Staley scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to rally and stun Park Hill, 13-10, on Friday, Oct. 18 at the North Kansas City District Athletic Complex in Kansas City North.
The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Trojans, which will turn their attention to winning the Suburban Conference Gold Division title outright with a showdown against Blue Springs on Friday, Oct. 25.
The loss against Staley dropped the Trojans from No. 5 in Class 6 down to No. 7 heading into the home finale against the Wildcats, who enters with a 5-3 mark.
The only two losses this year for the Trojans (6-2) has come against foes in the Red Division.
Park Hill had nearly double the total offense that Staley did but couldn’t muster productive drives in the second half.
The Trojans led 10-0 heading into the fourth quarter and got a stop on defense at their 9-yard line. While the Falcons (6-2) didn’t score on offense, the special teams took advantage after the Trojans’ offensive struggles. Forced to punt from their own end zone, a block punt turned into a touchdown with 8 minutes, 20 seconds left.
Staley got the ball with 3:26 left and marched down the field and scored. Dermont Marshall ran for 33 of his 52 yards in the final drive and Dawson Parks’ only touchdown pass went to Keegan Kooi with 11 seconds left.
That came after a critical call went against Park Hill. The Trojans were called for offsides on 4th-and-3 from the 5, which moved the ball to the 2-yard line.
Parks completed only five passes on the night, two on the final drive.
Park Hill’s chance to answer, even late, went away after fumbling the ensuing kickoff.
The Trojans scored all of their points in the first half against the Falcons.
Park Hill had three turnovers but they caught a break on a fumble by Javion Gathrite on the first drive of the game. The running back lost the ball but quarterback Anthony Hall fell on it in the end zone for a touchdown.
Grant Pella’s PAT made it 7-0 to cap the opening drive of the game.
The Trojans changed things up a bit from the start. Wide receiver Jaylin Noel, who picked up an offer from Iowa on Saturday, went in at quarterback and made a pair of completions to Mikey Miles for 32 yards. The linebacker-turned-receiver had catches of 21 and 12 yards.
Noel added two runs of 11 yards as well.
Pella missed a field goal attempt with 53 seconds left in the first quarter, but knocked a 42-yarder through in the second quarter to make it 10-0.
Those points came after Miles hauled in an interception. Staley had four turnovers in the game, two in the second quarter. Earlier in the frame, Iowa State commit Johnny Wilson forced a fumble that was recovered by Parris Graves, the younger brother for former Trojan standout Chester Graves.
The third quarter featured four punts and three interceptions between two squads.
Jacob Schreck had two interceptions for Park Hill, but neither drive turned into points.
Park Hill finished with 282 yards of total offense, while Staley had 143.
Hall passed for 168 yards and Evan Samborski had three catches for 99 yards.
The Trojans’ rushing attack had 81 yards on 39 carries with Eric Carey leading the way with 32 yards.
Linebacker Vince Reichert finished with 9 tackles, while Sam Sweeney had 8 ½. Reichert had the lone sack for the Trojans.
Up Next
The home final game and senior night for Park Hill will come against a state-ranked Blue Springs squad coached by Kelly Donohoe.
The Wildcats have won three of the four meetings against Park Hill since it bumped up to the conference’s largest division. The Trojans won in the regular season in 2017 but then lost in the state semifinals against Blue Springs.
The Wildcats have played four ranked teams but are 1-3 in those showdowns. Blue Springs is coming off a 24-20 win against Lee’s Summit West, which snapped a two-game skid that featured losses to state-ranked Liberty North and Ray-Pec.
The Trojans fell to third in the Class 6 District 4 standings after the loss to Staley, as Ray-Pec jumped them. Due to the head-to-head win against Ray-Pec, if the standings stay the same, the Trojans would vault to No. 2 and face Lee’s Summit. Currently every team in the district is 4-4 or better. Rockhurst has jumped from No. 7 to No. 4 in the past two weeks.