Defending the Hill: Trojans claim Suburban Gold title

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The t-shirts and hooded sweatshirts were ready to go.

They were white and had the phrase ‘Defended the Hill’ in black and red lettering and the Park Hill assistant football coaches went to grab them from the storage shed at Preston Field.

Park Hill did enough on offense and held on for a 12-0 win against Blue Springs on Friday, Oct. 25 to secure the outright championship in the Suburban Conference Gold Division.

“It feels good, it is definitely a step in the right direction from last year,” said Park Hill defensive tackle James Gore, who had 1 ½ tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry. “It means we put in the work in the summer and didn’t like how the last year went. We got in the weight room and decided to change something.”

The Trojans (7-2) closed the season on a better note than last year when they lost the final two games, which was then followed by a loss in the district opener. Now, Park Hill enters postseason as the No. 2 seed after a flip with Ray-Pec, which they beat head-to-head.

Park Hill faces Liberty in the opening round of the Class 6 postseason for the second year in a row and already secured one win against the Blue Jays this year.

CODY THORN/Citizen photo

Park Hill’s Sam Sweeney, left, tackles Blue Springs running back Quentin Fontenot during a game on Friday, Oct. 25 at Preston Field at Park Hill High School.

This matchup starts at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 1. 

Liberty is 4-5 and closed with a 23-0 loss to Staley last week.

Park Hill used its stingy defense to hold off a Blue Springs squad that stood in the way of an outright title. Last year, the Trojans had an outside shot to share the title but lost by two scores against Blue Springs on the road.

The Trojans secured the share of the Gold title with a win at Blue Springs South here weeks ago, but lost to Staley in the final seconds. Park Hill bounced back from that tough loss by posting its second shutout this season.

Blue Springs was shutout for only the fourth time this decade, with Rockhurst accomplishing it twice and then Staley —which featured Hood as an assistant coach on that staff in 2015.

The Park Hill defense limited the Wildcats to 130 yards of total offense and most of that came from Dom Harkness passing for 88 yards.

“We knew it would be low scoring and they have a really talented defense,” Blue Springs coach Kelly Donohoe said. “It is a frustrating night when you don’t score and you have opportunities in the red zone and don’t come away with points. We felt like we had a solid game plan but with the talent they had, it didn’t show up. We will fix all of that and get ready for next Friday.”

Grant Pella booted a pair of first-half field goals to give Park Hill a 6-0 lead at halftime. The latter came with seconds left in the second quarter as the Trojans took advantage of a turnover by Blue Springs (5-4, 2-3) late in the half.

The Wildcats got a 37-yard completion from Dom Harkness to Carson Willich to move the ball to the Park Hill 25-yard line with less than 2 minutes to play in the first half. On third-and-13, Javion Gathrite intercepted the ball at the 15-yard line and ran it back to the 45.

Park Hill’s Anthony Hall hit Jaylin Noel for a 37-yard gain but the drive stalled from there. On fourth down, Pella kicked a 40-yard field goal with 8 seconds left in the second quarter.

Blue Springs kept the deficit at 6-0 when Noah Michael blocked a field goal attempt midway through the third quarter.

Park Hill scored on its next drive when Jaylin Noel caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Hall with 2:28 left in the third.

The conversion pass failed leaving a two-touchdown lead for Park Hill.

Blue Springs drove to the Park Hill 32 early in the fourth quarter but turned it over on downs.

An interception by Brett LaVar gave the Wildcats renewed spirit on the next possession and the offense put together its best drive of the game.

Quentin Fontenot had a 16-yard gain to move the ball into Park Hill territory, his longest run of the game. The running back, though, finished with 15 carries for 1 yard after a handful of negative yardage carries.

The drive stayed alive thanks to a targeting and pass interference and the Wildcats got to the 11-yard line but came up empty on fourth down.

The Wildcats had a short field next drive and got down to the Park Hill 9-yard line. Bryant LaVar had a 10-yard catch and a 10-yard holding call on the Trojans moved the ball to the 9-yard line. The next play ended in the hands of defensive back Antonio McCullough in the end zone for a touchback.

“We didn’t stay ahead of the chains very well and had negative pays and we haven’t had that many this year but their defense forced us into some, especially on the outside,” Donohoe said. “They are just talented everywhere on defense. They are a really special group.”

Park Hill limited the Wildcats’ rushing attack to 42 yards on 32 carries and Micah King accounted for 30 of those yards on 11 carries. 

Blue Springs finished 4-for-16 in third-down conversions and went 0-for-4 on fourth-down attempts against a Park Hill defense that allowed only 9.6 points per game.

“The kids knew we had a share of the (conference) title but they wanted to make a point not only win the conference outright, but to make sure they were undefeated Hood said. “To do it in the manner we did it and against a team as great as Blue Springs is, it is a huge accomplishment. This defense is relentless. Third and one doesn’t bother them. Being backed up in their own end zone doesn’t bother them. The kids did a great job of coming back. We had good focus tonight. We lost focus on a couple of plays but they refocused and we made the play we needed to get to the football back to the offense.”

Linebacker Mikey Miles racked up 12 ½ tackles and 4 ½ TFL, while fellow linebacker Vince Reichert had seven tackles and a team-high 5 TFL. The Park Hill defense had 18 plays were Blue Springs lost at least a yard.

Park Hill finished with 270 yards of total offense, doubling the output by the Wildcats. 

Anthony Hall passed for 196 yards but completed 12 of 31 attempts. Noel and Neal each had three catches, combining for 108 yards. Neal ran for 61 yards of the Trojans’ 74 yards on the ground.