Missed opportunities lead to frustrating loss at Grain Valley

GRAIN VALLEY, Mo. — A sliding reception along the sideline in the end zone from sophomore wide receiver Dayton Doll for an apparent touchdown. An alert scoop and rumble into the end zone from senior Chandavian Bradley.

Twice in the fourth quarter Friday night, Platte County appeared to have a potential game-altering touchdown only for circumstance to intervene in what became a scoreless second half and a frustrating 24-14 loss to Grain Valley on Friday night. Both teams entered with 1-2 records and a chance to build momentum in what appears to be a wide open race for a spot in the Class 5 semifinals between Districts 7 and 8. The Pirates were undone by a pair of costly turnovers, an uncharacteristically porous run defense and inability to finish scoring drives with a still stymied run game.

Platte County continues to navigate a dauntingly strong schedule, multiple injuries to key starters and the mental toll of letting three winnable games slip away.

“There’s a lot of kids stepping up, but it’s honestly hard to do that when your nucleus has just changed,” Platte County coach Bill Utz said. “We haven’t had the same lineup at any point this year. No excuses, but that’s hard to do. We’ve played four good teams, and we’ve come up short on three of them. We’ve played four close games, and so when you play those close games, you’re right there and it puts a lot more emphasis on literally one or two plays.”

Platte County senior quarterback Dylan Zimmerman set a career-high for passing yards in a second straight game, following up his virtuoso performance in a win over North Kansas City with 313 yards on 26-of-44 accuracy with completions to eight different receivers and a 60-yard touchdown pass to senior Brennan Rich — just the fourth catch of his career and the first score. In addition, Pirates junior Dawsen Mizell received clearance to return from a knee injury just hours before the game and put up career-highs and game-bests of eight catches and 71 yards, while senior Dom Spears continued to flash his athletic potential with three total catches — two of the acrobatic and improbable variety — with 68 yards.

However, Platte County ran for just 48 yards on 18 attempts, the most damage coming on three scrambles for 28 yards for Zimmerman. The Pirates trailed 14-0 after a pick-six for Grain Valley senior safety Keagan Hart and 21-7 after the second long touchdown run of the first half for Eagles junior running back Ty Williams.

The lead sat at 21-14 at halftime, but Platte County didn’t score again and trailed by 10 for the final 13 minutes, 48 seconds.

“We still made some big plays here and there,” Utz said. “They did a good job of keeping us to have to rely on the big plays, and then honestly, they ran the ball too much. We didn’t force them to throw enough. We’ve got to be able to make some plays there.”

After a scoreless drive for each team to start the half, Platte County appeared to come up with a second straight stop and a chance to draw closer.

Grain Valley methodically drove into Pirates’ territory but lost 8 yards on a first down jet sweep attempt Platte County sophomore linebacker Darrell Smith (eight tackles) sniffed out for an 8-yard loss. Eagles senior quarterback Caleb Larson, who finished with a team-high 137 yards rushing in a pistol read-option attack, gained that back on third down, setting up a 53-yard field goal try.

Austin Schmitt’s kick came up short, but Platte County committed a running into the penalty kicker, leading to a second attempt from 48 yards out. He nailed that one to put Grain Valley up 24-14 with 1:48 left in the third quarter.

“If you want to take every game, we’ve had some of those, and it causes missed opportunities,” Utz said. “When you fight as hard as you do to get a stop and then you turn around and make an error, that’s gut wrenching. The resiliency of these guys to continue to play has been great when we’ve had so many of those situations.”

Zimmerman then orchestrated a drive for Platte County that included six completions three to Mizell in the slot. The big gain came on a 35-yarder to Spears on a second leaping grab down the middle and over a Grain Valley defender to move to the edge of the red zone. The Pirates would reach the 8 where Zimmerman appeared to hit Doll sliding doll on the left edge of the end zone, only for the official to quickly and assertively rule him out of bounds.

“I didn’t argue because there’s no replay; there’s no change,” Utz said. “He caught it. He got his feet down. It was a touchdown. (The official) didn’t see it the way I did.”

An ineligible man downfield penalty, an incompletion and a Mizell reception for no gain left Platte County with fourth-and-goal at the 13. With senior kicker Aaron Cordova unavailable due to injury, Utz opted not to try a 30-yard field goal with junior offensive/defensive lineman Gage Fulk, who handled kickoff duties and made both extra point tries.

Zimmerman’s scrambling pass while rolling to his left fell incomplete and kept Platte County behind by 10 points with 9:22 left in regulation.

“There’s a couple of scenarios where you look at a field goal there,” Utz said. “When you have a kid who wasn’t officially kicking until today, that’s a pretty tough spot to put him in. We practiced him there all week, but we thought the better option was to go for it.”

Platte County’s defense again held and forced a punt, leading to what ended up the Pirates’ final possession.

Zimmerman started with a 17-yard completion to Doll (six catches, 50 yards), and a roughing the passer penalty on Grain Valley moved the ball to near midfield. On the next play, Zimmerman hit senior wide receiver Tristan Magnuson (two catches, 20 yards) for an 18-yard gain over the middle where he took a hit that jarred the ball loose.

At first no players reacted to no whistle, but Bradley — Platte County’s senior defensive end committed to Tennessee but playing more on offense — finally ran over and scooped up the loose ball. He then rumbled 30-some yards into the end zone for a potential touchdown.

However, officials ended up flagging Magnuson for a block in the back that negated the touchdown but led to a first down at Grain Valley’s 30.

“We aren’t given the luxury of replay to see exactly what happened,” Utz said. “I would’ve called that play either incomplete or down. I don’t think it was a fumble, but the way they called it, it was. And Chandavian kind of showed the athleticism he has to run in, scoop it up and take off. He’s a special player in that sense.”

Zimmerman scrambled for 11 on the next play but then made his second obvious mistake of the game, throwing a second interception to Hart. Grain Valley took over and ran out the final 4:31 to finish off the win and improve to 2-2 overall.

The positives for Platte County’s offense were obvious.

The receiving corps received a boost with the return of Mizell in the second week since losing star senior Carter Salzman for at least six weeks to a broken collarbone suffered in a Week 2 loss to Smithville. Zimmerman also completed passes to senior running back Nate Walls (three for 28 yards), freshman wide receiver Tres Baskerville (two for 8 yards) and Bradley (one for 8 yards).

However, Walls ended up with only 21 yards rushing on 21 attempts, including a highlight-reel dive-to-the-pylon touchdown late in the first half, against an aggressive and athletic Grain Valley defense. The Pirates have ran for just 189 yards in four games, averaging 2.1 yards per attempt with sacks included.

Platte County continued to start junior left tackle Muyonta Maxwell, senior left guard Tyler Burch, senior center Braden Parker, senior right guard Brody Gates and senior right tackle Sage Lutz with Fulk having now moved back over to defensive line. The Pirates also continued to give an extended look to freshman Quinn Lightle on the right side in a reserve role but have not been able to unlock past success in the run game against a string of above-average defenses.

“We know that; I think everybody knows that,” Utz said of the run game needing to be better. “You’ve just got to keep plugging along. You’ve got to keep practicing; you’ve got to keep getting better, keep wanting to get better. And eventually that thing will click, and once that clicks, our offense will be a lot better. All we can do is keep working at it and do a better job.”

Platte County had not allowed more than 21 points in a game yet this season after allowing that total in a Week 1 overtime loss to Kearney.

Grain Valley put a youthful and injury-riddle defense on its heels following an initial exchange of three three-and-outs. The Eagles found success with a multi-pronged rushing attack featuring Larson, Williams (14 attempts, 108 yards) and senior running back Christian Lanear (10 attempts, 117 yards).

In the second try with the ball, Grain Valley drove 66 yards on eight plays with only one pass attempt. Williams finished it with a burst through the line for 18 yards to put the Eagles up 7-0 with 2:48 left in the first quarter, marking the third straight week the Pirates allowed the first touchdown.

Platte County’s third drive showed promise with a 12-yard completion to Walls and then the first leaping catch for Spears — a 26-yarder down to the Grain Valley 28-yard line. Zimmerman then hit Bradley for his lone catch to move to the edge of the red zone, but two plays later, Hart stepped in front of the next pass and returned it 89 yards for a touchdown to suddenly make it 14-0 with 10:19 left in the half.

Facing the largest deficit to this point in the season, Platte County came up with an answer.

Zimmerman kept a third-down play with a scramble left before loading up and tossing the ball deep. He found Rich coming across the field from the right and fading in behind the last defender. The ball just cleared the defender’s outstretched hand and found Rich wide open for the biggest play of his career as playing time increases for him in the wake of Salzman’s injury.

“It got us a little bit of momentum,” Utz said. “And I’m happy for Brennan. He was smart; he played it the way he’s supposed to. He found an open spot when Dylan had to move around, and a good job by Dylan to get his eyes down the field. It almost looked like a broken play, but it was just a smart play to keep going when things broke down.”

The momentum didn’t last long, and Williams’ 43-yard touchdown run on the ensuing drive re-established the 14-point lead for Grain Valley.

The situation almost became worse when Doll appeared to lose a fumble on the next play after a short reception only for the officials to huddle and eventually rule he never completed the catch before the ball popped free. Given a second chance, Zimmerman gained an initial first down with a pass to Mizell and hit Walls for 17 yards to midfield, and a pass interference penalty negated an Eagles’ interception.

Mizell made four catches on the drive, including a key 18-yarder to convert a fourth and 8, and Doll’s 11-yarder moved Platte County to the 7. On the next play, Walls went around left end and dove to the pylon for his second touchdown of the season and first on the ground.

Grain Valley would drive back into the red zone with Larson (3-7, 64 yards) completing a 33-yard pass to junior wide receiver Anthony Greco with the key play, but the Eagles gambled on a fourth-and-1 from the 12 with a pass that fell incomplete and left a 21-14 deficit for Platte County at halftime.

“We played one of our worst halves of the year, and we were still a pick-six away from being tied,” Utz said. “We thought we still had opportunities from there.”

Platte County’s defense settled in but ended up allowing 356 yards rushing and 420 yards of offense while playing again without senior safety Cameron Wolfe (hamstring), junior defensive lineman Tucker McDowell (shoulder) and sophomore linebacker Archie Wesley (knee).

Without McDowell, Platte County again looked undersized against a trapping Grain Valley offensive line with senior Mar’Ques Brown (three tackles) and sophomore Kameron Doyle (two tackles for loss) starting inside, and junior Kohry Woessner (six tackles), Bradley (three tackles) and senior Blake Rueckert (three tackles) frequently rotating inside and out and Fulk (one tackle) contributing as a defensive tackle.

Smith again looked a budding star at linebacker for Platte County while fellow sophomore Cobe Pollard (eight tackles) and senior Cameron Dean (five tackles) continued to split snaps next to him.

“We’ve got a lot of new kids playing,” Utz said. “They had some formations that are hard to defend, but we’ve got some injuries, too, that would change a lot of that. But no excuses that way. We had opportunities to make plays, and we didn’t. We were in spots to do that and just didn’t get it done.”

Platte County also continued to tinker with the defensive backfield with Wolfe out for his first full game after coming out early in the Week 3 win over North Kansas City. The consistent presences have been senior cornerback Garrett Smith-Dean, who had two interceptions the previous week and finished with two tackles and a pass breakup, and senior safety Andy McClure (six tackles, pass breakup). The Pirates have also rotated sophomore safety Taylor Stambersky (one tackle), sophomore cornerback Caden McGhee (one tackle), sophomore cornerback Jordan Burnett and junior Montez Clemons (seven tackles), and sophomore Trevor Hay received additional looks late in the loss to Grain Valley.

A fully healthy defensive unit could have potential to change the course of a season suddenly at another crossroads.

Platte County’s schedule has been noticeably different with the move to the Suburban Conference White Division. The Pirates opened with tight losses to Class 4-ranked Kearney (No. 2, 4-0) and Smithville (No. 3, 3-1 with a one-point loss to Kearney) before knocking off previously Class 5-ranked North Kansas City 25-14 after the first 0-2 start for the program since 2008.

Now, Platte County sits at 0-1 in White Division play and continues to frustratingly anguish at the bottom of the six-team Class 5 District 8 standings. The Pirates have a chance against undefeated and current No. 1 Oak Park (4-0, receiving votes in Class 5 Missouri Media poll) this week, and none of their nine regular season opponents currently have a losing record.