge his second place finish last year. Skylar Wood at 119 has beat the second, third, fourth, and fifth ranked wrestlers in his class this season. Alan Waters at 125 is a three-time state champ hoping to earn his place in Missouri wrestling history by winning an illustrious fourth state title. Russ Coleman just earned his varsity spot at 130 and took first place in the Winnetonka tournament after a series of seven wrestle-offs between him and a teammate for the spot. Preston Crouse at 140 is currently ranked 3rd in the state. Kaleb Friedley has placed first and third in previous state tournaments, but not winning the Winnetonka Tournament leaves Erneste with the impression it has left a positive impression on him.

“Sometimes a kid needs to learn from a lose,” Erneste said. “He’s come back fresh and been a new kid.”

At 189, Johnny Eblen, who was disappointed when he finished second at state last year, has won every tournament except for one this year.

“His goal this year is to stand on the podium and not have to look up at anybody,” Erneste said of Eblen’s personal motivation.

Hayden Bock at 215 was also a second place finisher at state last year and has shown improvement as he gets his last chance to finish on top as a senior. Closing it out at the top in the heavyweight class is Nolan Smith, who has been a great surprise as a sophomore and is wrestling extremely well.

The Trojans were in top condition last week as they competed in and won a dual against William Chrisman in convincing fashion.
As they go into districts and state, the Trojans have begun a process of tapering. For them, it means making sure their bodies are in optimal shape for the most important matches of the season.

“If you’ve woke up every single day at 6am and done your ‘extra’, then went to practice after school for three hours, then it’s ok to go an hour and 30 minutes hard right after school and let everyone’s bodies to feel better,” Erneste said of their final preparations. “Then we’re going to line them up at state and see what they can do.”

The state tournament will be held in Columbia on the weekend of February 19th and 20th.

Lady Trojans can't capitalize on critical week, look to rebound

Since the beginning of the season, Park Hill was looking forward to last week’s slate of games. It was going to be a way of gauging their progress and possibly determine their conference standings finish. Unfortunately for the Lady Trojans, the week didn’t produce the results they had hoped for after only winning one out of three games, but Coach Brian Rockers team doesn’t have time to reflect too deeply about it with another big week including four games.

Coming into the week they were tied with William Chrisman for second and hoping to knock off conference leader Truman. After quality performances at the Basehor Linwood tournament, Park Hill came out flat against the Chrisman Bears early in the week and ended up losing by a significant margin of 59-35. Kyleesha Weston and Emma Gossett scored ten points apiece. One constant throughout the season for the Trojans is that the contributions of post players Laura Bennett and Katy Plummer have been essential in Park Hill victories. Both combined were held to five points in the loss to William Chrisman.

“We didn’t show up and didn’t compete,” Rockers said. “They made a lot of outside points and got their post player the ball.”

The Lady Trojans rallied later in the week against Oak Park in a physical, grind it out game. This time Bennett and Plummer combined for eight and 11 points respectively along with eight point performances from seniors Helena Hudson and Spenser Rhodus. Although the game was fairly close throughout, the Trojans took care of business with the 42-36 victory.

“We made enough plays, nothing really fancy or flashy about it,” Rockers said. “We did a good job of taking a lot of stuff away from their bigger players.”

Friday night brought one of Park Hill’s bigger challenges of the season in a rematch against conference leader Truman. The Patriots were undefeated entering the game. With a win, Park Hill could hold out hope of a possible conference championship, but with a lose Truman would all but clinch the first place trophy. Both teams got out to a slow first quarter start, but Truman got hot in the second quarter taking a 17-8 lead at the five minute mark. This could be credited to Truman’s half-court trap which gave the Trojan backcourt some difficulties. With halftime approaching though, the Trojans fought back on the heels of Kyleesha Weston who hit a huge three-pinter with under a minute to go to cut the lead to 21-18. The third quarter proved to be devastating for Park Hill as they were outscored 15-4 in the third quarter. A late fourth quarter rally proved to be insufficient as Truman went on to defeat Park Hill by a score of 52-41.

“When we attack zones we do these things and other times we just don’t attack,” Rockers said of some of his team’s offensive troubles. “We’re just running our sets and just not looking to score.”

“I think we’re upbeat. They were down after the game, but our motto from here on out is to have winning weeks, especially when we’re having those three and four game weeks,” Rockers said.

Park Hill looks to another big week with an appearance in the North Kansas City Tournament and a Saturday game against rival Park Hill South, which is a makeup of a previous game cancelled from early January. With two regular season contests on the books between the two schools, district seeding could create a third meeting during district play in late February. Park Hill will be battling for a two seed over the next couple weeks behind what will most likely be a number one seeded Liberty team.

Park Hill Boys battling through stretch of 13 games in 26 days

Along with their female counterparts, the Park Hill Boys basketball team was also able to bring home a consolation game victory at Basehor-Linwood last week as they defeated Holton 64-49 last Friday night. It was the culmination of an up and down week for the Trojans who improved to 10-4 with the victory. Starting off the week with a poor performance against St. James by getting off to a slow start and followed by foul trouble throughout the game, led Park Hill to a matchup with St. Joe Benton. The Redbirds played the Trojans in a zone defense, a defense most likely used to limit the effect the Trojans were able to have with their dribble penetration. This led to Trojans to not only focus on attacking Benton’s defense, but a renewed determination on their own defensive end.

“Our big focus on that game was defense,” Coach David Garrison said. “Our goal was to get four consecutive stops in a row, and I think we got seven.”

The 52-31 victory over Benton set up a consolation game matchup against Holton. A physical and athletic Wildcat team featured five players who were 6’4” or taller, which presented a size disadvantage to the Trojans. The first quarter’s play was a good contrast of the teams’ styles of play with Holton pounding it down low in the post and getting some easy baskets while Park Hill made a couple three-pointers and mid-range jump shots leaving the score in Holton’s advantage at 11-10 midway through the first quarter. Although, not immediately effecting the score, Park Hill threw several different defenses at the Wildcats in the first half including a full-court man on man press and a 1-3-1 half-court trap set at one point.

“We put a little pressure on them,” Garrison said. “Tried to play some different things and do the best we could to make them feel uncomfortable.”

Despite a 32-29 deficit at halftime, it wouldn’t take long for Park Hill’s Justin Leathers to get two consecutive tip-in baskets to gain the Trojans’ first lead since the opening minutes of the game. This was the beginning of a 12-2 run for Park Hill as Leathers came through again midway through the third quarter with a one-handed dunk to put the Trojans up 41-34.

“In the second half we made an adjustment and the guys were all for just picking up the pace a little bit,” Garrison said. “Getting some steals and rebounds so we could just get out and push it.”

In the fourth quarter Holton seemed to shy away from their inside game and started kicking out to their perimeter players. Park Hill was not caught off guard by this and took full advantage as they were able to get several steals and breakaway layups. If not easy layups, they were able to draw fouls. Converting their free throws increased their lead and sealed the victory with a 64-49 win.

With Justin Leathers, De’Aris Flint, and Chris Nsenki having all been big point producers at various points in the season, Garrison noted the contributions of Brady Kreitzer and his role.

“Brady was in a tough spot today with some of those big guys and he’s picked up some steam for us,” Garrison said. “As we keep going, and get to a point where they’re all ‘on’ in the same night, we’re going to be a pretty good team.”

Park Hill is currently in the middle of a stretch where they will play 13 games in 26 days. They played St. Joe Central on Tuesday night and will play in the Nixa Tournament south of Springfield over the weekend starting Thursday. The tournament will offer the Trojans a chance to play some unfamiliar competition while tuning up for what could be a conference title run in the final weeks of the season.

Consolation for Lady Trojans, big week ahead

After a consolation game victory against the host school last Friday in the Basehor-Lindwood Tournament, the 10-4 Trojans come into a pivotal week which includes games at Oak Park and then an anticipated rematch with conference leader Truman at home this Friday night. Before Monday’s game at William Chrisman, the two teams were tied for second place in their conference.

A disappointing second half last Monday against Platte County led to 48-32 loss, leaving Park Hill in a position to finish no better than 5th in the Bobcat Classic, but they took it in stride as they competed in their last tournament of the year before hitting the final streak of conference games leading into districts. In their second game of the tournament on Wednesday, the Lady Trojans played a struggling Wyandotte High. Park Hill was easily able to pull out the victory by a score of 58-27 behind Laura Bennett’s 17 points and a 16 point breakout performance from Katy Plummer. 23 of Wyandotte’s 27 points were accredited to junior guard Royce Shields. Coach Brian Rockers was happy to get the victory, especially with what he thought was an ugly game.

“It’s just one of those games where you try to take care of business,” Rockers said. “It was sloppy and we just wanted to come in and get the job done.”

In Friday’s consolation game against Basehor-Linwood, the Trojans got out to a 10-6 lead in the first quarter and would never look back. After not using their full-court press all week, Park Hill put a light press on the Bobcats early to make them feel uncomfortable. The soft, but always present pressure led the Bobcats to 12 turnovers in the first half.

“We didn’t get a whole lot of steals, but we forced them to make some passes they probably weren’t supposed to,” Rocker said.

With a 27-15 halftime lead, the Trojans gave up a handful of three-pointers to allow Basehor to stay close. In the end, Park Hill was able to attract the fouls and convert the free throws necessary to extend their lead for a 54-39 victory. A fairly balanced performance defensively as well as point production from Park Hill’s top three scorers, Bennet (18), Plummer (10), and Emma Gossett (11) left Rockers pleased and excited going into a big week.

“Huge week,” Rockers simply said of his team’s next three games against conference opponents.

Park Hill takes driver's seat in conference race

After sweeping their three games last week against Lee’s Summit West, Park Hill South, and William Chrisman, the Park Hill Trojans improved to 9-3 on the season and 5-0 in conference play as they head into the Basehor-Linwood Tournament this week. With victories against all five members of the Suburban Big-Six Conference, Park Hill now holds an upper-hand and controls their own destiny in regards to obtaining their first conference championship since 2002.

In a classic rivalry matchup between in-district foes last Wednesday at home, Park Hill was able to edge out Park Hill South in overtime 69-63. The Trojans were led with another strong performance from Justin Leathers and his 27 points, which has become fairly reliable other recent weeks. Chris Nsenki added 16 and Austin Kepler posted 11 points.

Traveling to William Chrisman presented a challenging road test for the Trojans, as they played the defending conference champions last Friday night. A neck and neck battle left the score tied at 30 going into halftime, but building a ten point lead in the third quarter put the Trojans up for good as they were able to pull out the victory 72-62. It was Nsenki this time leading Park Hill as he put on a clinic with 27 points, 15 coming from behind the arc with five three-pointers along with the 13 rebounds the junior shooting guard pulled down. De’Aris Flint contributed 11 points while Leathers added another ten.

Park Hill now looks to a series of games in Basehor-Linwood’s Bobcat Invitational before traveling to St. Joe Central on January 26th to face the Indians, the only opponent Park Hill has not yet played in their district. After that, a three week stretch will lead into the district tournament starting on February 22nd. Although in first place in the conference race, Park Hill won’t be able to relax going forward as they’ll play their second round of conference games against high-quality opponents in the coming weeks. Fortunately for the Trojans, two of the three key matchups will be at home against Truman and William Chrisman while their anticipated rematch against the Panthers will be played at Park Hill South on February 9th.

Park Hill Girls look to add aggressiveness to controlled offense

Park Hill Girls Basketball Coach Brian Rockers has a problem many coaches only wish they could have, a team fairly comfortable in running their offensive sets. So comfortable in fact, that Rockers sometimes thinks they’re not being aggressive enough in attacking the basket. While a patient and collected offense has led the Lady Trojans to an 8-3 record so far this season, Rockers thinks his team can be more aggressive when they have the ball.

“To a point we’re doing too much of it,” Rockers said. “We’re trying to instill these girls with that attack mode and getting the ball into the paint and to the basket.”

Their composure played to their advantage last week as they pulled out consecutive home game victories against Winnetonka on Thursday 42-28 and Lee’s Summit West on Friday 53-47. Both opponents featured teams focused on getting the ball to their post players, who had a size advantage over the Trojans. Winnetonka’s 6’1” center Ejehi Ehovuon presented an obstacle for the Trojans, but defensive efforts by Katy Plummer and Liza Hill along with an always present swarm of their teammates held her to just ten points. Park Hill’s Laura Bennett posted 12 points and Spenser Rhodus added eight in the victory.

“We tried to anticipate it and we knew they were going to throw a lot of lob passes to her,” Rockers said of guarding Ehovuon after Thursday night’s win over Winnetonka.

Both games involved a high amount of fouls, which led Park Hill to take advantage of their opportunities at the free throw line to seal their victories. Going 13 for 17 on free throws in the second half against Lee’s Summit West prevented the Titans from staging a fourth quarter comeback. Senior Emma Gossett’s standout play added to momentum for the Trojans as she seemed to be scrapping for almost every loose ball to occur. Not to mention, adding a three-pointer, drawing a charge, and pulling in several rebounds. Bennett continues to be the Trojans’ most consistent producer as she accounted for nine points. Helena Hudson and Plummer also added eight points a piece.

“I was very pleased with our balanced scoring for the game,” Rockers said. “Everyone that played had a part in this victory.”

Going into the Basehor-Linwood Tournament this week, the Lady Trojans will hope to gain the more aggressive attack their coach is looking for via the post with Plummer as Rockers continues to see improvement in her game.

“She’s making good moves and her time is going to come,” Rockers said. “She just can’t get anything to fall right now.”

After this week’s tournament, Park Hill will head into a crucial stretch where they will play William Chrisman, Oak Park, and then a highly anticipated rematch with Truman at home on January 29th. Truman defeated Park Hill earlier this year on the road, but a more confident Trojan team will look to come back strong as this game could play a role in the final conference standings.