Platte County picks up dominant win, looking to start next streak

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — If the turnovers keep coming in bunches, another winning long winning streak might materialize.

Platte County’s opportunistic defense shined again in Friday night’s 38-0 shutout of William Chrisman in a Suburban Conference White Division matchup at Norman James Field. The Pirates ended up with an interception and two fumble recoveries leading directly to a pair of touchdowns — one each for senior linebackers Maverick Troncin and Hank Fowler — while posting the first shutout of the season.

A week after a 29-game win streak came to an end, Platte County (2-1) returned to form despite some sputters from a still inexperienced but rapidly developing offense. The Pirates moved back up one spot to No. 3 in the most recent Class 5 Missouri Media poll behind only Cardinal Ritter and Webb City.

“Everybody does their job,” said Troncin, now in his second season at Platte County and first as a full-time starter. “Ball gets put in the right spot for anybody. Just do your job, and you’re going to make plays.”

Platte County’s list of players to find the end zone for the first time this season continued to grow, starting with Troncin on an altered pass leading to an interception and Fowler on a lengthy scoop-and-score in the second half. Kade Fowler, the Pirates’ sophomore starting quarterback, finished 12 of 17 for a career-high 160 yards with touchdown passes to wide receiver Nolan Sipes and tight end Hank Marriott — both juniors.

Overcoming a pair of lost fumbles in the first half, Platte County junior running back added a game-high 95 yards rushing. He scored the game’s opening touchdown, giving him at least one in all three games this season. The Pirates led 21-0 at halftime and put a running clock into effect with 38 seconds left in the third quarter.

“We’ve definitely got a lot more in us (on offense),” Sipes said. “It’s only Week 3. We have a lot more left in the tank.”

With a large contingent of returners, Platte County’s defense played a large amount of snaps for a second straight week, but as opposed to a frustrating loss to Class 6-ranked Blue Springs South a week earlier, the turnovers that went for scores kept the unit on the field this time around.

William Chrisman (2-1) entered undefeated but with wins against Raytown South and Truman, which have a combined one win through three weeks. The Bears never truly threatened to score and rarely ventured across midfield.

In an odd quirk to this point, the starting quarterback for Platte County’s opponent left in the first half with an injury for the third straight week, and William Chrisman junior Lukas Yutzy didn’t return after junior linebacker Carlos Baskerville (team-high nine tackles with two for loss plus a half sack) hit his arm on a pass attempt in the second quarter. The ball fluttered high into the air with Troncin ending up with the interception and going 23 yards into the end zone untouched to put the Pirates up 14-0 on the first play of the second quarter.

Troncin started Week 1 as a junior but ended up as a reserve contributor after an early-season injury before coming up with his breakout performance in this win.

“I’m just thinking (Carlos) put that ball in a perfect spot,” said Troncin, who finished with three tackles (two for loss) in addition to the pick-six. “It’s always teammates. Everything, you can’t do with just one person. That pick wasn’t just me.”

Platte County didn’t extend the lead until right before halftime when Kade Fowler led an impressive two-minute drill while overcoming multiple penalties that could have stymied the drive. He first hit junior wide receiver Noah Omoike for 36 yards to set up a 35-yard scoring strike to Sipes.

Those were the only catches for both players, and for Sipes, the touchdown came a week after a costly muffed point in the second half of the loss to Blue Springs South.

“It’s the next-play mentality,” said Sipes, who played defensive back as a sophomore before returning to the offensive side of the ball. “I don’t even want to talk about (the fumble) right now because after that happened, I was on to the next play — on to the next game. It was great to get that touchdown and get rolling.”

William Chrisman forced an initial three-and-out to start the second half before another huge miscue. Myles McCray, a sophomore who came in at quarterback for Yutzy, tried to pick up an errant snap to keep a play alive only to end up creating a loose ball.

After an initial scrum, Hank Fowler — a starter for the majority of his junior season with a penchant for consequential turnovers — picked up the fumble and went 44 yards for the touchdown to put Platte County ahead 28-0. He finished with seven tackles (three for loss) and added a forced fumble that senior safety Matt Cisco (two tackles, one pass breakup) recovered later in the second half.

Platte County’s three turnovers forced brought the season total to seven with three of those directly resulting in touchdowns.

“I feel like (Maverick and Hank Fowler) are guys who are in the right spot more often than not,” Yost said. “I believe they’re hustling, getting to the ball, doing everything that they can to make a positive play, and that’s when great things happen. A kid like Hank Fowler, for example, has a great motor. Really proud of him, excited for him. Maverick, we’ve been waiting for a big one for a while, and he’s a kid who has some great tools.”

Platte County then forced a punt, and a long run from Hill eventually led to a 25-yard field goal from senior kicker Sterling Wilson, who also went 5-for-5 on extra points, to extend the lead to 31-0 with 3:18 left in the third quarter.

Platte County briefly went to junior running back Brady McDaniel in the first half, and he finished with four carries for 27 yards. However, Hill reemerged in the second half to again lead a multi-pronged rushing attack that ended up just short of 200 yards on the ground.

The majority of Kade Fowler’s 51 yards rushing came on the first of his five attempts — a long run on a potentially busted read option after a low snap on the game’s opening play that set up Hill’s 4-yard touchdown run less than 4 minutes into the first quarter to put Platte County up 7-0. The Pirates also gave senior running back Devin Smith three carries in the final minute, accounting for 7 more yards.

Platte County started the same offensive line with seniors Cooper Koenigsfeld (tackle) and James Moiyallah (guard) on the left side, junior Miller Bigus at center and senior Reece Moppin (guard) and junior Max Shuey (tackle) on the right. The Pirates were without sophomore Daxton Leuschen, who had seen rotational time at guard but suffered a knee injury in the first half against Blue Springs South.

“Our identity on offense is we’re going to pound the football, and we did that really well tonight,” Yost said. “We feel great about the five offensive linemen. We honestly feel like we have seven that we can play at any point. It’s one of those things that I feel like as the season continues to progress, those guys will tighten things up and get better.

“It’s gonna come together at some point, and when it does, look out.”

Platte County also opened up the pass game for Kade Fowler in his third start. He completed passes to seven different receivers — team-highs of three catches and 51 yards for sophomore wide receiver Owen Yates, who set up the final touchdown. A penalty eventually negated Hill’s second trip into the end zone, but Fowler then hit Marriott for a 7-yard score with the converted defensive back breaking through a pair of William Chrisman tacklers and falling backward over the goal line.

The first two catches for Marriott this season ended up going for only 5 yards total, while freshman tight end Braxton Seifert made the first two receptions of his career for another 15 yards and a pair of first downs. The duo saw their first real involvement in the passing game while taking over for graduated Division I products Brooks Hall (UCF) and Jack Utz (Kansas)

“I think (the tight ends) are a key to unlocking some of our offense,” Yost said. “I think Hank (Marriott) and Braxton are both guys who I think can be prolific in the pass game, and they’re so selfless. All they do is come out and block their tails off and help us be great in the run game.”

Marriott’s touchdown came with 38 seconds left in the third quarter and the focus turned to the defense, which produced the first shutout since last year’s Class 5 District 8 opener against St. Pius X (42-0).

Platte County’s revamped but disruptive defensive line continued a strong run of play with senior defensive end Brody Hawk — a third-year contributor and second-year starter — again the leader. He finished with seven tackles (two for loss) while the defensive tackle duo of senior Kyler Parker (two tackles, one for loss) and sophomore Phin McMain (six tackles, three for loss) remains strong up the middle.

Greyson Reik, a junior, added two tackles (one for loss) as Platte County’s first-year starter at left defensive end.

“Coming off a tough loss to Blue Springs South, but we’re still here. We can fight and put up against any team in Missouri. I really believe that,” Troncin said.

Parker also contributed a pass breakup with an attempt batted down at the line in the first half, while William Chrisman’s pass game mostly struggled outside of a few one-on-one throws into tight coverage.

Platte County senior safety Jack Johnson finished with three tackles (one for loss) while the starting cornerback tandem of senior Jordan Moore and junior Eric Dooley combined for just two tackles, both from Dooley. The Pirates’ other contributors, mostly on special teams, included senior safeties Devin Lumm (three tackles), Brandon Reynolds (two tackles), senior cornerback Jayden Mathurin (one tackle), sophomore defensive lineman Kyle McGee (one tackle) and Smith (one tackle).

In addition, Platte County’s young linebackers continued to carve out roles — freshmen Rowdy Hawk (four tackles) and Brigham Nelson (two tackles) and sophomore Trey Keraus (one tackle) — and freshman defensive lineman Gunnar Bennett made his first career tackle.

“I think defensively we came out with exactly the identity that defense has,” Platte County first-year head coach Derek Yost said. “They’re a physical group. They’re fast. They proved it again.”

Platte County senior wide receiver Jude Brown hauled an early fourth down pass with one of his two catches that totaled 11 yards on the opening drive. Hill scored on the next play after the fourth down.

However, Brown left the game in the first half with an ankle injury likely to keep him out for multiple weeks.

That appeared to be the only true bad news for Platte County in improving to 10-0 all time in the series with William Chrisman. Now, the attention shifts to a much more common opponent and perhaps the program’s top rival at this point.

Platte County hosts Smithville this Friday at Pirate Stadium in the 104th all-time meeting between the two teams — the second-most common opponent in the Pirates’ illustrious history (West Platte, 107). The Warriors enter at 1-2 overall but ranked in Class 4 at No. 5 with the losses to Kearney (3-0, No. 1) and Savannah (3-0, No. 2).

William Chrisman served as the potential letdown game for the two-time defending Class 5 state champions after the season and home opener against Winnetonka and the first-ever game against Blue Springs South.

Platte County now prepares for back-to-back rivalry games with Smithville and Grain Valley, ranked No. 10 in Class 5 after a Week 2 loss to Kearney. The latter goes a long way to determining the Suburban Conference White Division title so motivation won’t be lacking.

“We’ve got to come in hot. We know it’s a big rivalry coming up these next two weeks,” Sipes said, “especially (against Smithville). And it’s at home. We’re going to have a great crowd. It’s going to be electric.”

Grain Valley’s last win against Platte County came in a 2023 Class 5 state quarterfinal matchup, and the two teams could again be on a postseason collision course as the early favorites in Districts 7 and 8. Smithville has lost three straight to the Pirates after back-to-back victories in 2021 and 2022.

Platte County holds a 62-35-6 advantage in the all-time series with Smithville. The first meetings between the two teams occurred in 1912 with Platte County winning both — 78-0 and 34-0.