An opportunistic first half led the Park Hill South football team to a dominant 61-20 victory on Senior Night against Grandview.
Coming off a Week 1 road defeat to Lee’s Summit West, the Panthers were focused on execution. That is precisely what they did, putting up 48 first-half points while holding the Grandview Bulldogs scoreless.
“We felt like we left some things out on the field last week,” Park Hill South head coach Justin Poncy said. “It’s nice to kind of see what we worked on and focused on in practice show up on the field tonight.”
Poncy was delighted with his team’s execution. While he saw some good things in Week 1, they felt a little rushed and struggled to keep things in perspective.
“Play and catch. Making the easy things easy,” Poncy said. “That’s what we stressed all week. We kind of sped ourselves up internally more than we needed to last week. Just about calming down and making the easy things easy.”
Senior quarterback Tyler Briggs went 8-for-11 for 148 yards with five touchdowns in two quarters on Sept. 4.
Senior quarterback Tyler Briggs was among the most impressive, throwing five first-half touchdowns in turnover-free play with a strong corps of receivers.
“Nice seeing him getting the ball out of his hands and seeing him be decisive with where he wanted to go with it,” Poncy said. “Kind of shaping up into the Tyler Briggs that we saw last year.”
The momentum built from the opening kick, when senior Magnus Hoenshell returned the kickoff 53 yards to just outside the red zone. The Panthers cashed in after Briggs converted a fourth-down pass to senior receiver Jackson Scott, which set up Hoenshell for the Panthers’ first offensive score of the year on a rush up the middle.
The game quickly turned sideways for Grandview as penalties killed their opening possession, even after being gifted a first down for a Panther penalty. After getting the ball back in Grandview territory, Briggs connected with senior receiver Jake Hensel on a 33-yard touchdown to double South’s lead in the opening five minutes.
Magnus Hoenshell scored two first-quarter touchdowns from his duties as punt returner and running back.
Grandview’s following drive stalled out, and on the ensuing punt, Hoenshell provided a signature, highlight-reel moment. After getting the ball near his own 45-yard line, he bulldozed through a tackle near the middle before barreling through another tackle on the right side, scoring his second touchdown of the quarter.
Hoenshell had another big return to get the Panthers inside Grandview’s 30-yard line. From there, Park Hill South’s offense took care of the rest as senior receiver Brody Clark caught a 5-yard touchdown pass on a slant route to take a 28-0 first-quarter lead.
Park Hill South’s defense created its first turnover of the contest when senior safety Kena Seboka caught an interception and returned it to the end zone, only for a block in the back penalty to deny Seboka of a pick-six. The Panther offense eventually did turn the turnover into points when Briggs delivered on fourth-and-long with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Scott.
Grandview punted again after senior linebacker Perry Nelson cut through the line to sack the quarterback for a third-down stop. Some offensive trickery gave South a 41-0 lead as senior tight end Braden Wilde got behind the Grandview defense, receiving a 43-yard touchdown pass.
Park Hill South’s Jake Hensel celebrates his second touchdown reception of the evening on Senior Night.
Senior linebacker Micah Forrest captured a fumble recovery for the second consecutive game, with senior defensive end Cavaughn Plowman forcing the fumble to end Grandview’s first drive into Park Hill South territory. South’s offense scoring record remained perfect when Briggs found Hensel for a 12-yard score as the Panthers led 48-0 going into halftime.
The second half largely featured reserve players from Park Hill South, beginning when the Panthers stretched their lead to 54-0 after sophomore quarterback Asher Sledd delivered a pair of beautiful passes to junior receiver Luke Irving. The duo connected with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Irving on fourth down.
Grandview finally ended South’s shutout campaign with 3:23 remaining in the third quarter. A fourth-quarter interception from Asher allowed Grandview to strike again to make it 54-14 in the fourth.
Asher rebounded well, taking a shot and firing a 13-yard touchdown pass to sophomore receiver Owen Wilde. Grandview scored its third touchdown of the second half on the last play of the game as Park Hill South eased to a 61-20 victory.
The victory marked the Panthers’ highest offensive display in nearly 14 years, when South routed Ruskin 70-6 in 2012. Poncy remained impressed with his team’s execution.
“Football is so complex, and at the same time, so simple,” Poncy said. “So just making sure we’re stepping into the right gap to block, make sure we’re running the right routes, releasing the right way and catching the football at the top of the route.”
Now at 1-1 on the season, Park Hill South heads into a four-game slate of conference matchups. Next up is a rivalry clash with Park Hill, where the Panthers aim to snap a four-game losing streak to Park Hill while keeping the Trojans winless on the season.
“It’s so fun with it being our district’s 75th anniversary and getting to play our cross-town rivals,” Poncy said. “Looking to come out for a competitive football game; hopefully it’s a little bit better weather than what we had tonight.”