KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Park Hill had won a handful of close games but nothing quite like the one on Friday, Nov. 1, in the opening game of the Class 4 District 4 playoffs.
The Trojans, ranked No. 7 in Class 6, escaped with an 8-3 victory against Liberty at Preston Field.
Park Hill had won games with 10, 12 and 13 points earlier this season but the slim win against the Blue Jays was the first time this decade the Trojans won a game scoring less than 10 points.
“It looked like a World Series score, huh?,” Park Hill coach Josh Hood joked. “At the end of the day, the only goal at the end of these games is to win, we did enough defensively and offensively to take care of that. Our defense bailed us out there.”
The start of the contest, offensively, couldn’t get much worse for the Trojans (8-2).
CODY THORN/Citizen photo
Park Hill running back Javion Gathrite, right, looks for running room against a pair of Liberty defenders during a game on Friday, Nov. 1 at Preston Field in Kansas City.
After stopping Liberty on fourth down, the first play was a run and fumble, which Liberty’s Wentric Williams III picked up at the Trojans’ 29.
The Blue Jays (4-6) couldn’t take advantage of the short field and on fourth-and-4 at the 28, Kyle Griffith was stopped for an 11-yard loss by Mikey Miles.
Miles forced a fumble later in the quarter by quarterback Jackson Korf, which linebacker Vince Reichert picked up near midfield.
Thought was the penultimate play of the first quarter.
Park Hill couldn’t take advantage of the turnovers and punted but Liberty took over at the 6-yard line after a 32-yard punt by Anthony Hall.
Liberty went backwards on the first play when Williams was stopped for a 2-yard loss by defensive lineman James Gore. The next play was a bad snap and that led to a safety for Park Hill.
With a little more than two minutes left in the first half, Park Hill scored its final points.
Taking over at their own 41, the Trojans got a 44-yard run from Javion Gathrite on the first play from scrimmage with 2:16 left. Gathrite finished with 66 yards on the night.
That moved the ball inside the Blue Jays’ red zone. Running back Darion Neal then got a 13-yard gain, moving the chains to the 2-yard line. The next play, Hall hit Gathrite for a short touchdown pass.
The point after attempt missed, leaving Park Hill with an 8-0 lead with 1:20 left.
Park Hill capped the second quarter with another turnover, this one an interception by Chris Marshall at the 1-yard line to stop a strong drive by Liberty — which finished 0-2 this year against Park Hill after going 2-0 last year.
Liberty had an opportune chance to get back in the game early in the third but a costly penalty negated a 68-yard punt return by Ryan Olivas only six plays into the second half.
A block in the back call took the six points off the board, which became a key juncture in the contest in a five-point win.
“That was a miss-kick for us,” Hood said. “You can’t play with fire like that. We were playing with fire punting 36 times in the game. You won’t get away with that every game. We need to do a better job executing offensively or at least flipping the field to put ourself in a better situation.”
Liberty took over at the Park Hill 45-yard line but Williams lost two yards on a carry and Miles then sacked Korf for a 6-yard loss and put the Blue Jays in a third-and-18 situation. Miles finished with 11 tackles and 5 ½ TFL.
Liberty punted, part of a series of possessions that led to a punt on each drive by either team.
The Blue Jays were driving when the third quarter ended and that ultimately led to the final points of the game in the fourth quarter.
The Blue Jays took over at the Park Hill 27-yard line with 2:59 to play in the third quarter. Williams got another handoff but was hit hard on a 3-yard loss and left the game for a bit.
Liberty turned to fullback Michael Quigley and AJ Moretina to grind out key yards against a tough Park Hill defense. Quigley ran for six yards on third down at the 21. Moretina had an 8-yard run to the Park Hill 7-yard line to end the third quarter.
The drive stalled out at the 8-yard line and Kaden Rottjakob hit a 26-yard field goal with 10:48 left to make it 8-3.
Liberty had the ball two times with a chance to score the go-ahead points but couldn’t convert.
The first drive ended on a punt and the second ended on an incomplete pass on fourth down.
The Park Hill offense got a pair of first downs, one on a horse collar tackle on a run by Jaylin Noel that moved the ball to the Liberty 30-yard line with 2:41 to play. Eric Carey then had a 6-yard run at the 25-yard line that sealed the win.
Park Hill drove to the Liberty 10-yard line after a 9-yard run by Gathrite but two kneel downs by Hall secured the win and a berth in the semifinals against Ray-Pec.
“It is a win and a win is a win,” said Noel, who ran for 11 yards, had 23 yards receiving and return punts for another 50 yards. “We are looking to move onto next week and improve the little things and whatever we can do to get better between now and next week. That is all we need to be worried about. We aren’t satisfied with this win. We could’ve got it going more and I think we were just one play from getting going. If we make a play we break it open and get it going.”
Liberty finished with 139 yards in the game, all but 14 of those came on the ground. Williams ran for 98 yards on 24 carries.
The Blue Jays were a combined 2 for 18 between third-down and fourth-down attempts.
“Going them (the Park Hill defense) against them in the practice is obviously the best thing for us,” Noel said. “Any team that has to play against that defense, I feel sorry. They are one of the best around and they continue to get better each week.”
Park Hill finished with 151 yards on the ground, but Hall threw for only 25 yards. The Trojans, like the Blue Jays, struggled to keep drives alive. Park Hill was 1-for-12 on third-down attempts and 1-for-4 on fourth down.
The offense had more punts — 9 — than points.
Now, they prepare for a showdown with Ray-Pec, ranked No. 6 in Class 6.
The two Suburban Conference Gold Division foes in Week 5 and Park Hill got a 13-10 win on the road. That game is probably most remembered by Gathrite’s 105-yard interception return for a score that flipped the outcome.
The Panthers (8-2) haven’t lost since that game, entering with a five-game winning streak with wins over state-ranked Blue Springs, Platte County and twice over Lee’s Summit North. The Panthers beat LSN 21-14 in their district opener on Nov. 1.
“They are damn good ... they are exceptional,” Hood said of the Tom Kruse-coached Panthers. “We have got to put together a plan to stop the run. We allowed too much tonight for what we do and be in a position to win. They have some great receivers (Luke Grimm is a Kansas commit). That quarterback (Conrad Hawley) is huge and can throw the ball all over the place.”
Game time is 7 p.m. at Preston Field.