Finishing the regular season on a high note, the Park Hill South football team (4-5) broke the program record for rushing yards in a game en route to a 40-31 win over Lee’s Summit (4-5) on Oct. 21.
Park Hill South senior Briggs Bartosh (#7) ran for 254 of the Panther’s single-game record 459 rushing yards in the 40-31 win over Lee’s Summit to give Park Hill South two consecutive victories to close out regular season play on Oct. 21.
Park Hill South stuffed the stat sheet on the ground with 459 yards on 50 carries, which was good for 9.2 yards per rush attempt. Entering the last regular season game without two straight wins at any point this year, the Panthers were able to erase a double-digit first half deficit and string together two consecutive victories to close out the fall.
“Oh, it’s huge; it’s monkeys on the back, chips on the shoulder, it’s that type of stuff,” Park Hill South head football coach Benny Palmer said. “We’re there in every one of them (games) and then we come up short in this way or that way and it’s always just a bunch of things that kind of come together. When you have a team win like that, where everybody buckles down and everybody plays the way they need to play, that’s the stuff that sparks great things and I’m proud of every one of those guys.”
Darrien Jones gave the Panthers an early 7-0 lead with a 56-yard rushing touchdown on the opening series, but the Tigers responded with 14 consecutive points. Briggs Bartosh ran into the end zone from seven yards out to tie the contest in the opening minute of the second quarter before Lee’s Summit added 10 straight points to the scoreboard to take a 24-14 lead in the final two minutes of the half.
Mike Lane brought in a 20-yard touchdown with less than 20 seconds left in the first half in the regular season finale.
The Panthers had a big drive to close out the first half, which continued when there was a mishap on a Park Hill South punt attempt, but senior Jah’Marion Kane came up with the ball and ran past the chains for a first down. With less than 20 seconds left in the half, Bartosh – who finished the night with 341 total yards from scrimmage – connected with Mike Lane in the back left corner of the end zone for a 20-yard score as the Panthers trailed 24-21 at the break.
“Briggs Bartosh hits things on a different level. The kid is an absolute competitor, he’s been that way since he walked on this campus as a freshman and is a special kid,” Palmer said.
Lee’s Summit added another touchdown 2:04 into the second half, but the Park Hill South defense locked down the Tigers to keep them off the scoreboard for the rest of the way. Bartosh helped the Panthers add two quick touchdowns – a 67-yard rush and 23-yard pass to Jones – in the third quarter to take a 34-31 advantage with 4:42 left in the quarter and they never looked back.
“Our guys are talented as heck to be able to cause a lot of havoc, and in that second half those coaches put together a good game plan. I mean all praise to (Travis) Verdi and (Zach) Cunningham (assistant coaches) to lock that thing up, and those boys played their butts off,” Palmer said.
Park Hill South senior Darrien Jones broke loose for a 56-yard yard touchdown on the opening drive against Lee’s Summit on Oct. 21.
After taking the 3-point lead, the Park Hill South defense forced three consecutive punts before the Tigers turned the ball over on downs at the Panther 4-yard line with 2:23 to play. Bartosh helped put the game away with 7:50 left when the senior used his speed to outrun the Lee’s Summit defense for a 28-yard touchdown to pull off a 40-31 win.
“We’ve got a good group of seniors and on their senior night they wanted to make sure they got it done, and we came out with a win. We wanted to make sure that we were peaking at the end of the season, and that’s what they’re doing right now. The kids can play some serious football and we’ve just got to continue this path,” Palmer said.
Bartosh had five of the Panthers’ six touchdowns – two in the air and three on the ground – as the senior ran for 254 yards and completed 10 of his 20 passes for 87 yards. Jones had 26 carries for 174 yards and five receptions for 174 yards, scoring twice on the night.
“We’re pretty blessed to have two really good running backs – a quarterback and running back. I love them both and am proud of them tonight,” Palmer said.
Park Hill South will enter the postseason as the No. 7 seed in the Class 6 District 4 Tournament and will head to Staley (7-2) to take on the No. 2 seed on Oct. 28. The Panthers’ last loss of the fall was against the Falcons when they fell 34-21 on Oct. 7 as Park Hill South will have a chance to avenge that defeat the next time it steps on the gridiron.