With three seconds left in the pouring rain, the Park Hill football team (3-8) had a chance to end Park Hill South’s (6-5) season in the Class 6 District 4 Semifinals with one final play from the Panthers’ 17-yard line trailing 28-22 on Nov. 4.
After Park Hill South senior quarterback Briggs Bartosh failed to fully run the clock out on a 4th and six with nine seconds left in regulation when the play began, the Trojans had one last chance to potentially tie or win the game. Tough conditions made throwing the ball difficult with both teams completing exactly one pass on exactly five attempts each before the final snap of the fourth quarter.
With the season on the line, Kendrick Bell took the snap and senior wideout Dayton Howard ran down the right sideline towards the end zone. Bell had a clean pocket when he released the football, but the wind caused it to misdirect, hitting the turf at the 2-yard line and the game ended.
The weather conditions were brutal from start to finish, and it was a dog fight until the very last play. In the end, the Trojans fell short in the same game – against the same opponent – as they did last season, and the Panthers advanced to their second consecutive district championship.
While the passing game was nearly impossible on the day, Bell completed his only pass of the game on the first play from scrimmage on a 31-yard dart to Max Filion. James Noel put the Trojans in good field position with a kick return to the Park Hill 42-yard line, so there was only four plays until Bryce Lisaka rushed in for a 3-yard score.
The Trojans’ 7-0 lead lasted 4:15 until Bartosh broke loose for a 13-yard rushing touchdown to cap off a 77-yard scoring drive to tie the game with 6:07 left in the first quarter. Darrien Jones gave the Panthers a 14-7 lead with a rushing touchdown from nine yards out with less than 10 seconds left in the quarter, and Park Hill South never trailed for the rest of the night.
After another Park Hill possession ended with a punt, the Panthers took a lot of time off the clock in the second quarter on a 98-yard scoring drive. Eventually, Park Hill South reached the red zone and Bartosh ran in from the same distance as his first touchdown with 56 seconds left in the half.
The rain made it too difficult for the Panthers to kick the extra point, so they decided to go for two. Bartosh kept it himself and Park Hill headed into the locker room looking at a 22-14 deficit.
While the Panthers played relatively clean football in the first half, the second half started off poorly when Park Hill South lost two fumbles on its first three plays of the third quarter. The Trojan defense had a sack and a recovered fumble on the opening two plays of the second half, eventually resulting in a 2-yard rushing touchdown by Noel on 4th and goal.
Park Hill decided to kick the extra point – and succeeded – to chip at the margin, trailing 22-14 with 9:34 to play in the third quarter. The Panthers’ offense took the field again but fumbled on their first play to give the ball back to Park Hill at the 20-yard line.
A crucial offensive holding penalty put the Trojans back to the 26-yard line and they eventually had to attempt a long field goal. The kick was no good, but it wasn’t long before the Park Hill offense had another chance.
For the third straight possession to start the second half, Park Hill South struggled to take care of the football and a 4th down snap went over senior punter Mason Love’s head and soared into the end zone. Multiple players attempted to hop on the football and failed due to the slickness of the ball with the rain, and the play resulted in a safety.
The awful playing conditions eventually affected Park Hill’s offense as the Park Hill South defense came up with a fumble recovery on the second play of the ensuing drive. Bartosh finally got the Panther offense rolling with a 57-yard rushing touchdown in the final three minutes of the third quarter.
The 2-point conversion was no good and the Trojans trailed 28-16, but the score changed before the final quarter. On the last play of the third quarter, Riley Dantzscher rushed in from three yards out, the Park Hill kick was no good and Park Hill South’s lead was cut down to 28-22.
Late in the contest, Park Hill took over with 4:37 left near midfield down by six. Facing a 4th and three with less than two minutes left, Bell took the snap and scrambled to the right and then switched back to the left after being rushed by a pair of Panther defenders, and the broken play resulted in a turnover on downs.
The Panthers failed to gain a first down and the Trojans used their last two timeouts to stop the clock before getting one last play with three seconds left. Park Hill’s season came to a close with the loss, although the Trojans defeated the Panthers 42-35 in the regular season matchup on Sept. 30.
Bartosh had another impressive night on the ground for the Panthers, finishing the district semifinals with 166 rushing yards and three touchdowns while Jones ended with 97 yards and a score. Bartosh now has 30 total touchdowns on the season and the duo have both surpassed 1,000 rushing yards each.
For Park Hill, it came up short on the night, but the offense stuffed the stat sheet with video game numbers this fall despite only having three wins. Bell set the program record with 3,165 passing yards and 72% completion rate on 247 total completions.
Park Hill junior Damarrion Gathrite (#33) attempts to tackle Park Hill South senior Darrien Jones (#1) in the Panthers postseason 28-22 win over the Trojans on Nov. 4.
The Trojan quarterback had 45 total touchdowns on the season – 35 of which were passing – along with 670 rushing yards to give him 3,812 yards from scrimmage. Dayton Howard was one of Bell’s top targets this season as the senior finished with 45 catches for 760 yards and 13 touchdowns.
The Trojans had a few games slip away late early in the year but were still able to earn the No. 6 seed and host the postseason matchup with the Panthers – who are the No. 7 seed – although the schools share the field at Park Hill District Stadium. The Panthers will have a chance to avenge last season’s district championship loss with a road rematch against Liberty North (11-0) on Nov. 11.
In 2021, the Panthers earned the top-seed in districts and were undefeated entering the Class 6 District 4 Championship where they lost to the Eagles – who eventually went on to play and lose in the state championship game – by a score of 34-14. In the regular season matchup this fall, Park Hill South fell to Liberty North by that same score on Sept. 16.