Keeping up expectations: Platte County dominant again to run win streak to 19 straight

With a seemingly unspoken determination, Platte County continually kept the football off the turf Friday night at Pirate Stadium.

Platte County senior quarterback Rocco Marriott turned in another near-perfect passing performance, and senior defensive tackle Cole Johnson came up with a toe-tapping interception along the sideline — yes, you read that right — in a 69-14 romp over Belton in a return to Suburban Conference White Division action. Two times when the ball did hit the ground that resulted in a pair of lost fumbles were about the only negatives for Platte County in another dominant performance that runs the defending Class 5 state champion’s win streak to 19.

Belton (2-3) didn’t have a first down before halftime and trailed by 49 at the break then faced a running clock for the entire second half.

“You know what, they’re getting after it pretty well,” Platte County coach Bill Utz said. “We challenged them coming out to make sure we started hot, and we did that. I thought the defense did a nice job of getting the ball back several times. There’s a couple of things we didn’t want to see and things we need to work on and get polished up so they don’t haunt you later.

Marriott finished 15 of 16 for 340 yards, going over 300-yard mark for the third time in the past four games, while throwing for five touchdowns. He only missed tying Platte County’s school record because an 82-yard score from senior wide receiver Braiden Stevens came on a backwards pass.

Stevens remains the only Platte County player to find the end zone in all five games this season, hauling in three receptions for 92 yards and another touchdown and finishing with 85 yards rushing on just two attempts.

Platte County played without senior running back Adam Gisler for a second straight game due to a shoulder injury suffered in a Week 3 win over Fort Osage. Zach Burch, another senior, received another start and finished with 43 yards on six carries plus the opening touchdown on a 2-yard plunge to cap the first of five efficient scoring drives in the first quarter. He’s now totaled four rushing scores in three games, starting when he came on in relief of Gisler to find the end zone twice against the Indians and then adding one against Washburn Rural (Kansas) before providing the initial 7-0 lead against Belton after just seconds into the first quarter.

For the fourth time in five games, Platte County started seniors Lucas Dillingham (center), Michael Poncavage (left guard) and Quinn Lightle (left tackle) up front with juniors Cooper Koenigsfeld (tackle) and Reece Moppin (guard) on the right side. Poncavage missed the Week 3 game, and freshman Jayden Horn, who filled in during a 46-7 win, continues to receive rotational snaps at both guard spots int he weeks since and provides additional depth on a unit that likely lost senior tackle Ian Gold for the season with a knee injury suffered over the summer.

“The thing is you can literally see the growth in how they’re performing — competition or whatever. You see it in practice,” Utz said. “They’re melding together. They’re gelling as a group, and they enjoy doing what they’re doing. You hear it when they come off the field. They’re telling coaches wha they see and what’s there and what’s not there. That offensive line has to be such a true group of five that operates as one, and I really feel like they’re playing well together. And now we have a little depth there, which is good. It doesn’t really matter who we put in there. They’re getting the job done.”

Belton went three plays and out on its first four possessions.

Platte County needed just 12 offensive snaps to turn the resulting drives into a 28-0 lead with 1:17 left in the first quarter. Burch’s touchdown came on the fourth snap, and after Platte County junior defensive end Brody Hawk’s third-down sack of Belton senior quarterback Cooper Shrum forced a second punt, Marriott side-armed a screen pass to senior tight end Jack Utz on the left. He followed Poncavage’s crushing block to the outside and ended up going 43 yards for a touchdown.

This marked a second straight week with a long catch-and-run score for Jack Utz, who finished with just the one catch. Platte County senior tight end Brooks Hall also finished with just one reception, his going for 23 yards — the most limited production for the Division I-bound duo that has become a big part of the offense so far this season.

“We’ve got a lot of third-year guys on that offense,” Bill Utz said. “All of those guys have developed as our team has come along. When you look at that, that’s part of why you see what we have right now. Those two guys haven’t always been featured, and there’s a lot of teams that don’t have one solid tight end. We have two, and they’re athletic. You can see what they can do and how they create bad matchups when we move them around. We definitely want to take advantage of them, and the receivers around them give us a really nice mix.”

Marriott completed two passes to senior wide receiver Ty Christopher on Platte County next drive sandwiched around two carries for Burch that accounted for 29 of his rushing yards. The second throw to Christopher went over the top of the Belton defense for a 44-yard touchdown to put Platte County up 21-0.

Belton’s next punt went 67 yards and put Platte County at its own 9-yard line, and after an 8-yard pass to Christopher, Stevens’ went in motion from left to right and took a swing pass that clearly traveled backwards before bursting down the right sideline, hitting a speed of more than 22 mph according to a tracking device players wear this year to provide measurable, for an 82-yard touchdown and a 28-0 lead.

Stevens now has eight total touchdowns this season, five in the past two games.

“It’s great,” said Stevens, who previously committed to Division I FCS school South Dakota State but recently received offers from both West Virginia and James Madison. “I gotta give credit to everyone on the team blocking. Everyone’s had tremendous blocks. Without them, I couldn’t do it, especially the O-line. They’re playing tremendous. Rocco doing his job, throwing me the ball, too. Everyone is just playing good as a team.”

Belton’s next drive lasted just two plays. After junior running back Eden Loza went for negative yards, Shrum rolled right under pressure from Platte County junior Miller Bigus (one tackle) and senior JoJo Wolo (one tackle for loss) — a pair of reserve defensive linemen already rotating in with lead at 28 points. He threw a pass deflected into the air, and Johnson came down with a juggling interception, the first of his career, after pursuing the play all the way from the middle of the field.

“(Cole) just has great pursuit, you know loves the game,” Hawk said. “If you run to the ball, great things will happen from it, and tonight, that showed.”

Marriott hit Hall for 23 yards and then found senior wide receiver Tres Baskerville for a 10-yard touchdown and a 35-0 lead before the end of the first quarter.

Platte County ended up with a 57-8 lead at halftime despite not scoring on two possessions in the second quarter. Marriott’s 5-yard completion to junior wide receiver Jude Brown inside the red zone resulted in a lost fumble but ultimately led to points anyway.

Three plays later, Belton went to punt only for the snap to go over Shrum’s head and out of the end zone for a safety. Baskerville, who finished with four catches for 70 yards plus 8 yards rushing on his lone carry as an additional backfield option with Gisler out, returned the resulting free kick 64 yards for another touchdown to extend the lead to 44-0 with 6:14 left before halftime.

“When we had those opportunities, I thought we capitalized on those where in the past we maybe don’t jump on them quite that quick,” Bill Utz said. “It’s not a surprise. We can score pretty fast, and we’ve got a fast team. When you have that, it really sets up a lot of opportunities.”

Belton’s lone opening came on Platte County’s next possession went a snap went over Marriott’s head, and he attempted to pick the loose ball up to make a play rather than secure a recovery. Belton ended up recovering the fumble at Platte County’s 31-yard line, and on the next play, Shrum hit junior wide receiver Caleb Campbell over the middle for a touchdown, and a two-point pass cut the deficit to 44-8.

But Platte County’s defense allowed only 49 yards in the first half with Hawk, Johnson, senior defensive end Cale Buntz (three tackles, one for loss) and junior defensive tackle Kyler Parker (one tackle) providing another disruptive showcase up front with the linebacker duo of senior KJ Stallings (five tackles, one for loss) and junior Carlos Baskerville (team-high eight tackles) the biggest beneficiaries. The starting secondary saw a shift with senior Adeboye Akande and junior Jordan Moore (one tackle each) starting at cornerback with junior Jack Johnson shifting inside to safety along with senior Mogie Walkingstick (three tackles) and junior Matt Cisco (two tackles) in the 4-2-5 setup.

Continuing the season-long trend, Platte County also rotated in juniors Devin Lumm (six tackles, four for loss) and Maverick Troncin (three tackles) and senior Mudi Egbedeju (five tackles), who played his second game after hitting enough practices to be eligible. He has seen time at both safety and cornerback.

Platte County’s two sacks helped put Belton at -4 rushing yards in the first half, while Shrum’s six completions other than the touchdown strike went for a combined 22 yards. The defense held despite being consistently thrown back out on the field after the repeated quick scores.

“We for sure have to hold up our end, but when our offense has a mistake, we’ve got to pick them up to, do our part of the job,” Hawk said.

Platte County answered Belton’s touchdown in just two plays with Stevens going 57 yards on a catch-and-run score to push the lead to 51-8 with 3:09 left in the second quarter. Belton ended up punting twice more with the first resulting in a 37-yard touchdown pass to Christopher, who finished with team-highs of five catches for 107 yards yards. Buntz’s sack helped kill the next Belton drive, and Marriott’s last completion went 30 yards to Baskerville that went to the 26-yard line and sent the game into halftime.

Marriott’s lone incompletion ended up coming on a throw down the middle to Hall that could have went for a long touchdown but went off his hands on the drive that ended with Brown’s fumble. Marriott now has 21 passing touchdowns on the season, five in each of the past two games.

Platte County ended up with more than 700 yards of offense, 471 in the first half alone despite being without Gisler.

“We hit on quite a few cylinders tonight, and things were going pretty well,” Bill Utz said. “A few more mistakes but that’s understandable as well, but I can’t be anything but happy.”

Shrum finished 10 of 19 for 147 yards after adding a 78-yard touchdown pass to Campbell early in the fourth quarter that briefly cut Platte County’s lead to 57-14. That accounted for the majority of 185 yards of offense with Loza gaining 58 yards rushing on 19 attempts.

In addition to Wolo and Bigus, Platte County senior Cooper Hammontree finished with three tackles from his spot up front and sophomore Sam Smith made the first of his career as a backup defensive end, while junior Hank Fowler and sophomore Boston Wasserman made five tackles each with increased snaps. Fowler in particular continues to earn more time with the starters after strong performances against both Fort Osage and Washburn Rural.

Platte County sophomore cornerback Eric Dooley added an interception of Shrum in the end zone during the second half, while sophomore Zachaeus Paxton (three tackles) and sophomore Hank Marriott (two tackles) rounded out the backup defensive backs who recorded a snap.

The results were welcomed after allowing four touchdowns, two on short fields, a week earlier against Washburn Rural.

“I’m happy with it. We had a good practice this week,” Hawk said. “Last week, we were kinda slacking, but this week we picked it up.”

Platte County scored on each of the two drives after Shrum’s second touchdown.

In continuing to find success on offense after halftime, Platte County sophomore reserve running back Caleb Hill ended up as the leading rusher, totaling 145 yards on the ground with just four attempts. That included a 57-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, while sophomore Taylor Doyle, who recently moved over from defense, capped the scoring with a 47-yard sprint up the middle to the end zone on his first career carry and only one of the night.

Going deep into the backfield rotation, Platte County sophomore Cassius Guillory (41 yards) and Brady McDaniel (23 yards) were also successful on three carries each. Platte County sophomore quarterback Paxton Bennett also completed two passes, one going for -1 yard to senior wide receiver Andrew Lanier and another to sophomore tight end Beckett Hall gaining 2 yards.

Still ranked No. 1 in the Class 5 Missouri media poll with all nine first-place votes, Platte County averaged 57 points per game during the 5-0 start to this season that has now helped match the fourth-longest unbeaten streak in history, tying a run of 18-0-1 during the 1966 and 1967 seasons.

“We’re always motivated,” Stevens said. “Like right now, I’m already ready for next Friday. I want to go play again. Our team’s always been like that. I’m not worried about that at all. I know we’re going to go out and execute.”

Platte County has put a running clock on four of five opponents — the exception a 60-28 blowout of Washburn Rural (3-1) — going into the matchup with Smithville (4-1), which currently ranks No. 6 in Class 4. The Warriors have won two straight since a loss to Class 4 No. 1 Kearney (5-0).

Last year, Platte County dominated the nonconference matchup between rivals 51-14 as part of the undefeated run to the program’s fourth state championship and first since winning three straight from 2000-2002.

However, Platte County also remains more than a full point behind Rockhurst (5-0) in the Class 5 District 8 standings. The Hawklets, a nine-time state champion, made a somewhat surprising drop down from the state’s largest classification this season to create some intrigue in a reconfigured seven-team bracket.

Winnetonka, a surprise 4-1 so far this season, remains in third with Fort Osage, St. Pius X, Truman and William Chrisman following in that order with identical 2-3 records.