Jason Lawrence
Special to The Citizen
Standing away from the post-game huddle of teammates, Park Hill senior linebacker Mikey Miles hugged teammates and coaches one at a time, unable to contain his emotions as Raymore-Peculiar celebrated some 100 yards away in Preston Field’s south end zone Friday night.
“Grown men know when it’s OK to cry,” Park Hill coach Josh Hood told his team following a season-ending 24-14 loss to the Panthers in the Class 6 District 4 semifinals, “and you guys left it all out there on the field.”
“They did it every game. There’s a lot of teams out there that got some weeks to recoup and kind of lick their wounds. We never had that opportunity. Every week we turned around, we were playing another state-ranked team and the kids rose to the challenge every single week. … It was fun to watch them battle. They’re one of the top teams in the state, the only problem is Ray-Pec is one of the top ones too.”
A rematch of a Week 5 matchup between a pair of Suburban Gold Conference foes, Park Hill (8-3) started fast. The defense forced a quick three-and-out to open the game and the offense promptly found the end zone three plays later — something it was unable to do in the 13-10 victory six weeks ago.
On the Trojans’ first play from scrimmage, junior quarterback Anthony Hall found sophomore wide receiver PJ Caldwell streaking up the home sideline for a 65-yard gain. After a running play was stuffed on the next play, Hall connected with his favorite target, junior wide receiver Jaylin Noel, who made a juggling catch in the corner of the end zone for a 27-yard score less than three minutes into the game.
“The coaches did a good job of going back and putting together the right plan — something that was going to strike quick,” Hood said. “We thought if we got the lead and put them in a situation they didn’t want to be in that would be a huge advantage for us. We did it, we got what we wanted, but we just couldn’t put the finishing nails in the coffin.”
JASON LAWRENCE/Citizen photo
Park Hill’s Mikey Miles hits Ray-Pec quarterback Conrad Hawley during a game on Friday, Nov. 9 at Preston Field in Kansas City.
Senior defensive end Johnny Wilson, who recorded 10 tackles in the contest, scooped up a fumble on the next Ray-Pec drive, but the offense turned it over on downs, and the two teams traded punts on the next five drives before Panther safety Gunnar Griffin intercepted Hall to set his team up at its own 49-yard line.
A pass interference call against the Trojans and a long completion from quarterback Conrad Hawley to Kansas-commit Luke Grimm pushed Ray-Pec into the red zone where on fourth-and-one, Hawley snuck into the end zone to tie the game at 7-7 with 5:55 to go until halftime.
The Suburban Gold Conference champions and runners-up traded punts, a penalty on the Trojans during the return of the latter one backing them up to their own 1-yard line. Hall dropped back deep in his own end zone and fired a pass deep down the Ray-Pec sideline into the waiting arms of Noel, who found himself in the opposite end zone 11 seconds later following a 99-yard touchdown to put Park Hill back in front 14-7.
“At the end of the day, we didn’t leave anything back,” Hood said of the willingness to be aggressive backed up against his own goal line. “We didn’t hold anything back. We knew we had a playmaker out there. We thought we could get Jaylin, and he was free.”
Junior linebacker Chris Bizzle picked off Hawley, who was held to 2-of-12 passing for 62 yards, deep in Trojans territory with 51 seconds left before the break and the advantage held going into the locker rooms despite a protest from Raymore-Peculiar’s coaching staff about an intentional grounding penalty against Park Hill as time expired.
“We knew we had a lead, but we knew we had to make some adjustments,” Hood said. “We thought we made the right adjustments defensively.”
Three-and-outs on the first three possessions of the second half finally gave way to another scoring drive from the Panthers as Phillip Fager capped a four-play, 38-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown run. Five and a half minutes later, Ray-Pec took the lead for good on a 29-yard field goal by Gabe Sappington.
“Offensively we just needed to find the right key, and the keys that we tried didn’t fit the hole,” Hood said. “When it comes down to it, we can always second-guess ourselves. At the end of the day, the kids played hard and we’ve won with that. The chips didn’t fall that way today.”
With the Trojans’ offense unable to find a rhythm, the Panthers kept it on the ground on their next possession, marching 55 yards on seven runs – another 3-yard carry for Fager, who finished with 134 yards on 24 carries, capping the drive and providing what proved to be the final margin.
“Their running backs were patient, they found holes and put the yards together that they needed to,” Hood said. “At the end of the day, we didn’t have an answer for it.”
Park Hill now heads into the offseason needing to replace 21 seniors — including seven senior starters on defense in Wilson, Miles, defensive backs Javion Gathrite and Antonio McCollough, linemen Dexter Curry and James Gore and linebacker Vince Reichert.
“There’s a lot of holes to fill,” Hood said. “I feel like we could have an all-state team on the defensive side of the ball. I don’t know if they’ll be able to know exactly how great they were until they get a chance to swallow this and come back and look at it again down the road. That’s the best defense I’ve ever seen in my 20 years, so obviously it’s tough to replace that.”
Hall and Noel, along with Caldwell, will pace an experienced group of offensive skill position players next year while rising seniors Jacob Schreck, Sam Sweeney, Bizzle and junior-to-be Parris Graves will be looked at to lead the defense.
“The bottom line is the same teams are going to come back and line up again next year and we’ve got to answer the bell,” Hood said looking ahead to the 2020 campaign.