Nichols, Victore combine to set up, score all 3 Platte County goals in win over Van Horn

A pair of last-gasp goals from Van Horn created some unnecessary drama, but considering the circumstances, a 3-2 victory seems a fair and admirable result.

Platte County played all three games this week without senior goalkeeper Jordy Hedrick, who remains in concussion protocol after suffering an injury in a fall baseball game, while senior forward Aaron Cordova continues to battle a lingering quad injury, limiting the Pirates’ options attack. Add in the absence of junior reserve forward Josh Nelson in Thursday’s matchup with Van Horn at Pirate Stadium and the rebuilt roster made the most of a difficult rematch and continued to build experience.

“We started out the season with a little depth so those players we had confidence in that were on the bench are now just getting some more time on the field,” Platte County coach Ashlyn Brantley said. “Yeah, at times it can be a nuisance somewhat, but I think they’ve come together well.”

Platte County junior forward Gavin Nichols contributed an assist around an opportunistic brace in the win, which came three weeks to the day after the Pirates won a shootout against Van Horn after a scoreless regulation in the fifth-place match of the season-opening Park Hill Kickoff Classic.

Nichols’ second goal in the 65th minute put Platte County up 3-0 and appeared to doom Van Horn to a frustrating loss. However, the Pirates continue to operate with an inexperienced three-man defensive backline of seniors Mark Wiesehan and Joseph Ibarra, a three-year starter but mostly in midfield, and freshman Jackson Goodale in the middle. The Falcons took advantage of a scrum on a free kick in the 69th minute to draw one back when a failed clearance left Pirates sophomore goalkeeper Paul Havemeier with no chance when the ball fell to an open attacker in the middle of the box.

With the lead down 3-1, Van Horn continued to pressure and closed within 3-2 in the 76th minute on a well-struck shot that carried from the right across the face of the goal and into the left side netting. Havemeier, who finished with a pair of saves, then protected the lead in the final minute, diving well to his left to punch away a shot in the final minute that appeared to be threatening the goal for a potential equalizer.

“Paul’s definitely stepped up, and he’s been putting his whole body out there like we’ve asked him,” Brantley said of Havemeier, who made just his third start in addition to other appearances in relief of Hedrick in a few matches this season. “He’s doing a great job and keeping his head up, and he’s continuing to work each day. Yeah, I think some of our decision-making could be better and the fact we’re giving away too many free kicks and restarts around our box lately — not just this game but others, as well — has become an issue. We’ve worked on it, but we’re still giving them away, and those have been leading to scoring opportunities for the other team so we definitely need to nip that in the bud.”

Platte County (5-4) has endured a tough opening stretch of a schedule that will continue this week against William Chrisman in a Suburban Conference White Division matchup before next week’s annually difficult Panther Classic at Park Hill South. The Pirates hope momentum starts with the win against Van Horn after repeatedly bombing down the flanks in a productive second half.

After staking Platte County to a 1-0 halftime lead with a 34th minute goal, Nichols nearly doubled his account in the 48th minute when junior midfielder Ahoy Victore served in an inviting cross from the right. Nichols found himself unmarked but couldn’t generate enough power on a glancing header at the back post, leading to an easy save.

Nichols then made his own run down the right left side before cutting toward the middle and sending in a pass on the ground to find senior midfielder Felix Victore in an acre of space in the middle of the box. He calmly blasted home a right-footed shot one time from near the spot to make it 2-0 in the 59th minute, although his leading of a team “row the canoe” celebration along the far sideline also earned him a yellow card.

“We knew it was going to be a tough one with this team because last time we saw them it went to PKs, so yes, we wanted that distance,” Brantley said. “We’re always happy to create those opportunities, but that’s what we talk about. We’re going to get less and less opportunities the tougher the teams are so we need to continue to create them, but we’ve got to finish them.”

Ahoy Victore missed out on another potential assist just a minute later when he provided nearly an identical cross to his one 12 minutes prior with junior midfielder AJ Schrick also unable to direct his header into the net just like Nichols earlier in the second half.

Nichols came up with his second in the 65th minute thanks to a disastrous back pass sequence from Van Horn. A long ball from Platte County led a defender to play the ball back to his goalkeeper who tried a one-time clearance that banged into Nichols, who calmly collected and dribbled around him before depositing the ball into a wide-open net.

“We’ve always been a second-half team,” Nichols said. “I mean, yeah, we come out and do decent in the first half, but after that halftime talk, we always turn it up the second half. Everything goes right more in the second half.”

The 3-0 lead ended up being important but so did the initial advantage.

The two teams played a mostly uneventful first half until Felix Victore set up Nichols for the opening goal. Platte County continues to search for combinations with only limited playing time so far for Cordova, a starter as a freshman on the Pirates’ Class 3 state runnerup squad who returned this year after two seasons playing across the state. Offense continues to come from Nichols, 2021 leading scorer, while Nelson has been solid in a reserve and fill-in role, but junior Daniel Bunge, Schrick, freshman Cameron Habel and the Victore brothers have been important in midfield roles.

In addition, Platte county sophomores Jack Klippenstein and Julian Nemeth have been called into more important reserve roles. The Pirates’ 1-0 lead at halftime clearly built confidence in the developing group after more than 110 scoreless minutes total against Van Horn factoring in the prior matchup.

“We weren’t down, but we weren’t playing our best,” Nichols said. “And it was 0-0. We don’t want to go into halftime with no momentum, but with that goal, we go into halftime with all the momentum and come out pumped in the second half.”

Kearney 2, Platte County 1

Felix Victore leveled for the Pirates just out of halftime, but Kearney netted the winner in the next minute Wednesday night at Pirate Stadium.

Kearney held the one-goal lead for the final 37 minutes, even enduring a lightning delay that sent both teams off the field with about 30 minutes left in regulation. Platte County finished with nine shots on goal — six in the first half — and trailed 1-0 going into halftime. The Pirates appeared to regain the momentum in the 42nd minute when Schrick set up Felix Victore for the tying goal.

Making his second straight start, Havemeier totaled five saves, but Kearney beat him for a second time in the 43rd minute to steal a win that likely will have Class 3 District 8 seeding implications.

Platte County 3, Grain Valley 3 (5-3 PKs)

Havemeier stopped the first penalty kick Monday night at Grain Valley High School, and the Pirates converted all five of their tries to finish off a dramatic road victory in Suburban Conference White Division play.

Nichols, Ibarra, Currence, Schrick and finally Felix Victore all stepped to the spot in the shootout and converted. Victore capped the victory hitting the “L Dance” of Fortnight fame after closing out the win in the fifth round of penalty shots.

Played in front of a boisterous and enthusiastic road crowd, Platte County led 1-0 and trailed 2-1 and 3-2, but Grain Valley gave up a penalty kick in the 62nd minute. Nichols buried the shot from the spot to tie it, and Havemeier made 14 saves total to help keep the deadlock through the rest of regulation and two scoreless 10-minute halves of overtime to set up the penalty shootout.

Ahoy Victore staked Platte County to the initial lead ninth minute when Ahoy Victore chipped the ball over the keeper on an assist from Habel. Grain Valley then put two goals up in the 26th and 31st minutes to have a shot at taking a lead into halftime. Instead, Felix Victore set up Nelson for a goal in the 33rd minute to make it a 2-2 tie at the break.

Grain Valley took the lead again in the 50th minute, but 6-for-6 on penalty kicks overall helped Platte County tie it in regulation and win it in the shootout.

Liberty North 2, Platte County 1, 2OT

In a game with three dramatic goals, the Eagles escaped with a golden goal in the second half of overtime last Monday at Pirate Stadium.

Platte County went behind 1-0 in 73rd minute off of a rebound but needed just over a minute of game play to equalize through Felix Victore on an assist from Currence. Hedrick made an astounding 16 saves to keep the Pirates in the match but yielded the game winner just short of pushing the match to a penalty shootout.