Platte County’s closing stretch in 2022 including the first Suburban Conference championship since in a half decade and then an ultimately disappointing showing in the Class 4 District 8 tournament.
Now, only two players from the top five return. The positive? Only one player came back last year for the Pirates, who quickly rebuilt to again be competitive in all competitions.
Platte County will heavily rely on third-year No. 1 senior Parker Amos, while senior Jackson Gabbert should be a second-year starter. He showed flashes of No. 2 play as a junior, making his likely transition to the top of the lineup easier to make. Beyond the senior duo, the Pirates have a deep roster fighting for essentially three spots.
“We have some work to do in order to be prepared for the upcoming season,” Platte County veteran coach Trevor Short said. “The good thing is these gentlemen are eager to be playing and learning the game of golf. They want to stay late and get better and they challenge each other to be their best.”
Having lost his freshman season due to COVID-19 cancelation, Amos comes back to chase Platte County’s first all-state season in more than two decades. He entered the lineup as a sophomore at No. 1 but missed the state cut by one stroke as a sophomore after an uncharacteristically off round at districts.
Amos came back as a sophomore and placed third at Class 4 District 8 to earn his state debut. He went on to shoot 83-86—169 in two up-and-down rounds. He ended up in a five-way tie for 54th, unable to overcome a tough start to his second round to make a push for all-state honors.
In addition, Amos has finished third and second, respectively, in his first two Suburban Conference Blue Division tournaments. His showing last year helped lead Platte County to the team title. In an impossibly close finish, the Pirates tied for the top spot with Smithville and just one stroke in front of third-place Kearney.
Platte County won the title on the fifth-score tiebreaker — an almost unheard of scenario.
Gabbert ended up 15th as the No. 4 scorer for Platte County, earning honorable mention all-conference honors. In addition, the Pirates also had all-conference performances from Dylan Mitchell and Jake Kingery, while Carson Childers’ round at No. 5 ended up clinching the title.
Mitchell and Kingery are both graduated seniors, while Childers is not back for his senior season.
That leaves Platte County with plenty of questions after placing sixth out of 11 teams at Class 4 District 8 — jutust seven shots back of third-place Marshall and three behind fifth-place Smithville in a tightly bunched pack behind the top two teams. Smith-Cotton (346) won the team title with Grain Valley (348) second to earn the two automatic state team berths for their top four players. The best 12 individuals not from those teams also qualified, including Amos (third).
Gabbert ended up tied for 22nd and remained in contention for a state spot until late in the round.
The postseason format finally remains the same after having three different setups over the past three seasons. That means Platte County needs to put together another team with new faces to meet what Short sees as the consistent goals for the program, even with a move up to the White Division of the Suburban Conference and additional competition there from Grain Valley.
“Our expectations are to win the Suburban Conference title in our new division,” he said. “We also would like to represent Platte County at the (Class 4 Missouri) State Golf Championships.”
Amos will be an undoubted candidate to have a shot as an individual, while development from Gabbert should put him position to compete again.
The rest of Platte County’s lineup will include unproven players and potentially a lot of youth. The Pirates have a large group of sophomores with Ben Gillilan, Joshua Gentilia and Josh Knickman early candidates to see varsity time. In addition, freshman Braden Hendee has impressed in the Pirates’ early practices.
Platte County also has junior Dawsen Mizell, sophomores Brogan Miller, Donavan Royer, Evan Sedlacek, Zach Olson, Meritt Bigus an Brody Harmon; and freshmen Dylan Musel, Gabe Wittel, Jacob Hein, Xander Chase and Paxton Clarke on the roster.
