Trojans topple Truman, travel to Jeff City

After a 61-20 trampling of Truman last Friday, this week the 3-1 Park Hill will make a long road trip to Jefferson City. The Blue Jays’ program is high on success and tradition, but they’re coming off a narrow 39-36 defeat last week against Columbia Rockbridge and are now 2-2 on the year.

“We’re going to be in a hostile environment with a good team and proud tradition. We have to be ready to play and if we do what we’re supposed to it will be a very good football game,” coach Greg Reynolds said. “I hope these kids represent what this program is, which is one I think is pretty good too.”

With the return of offensive tackle Adam Vanderpool to the lineup, the Trojans were able to turn out one of their most balanced and point producing performances of the season last week with 539 yards of total offense. Making his season debut, Vanderpool provides experience as a returning starter to an offensive line that has experienced some key injuries early in the season. This continued last week as junior Zach Anderson made his first start at guard due to an injury.

“It feels great, I was missing it a lot,” Vanderpool said. “I just have to play hard every play and let those young guys know you can’t take plays off.”

Park Hill jumped out to a 20-0 lead before Truman began to exploit a perceived weakness in the Trojan passing defense with a series of passes which led to a 5-yard touchdown pass to make it 20-7. Although up 34-7 at the half after several touchdown runs from Trace Norfleet, the Patriots kept attacking the flats of the Trojan defense which opened it up for a 41-yard touchdown pass and another deep pass which led to a touchdown.

“The flats, that’s where most of their passes were going. When we got to the flats, they went deep, so they mixed it up well,” linebacker De’Aris Flint said.

The final Truman score halfway through the third quarter to make it 41-20 was their last as Park Hill scored on the first play of the next drive when Nathan Wilson hit Flint for an 83-yard touchdown pass.

Park Hill’s 369 rushing yards was their best running performance of the season which is starting to resemble their ideal offensive play allocation which has heavily relied on the passing game prior to last week.

“It helps a lot especially when we play teams with two safeties. They play for the pass, so when we get the running game going, we just go over the top,” said Flint who had three catches for 105 yards and a touchdown.

Truman’s 252 pass yards was not a point of pride for the Trojan defense, but only giving up 19 rushing yards showed their run defense had stepped up over recent games. Although tackling can never be good enough, it’s been drilled into the players’ mindset as a key to their success.

“Tackling, tackling well. Our run blocking is getting better, but tackling needs to get a lot better,” Flint said.

Fall Roundup: September 13-17

Park Hill Softball
Trojan Softball started the week off with a victory against North Kansas City by a score of 9-0, but fell to conference power Truman 4-0 before participating in the Platte County Tournament over the weekend.

Park Hill Girls Golf
Stephanie Atkinson's 85 and Anna Kloeppel's 86 led the Trojans to an eighth place finish at the Truman/Chrisman Invitational last week. Those scores were good enough for top 20 individual honors with 23 teams and over 100 golfers participating. As a team, Park Hill shot a 402. In a match against Staley last Thursday, Kloeppel and Atkinson led the team again with scores of 44 and 47 respectively on holes.

Park Hill Boys Soccer
Park Hill Boys Soccer improved to 6-2-1 last week with two weeks against Truman (4-0) and North Kansas City (4-0). Two goals from David Ddvorak along with goals from Neal Sampson and Cole Walker led the Trojans to victory against Truman. A hat trick of three goals from Matt Russell and another from Zdvorak helped Park Hill past NKC. Goalie Shane Van Hooser was credited with shutouts in both games. They'll play at Blue Springs this week in their only scheduled game.

Park Hill Volleyball
Park Hill Volleyball fell in two games to rival Park Hill South 25-19 and 25-13 early in last week, but came back to win two matches against Truman and North Kansas City to extend their record to 7-6. Over the weekend they played in the Lee's Summit North tournament where they 3-2-1 and lost in the finals of the consolation bracket. The Trojans are now 10-8-1.

Park Hill Girls Tennis
Park Hill Girls Tennis defeated Oak Park early last week 8-1 with top singles player Suzanne Barth winning 10-0 along with Kate Skorija and Sammy Young's victories. Barth teamed up with Brooke Barnard in the top doubles match to defeat their opposition 10-4. Against St. Joe Central, Barth, Skorija, Barnard, Anna Karsiewicz, Ashlei Bos, and Kelsey Midtbo sweep all six singles matches. After winning two doubles matches the final score was 8-1. They traveled back to St. Joe last Friday for Central's Invitational Tournament where they won two of the four flights and the team title. Barth and Bos won their singles flights while Skorija and Barnard finished third in their doubles flight. Park Hill is 6-1 in match play this season.

Trojan Volleyball gaining traction

First year Park Hill volleyball coach Lindsey Hood’s first week didn’t result the way her team would have liked with losses against Liberty and Oak Park. After their first win of the season last Tuesday against St. Joseph Central and winning the consolation bracket in the Winnetonka Tournament this past weekend, the Trojans have stormed back to a 5-5 record and are now looking to build on their momentum as they approach the heart of their schedule in coming weeks.

After a loss last week to Lee’s Summit West, Hood talked about how she is satisfied with the team’s progress up to this point.

“That’s a great team (Lee’s Summit West). I’m not happy with the result, but I’m happy with how we’re coming along,” Hood said. “We just keep working really hard in practice and I think tonight we proved it even though we didn’t take any games.”

The Trojans have a relatively young team overall with six freshmen playing on the junior varsity and varsity levels so they’ve given high importance to taking small steps with each practice and game. At the same time, seniors will play a key role in that improvement with senior Alyssa Moran running the middle with Mary Lou Mixon’s blocking and defensive strengths, Paige Hultz’s back row play, and Ashlea Williams’ utility role as someone who can play a number of different positions on the court.

While Park Hill’s focus is on a strong defense, they know success will require an offensive counter-attack.

“Our defense is looking great, the girls are learning to read hitters better,” Hood said. “That first week, I had to step back and ask whether we had enough offense because our hitters weren’t really connecting as much as I wanted. We’ve incorporated more into our practices now, but we don’t necessarily have a go to hitter yet.”

Next week the Trojans will host their inaugural Dig for a Cure game against Liberty North at Park Hill. The September 21st benefit game will race money for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure Foundation and Camp Quality. Proceeds will be raised through t-shirt sales and raffle drawings at the game. The special jerseys that players will wear for the game have been donated.

“That will be a really big game, the girls are really excited,” Hood said. “We still need to treat it like any other game, but it’s an extremely great cause.”

Fall Roundup: September 6-10

Park Hill Girls Golf
The Park Hill girls continue to perform towards the top of their competition as they turned out two quality showings last week at the Blue Springs South Invitational and St. Joseph Tournament. In the best ball format at Lakewood Oaks in Blue Springs, the Trojans placed third with an overall score of 274. Anna Kloeppel placed sixth overall with a medaling score of 87. Later in the week at Fairview in St. Joseph, they shot a 379 which was good enough for sixth among the 18 teams in the field with all Trojans shooting below 100. They'll play a team match on Thursday before going into their final week of regular season play.

Park Hill Boys Soccer
Park Hill Soccer racked up a 4-1 record by beating local teams Oak Park and Liberty last week before disappointingly losing at home against Springfield Kickapoo and tying Springfield Glendale. Against Oak Park (3-0) david Zdvorak had two goals while Ray Lee added another. Zdvorak and Lee led against against Liberty with the two sole goals as they won 2-0. Assists were from Neal Sampson and Matt Russell. The Trojans fell 1-0 to Kickapoo before going scoreless in a 0-0 tie against Glendale. They are now 4-2-1.

Park Hill Softball
Park Hill softball went through a rough last week as they lost three games to Lee's Summit West, Park Hill South, and Liberty. After jumping out to a 6-2 lead, Park Hill South scored four runs in the top of the third and wouldn't look back. A valient comeback for the Trojans came up short as they fell 11-10. Bethany Sullinger contributed with a three-run homer along with Meghan Nelsen, Michele Rupard, and Liza Hill. On Thursday, the Trojans were stuck in a 3-3 tie with Liberty until the final two innings when Liberty added seven runs to complete a 10-3 victory over Park Hill. A Nikki Moss RBI triple to left in the first scored the only three runs for the Trojans. They're now 4-7 overall with a 1-2 conference record. This week's games will include road trips to Truman and Ruskin.

Park Hill looks to 'King of the Hill' match-up after season's first win

A win is a win. In Park Hill’s second game of the season against Ruskin last Friday, that’s all that mattered. Their 35-13 victory showed signs of improvement, but they realize there are still areas to improve and hope to build on their first win in this week’s King of the Hill matchup against rival Park Hill South.

Park Hill will be somewhat familiar with the new system South coach Mark Simcox has as he’s a former Park Hill assistant. Park Hill coach Greg Reynolds knows a few things about Simcox teams.

“They’re very well coached,” Reynolds said. “One thing I learned when Mark was our coordinator is he’ll find the one thing you need to take away and he’ll usually do it. This year we’re able to throw the ball a little better, which will help us.”

“Game three, nothing more,” Reynolds said of the rivalry. “The only thing more important is district play. It has no bearing on whether we make the playoffs or not.”

Special teams remained a point of concern again early in the first quarter last week after Park Hill was able to force a Ruskin three and out. The following punt was fumbled around the Park Hill 40-yard line and recovered by Ruskin which led to the first score of the game on an 18-yard touchdown run from Fred Kelley putting the Trojans down 7-0.

“They’re a team that you need to be ready for,” coach Greg Reynolds said of Ruskin. “They’ve been like that since I started coaching.”

Nathan Wilson and the Trojan offense rattled off 21 unanswered points putting Park Hill up 21-7 at halftime. The defense didn’t give up a scoring drive the rest of the game and held Ruskin to 110 yards rushing and 43 passing.

“I told them if we remained disciplined then we’d be able to overcome their speed advantage,” Reynolds said. “Defense did a lot better this week.”

Trace Norfleet gained 115 of the 217 total yards rushing for the Trojans on 18 carries. He added a two-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter to put Park Hill up 28-7.

A Ruskin 68 yard kick-off return for a touchdown put focus again on the Trojans’ special teams units.

“Hopefully we’ll get it fixed and everyone where they’re supposed to be so that it doesn’t cost us a game,” Reynolds said.

Ruskin wouldn’t score again though as Park Hill’s Luke Bossert scored on a 33-yard touchdown pass from halfback Norfleet to bring the final score to 35-13.

Fall Roundup: August 30 - September 3

Park Hill Volleyball
The Park Hill Volleyball team didn’t get off to start they wanted to last week as they opened their season with two losses to Liberty (20-25, 23-25) and Oak Park (14-25). Jenny Riddle led the defense with seven digs against Liberty ahead of Halley Knudson and Angelica Pasek’s five. Knudson added 11 digs against Oak Park and Molley Lien had six. Alyssa Moran led with six kills on offense. Park Hill will play Lee’s Summit West on Thursday.

“Our defense is working hard and we are working on getting better every day,” said first year coach Lindsey Hood.

Park Hill Girls Golf
The girls golf team continued to win against local competition as they beat North Kansas City and Oak Park last week at Paradise Pointe Golf Course. As a team, the Trojans shot a 214 in the rainy weather. Anna Kloeppel was a medalist with a score of 48. Park Hill will play in two tournaments this week.

Park Hill Cross Country
The Park Hill Girls Cross Country team placed fourth out of 11 teams last weekend at the Liberty Invitational with a score of 111. The boys team finished eleventh in the field with a team score of 253.

Park Hill Girls Softball
The Trojans were able to improve on their 2-3 record coming into last week by adding two wins to their total. Makenzie Porter added her third win in a 7-4 victory against Staley early last week. Michele Rupard threw out two runners on defense along with Micalla Rettinger’s double and RBI’s from Rupard, Liza Hill, Samantha Snodgrass, and Paige Downs.

An 11 strike-out performance from Truman’s Paige Parker led to a shutout of the Trojans in a 10-0 loss last Thursday in their first conference game.

Rallying from four runs down to take a 7-6 lead, St. Joe Central tied to the game in the sixth inning to go into extra innings. Park Hill pulled away in the eighth to win 10-7. The Park Hill offense was led by Rettinger, Nikki Moss, Bethany Sullinger, and Rupard. The win was Porter’s fourth of the year on the mound for the Trojans. With a 4-4 record and 1-1 in conference play, Park Hill will play Lee’s Summit West, Park Hill South, and Liberty this week.

Park Hill Soccer gains attention, lives up to hype

One of the bad things about the Park Hill boys soccer team’s trip to the Missouri state semi-finals and finishing above the rest of the teams in the Kansas City area last season is they won’t be sneaking up on many opponents this year. On the other hand, getting Metro Sports to televise their first game of the season in the Olathe Tournament against some of Kansas’ top teams is a sign that Park Hill’s soccer program is getting the recognition they’ve earned.

Coming into this year the Trojans haven’t been able to turn out the best performances against many of the teams in this tournament, which they usually participate in to open the season. It was especially challenging going up against Olathe South, a team which had prior to last season been to the Kansas 6A state finals six consecutive years. Although a rebuilding season for a young South team, there’s something to say about that kind of success and what a win could do for Park Hill’s confidence and reputation.

“Metro Sports was a double-edged sword for us,” coach Dustin Sollars said. “The kids got excited, but they also caved to the pressure a bit, our first half was bad.”

Much the same could be said about their opponent as Park Hill and Olathe South played the entire first half without scoring and a 0-0 halftime tally. Sollars mentioned conditioning, stringing the ball together, and up the field defense as challenges in their first half. Play from central backs Devon Belew and Joel Gordon took away some aggressive attacks from South to prevent several scores.

The story was very different in the second half as Matt Russell scored the Trojans’ first goal ten minutes into the second half. Combined with a tough defense, Park Hill controlled the tempo which allowed them to see more scoring opportunities. Ray Lee added their second goal later in the half with Nick Shepherd putting the finishing touches on the 3-0 victory in the final moments. Lee and David Zdvorak contributed assists with goalkeeper Shane Van Hooser earning the shutout as Park Hill won their first game in front of the locally televised audience.

“The second half we were a little more composed and held our positions on the field better,” Sollars said. “Our big players stepped up and played well, and that helped get us going.”

In the semi-final game, after controlling the ball most of the game and seeing more shots, the Trojans weren’t able to finish as they lost against Blue Valley North 2-0. The following night they defeated Olathe NW 2-1 after being down 1-0 at halftime. Zdvorak and Cole Walker scored on assists from Neal Sampson and Zach Stuhlman in the victory. Park Hill finished third in the tournament which ties their best which was last achieved in 2003. Ray Lee and Quenton Noble received All-Tournament team honors.

Park Hill plays Liberty at the Park Hill District Soccer Complex this week and will host a pair of Springfield teams in Kickapoo High and Glendale High over the weekend.

Trojans look for first win against Ruskin after up and down game against Liberty

Coming off an uncharacteristic performance in a 35-14 loss in week one against Liberty, Park Hill will travel to Ruskin this Friday hoping to earn their first win of the season. They’ll be facing a Ruskin team newly consolidated with the former Hickman Mills High School and coming off a 45-6 thumping of Truman.

“I expect them to be a wide open team with a lot of speed and their line to be big enough to use it with the two schools combined,” Reynolds said. “If we can’t tackle then it’s not going to be just eight yard, but 80 yards.”

If there was one thing the Trojans took away from last Friday’s loss to Liberty, it was the importance of tackling. Liberty used its size advantage on the offensive line to utilize their quarterback and the option game to pick on the Park Hill defense. The Blue Jays methodically drove down the field several times in the second half which contributed in part to 29 points in four consecutive scoring possessions.

It was a tale of two halves for Park Hill as they went into halftime with a 14-6 lead after quarterback Nathan Wilson impressively found Trace Norfleet and De’Aris Flint for touchdown passes of 18 and 42 yards. Flint finished with seven receptions for106 yards while Wilson went 28 for 42 with 249 yards passing, some of the highest passing numbers for a Park Hill team in recent years. This has been mostly due to the Trojans’ historically strong running game which wasn’t able to build momentum against Liberty.

“We probably threw more tonight than any time in the last couple years,” Reynolds said. “There will be more passing than in the past, but no, we’re not going to throw that much. We still need to get the ball to two or three running backs we think are pretty good.”

Even with the passing game performance, the Trojans had several mental mistakes hurt them in the second half including dropped passes, a lost fumble, and a failed punt attempt. All of which followed a Liberty 81-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to open the half.

“We played a good football team, if you take away special teams and tackling, then it’s a lot closer game,” Reynolds said.

The Trojans believe they will improve as younger players become more comfortable and aren’t seeing the early season loss as a signal to go a different direction.

“I don’t think we’re going to have to change anything. Whether they believe it or not, some guys came in and doubted themselves tonight,” Reynolds said. “We found out in the first half that this is fun and worth all the hard work though.”

Fall Roundup: August 24-28

Park Hill Softball
The Trojan softball team had a busy first week of the season with five games in the Greater Kansas City Tournament. They went 2-3 with wins against Smithville (5-3) and Oak Grove (7-3). One of the losses came at the hands of Staley (10-4) earlier in the week,

Park Hill Girls Tennis
The Park Hill girls tennis team got off to a hot start last week as they defeated Liberty 7-2 and Park Hill South 6-3 to start the season 2-0. Against Liberty, top singles player Suzanne Barth won 10-8, but the doubles team of Barth and Brooke Barnard fell 11-10 when they lost the tiebreaker 7-3. Later in the week, the Trojans hosted Park Hill South where the number two doubles team of Kate Skorija and Anna Karsiewicz came back from a 2-7 deficit to win 11-10 after they won the tie-breaker 7-1. They'll play St. Theresa's Thursday at the Country Club Plaza.

Park Hill Girls Golf
Anna Kloeppel helped the Park Hill girls golf team win their first match of the season last week against Winnetonka and Park Hill South at Hodge Park as her 44 gained her a medal in the nine hole match. As a team, the Trojans compiled a score of 193. Earlier in the week, they started the season at the Liberty Invitational with Bailey Warlan and Stephanie Atkinson placed in the top 20. They play Winnetonka again this week along with Oak Park.

Park Hill Girls Cross Country

Coach Jason Parr's voice could be heard across the Park Hill campus last Saturday when the team held their first ever time trial event on the two mile course Parr designed and created. With constant team messages of 'Run Strong' and 'It's not about you' filling the air, the time trial set the tone for next week's first race at Liberty.

"I've spent four years on this course, developing it so we can have some races hosted here. We hope to plan a quad meeting sometime next year. It's two miles and another lap could turn it into a 5k," Parr said.

Freshman Kim Rau took first place with a time of 12:10 with the top seven comprising of three freshmen and four sophomores.

"We're very experienced and talented, but young and we've got a lot to learn and work to do. We're excited," Parr said.

"A race like that will give girls an opportunity to have some fun. I think we'll do really well on our varsity and jv levels to build success," Parr said of the Saturday's upcoming Liberty race.

GIRLS GOLF PREVIEW: PH golf team returns several top players

The Park Hill Girls Golf team is full steam ahead as they look to start their 2010 season where they ended their 2009 season. Coach Tari Garner knew she had a good team last year, but always thought the 2010 season would be the one to keep an eye on. With all of their top five golfers returning, the Trojans hope to capitalize on a spring and summer full of preparation.

Returning from a team that placed second at conference and fourth at districts are two state qualifiers, Anna Kloeppel and Stephanie Atkinson, along with seniors Erica Crainshaw, Samantha Brunker, and Bailey Warlan. Not only are some experienced varsity players returning, but the entire JV team returns as well, which Garner says is creating some competition within the ranks.

“We have some people who will be battling for that last spot on varsity and pushing each other to get better,” Garner said.

No matter what five golfers Park Hill will go with throughout the season, Garner is seeing some especially encouraging signs of where the team could be at the end of the season.

“We’re shooting scores on our first nine holes below where we ended the season last year,” Garner said. “That’s a really good look and I hope we can continue to get better.”

Going into her fourth season as the head coach, Garner says she has always tried to instill the importance of working hard in the summer leading up to the beginning of practice whether it be taking lessons or actually playing the course.

“This senior class is the first group we’ve seen all the way through,” Garner said. “It’s made a difference and they understand what it takes to really be competitive.”

While Lee’s Summit West will be a competitive force in the conference and an always talented Liberty team in districts, the Trojans main focus going into the early matches of the season is improving their technique and make sure it pays off in the long-run.

“Sometimes the girls have to make changes early in the season because it gets harder to adjust as the season goes on,” Garner said. “Our main thing is to focus on building up so you’re performing your best around the time or conference and districts.”