Park Hill South’s quarterback Nathan Ricco finished with 187 passing yards, one touchdown and one interception against Grain Valley on Sept. 20.
The Park Hill South football team continued its hot start to the 2021 season when the Panthers won their first road game of the fall by taking down Grain Valley 38-28 on Sept. 10.
The Panthers never trailed and they set the tone early by scoring the opening 17 points of the contest. In the first quarter, Park Hill South took a 10-0 lead when Nathan Ricco connected with Mudia Reuben for a 50-yard score and Mason Love converted on a 32-yard field goal.
Darrien Jones rushed in for a 5-yard touchdown to extend the Panther’s lead before the Eagles scored a touchdown late in the second quarter. Briggs Bartosh found the end zone for the third straight game as the Panther rushed from 80 yards out to give Park Hill South a 24-7 margin at the break.
Grain Valley and Park Hill South matched a pair of touchdowns in the second half before the Eagles scored one more late in the fourth quarter to narrow the deficit to 10 points, but it wasn’t enough. Lucas Oitker stepped up in the second half for the Panthers with two rushing touchdowns to give him 82 total yards on six carries.
Ricco ended the night with 187 passing yards, one passing touchdown and one interception while adding two carries for 22 yards on the ground. Bartosh stuffed the stat sheet with 189 rushing yards on 16 attempts with one touchdown.
Jones ran for 81 yards on 15 carries in Park Hill South’s third straight victory. In addition to his 50-yard receiving touchdown in the opening quarter, Reuben ended with six catches for 128 yards.
Defensively, Chase Fitch continued his impressive senior season with a fumble recovery and two assisted tackles while Kiros Martin ended with a team-high 11 tackles. Roger Guillory was the only Panther who finished with a sack as he added seven tackles and eight assisted tackles.