The Mehlville Senior High School football team amassed 422 yards rushing in a 56-7 trouncing of Parkway South Friday night.

The Panthers’ lopsided win over Parkway South came as a surprise to Mehlville head coach Gary Heyde, who knew the Patriots had defeated St. Louis University High to open the season and then lost to Pattonville in overtime.

“Parkway South has been playing some good football,” Heyde told the Call. “So we were surprised at the score. I thought it was going to be a much closer ball game.”

The Panthers (3-1, 2-0 Suburban West) hammered in their first touchdown on an 11-yard touchdown run by Tyrone Clark with 10:15 left in the first quarter.

“Tyrone intercepted a pass to set the touchdown up,” Heyde said. “All of his stats were in the first half, so that was a pretty good half of football.”

Parkway South responded less than one minute later on a four-yard touchdown run by Kevon McGrew with 9:17 left in the quarter. But Phil Blair gave the Panthers a 14-7 lead when he scored on a 34-yard run with 7:01 remaining in the first quarter.

The junior running back carried the ball seven times for 93 yards.

“Phil’s been playing real well,” Heyde said. “He wasn’t at full speed last week and it was real nice to see him at full speed this week.”

Matters only became worse for Parkway South when Mehlville senior linebacker Brandon Clark sacked quarterback Chris Hoevel, who fumbled. Clark picked up the loose ball in the Patriots’ end zone.

“Brandon had sacked the quarterback on a delay blitz and this was the second time he’s done that this year,” Heyde said. “The quarterback fumbled the ball and he recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown.”

Senior running back Joel Fieseler gave the Panthers a commanding 28-7 lead with 2:11 left in the first quarter when he scored on a 27-yard touchdown run. Fieseler led the Panthers with 108 yards rushing on 11 carries.

“That’s pretty much one heck of a game and, again, that’s only for the first half,” Heyde said. “He had a good night and he played well.”

Clark scored his second touchdown of the game on a 52-yard touchdown run with 6:58 to play in the first half. He finished the evening with five carries for 83 yards rushing. Fieseler scored again in the third quarter on a four-yard touchdown run with 10:38 left in the quarter.

Mehlville’s Brandon Clark came up big again on defense when he intercepted a pass by Hoevel, which resulted in a 15-yard touchdown run with 8:48 left in the third quarter. Clark finished the game with seven tackles, two sacks and one fumble recovery.

The Panthers’ final score came late in the fourth quarter when senior running back Byron Puckett had a 25-yard touchdown run with 3:02 remaining. Puckett carried the ball five times for 47 yards.

“Byron’s a good player,” Heyde said. “He came in and did a good job. I was really excited when the non-starters come in and play well.”

The Panthers are back in action at 7 p.m. Friday when they play host to conference rival Kirkwood (4-0, 4-0 Suburban West).

The Pioneers are coming off a 41-13 win at Marquette when they racked up 490 yards of offense.

“Kirkwood is always a very talented team,” Heyde said. “As good as their offense is, their defense is their strength. This is going to be a good gauge of our progress.”