Park Hill sophomore Dante Dixon puts his hands together after a safety in the first half of the Trojans’ 33-13 win over Park Hill South on Sept. 29.
KANSAS CITY – Starting off trailing 10-0, the Park Hill football team (3-3) used its defense to help spark its offense and shut out Park Hill South (1-5) in the second half en route to a 33-13 victory on Sept. 29.
This revamped rivalry is the fifth overall meeting since 2021 – including each of the last two postseasons – after having no matchups from 2018-2020. Dating back to 2014, the Trojans have won each of the last six regular season games against the Panthers.
“I think anytime you have a rivalry game, the past doesn’t matter, the future doesn’t matter, you’ve got to be in the moment,” Park Hill head football coach Andy Sims said. “You have to handle it quarter by quarter and half by half, and I’m proud of the guys tonight.”
Park Hill senior quarterback Gavin Schaag threw for 203 yards and two touchdowns in the 33-13 win.
The first half was sluggish by both teams, combining for six punts and six turnovers. Mason Love converted a 38-yard field goal in the first quarter and Drew Paulkovich connected with Saeed Mukhta for a 21-yard touchdown midway through the second quarter.
Park Hill punted on the ensuing drive, downing the ball at the 1-yard line, and forcing a safety on the next play. The Trojans punted again, but Dante Dixon intercepted a pass on back-to-back defensive possessions to set up scoring drives.
Gavin Schaag connected with Cam Jones for a 49-yard score with 1:39 left to cut the margin to 10-8. Dixon picked off another pass – taking it the distance but having the touchdown waived off due to a block in the back penalty in the return – and Schaag ran in for a 22-yard touchdown and found Bryce Lisaka for the 2-point conversion.
“The defense did a fantastic job. The worst thing is when you get one of those takeaways, and you’re unable to do anything with it. We were able to score off a couple of those which was nice to see and that’s really what you want is points after those takeaways,” Sims said.
Park Hill South got the ball back with only 17 seconds left but was able to march down the field for a long field goal before halftime. For the fifth time in six games, Love knocked down a field goal from beyond 50 yards, this time from 53 yards out.
Park Hill wideout Bryce Lisaka brings in a 2-point conversion catch late in the first half against Park Hill South.
“Hats off to Park Hill South, they did a great job tonight. They’ve got great coaches, good players and it just took us a little bit to get in the rhythm of the ball game, unfortunately, and we have to do a better job as coaches with starting too slow,” Sims said.
The Panthers had another chance to kick a 53-yarder in their first possession of the second half, but the holder bobbled the ball and Love never got a chance to kick it. That was as close as Park Hill South got to scoring in the second half as it punted three times, turned it over on downs once and threw an interception to Tommy Clark.
Lisaka rushed in from the 2-yard line with right over five minutes left in the third quarter to push Park Hill’s lead to 23-13. Trojan wideout Braylon Agee – who led the team with seven catches for 77 yards – brought in a big third down reception to move the chains in the closing seconds of the third quarter but went down with an injury and had to be carted off in an ambulance.
There was a short delay before play continued and Park Hill closed the game out in the fourth quarter. Teegan Turner kicked a 29-yard field goal and Lisaka brought in a 58-yard touchdown reception.
Park Hill South sophomore Chance Taylor brings in a tough catch over Owen Keller on Sept. 29.
“Anytime we’re up that doesn’t mean we’re going to win and anytime we’re down doesn’t mean we’re going to lose; it’s just more about kind of riding that wave and that’s what we teach and coach them to do. They’ve got to start believing that as well too, so some of its on the coaches, some is on the players for sure,” Sims said.
Paulkovich completed 15 of his 29 passes for Park Hill South – including one touchdown and three picks – for 161 yards. Mukhtar had a huge night, coming away with eight receptions for 113 yards.
Schaag threw for 203 yards on 50 percent passing with two touchdowns and two interceptions in the air, along with 69 yards and a score on the ground. Lisaka finished with 235 yards from scrimmage and a pair of touchdowns as the Trojans avenged the district semifinal loss for the second straight season.
Park Hill South quarterback Drew Paulkovich hurdles a Park Hill defender in the second half.
“It’s a rivalry game; we beat them during the season last year but unfortunately, we stubbed our toe again in the playoffs so we could very easily see them again and the story can be different. We don’t like to talk a whole lot about things in the past, but at the same time, you’ve got to learn from those mistakes,” Sims said.
Park Hill South has had a solid defense this year and forced a pair of interceptions by Kadin Sabree and Marcel Milner. The Panthers have now dropped five in a row and will look to bounce back against Staley (1-5), while the Trojans will have a chance to get over .500 at Lee’s Summit (2-4) on Oct. 6.