photo by: Kevin Anderson/Special to the Journal-World

Zion Bowlin lunges into the end zone for a score in the first half Friday as Free State played Park Hill in Kansas City, Mo.

Kansas City, Mo. ? After playing just two games this season, Free State football traveled across the state line for the first time in school history to meet a Park Hill squad, which already had four games under its belt.

The extra weeks of football showed for the home team Trojans, who after a close first quarter cruised to a 34-21 victory Friday night to improve to 3-2 this year.

Free State, which dropped to 1-2 on the season, suffered from mistakes both offensively and defensively. The Firebirds committed eight penalties, some on key plays, and then allowed Park Hill big play after big play after limiting Park Hill’s offensive attack through most of the first half.

The Trojans amassed 307 passing yards and 180 rushing yards and had 14 plays of at least 10 yards, including pass plays of 93, 60, 33 and 24 yards.

“They made some plays, but we had the opportunity to make some big plays early, but missed them. That could have swung the momentum,” said Free State coach Bob Lisher. “We had some guys get dinged up and banged up so we were playing with some younger guys in the second half. It’s next man up. You have to know what you are doing. That is why we practice every day. We had some people that didn’t quite know what to do, but they will learn and we will grow from it.”

The Firebirds forced Park Hill to punt on four of its first five possessions. At that point the Free State defense was making some big plays with sacks by Noah Kema and Drew Wise. Kema would finish the game with two sacks.

However, the Trojans scored on each of its next four possessions to race out to a 27-14 lead midway through the third quarter and controlled the game the rest of the way.

“We shot ourselves in the foot with penalties and a turnover,” Lisher said. “When things could go bad they did. That has been our mantra all year. I told the guys we need to grow up and we have to grow up in a hurry.”

Free State struck first in the game as Zack Sanders took a handoff from Zion Bowlin and outran everybody to score on an 82-yard punt return late in the first quarter. With 2:07 left in the half, Bowlin scored his own touchdown, racing 31 yards for a score to put the Firebirds up 14-7, a score Free State would have been happy to take to the road locker room.

However, Park Hill scored on a 60-yard pass on its first play after Bowlin’s score and then after forcing a quick punt by Free State, Northwest Missouri State commit Parker Sampson drilled a 51-yard field goal to give the Trojans a 17-14 halftime advantage.

The Trojans added another field goal and a 93-yard touchdown pass on their first two possessions of the second half to move the lead to 27-14. A 26-yard touchdown run by Dorian Clayton, his second of the night, put the game out of reach. Jax Dineen added a late touchdown for the Firebirds for the final score.

Bowlin rushed for 80 yards, Dineen 56 and quarterback Dallas Crittenden added 30, despite losing 26 yards while being sacked three times. Crittenden completed 11 of 17 passes on the night, including eight to Sanders, who registered 65 yards receiving.

“We had some people making some plays, but we had some people missing some plays and doing some things that put us in trouble,” Lisher said. “You can’t do that against an athletic team like that.”

While the Firebirds played out of the state for the first time, it was not something that Lisher was excited about.

“The reason I don’t like it is that we are already two games and a lot of practices behind,” he said of playing against a Missouri team which started playing games on August 19. “When you do it you put yourself in a disadvantage.”

Free State will play its third straight road game when it travels to Shawnee Mission Northwest Friday.

Park Hill 34, Free State 21

FS | PH

First downs 14 I 18

Rushes-yards 37-162 I 39-180

Passing yards 114 | 307

Total offense 276 | 487

Fumbles-lost 4-1 | 1-0

Penalties-yards 8-74 | 5-45

Score by quarters

Free State 7 7 0 7 — 21

Park Hill 7 10 10 7 — 34

Individual statistics

Rushing

FS: Zion Bowlin 16-80 TD, Jax Dineen 11-56 TD, Dallas Crittenden 8-30, Jalen Nash 1-3, Gage Foster 1-negative 1.

PH: Dorian Clayton 31-186 2 TD, DJ Johnston 2-11, Zach Suppes 2-6, Billy Maples 3-negative 21

Passing

FS: Crittenden 11-17-0, 114

PH: Maples 17-24-0, 307 2 TD

Receiving

FS: Zack Sanders 8-65, Bo Miller 1-27, Daniel Bryant 1-16, Noah Kema 1-7.

PH: Quinton Harris 7-98 TD, Ronnie Bell 4-91, Christian Lewis 1-33, DJ Johnston 2-21, Joe Webb 3-17

HOW THEY SCORED

First quarter

2:20 – Zack Sanders, 82 punt return. Kameron Lake kick. (FS 7, PH 0).

1:01 – Dorian Clayton, 11 run. Parker Sampson kick. (FS 7, PH 7).

Second quarter

2:07 – Zion Bowlin 31 run. Lake kick (FS 14, PH 7).

2:00 – Ronnie Bell 60 pass from Billy Maples. Sampson kick. (FS 14, PH 14).

0:04 – Sampson 51 FG. (FS 14, PH 17).

Third quarter

9:36 – Sampson 27 FG. (FS 14, PH 20).

6:05 – Quinton Harris 92 pass from Maples. Sampson kick. (FS 14, PH 27).

Fourth quarter

9:11 – Clayton 26 run. Sampson kick. (FS 14, PH 34).

5:31 – Jax Dineen 3 run. Lake kick. (FS 21, PH 34).