Central looks to break streak against conference rival Park Hill
· Yahoo Sports
Central football will try to climb back over the .500 mark when it takes on Park Hill at 7 p.m. Friday in Kansas City.
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The Indians (3-3) are coming off a road loss to Lee’s Summit North last Friday. For coach Sheldon Farrell, the key to a return to winning ways rests in managing the emotions of a long season.
“I’m looking at schemes that we’re running whether its offense, defense or special teams, and just try to put our kids in a position to be successful,” Ferrell said. “And then also just kind of preparing them mentally for, you know, the bounce back. Push them to keep fighting through adversity and the roller coaster of a football season.”
Following a season opening loss to Staley, Central rattled off consecutive wins before alternating wins and losses to land at 3-3. Two of the Indians’ three victories have come against schools that they have struggled against in the past. Central defeated Liberty for the first time since 2015 and followed it with its first win over Park Hill South since 2014.
When the Indians travel south to take on Park Hill Friday evening, they will have a chance to break another streak, this time against the Trojans, a team they have not defeated since 2013.
“You focus on just doing things right, and (the players) want to win, they obviously want to compete,” Farrell said. “And they look at some of these games they’re like, ‘hey we want to prove,’ especially this year because this year because a high school was closed in St. Joe last year, we got probably 90% of those kids came to us.
“ ... Again, just to prove that you belong, and try to put St. Joe kind of back in the respect column.”
Park Hill enters Friday evening’s tilt with a 2-4 record following a 49-17 road win over Liberty last week. The Trojans enter Friday night’s game with near identical offensive numbers to the Indians, with Park Hill scoring 24.3 points per game to Central’s 22.3.
The Indians will look to their senior leadership to be the difference maker on the road.
“I would say offensively, a kid that keeps stepping up is Drake Gilkison,” Farrell said. “I think he’s sitting at over 600 yards on the year receiving. He’s a kick returner, he’s a punt returner, and you know, we try to get him the ball.”
In Central’s three victories this season its defense has only allowed an average of 21.3 points, over 12 points lower then its season average. To Farrell, re-claiming that early season defensive intensity could lead to a return to the win column.
“Ultimately, I do think we need everybody to kind of raise their level a little bit back to what it was three or four weeks ago before we kind of got in a rut,” he said.
Central takes on Park Hill at 7 p.m. Friday evening in Kansas City.