Park Hill senior quarterback Kendrick Bell won the Thomas A. Simone Award last fall.
Park Hill has been known for producing top-notch athletes and this past fall, the best football and volleyball player in all of Kansas City walked those very halls.
Among all schools in the metro area, there are two awards given – Evelyn Gates Award in volleyball and Thomas A. Simone in football – to a senior girl and boy who outshine their opponents. Quarterback Kendrick Bell and outside hitter Shaye Koski were the two selected, it just so happened they attend the same school.
Bell joined his older brother – 2017 Park Hill graduate and current San Francisco 49er wide receiver Ronnie Bell – as the only players in program history to earn such a feat. Koski became the first Park Hill player to earn the Evelyn Gates Award, with its existence dating back to 2004.
Bell broke the single-season Park Hill passing yards’ record by a fair margin, throwing for 3,165 yards with 35 touchdowns on a 72 percent rate. He added 670 yards and 10 scores on the ground, giving the senior 45 total touchdowns and 3,812 yards from scrimmage.
Despite the strong offensive play by the Thomas A. Simone Award Winner, and University of Michigan commit, Park Hill didn’t have an appealing record. Winning only two of the nine regular season games, the Trojans had a better team than their record showed.
Scoring 40 or more points in five of the first seven contests – and once again in the postseason – Park Hill’s offense was one of the best in Kansas City, averaging 38.6 points per game on the season. The Trojans’ Achilles heel was their defense, which allowed 42.9 points per game and 47 points per game in losses in the regular season.
Park Hill opened the season handling Battle 68-38 and took down crosstown rival Park Hill South 42-35 in Week Six for the only regular season victories as four losses were decided by one possession. The Trojans were still able to win a district game, although they were the underdog.
Park Hill senior outside hitter Shaye Koski was the Evelyn Gates Award winner last fall, which is rewarded to the best volleyball senior in the Kansas City metro area.
Being the No. 6 seed in the Class 6 District 4 Tournament, Park Hill knocked Rockhurst out of the postseason for the second straight year after Bryce Lisaka caught the game-winning touchdown with 20 seconds left. The Trojans were in a rematch with Park Hill South in the semifinals when the rain was so severe the passing game was nearly impossible with the Panthers surviving, 28-22.
Koski helped the Lady Trojans earn their third winning season in her 4-year high school career – when she started each season – in a fall where she surpassed 1,000 career kills. The senior had 403 kills, 284 receptions, 280 digs, 19 blocks and 17 aces last fall as she will continue her academic and athletic career at the University of Texas at Tyler.
After winning back-to-back district titles, Park Hill came up short of a 3-peat when it was swept by the eventual Class 5 District 8 Champions in the semifinals. Liberty North, who went on to finish in third place at state, ended the Lady Trojans’ season as they finished 14-11-1.
Park Hill junior Natalie Gerdes was an all-state cross-country runner for the second straight season.
The Trojans’ soccer team made it just as far, falling short of 3-peating as well. After winning two straight district titles and three of the last four, Park Hill was knocked out in the Class 4 District 8 Semifinals by Park Hill South.
The Trojans lost three of the first four but turned their season around and ended with a 13-8 record, which included winning the Smithville Invitational. After the season concluded Josh Marchbank resigned as head coach, a position he held for 11 years.
The Park Hill girls’ tennis team was coming off its first state appearance since 2011 and brought four of its top-6 players back but was unable to make another deep run. Going 10-6 on the season, the Lady Trojans lost to Staley twice in the final two weeks of the fall, including in districts.
The Park Hill girls’ softball team had struggles, coming out of the gate with eight losses in the first 10 tries. Responding with four wins in the next six games was the peaking point of the season as that was followed by a 4-game losing skid.
Park Hill beat Park Hill South, 4-2, in the regular season for the first time since 2011 in the final regular season road game. The Lady Trojans were shut out in districts by Staley, ending with an 11-19 record.
Park Hill senior Sydney Roberston was on the starting lineup of the 10-6 tennis team.
Natalie Gerdes made the most of her third straight trip to state cross-country, becoming an all-state runner for the second straight season. The junior ended in 16th place with a time of 19:25.8.
Jakob Johnson was the only Park Hill boy who made it to state, running under 18 minutes. The sophomore crossed the finish line in 17:34.4 and has a bright future in cross-country.
Park Hill had sent three golfers – Makenna Kincheloe, Kathryn Martorana and Reagan Bell – to the Class 4 State Tournament. Kincheloe was eight strokes shy of being all-state with 174 as she finished in 26th place.
Martorana tied for 46th place after shooting 90 on the first day and 97 on the second day. Bell ended with 195 stokes, finishing in a tie for 56th place out of 83 golfers.
The Park Hill boys’ swimming team took 17th place in the Class 2 State Championship. The Trojans had 36 points there.