Park Hill head football coach Andy Sims helped the Trojans upset St. Joseph’s Central 35-28 on Nov. 3.
ST. JOSEPH – Finding a way to reach a district championship for the first time since 2017 had some late game dramatics that included a go-ahead drive and a defensive stand by the Park Hill football team (5-5) on Nov. 3.
Park Hill was the underdog and road team on the night, having to travel to St. Joseph to take on the No. 2 seed in the Class 6 District 8 Tournament. Central (7-3) fought back from a 14-point deficit to tie the game at 28 with right under six minutes to play.
Gavin Schaag led the Trojan offense down the field and found Gage Dorrell for a 21-yard touchdown pass. After Keegan Turner kicked the PAT through the uprights, Park Hill led 35-28 with 3:06 on the clock.
Central put together a long drive and reached the 3-yard line with six seconds left. Having a chance to potentially tie or take the lead, the Indians’ offense was held out of the end zone and the Trojans survived.
The game started off well for Park Hill as it went up 14-0 in the first quarter. Bryce Lisaka took a 40-yard pass from Schaag and took it the distance in the opening minute before running into the end zone from 30 yards out in the final minute of the first quarter.
The Indians scored a touchdown with 9:15 left in the half and the Trojans answered with seven points of their own 2:19 later. Schaag ran in for a 25-yard touchdown and Park Hill went into the locker room with a 21-0 lead.
Central made some halftime adjustments and found the end zone twice but failed on a kick so Park Hill held onto a 21-20 lead with 5:18 left in the third quarter. The Trojans pushed the margin to eight points when Schaag tossed the ball to Braylon Agee for a 12-yard score.
Schaag tossed three touchdowns to three different players and didn’t throw an interception. He completed 14-of-21 passes for 129 yards and added 65 yards and a score on the ground.
Alex Cook ran 15 times for 75 yards and Lisaka ended with 71 rushing yards on four carries, along with six catches for 57 yards. Sai’Quan Copeland added an interception on defense.
Next up for Park Hill is Oak Park (10-0), the No. 1 seed in the Class 6 District 8 Tournament. The Trojans hadn’t won a road game all season long before taking down the Indians and will look to keep that going against the Northmen on Nov. 10.