Park Hill South won its home tournament for the fifth straight season, topping Raymore-Peculiar in the final for a second straight year. In a game delayed a day due to weather, Daniel Gunderson scored twice in the first half to put Park Hill South in control, and five different players added goals in the second half to cap off an 8-0 win Friday, Oct. 9 at Park Hill District Soccer Complex in Riverside, Mo. Gunderson scored on a header off a Tyler Pisoni cross in the fourth minute and added a penalty kick 9 minutes later to put Park Hill South up 2-0.
Jacob Wicks’ marker put Raymore-Peculiar down 3-0 at halftime, and Park Hill South rolled from there with Evan Morrow (five saves) and Noah Brizendine (three saves) combining on the shutout.
Pisoni added to his day with the opening goal of the second half, beating a central defender and the goalkeeper in the 46th minute. Ryan DiBernardo, Carson Cavitt-Wells, Seth Hudson and Kaleb Booth all added goals with Booth scoring from the penalty spot in the 75th minute to cap the barrage.
After receiving an unselfish pass from Josh Wood for a tap-in goal, DiBernardo set up Cavitt-Wells’ goal with a ball Turner Hall dummied through to allow the star midfielder to score. Cavitt-Wells set up Hudson for his first goal of the season with a free kick.
A returning all-state defender, Hudson missed most of the season with a leg injury.
Platte County 2, North Kansas City 1
The Pirates won their fifth in a span of six games with goals from the familiar combination of Baylor Cox and Chandler Peterson. Cox, a senior forward, scored his on an assist from Peterson, who tallied his mark unassisted.
Platte County’s run of success came in a span of just 10 days with the lone loss to Park Hill South in the semifinals.
Park Hill 5, St. Joseph Central 0
After opening with back-to-back losses, Trojans closed out the Panther Classic with a victory in the seventh-place game Wednesday, Oct. 7. Logan Crichlow scored twice, and Damon Borrayo, Kyle Timmerman and Chris Munoz tallied one apiece.
Peyton LaFerla and Jackson Elder combined on the shutout for Park Hill (10-10), which improved to 4-4 in Suburban Conference Red Division play with a 2-1 win against Truman on Monday, Oct. 12. The Trojans were scheduled to take a break from league play against Blue Springs on Tuesday, Oct. 13, but the result was not available at The Citizen’s deadline.
Park Hill had lost the previous matchup with Truman and has a chance to avenge losses to Liberty (Wednesday, Oct. 14) and Park Hill South (Wednesday, Oct. 21) before the regular season ends.
Other games
Platte County 4, Kearney 2
The Pirates improved to 4-3 in Suburban Conference Blue Division play, winning their third straight in league play Monday, Oct. 12 in Kearney, Mo.
Platte County went behind 2-0 in the first 20 minutes but then scored four unanswered. Cox pulled one back for the Pirates before halftime and then completed a hat trick — with Peterson assisting on all three — and added an assist on a Peterson goal to complete the comeback. Kearney took 15 shots in the first half and just two after halftime, while the Pirates recorded six in the first half and 16 in the second half.
Platte County goalkeeper Bailey Ride made eight saves, helping reverse the result of the Pirates’ loss on penalty kicks to Kearney last month.
Named as the No. 2 seed behind Smithville for the upcoming Class 3 District 16 tournament, Platte County (12-6-1) was scheduled to play Raytown South on Tuesday, Oct. 13 in another Blue Division matchup. The result was not available at The Citizen’s deadline. Platte County also has league matchups with Grandview and Winnetonka left in the regular season, having beaten both in the previous meeting.
Park Hill South 10, Ruskin 0
The Eagles were forced to change their goalkeeper at halftime due to injury Monday, Oct. 12, and they allowed seven goals in 23 minutes at Park Hill District Soccer Complex in Riverside, Mo.
Pisoni completed a hat trick in that span with goals in the 43rd, 47th and 49th minutes, the final two on assists from Cavitt-Wells. After a goal from Nylo Clarke, who also had an assist in the first half, Cavitt-Wells added his only goal in the 58th minute to increase Park Hill South’s lead to 9-0. The Panthers ended it five minutes later on a shot from 15 yards out for Brandan Fitzgerald, finishing off a combination play between himself, Gunderson and Cavitt-Wells — credited with his third assist on the play.
Gunderson scored an individual goal in the 20th minute to open the scoring, and Noah Anderson added another 2 minute later on a cross from Pisoni. DiBernardo made it 3-0 Park Hill South (16-3) at the half on a cross from Clarke. The Panthers then invoked the 10-goal rule to improve to 7-0 in Suburban Conference Red Division play.
Park Hill South was scheduled to play St. Joseph Central on Tuesday, Oct. 13, but the result was not available at The Citizen’s deadline. The Panthers are slated to play vs. Truman on Wednesday, Oct. 14.