Jason Lawrence
Special to the Citizen
If head coach Josh Hood’s energy and reaction — a double fist pump and yell — in the postgame huddle was any indication, Friday night’s victory for his Trojans against Lee’s Summit North was about as big as a Week 4 victory can get.
His quarterback, senior Ryan Graves, understood the magnitude of the 24-14 win as well, against a Suburban Gold Conference opponent that had just defeated Blue Springs for the first time in school history and climbed to No. 4 in the Class 6 rankings.
“This is huge,” Graves said. “We knew where they stood (in the rankings), we knew they were top of the hill and what we needed to do. It just shows how tough our conference is and how anyone in the conference can win on any given night.”
While it was the offense that got off to a fast start, it was the Trojans’ defense that made a statement in the second half — tossing a shutout after the teams went into the locker room tied at 14.
On the opening drive of the third quarter, two Bronco runs and an incomplete pass yielded the Trojans’ first forced three and out of the night.
“We had to set the tone,” junior defensive end Johnny Wilson said. “We knew we were up first and couldn’t let them get something big like they did in the first half. We had to come out, stop them, keep stopping them and force them to do what they can’t do.”
The offense took it from there, going 67 yards on seven plays, highlighted by a 30-yard screen pass from Graves to senior wideout Joe Webb — their second big connection of the game, which pushed the receiver over 100 yards on the night — to get the Trojans down to the Lee’s Summit North two yardline. Senior Corey Bradford found paydirt on the next play and a 35-yard Jack Austin field goal early in the fourth quarter provided the final margin.
The defense forced two more three and outs and a pair of turnovers on downs, including one with just 1:06 to play, to seal a stellar showing.
“The defense played a great game, our special teams did excellent work, and we knew that would be the factor in a close game like this,” Hood said. “We just had to play assignment football defensively because they can score on any play. They’ve got wonderful athletes and a great coaching staff. It was big that we play assignment football and just do our jobs.”
The first half, however, was more of a back-and-forth affair.
The Trojans started with the ball and only took three plays to find the end zone as Graves hit Webb with a quick screen pass, allowing him to work in space a break a few arm tackles before outrunning the Broncos defense for a 71-yard score.
“That was huge. That was everything to get that momentum,” said Graves, who threw for 185 yards on 11-of-17 passing. “That’s getting in the film room, knowing what we’re going to see and it turned into a big play. It was huge for us.”
Lee’s Summit North had an answer, though, and it came in the form of its ground game spearheaded by seniors Christian Carter and Ontario Russell and junior Keyon Mozee. The Broncos grinded out a 13-play, 72-yard drive capped by a fourth-down, 9-yard touchdown run by Mozee on the 11th run of the drive.
“We knew that was their game plan,” Hood said of the Broncos’ rushing attack. “We told them not to get in a track meet, don’t get caught running guys down. … They did a great job of executing, especially in the second half.”
Lee’s Summit North fumble, Park Hill capitalized, picking up a fourth-down conversion of its own before Graves connected with junior Evan Samborski for a 17-yard touchdown.
“On offense, we preached a lot this week about coming out fast so we could get us a little bit of a lead or at least come into halftime tied and then that gives us a place where we can continue to play our game and not go to plan B,” Hood said.
The Broncos answered on the next play as Russell, who ran for 101 of their 20 yards on the ground, went 66-yards down the home sideline for the tying score.
The Trojans (2-2) are likely to see more of the same as they return home Friday night to host another Suburban Gold foe, Raymore-Peculiar (3-1) as the Panthers ran for 263 yards and four touchdowns — more than 100 yards and two touchdowns each from Brandon Rayos and Gabe Shanklin — in their 42-14 victory over Belton last week.
“I always complain because they’re big and physical and they’ve got fast kids. I don’t think it’s fair,” Hood joked. “They’ll come out and do a lot of things physically with a big offensive line that we know they have. They do a lot of different things; they’ll show you one thing on first down then another on second down, so they make it difficult to scheme defensively.
“We’ll just have to make sure that we get in our right checks and do our assignments again like we did this week. Offensively, we just need to come out hot. If we can come out and put some points on the board and mix up that run and pass, we’ll be able to find a rhythm.”
With back-to-back conference matchups, the Trojans have another opportunity to climb the rungs of the conference race against one of just two teams, along with Lee’s Summit West, yet to suffer a defeat in the Gold Division.
“We felt like we’re a team that could play at the top half of the conference and I think we’re proving it now to our kids,” Hood said. “… They get that mojo going, they’ll be tough to beat. Every team’s tough, there’s not an off week for us. We still play some of the best teams in the state ahead of us. Every week’s a challenge and we’re looking forward to it.”
Graves echoed his coach, saying a win like the one over Lee’s Summit North is the kind of momentum-builder than can carry over into the rest of the season.
“Momentum is everything, especially in this conference.,” he said. “We’re going to take this and ride with it at practice this week then build off it next week. It’s anybody’s race and you better know that Park Hill will be there every week.”