Jason Lawrence
Special to The Citizen
KANSAS CITY — A week after being unable to find any momentum offensively, it was Park Hill’s defense that set an early tone in Friday night’s 10-3 win against Class 6 No. 6 Lee’s Summit North at Preston Field.
On the opening drive, No. 6 Lee’s Summit North (2-2) drove 68 yards on 12 straight runs by Keyon Mozee. The No. 9 Trojans’ defense made the biggest play of the night on the Bronco senior’s 13th carry, though, as senior linebacker Mikey Miles came out of the pile at the 2-yard line with the ball, setting the tone for what would be a defensive slugfest.
“The first drive, he kept holding the ball out, so I was trying to go for the strip,” Miles said. “I went for three of them, but the last time I finally got it. It was big. Energy is always good for our team. Getting the offense the ball is always good, too, to keep the momentum rolling.”
The Trojans, who scored just 3 points a week ago against Liberty North, responded to the Broncos’ 6:33 opening drive by going 98 yards on 17 plays and chewing up 6:49 seconds.
JASON LAWRENCE/Special to the Citizen
Park Hill’s Jason Christmon II, left, tries to haul in a catch while Lee’s Summit North’s Dayne Davis defends on the play during a game on Friday, Sept. 21 at Preston Field in Kansas City North.
“We didn’t start well the last couple weeks, so we tried to make a point to do anything we can to start hot,” Park Hill head coach Josh Hood said. “That was a great drive. It ate up a ton of clock. The thing is we’ve had a couple like that the first couple weeks of the season. Sometimes we just didn’t finish with points, so it was nice to have that and have the finishing touch to it.”
The final play of the drive, quarterback Anthony Hall’s 10th straight completion, was a 2-yard scoring strike from the junior signal caller to senior wide receiver Evan Samborski, who finished with 55 yards on 11 catches, to take a 7-0 lead with 10:38 to play in the second quarter.
“When they were moving the ball, I knew we were in a dog fight,” Lee’s Summit North coach Jamar Mozee said. “They came to play. I knew they would. They lost last week and what I saw on tape, I knew that wasn’t the real them.”
The Broncos came right back, however, before stalling out at the Trojans’ 35-yard line. Lee’s Summit North kicker Devin DeRousse came on and banked the 52-yard field goal off the crossbar to cut into the Park Hill lead with 6:20 to go until halftime. However, that was where the score remained heading into the locker rooms at halftime.
The Trojans’ offense channeled its early game success on the first drive of the second half, converting three separate fourth downs on a 24-play drive that sputtered at the Broncos’ 4-yard line, forcing Park Hill to settle for a 21-yard field goal from junior kicker Grant Pella with 3:14 to play in the third quarter.
As time ticked away and the teams traded punts – six in total – Park Hill bottled up Mozee, who still managed to finish with 120 yards on 21 carries, and shut down multiple Bronco drives before they were able to reach midfield, securing its fourth straight win over Lee’s Summit North.
“When we all click together and bring energy, we’re unstoppable,” Miles said of a defense that was paced by junior safety Sam Sweeney’s eight tackles.
As the Broncos bottled up Park Hill’s running game, Hall finished 25-of-36 passing for 188 yards, even with having two touchdowns called back on penalties and a third dropped in the end zone prior to Pella’s made field goal.
“He’s a calm kid who tonight came in with a lot of confidence,” Hood said of Hall. “He really led us tonight. If he can do that every night, which we think he can, the sky’s the limit for that offense.”
The Trojans (3-1) now turn their attention to another traditional state power in Raymore-Peculiar (3-1), which was receiving votes in the Class 6 poll. The Panthers, coming off a 49-0 win over Class 4 Belton, are led by a balanced offense featuring quarterback Conrad Hawley, running back Gabe Shanklin and wide receiver Luke Grimm.
“Now we’ve got to turn around and do it again against another top team in the state in Ray-Pec,” Hood said. “It’s going to be interesting not only to see how we handled adversity last week but now how we handle success this way.
“They’ve got a great run game. They’ll spread you out on first down then bring you inside the box on second down. They’ve got one of the best receivers in the area and we know that, so we’re going to have to start game-planning him again. Their quarterback is outstanding. He does a good job of moving the football around. That’s something that’s a big improvement for them from last year. They’re a great football team with great coaches and we’ve got to go to their place, so I’ll be interested to see how our kids respond.”