Parkway Central Comes Out Blazing in Homecoming Victory

Since the start of preseason training camp, Parkway Central’s Brandon Sheperd has been one of the most lauded and talked about high school football players in the area.

And for good reason.

Sheperd is considered one of the top prep receivers in the nation, and he’s being recruited by nearly every top college program in the Midwest, who all hope that he’ll choose their school to play ball at next season.

But on Friday night, a new star emerged for the Colts and stole the show (at least temporarily) from the superstar Sheperd.

Central running back Alan Gasanli, who came into Friday’s contest with Suburban South Conference rival University City with just over 100 yards rushing and no touchdowns for the season, carried the ball 21 times for 254 yards and five TDs to lead the Colts to a 57-27 Homecoming victory over the visiting Lions.

“Wow, he’s going to be excited when he hears that,” Central head coach Mark Goldenberg said. “I didn’t realize he had that many (yards), and I’m sure he didn’t either. That’s going to blow his mind. But he deserves it. He’s a good kid.”

He proved himself to be some kind of football player as well, scoring on short runs, long runs, and nearly every run, as Central improved its record to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in Suburban South Conference play.

“I think we’re moving in the right direction,” Goldenberg said. “We’ve still got a lot of work to do in order to be where we want to be.”

On Friday, the Colts got where they wanted to be very quickly, scoring three touchdowns in the first quarter and another early in the second, along with a two-point conversion, to take a 29-0 lead on the Lions.

Gasanli scored on runs of 2 yards and 8 yards that sandwiched two dazzling touchdown plays by Sheperd that simply electrified the overflow Parkway Central home crowd.

First, Sheperd took a sweep around left end and raced nearly untouched 26 yards for a score. Then he caught a short pass near the 50, faked out two U. City defenders, then outran everyone else for a 53-yard score that nearly brought down the house.

“Brandon’s an unbelievable player,” Goldenberg said. “It’s really nice to have that kind of playmaker on our side, and we’re going to do whatever we can to get the ball in his hands as much as we can.”

After the fourth Parkway Central score is when U. City finally seemed to wake up.

The Lions went 78 yards in just two plays to get on the board, with quarterback DeAndre Williams scrambling for 40 yards on one play, then tossing a sensational 38-yard touchdown pass to fellow senior Alex Henry to make it 29-7.

“Everybody knows that we can score the ball,” U. City head coach Carl Reed said. “We’ve got several guys with big play ability. What we’ve got to do is find a way to shore up our defense. We’re just giving up way too many points.”

That point was hammered home immediately after Henry’s touchdown, when Sheperd ran back the ensuing kickoff 99 yards, with barely any defender laying a finger on him, to lift Central back to its original 29-point lead.

“Brandon Sheperd is a fantastic player, we knew that coming in,” Reed said. “And we thought we had designed a few things that could contain him a little bit. But he just made some real big plays against us. And we’ve got to make some changes in how we do things defensively.”

Just before the half, Williams and Henry hooked up for another score (a 28-yard touchdown toss), that along with a two-point conversion run by Mario Wallace cut U. City’s deficit back to 36-15.

But that was as close as the Lions would get, as Gasanli scored on runs of 70, 29, and 30 yards in the second half that helped the Colts run out the clock and prevent U. City from mounting any real comeback.

“I thought this was a good test,” Goldenberg said. “They have a lot of great athletes, and they’re well-coached, and we felt like it was time for us to step up and meet the challenge against a good opponent.”

Next Friday, the Colts will face their first real road test when they travel to Ballwin to take on rival Parkway West at Longhorns Stadium at 7 p.m.

West will likely be in an unfriendly mood next week after suffering an upset 35-0 loss at Seckman on Friday.

U. City will be back at home next week, hosting its own Homecoming game, against Seckman on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

SCORING SUMMARY

Score by Quarters

F

University City

0

15

6

6

27

Parkway Central

22

14

14

7

57

First Quarter

PC: Alan Gasanli 2 yd run (Zack Lazenby kick), 7:19

PC: Brandon Sheperd 26 yd run (Zack Lazenby kick), 3:21

PC: Brandon Sheperd 53 yd pass from Cole Gorman (Eriq Moore run), :51

Second Quarter

PC: Alan Gasanli 8 yd run (Zack Lazenby kick), 9:25

UC: Alex Henry 38 yd pass from DeAndre Williams (Doug McCray kick), 4:16

PC: Brandon Sheperd 99 yd kickoff return (Zack Lazenby kick), 4:02

UC: Alex Henry 28 yd pass from DeAndre Williams (Mario Wallace run), 2:44

Third Quarter

PC: Alan Gasanli 70 yd run (Zack Lazenby kick), 11:42

UC: Deandre Williams 3 yd run (kick failed), 3:47

PC: Alan Gasanli 29 yd run (Zack Lazenby kick), :42

Fourth Quarter

UC: Avion Ashford 2 yd pass from DeAndre Williams (pass failed), 11:56

PC: Alan Gasanli 30 yd run (Zack Lazenby kick), 7:23