Park Hill South takes advantage of turnovers to topple Platte County

KANSAS CITY — The lead lasted only a matter of seconds, and less than three minutes later, the entire complexion of the challenge looked different.

Platte County showed fight early but eventually succumbed to a combination of costly turnovers and quick strikes from a speedy offense. Park Hill South made the most of five turnovers, turning the first four into four touchdowns and using the fifth to put an end to a 49-23 victory Friday at Park Hill District Stadium. The Panthers rolled up 378 yards of offense with senior quarterback Briggs Bartosh accounting four total touchdowns — two passing, two rushing — while senior running back Darrien Jones had two on the ground plus one receiving.

Park Hill South scored 35 unanswered points to turn a 15-14 deficit early in the second quarter into a 49-15 lead early in the fourth.

The seemingly annual matchup between now-Class 6 Park Hill South (3-5) and now-Class 5 Platte County (3-5) pitted two teams stuck in similar scenarios — battling for wins and postseason seeding. This year’s meeting played out much like the 2021 season-opener when the Pirates struck early only to end up on the wrong side of a blowout.

Platte County’s two-game winning streak ended despite an early long touchdown pass from senior quarterback Dylan Zimmerman to senior wide receiver Dom Spears plus a rushing touchdown in each half from freshman reserve Rocco Marriott (1-2, 15 yards passing; team-high 49 yards rushing on eight carries). The Pirates now go into the final week of the regular season with a shot at the third seed in Class 5 District 8 but also possibly stuck at No. 5 and a potential opening-round road game at St. Joseph Central or even the No. 6 with a loss to William Chrisman (3-5) on Friday at Pirate Stadium.

“We’re still learning,” Platte County coach Bill Utz said. “That’s what I just told these guys. I don’t care how old you are or what week it is, there’s still things we’re doing that we’ve got to get better at and learn from. And it goes into next week.

“Then you see what happens. The beauty of our state is that you’re never out of it. You guy right into a district tournament that theoretically everyone is 0-0, and you’ve got to beat them all anyway.”

Platte County entered having scored a season-high 38 and allowing a season-low eight points in a blowout of Belton a week earlier.

However, the offense couldn’t find consistency against a varied and athletic pass rush with Zimmerman ending up at 13-of-32 accuracy but with a respectable 212 yards. He also threw three interceptions, while the Pirates lost a pair of fumbles. Marriott ended up leading the run game, most of the damage done on a pair of fourth quarter drives — one that concluded with his tough 6-yard touchdown run and a two-point pass to freshman tight end Brooks Hall (one catch, 15 yards) as the coaching staff went to reserves with no realistic shot of a comeback in play.

“This year has turned into a year where we have a lot of different faces in there because of injuries or whatever reason,” Bill Utz said. “There’s some positive there as we learn.”

Like much of the season against a difficult schedule, Platte County ended up playing from behind.

Park Hill South forced an opening three-and-out and then took possession at the Pirates’ 44 after a short punt. Jones, who finished with a team-high 140 rushing yards on only 15 carries, busted a 38-yard run on the second snap, and Bartosh bulled into the end zone from 5 yards out on the Panthers’ fourth snap to take a 7-0 lead after just 2 minutes, 18 seconds.

In typical fashion, Platte County came up with at least a temporary answer.

Zimmerman completed a 17-yard screen pass to senior running back Nate Walls (14 carries, 40 yards rushing) and a 21-yarder to senior defensive end/wide receiver Chandavian Bradley — his only catch — to push across midfield. Two players later, Zimmerman found Spears (three catches, 69 yards) behind a busted coverage for a walk-in 41-yard touchdown.

However, Park Hill South blocked the extra point and continued to lead 7-6.

“Honestly, right out of the gate as we’re still trying to kind of get things underway and feel some things out, they scored right away,” Utz said. “And it would’ve been real easy for us to take a back seat there, but you know, our kids fought.”

Platte County’s defense came up with a rare stop only for the offense to commit the first turnover.

Park Hill South junior linebacker D’Ante Wells stepped in front of a pass and set up his offense at the Pirates’ 26. Four plays later after a third-down conversion, Bartosh connected with junior wide receiver Mike Lane for a 16-yard score to make it 14-6.

Zimmerman again responded with a 75-yard touchdown drive completing passes to sophomore Dayton Doll (team-highs of six catches, 81 yards), junior wide receiver Dawsen Mizell (two catches, 24 yards) and Spears to put Platte County at the 2-yard line. Zimmerman ran a keeper on the final play of the first quarter but went down at the 1, and after the stoppage, the Pirates sent in Marriott, who powered into the end zone.

A two-point conversion try failed, leaving Platte County behind 14-12.

The next big mistake came from Park Hill South, which fumbled the ensuing kickoff with Platte County freshman tight end Jack Utz falling on the loose ball. A gamble on fourth-and-5 worked out on a 12-yard completion to Doll to the Park Hill South 9-yard line. However, the next two plays were a drop for Mizell open in the flat for a sure touchdown, and an underthrown pass from Zimmerman facing pressure while trying to find Walls in the same area of the field.

A third incompletion ended up with Platte County settling for senior Aaron Cordova’s 26-yard field goal but also a lead at 15-14 with 10:57 left in the first half.

“To do what we did to get the ball where we did, you want a touchdown there,” Bill Utz said. “So a field goal was kind of bittersweet. Sweet in the sense we at least got a field goal to get the lead. That’s what I’m saying there. Obviously, you want the touchdown, but the way the score was with the two fails on the conversions earlier, to get the field goal to at least get the lead and put a little pressure back on Park Hill South was good.”

Three plays and 43 seconds later, Jones flew into the end zone on a run around right end to give Park Hill South the lead back at 21-15. Platte County then compounded the issue after driving into Panthers territory with senior defensive lineman Jordan Hilsinger snaring an interception and rumbling 43 yards to the Pirates’ 11.

Two Bartosh runs later, Park Hill South scored from 9 yards out and led 28-15 with still 8:10 left in the half. Platte County went from up one to down two touchdowns in a span of just 2:47 and wouldn’t challenge again.

A pair of plays negated by penalties — the first offsetting pass interference flags against Bradley and a Park Hill South defender and the second wiping out a 15-yard completion to Doll — stalled Platte County’s final drive of the first half. However, the defense forced a punt and kept the deficit at 13 points going into the break.

“We helped them a little bit on some misplays, missed assignments,” Bill Utz said. “But they’re explosive. They’re impressive kids in that sense, but we can’t give them short fields.”

Platte County’s defense immediately forced a three-and-out, but Park Hill South junior Mason Love’s booming 49-yard punt forced the possession to start at the Pirates’ 19. Two completions to Doll plus a rough the passer penalty pushed the Panthers’ defense across midfield before before the drive stalled out.

Two plays after a short punt from Zimmerman, Jones took a well-timed screen pass from Bartosh and raced 84 yards for a touchdown.

For the second time in the game, Platte County quickly compounded the issue with a toss play to Walls resulting in a fumble, and Park Hill South again capitalized on the recovery. Jones scored from 15 yards out on the next play to make it 42-15 with 7:48 left in the third quarter — 14 points scored in a matter of just 13 seconds.

“We gave them, off the top of my head, four short fields, and they had a couple of big plays on top of it,” Bill Utz said. “That’s just not a good recipe. They’re killers. They’re absolute killers. That’s 14 fast points twice, and that’s just demoralizing.”

Forced to play from behind multiple touchdowns, Zimmerman struggled to find time to throw and didn’t have as much in his efforts to freelance while keeping plays alive.

Platte County’s run game totaled 98 yards despite Zimmerman taking a pair of snaps, and Walls found some holes early before giving way late junior running back Nate Archibald (seven carries, 16 yards). The Pirates again shuffled the offensive line with only junior left tackle Muyonta Maxwell and senior left guard Tyler Burch to start every game this season. Sage Lutz, a senior, moved over to center — a spot he manned late in 2021 — while senior Braden Parker shifted over to right guard and freshman Quinn Lightle now entrenched at right tackle with senior Brody Gates missing a third straight game with a knee injury.

In addition, Platte County continued to look at junior Becker Grego at right guard, while Park Hill South wreaked havoc with twists, stunts and blitzes that made Zimmermamn uncomfortable.

“Our passing offense all year has been solid, and so what that does is teams are just daring us to run and luckily we were able to get a few seams there where Nate was able to open up and run a little bit, which we haven’t really seen to this point,” Bill Utz said. “We moved some people around again on our offensive line, and that allowed us to maybe find something there. We’ve gotten away all year with some plays where our receivers are able to get open, and Zim’s able to make a throw and we get underneath it. Their secondary did a good job of not letting that happen, and their D-line gave him so much pressure. He did OK, but they may have been the quickest D-line we’ve played against, too, so that creates some problems.”

Platte County stuck with a 3-3-5 defense look implemented the week before with mixed results, especially with sophomore linebacker Darrell Smith missing a second straight game due to a concussion. The Pirates would force another turnover when senior defensive lineman Blake Rueckert (one tackle, one for loss) stripped Bartosh, and senior safety Andy McClure (team-high 10 tackles, one pass defensed) recovered late in the third quarter. This one didn’t result in points, and after Park Hill South went three-and-out, Zimmerman threw his third interception to set up the Panthers’ final touchdown.

The repeated short fields were too much to overcome, especially with Smith and junior defensive lineman Tucker McDowell (shoulder) out with injuries.

Platte County started Rueckert and junior Kohry Woessner (five tackles) at defensive end and sophomore Kameron Doyle (three tackles) at nose tackle while rotating in Bradley (five tackles) and sophomore Jordan Miller (one tackle), while the linebacker snaps went to emerging sophomore Cobe Pollard (nine tackles), senior Cameron Dean (six tackles), sophomore Archie Wesely (two tackles) and junior Peyton Nickell (two tackles). The Pirates were forced into tough spots accounting for the dual-threat ability of Bartosh (135 yards passing, 74 yards rushing), who has oscillated between running back and quarterback during an accomplished but injury-plagued career.

In addition to McClure, Platte County’s new-look secondary stayed fairly consistent with senior safety Cameron Wolfe (three tackles, two for loss) seemingly fully healthy for a second straight game and senior Garrett Smith-Dean (two tackles, one pass breakup) and junior Jordan Burnett (two tackles) at the cornerback spots. That again pushed sophomore Caden McGhee to safety where he recorded three tackles and looked more comfortable in his second straight start at that spot.

“They have very good team speed,” Bill Utz said. “That combination of running back and quarterback who are both extremely fast. That’s tough. They do a good job. They run it well. They do a good job of getting on the edge.”

Platte County now has one more chance to build momentum for the postseason vs. William Chrisman, which has lost five of six, and the two teams could very well play in back-to-back weeks.

The winner between current No. 1 seed Oak Park (7-1) and No. 2 seed Fort Osage (6-2) will take the top seed. North Kansas City (5-3) lost a tight one to Fort Osage last week and will now take the third seed, unless Platte County can win and pass St. Joseph Central (4-4) for fourth. In that scenario, the Pirates would pass North Kansas City for third as a result of their head-to-head win in Week 3.

Central currently sits 0.22 of a point in front of Platte County with a winnable home game against downtrodden Truman (1-7) left. Ultimately, point differential and strength of schedule will come into play, but Bill Utz knows the Pirates must first take care of William Chrisman and lock up second place in the Suburban Conference White Division or none of the mathematics and scenarios matter at all.

“We’re still regular season,” Bill Utz said. “We’ve still got things we’ve got to get done.”