The Park Hill South boys soccer team delivered a remarkable second-half performance in their rivalry matchup against Park Hill, scoring four goals in the final 40 minutes to defeat their district rival 4-0 on Sept. 18.
It was the rivalry’s largest margin of victory in nearly a decade, when the Panthers won by the same scoreline on Sept. 28, 2015, and the third time the Panthers defeated Park Hill 4-0 since 2009. Park Hill South earned its first shutout this season while Park Hill lost its third consecutive match.
The Panthers started the match positively by creating some early chances until the first major chance came Park Hill’s way 12 minutes in, when a corner kick presented a golden opportunity from about four yards out, but the shot rattled off the crossbar. More chances followed for both teams until South’s first big chance came inside the final five minutes of the opening half when Ty Zimmerman played a line-breaking pass to William Bowne, but Park Hill freshman goalkeeper Matthew Corbin raced off his line and made a critical save to keep the game scoreless.
Park Hill South junior Ty Zimmerman played an integral role in the Panthers’ biggest rivalry win in nearly a decade on Sept. 18.
“I saw a first half where we did not execute very well,” Park Hill South head coach Chris Farmer said. “Our first touch was off, we were just out of sync as a team and we did not play well at all.”
The second half produced a completely different narrative. South was suddenly synchronized as a team, creating and scoring dangerous opportunities and eliminating any positive movements Park Hill had brewing.
After halftime, the Panthers quickly took control of the game, resulting in South junior forward Kenny Mekonnin rattling the crossbar three minutes into the second half before setting up the breakthrough four minutes later. Park Hill failed to clear its lines on a corner kick, which allowed Mekonnin to corral the ball and lay it off for sophomore Micah Wright at the corner edge of the six-yard box.
“The goalie was not ready and I noticed that,” Wright said. “I just hit it right away and barely snuck it in.”
Despite being off balance, Wright had no hesitation in pulling the trigger with his right foot. The shot took one bounce off the wet turf before finding the far corner, giving the Panthers the goal they had been eagerly searching for.
“I was so pumped to score against our rivals,” said Wright, who is in his first year on the varsity squad and has made an immediate impact this season. “It just made a spark for our team to score three more.”
Park Hill South sophomore Micah Wright looks to create some space for a shot against Park Hill defenders on Sept. 18 in the Panthers’ 4-0 victory at the Park Hill District Soccer Stadium.
Feeling some relief with a 1-0 lead, the Panthers went hunting for more. With Park Hill pinned back, a clearance allowed Park Hill South to recalibrate another offensive attack as Zimmerman had space in the midfield to turn and find Noah Stephens on the left side, who took a touch and smashed a shot low from the corner edge of the 18-yard box that snuck inside the near post to give the Panthers a 2-0 advantage with 24 minutes remaining.
The Trojans managed to stop the bleeding for a while but were unable to produce an offensive solution. With 10 minutes left, the Panthers added a third goal when junior Nick Parra steadied himself inside the box before pulling his right-footed shot across the goal to make it 3-0.
“That early goal was really important to kind of set the tone for the second half,” Farmer said. “From there, we just outplayed them.”
Park Hill South was presented with one final opportunity in the final two minutes after a goalkeeper handball outside the box gifted the Panthers an indirect free kick. The restart was a shot pass to Nathaniel Bartram, who steadied himself at the edge of the box before curling it inside the top corner with his right foot.
“Our boys did a good job of adjusting in the second half of taking the emotion out of it and just treating it as another game,” Farmer said. “It’s always nice to beat Park Hill because they are our district rival and we respect them, but tonight it was fun.”
The 4-0 victory was the perfect way to conclude a memorable night for Park Hill South to get its conference schedule underway. Now 1-0 in the Greater KC Red Division, 3-1 overall, Farmer knows his team will have to improve its first-half performances in order to have a chance against some stiff upcoming competition.
The Panthers host a Lee’s Summit West that has won five straight games on Sept. 23 before a showdown against reigning Kansas 5A state champion Blue Valley Southwest on Sept. 25. Park Hill South will conclude the week with a match on Sept. 27 away to Rockhurst, which was ranked No. 6 in the nation by a United Soccer Coaches poll released Sept. 16.
“If we don’t start well, we’re not going to end up with a result like this,” Farmer said. “We might end up on the other end of a result like this because we’re playing three good teams in a row and it’s going to be a battle.”