Park Hill senior Gavin Schaag is switching back to quarterback after being a wide receiver the last two years.
Scoring 38.6 points per game wasn’t enough for the Park Hill football team to surpass three victories last year, but has learned from five one-possession and a pair of one-point losses.
Park Hill had one of the best offenses in the Kansas City area last year and was better than its record told. Keeping points off the board was an issue for a Trojan defense that gave up 42.9 points per game, but a more experienced squad is looking to keep that from happening again.
“When you’re a young kid and you mess up on offense, you get to punt but when you’re a young kid and you mess up on defense, they normally score,” Park Hill head football coach Andy Sims said. “I think they’re eager to show that this year we’re going to be a more experienced group and turn the tide so to speak.”
Senior linebackers Cal Netherton and Damarrion Gathrite are stepping up as leaders early on. Their classmates Tommy Clark and Brock Mann are filling out the secondary for another year.
“Those are going to be two good safeties back there and in the other positions, we’re going to have a good mix of seniors and juniors that are all going to be in the fold. Some of them are going to be first year starters but I think it’ll be just fine,” Sims said.
On the offensive side of the ball, Park Hill is reloading with only a couple of returning skills’ players. Gavin Schaag has been in and out of the starting lineup the past two years as a wide receiver and will be taking the direct snaps as quarterback, something he has years of experience doing before 2021.
“Gavin’s moving from receiver to quarterback, which is really a position he’s played a majority of his football career, but we had Kendrick Bell back there the last couple seasons. It’ll be nice having Gavin kind of run the show; he knows how to help other guys get lined up and do some of those things as well, so he’s got a lot of experience,” Sims said.
Park Hill graduated a pair of wideouts and a running back who are now playing in college, but brings back Bryce Lisaka who is a return man on specials’ team and wide receiver on offense. Coach Sims told the Platte County Citizen that there are some new faces to be looking out for this fall.
“The good news is we’re going to have some seniors step up in those roles. Dylan Schaefer and Isaiah Bickers will step up in the wide receiver role and Alex Cook will try to fill (2022 senior running back) James Noel’s shoes. I know these guys are getting their opportunity and they want to kind of show everybody what they can do,” Sims said.
Park Hill has had an identical postseason run in the first two years under Sims, taking down Rockhurst in the first round of districts and losing to Park Hill South in the semifinals. In 2022, the Trojans were the No. 6 seed in the Class 6 District 4 Tournament and was a touchdown away from a trip to the district championship, losing to their rival on an incredibly rainy night.
“Last year a lot of things came down to weather and the year before it came down to inexperience with new players on the field, so what you must do as a coach is make sure that your players are hitting their stride at the right time. I had some success in the playoffs at my last stop and that was always our focus, really making sure that we had everything dialed in when it came to playoffs,” Sims said.