The Park Hill football team continued its tradition of regular-season dominance against Park Hill South, displaying a first-half clinic en route to defeating its district rival 35-0 on Sept. 26 at Park Hill District Stadium.
The Trojans won their eighth straight regular-season contest against the Panthers, shutting them out for the first time since 2017. Senior two-way star Dante Dixon accounted for 18 points from a pair of touchdown receptions and an interception returned for a touchdown.
The game plan for Park Hill was nearly perfect all game long defensively while the offense showed critical elements in the first half. They were physical and ran the ball with great efficiency while maintaining a big-play threat with elite receivers, something that acting head coach Greg Reynolds was happy to see.
“They are starting to come in in the way we thought they could at the beginning of the year,” Reynolds said. “We had a lot going against us in the North Kansas City game, but we changed how we were practicing, made some changes to the lineup and those young guys are really coming around.”
Park Hill opened the game with an 80-yard drive on 10 plays, ending with Dixon’s first strike of the game. Park Hill opted to go for it on fourth-and-5, resulting in senior quarterback Zane Thomas locating Dixon unmarked on a play-action pass over the middle for a 14-yard touchdown pass.
Park Hill South moved into Park Hill territory, but stalled out and was unable to convert on fourth-and-5. Park Hill took over from their own 34 and ran the ball nearly the entire way, concluding with a 5-yard touchdown carry through the middle by Kaiden Irving as Park Hill took a 14-0 lead into the second quarter.
Park Hill running back Daniel Easter fights for extra yardage against Park Hill South.
The Panthers put together a promising drive deeper into Trojan territory, but facing a third-and-9, decided to call a timeout as they looked for a score to get back into the game. Out of the break, Dixon read a pass to the left and caught an interception before returning it 74 yards the other way for a pick-six.
South’s most promising drive of the game came towards the end of the first half. The Panthers were inside the Trojans’ 30-yard line looking for a touchdown as quarterback Tyler Briggs located a receiver and delivered the pass, only for Park Hill senior DJ Bronson to join the defensive coverage and make the interception in the end zone.
The Panthers’ defense worked well to force Park Hill to send its punting unit on, but South granted Park Hill a fresh set of downs after the Panthers had too many players on the field. The Trojans took full advantage of the extra chance as Thomas connected with Braylon Agee on a 37-yard pass to spark Park Hill’s offense back to life before Dixon turned a screen pass into a 39-yard touchdown reception to put Park Hill ahead 28-0 at halftime.
Park Hill’s offense slowed up in the second half, though they did get one more score early in the fourth quarter. The Trojans drove 51 yards downfield with completions to Agee and twice to Dixon before junior quarterback Riley Haney made it 35-0 with a 2-yard touchdown carry.
Park Hill South had an opportunity to get on the board, but they missed a 39-yard field goal attempt wide left, as their losing streak hit four games in last week’s defeat. The Panthers have been shut out in back-to-back games and will look to end their scoring drought on Oct. 3 when they visit Lee’s Summit.
Park Hill improved to 3-2 on the season with its third consecutive win against Park Hill South in which the Trojans won by 34 or more points. During that three-game stretch, the Trojans have outscored the Panthers 133-17.
While Dixon’s performance was impressive, it was nothing that didn’t surprise Reynolds. He has seen him throughout Dixon’s Park Hill career, including when he was a defense-only freshman who had his fair share of interceptions.
“He’s been doing it for three years; he’s a special kid,” Reynolds said. “I haven’t seen anyone as good as him in a while and he just keeps getting better.”
Park Hill senior Dante Dixon scored three touchdowns against Park Hill South.
Dixon now has seven touchdown receptions in his first five games of his senior season. He is glad to see all his hard work paying off this season.
“I’ve been playing football all my life and put in the work all offseason,” Dixon said. “To see it pay off really means a lot to me.”
Now, Park Hill’s focus shifts to a tough conference matchup on Oct. 3, when they host undefeated Liberty.
“We’ve got to win two in a row,” Reynolds said. “It’s been back-and-forth all year; we need to win a game in red. We have not won a home game yet, so we need to get it done.”