Jeff Stead/PrepsKC

By Matt Mitchell PrepsKC Staff writer
Posted: August 28, 2010 - 12:14 AM

Liberty 35 Park Hill 14

Things didn’t start going badly for Park Hill until the third quarter. The Trojans led Liberty 14-6 at half but the Blue Jays scored 22 points in the third to take a commanding 28-14 lead.

Senior Shane Kilson went 80 yards for a score on the opening kickoff, and quarterback Austin Weese plunged across the goal line for the two-point conversion to tie it up.

“Caught the ball,” said Kilson about the return. “Wide open hole. My blockers did perfect.”

The kickoff return swung momentum the Blue Jay’s way after a first half in which they were dominant physically, but couldn’t scratch their way across the goal line.

“It was a big game changing moment,” Kilson said, “I was just glad to do it for the team.”

The return never should have happened.

Park Hill kicker Neil Sampson kicked a high, lofty kick toward the sidelines. Kilson fielded it at the 23 yard line, but the officials ruled him out of bounds, resulting in an illegal procedure penalty and a re-kick. Kilson made sure the penalty hurt.

Park Hill’s 14-6 halftime lead was despite a punishing Liberty running game. Big plays by wideout Dearis Flint, running back Trace Norfleet and quarterback Nathan Wilson had the Trojans riding high.

Norfleet was electrifying on the ground, making some tacklers miss and running through others. At times it seemed like Liberty had no answer for Flint.

Wilson hit Norfleet in the endzone from 18 yards out on third and 8 to make it 7-3. Wilson scrambled to his right looking for someone to get open. Norfleet did.

Flint got in on the scoring action with 1:47 to play in the half on a 42 yard hitch and go. Wilson hit him perfectly in stride.

Though Park Hill was rolling in the first half, Liberty took control of the game in the second half, outscoring Park Hill 29-0.

“We felt pretty good coming out of half,” said Liberty Head Coach Joel Wells. “That if we could go take it in and score the first drive of the half, and we got the kickoff return and just got all the momentum.”

Coach Wells said he made no major adjustments at halftime. He told his team “Just keep playing.”

While all seemed to go right for the Trojans in the first half, nothing did in the second.

After the Kilson kickoff return, Park Hill’s offense stalled on their first possession of the second half, and to make matters worse for the Trojans, they committed another special teams’ error.

Punter Zach Anderson couldn’t get a grip on the snap. He tried to run for it, but was stopped for a four yard loss setting Liberty up with the ball on Park Hill’s 31 yard line.

Before the Trojans could catch their breath, it was 21-14.

Park Hill never recovered.

“We had it,” Flint said, “and we just lost it.”

To make matters worse, Flint injured his ankle on their next drive, and it affected his play the rest of the game.

“When I got it going it was going,” Flint said, “but when I was sitting on the sidelines for a little bit, then it got hurt again.”

After Flint went down, Norfleet seemed to run the ball with something extra, but may have been trying too hard. He fumbled after gaining what would have been a first down, Liberty recovered, and never looked back.

Liberty’s strong ground game set up Weese’s 57 yard touchdown to Max Bamburg which made it 28-14. Weese took it in himself from 1 yard out on a quarterback sneak to make the final score 35-14 with 9:27 to play.

Liberty had it going on the ground in the first half, using a balanced running attack with quarterback Weese, Fullback Jameson Drew and running back Matt Santiago. Penalties stalled their drives inside the red-zone, including an 18 play drive in the 1^st quarter. The Blue Jays had to settle for two Tyler Pate field goals of 29 and 34 yards.