On the fourth and final attempt of the regular season, the Park Hill football team finally won a game as the designated home team on Oct. 17 at Park Hill District Stadium.
The Trojans defeated Raymore-Peculiar by a final score of 21-0 on an evening overshadowed by weather, which caused disruptions and eventually ended the game early in the fourth quarter.
The Trojans’ defense led the way as they earned their second shutout of the season. It was also the first time Park Hill won back-to-back games this season.
“It wasn’t that easy,” said Greg Reynolds, Park Hill acting head coach. “We’re playing pretty good right now; we’ve got some things we’ve got to fix. Kind of got a bend but don’t break type of defense. Turnovers help us a lot, but when it comes down to crunch time, we’ve done a good job of stopping them in the red zone like we did tonight.”
Park Hill had the ball in Ray-Pec territory in their opening two drives — including a blocked field goal by DJ Bronson that gave the Trojans the ball on Ray-Pec’s 40-yard line — but both possessions stalled out with turnovers on downs.
Braylon Agee during a reception in his final regular-season contest on home turf against Raymore-Peculiar on Oct. 17.
After a scoreless first quarter, Park Hill’s offense briefly came to life in the second quarter. Senior quarterback Zane Thomas led a pass-heavy 15-play drive 90 yards downfield, ending with a Braylon Agee 19-yard touchdown reception.
Any momentum the Trojans gathered quickly evaporated when lightning struck, causing a 40-minute delay midway through the second quarter. Play eventually resumed and both teams made big defensive stops to keep the score at 7-0 entering halftime.
Park Hill created some breathing room midway through the third quarter on another 90-yard drive, which was kick-started with a 36-yard reception for Agee. After some beneficial penalties, Thomas found Dante Dixon on a screen as the senior receiver danced his way into the end zone from six yards out for his ninth touchdown of the season.
“It’s just tough to do,” Reynolds said of returning from the lightning delay. “When they are high school teenagers, they don’t know how to handle these situations all the time but we got locked in fast enough and made some plays.”
The Trojan defense’s most significant statement came when Ray-Pec had second-and-17 on their own 31-yard line. As the quarterback received the snap, he quickly decided to attempt a jump pass after seeing senior Jonah Were rushing right at him. As the ball was released, Were reacted to tip the ball before catching it and running it in from 17 yards out for a pick-six.
Park Hill senior lineman Jonah Were celebrates a pick-six on Oct. 17 against Raymore-Peculiar — his second touchdown in two weeks.
“If I’m going to be totally honest, the ball just appeared in my hands and the next thing I knew I was in the end zone,” Were said. “My memory is all foggy, but it was just great vibes and a great memory.”
The pick-six was Were’s second touchdown. His last score came just the previous week when he lined up as a running back against St. Joseph Central to punch the ball in from a short-yardage situation.
“Sure does feel good,” Were said. “Never got into the end zone before last game and to get back into it again is just a blessing. I’m so grateful.”
With Park Hill leading 21-0, Ray-Pec put together its most promising drive of the game. The Panthers drove from their own 40-yard line to Park Hill’s 12-yard line with three first downs on nine plays, but the Panthers were unable to convert on fourth-and-4 as they turned the ball back to the Trojans late in the third.
The Trojans were looking to put together a drive with 10:26 remaining in the fourth quarter when a lightning strike forced another delay. Park Hill returned to the field about 45 minutes later, but they were put into another delay before the remainder of the contest was eventually canceled.
“I don’t know what would have happened if we went out another time because they were a little stir-crazy in here,” Reynolds said. “It’s a lot better being up 21-0 with two lightning delays than it is being down 21-0.”
Park Hill’s defensive dominance was displayed throughout the matchup against Ray-Pec, giving the Panthers their first shutout all season. It was the fifth time in eight games this season that Park Hill held its opponent to 14 points or fewer.
“Our mentality,” Were said about his team’s defensive success this season. “It’s a dominant mentality from the first guy to the 11th guy. Keeping that mentality everyday in practice, especially on the weekends, during the day, watching film; we’re all just locked into one goal and that’s winning and stopping the person in front of us.”
Park Hill hopes to build that mentality and playoff-type intensity up in their regular-season finale on the road against Oak Park on Oct. 24. After visiting Oak Park, the Trojans will prepare for the Class 6 District 8 tournament, which they hope will begin as a top-2 seed which would give the Trojans a bye week and a district semifinal game at home.
“We’re looking forward to playoff play,” Were said. “Nothing’s better than playoff playoffs in high school football. The intensity’s better, the game is faster, people are more at it. We’re ready for that level of intensity and it’s what we strive for every week.”