Early explosion fuels Park Hill South victory

Courtesy of Mike Ringer

By David Svoboda PrepsKC staff writer
Posted: September 21, 2012 - 9:56 PM



Park Hill South jumped on Grandview for three touchdowns in the first nine minutes and never looked back in posting an impressive 41-0 win Friday night.
 
The Panthers, now owners of a three-game win streak that has pushed their record to 3-2, were equally impressive offensively and defensively.
 
And Park Hill South got plenty of help early. In fact, that help started BEFORE the game kicked off.
Grandview was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct for failing to be on the field prior to the three-minute pregame warning, and having to kick off from its own 25 put the Bulldogs in an immediate hole.
 
After a nice kickoff return, the Panthers had just 45 yards to cover for their first score, and they did so in a hurry. The big play in the initial drive was a 30-yard pass from Shaefer Schuetz to Craig Scott which set up a one-yard TD plunge by Myles Hammonds that made it 7-0 after the extra point.
 
“We thought with our alignments and how we were going to make them bring guys into the box, we were going to get some pretty good matchups on the outside,” Park Hill South Coach Mark Simcox said. “And Schuetz throws a pretty accurate ball and he threw it (the 30-yarder to Scott) right on the money.”
 
Grandview turned it right back over to Park Hill South almost immediately, with the Panthers recovering a fumble on the Bulldog 15.
 
Schuetz and Scott made Grandview pay once more, this time with a 10-yard pitch and catch for a touchdown that lifted the advantage to 14-0. The game was barely five minutes old, but was – for all intents and purposes – over.
 
Any thoughts of Grandview sticking around ended just over a minute later, as a second fumble by the Bulldogs put the Park Hill South offense back in business for another short drive. The Panther defense ended the night holding Grandview to just 143 yards of total offense.
 
And yes, after the turnover, it was Schuetz to Scott once more for the score – this time a five-yard effort that made it 21-0.
With Park Hill South opting to ground its passing game after grabbing the big early lead, Schuetz ended the night with just 64 yards passing. But they were more than enough.
 
The final three South scores came on a pair of pick sixes, and another Hammonds TD burst.
 
The first interception return for a score came in the second quarter, when Alex Augspurg took an errant Ryan Lee pass and ran it back 38 yards.
 
Bryan Robinson one-upped Augspurg a bit later in the game, taking his interception return 45 yards in the third quarter to cap the scoring.
 
Sandwiched in between the pick sixes was Hammonds’ second one-yard TD.
 
All-in-all, a pretty impressive night for the Panthers, who worked to get better in the second half of a game that was rarely in doubt.
 
“We needed to make sure we were focused and concentrating on what we were doing,” Simcox said of the second half. “We wanted to play as many kids as we can. But we don’t want to lose our focus and rhythm when we get up.”