Pirates have a Hay day in homecoming victory over Truman

Trevor Hay looked like a player used to running with the ball in his hands, even if opportunities have been limited in recent years.

A versatile quarterback in youth football, Platte County’s senior free safety returned not one but both of his interceptions for touchdowns during an overwhelmingly dominant first half Friday night at Pirate Stadium. The Pirates rolled to a 77-7 homecoming victory over Truman in a lopsided Suburban Conference White Division matchup.

Hay made a short sprint to the pylon in the first quarter but picked up some blocks and navigated traffic down the sideline on a much lengthier opportunity in the second quarter.

“It’s been a few years,” said Hay, who added two tackles and a pass breakup. “It was nice to have the ball in my hands again — just glad I could get a pick. Shoutout to my team for blocking, too. That’s the reason (the touchdowns) happened.”

Platte County (7-0) remained undefeated in convincing fashion, scoring on all seven offensive possessions in the first half in addition to Hay’s two pick-sixes. The Pirates scored 70 unanswered points, adding a pair of touchdowns from the reserves with a running clock in effect after halftime.

Truman (1-6) ended up with only 110 yards of offense, the majority on a long touchdown run in the first quarter that briefly tied the score 7-7.

Platte County finished with three interceptions, while sophomore defensive lineman Brody Hawk (one tackle) recorded the lone sack. The Pirates entered off of a blowout of Class 4-ranked rival Smithville and started a stretch of three games against seemingly overmatched conference rivals but showed few lapses in focus.

The dominant defensive effort started up front for Platte County with seniors defensive tackles Kameron Doyle (three tackles, one for loss) and Jordan Miller (one tackle) plus the end duo of senior Archie Wesley (one tackle, two for loss) and junior Cale Buntz (one tackle, one for loss). They limited the production of Pirates senior linebackers Cade Fowler and Cobe Pollard (one tackle plus one for loss each).

“We came back, fought through the adversity, and made some plays. That’s all we needed to do,” Hay said.

Platte County rushed for 230 yards with the top two running backs both active and healthy for the first time since Week 2. Adam Gisler, a junior coming off of a 1,000 yard season, led the Pirates for a second straight week with 65 yards on three carries, two of them going for touchdowns, while senior Dayton Doll didn’t find the end zone and ended up with 31 yards on just four carries with opportunities limited as the points quickly piled up in the first half.

In fact, Platte County senior reserve running back Isaiah Seymour, who started Week 5 at Belton when Doll (toe) and Gisler (shoulder) were both sidelined totaled 58 on eight carries and adding a score in the second half that pushed the Pirates’ lead to 70-7 in the third quarter. The production on the ground came with junior Michael Poncavage at left guard with senior Gus Keeton still out due to an ankle injury.

Platte County continued to start seniors Riley Hixson (center), Drew Doll (right guard) and Owen Rawlings (right tackle) plus junior Quinn Lightle (left tackle) but looked more comfortable in the second straight game with this alignment. Keeton suffered the injury in the first half of the game against Belton.

“We’ve got guys so if someone gets hurt we’ve got the next guy. Michael Poncavage definitely stepped up and did what he needed to do,” said Gisler, who missed the majority of three games after going down early in a Week 3 win over Fort Osage before returning and rushing for over 100 yards against Smithville a week earlier.

Platte County junior quarterback Rocco Marriott ended up with an efficient 8-for-13 passing line for 192 yards and three touchdowns — all in the second quarter — in addition to 63 and two scores on the ground. The Pirates’ defense and run game led the way early, starting on the opening drives.

Truman took the opening kickoff and immediately went three-and-out.

Common on multiple games this year, Wesley set the tone with a tackle for loss on the opening snap, and Platte County took over in solid field position after a 16-yard punt return from junior wide receiver Braiden Stevens, who finished with three catches for 46 yards. Gisler carried on the final two snaps of a four-play scoring drive, going into the end zone from 13 yards out on the second.

Platte County had trailed at some point in four of the previous five games and had allowed the first score to Fort Osage, Washburn Rural (Kansas) and Smithville in that stretch. Wesley’s tackle for a loss of 4 yards on the opening play helped avoid a similar situation.

“Archie’s always been a dog on the field. Since we were in kindergarten, he’s always one of the best players out there. Shoutout to him making plays,” Hay said. “He starts fast, always brings the energy. He’s a great guy to have on the field with us.”

However, Truman did tie the score on the third play of the next drive. Facing third and 4, Patriots running back Tristan Daniels knifed through a hole on the left side of the line on a run play and dashed 79 yards for a touchdown to account for what would be the majority of the offensive production on the day.

The 7-7 tie lasted less than two minutes.

Marriott connected with Stevens on what ended up a 20-yard gain with the receiver doing the majority of the work with a juking run after the catch. After a pair of productive runs from Dayton Doll, Marriott scrambled around left end for 22 yards and a 14-7 lead with 5:07 left in the first quarter.

Truman managed just four first downs the rest of the way — none in the second half — after the early big play, the only minor ongoing issue haunting the Platte County defense. The Pirates have allowed just 82 points in seven games but that includes a pair of 80-yard touchdowns for Grain Valley in Week 2, a long pass play for Washburn Rural and two more in last week’s dominant win against Smithville.

“With every one of those big plays, we’ve found mistakes where we could be better,” Platte County coach Bill Utz said. “In this case tonight, there were probably three kids who played it a little bit wrong, so we’ve got to correct that and make sure it doesn’t happen. They responded to it well, and I was happy about that.”

After Truman’s second and three-and-out, Marriott threw an incompletion that nearly went for a score, and Gisler weaved back and forth across the field on the second play of the drive for a 45-yard touchdown on what ended up his final touch of the night to put Platte County up 21-7.

“Our O-line had a big part in it, helping me get through the hole and just being great,” he said.

Truman’s next drive produced a first down, but after a penalty, a sideways toss pass went to running back Tristan Dooling. Wesley tracked him down and appeared to rip the ball away for a fumble only for officials to rule forward progress stopped before the turnover.

On the very next play, Hay came up with his first interception and returned the pick 32 yards to increase Platte County’s lead to 28-7 and cap the scoring in the first quarter.

Truman’s next possession also ended with a turnover. This time, Platte County senior cornerback Bronson Ryan, making his fifth career start, recorded his first career interception after leaping in front of Patriots wide receiver Emillio Recarte near midfield. Ryan and senior safety Darrell Smith led the Pirates with six total tackles.

Ryan never played tackle football prior to this season but ended up opposite senior cornerback Montez Clemons (one tackle, one pass breakup), himself converted from safety for this season, after senior Taylor Stambersky went down with a foot injury in a practice ahead of the Week 2 game. Ryan’s emergence has helped quickly bolster an experience defensive backfield that also includes the safety trio of Smith (a converted linebacker), Hay and senior Caden McGhee (four tackles).

“I’m actually so proud of Bronson,” Hay said. “I didn’t expect him to succeed that much. I know that might sound bad, but he came in here and he picked it up. He did his job.

“Every week he’s improving, becoming a better player, helping out the team a lot.”

Platte County turned Ryan’s pick into points on Marriott’s first touchdown pass — a 19-yard strike to Stevens over the middle. Marriott added a 6-yard rushing score to push the Pirates’ lead to 42-7 with 6:56 left in the first half that would have put the running clock into play after halftime without any more points.

Instead, Platte County forced a punt after a 15-yard completion for Truman provided some brief momentum. Instead, Marriott immediately hit senior wide receiver Lane Webb for a 60-yard completion down the home sideline before Marriott hit junior wide receiver Ty Christopher for a 15-yard score.

Truman’s longest completion of the night — a 22-yarder — put the Patriots near midfield for the first time on the ensuing drive.

Two plays later, Hay tracked left to right while reading Truman junior quarterback Preston Wuestling’s eyes and came up with a second interception. Hay’s momentum gave him a running start toward the visitor sideline where Pollard provided a key block on the 58-yard touchdown return that pushed the lead to 56-7.

“First pick-six? Man, when I got the ball, I was kind of freaking out. I didn’t know where to go — just followed my teammates who led me to the end zone. Worked out nice,” said Hay, a second-year starter who missed a large portion of last season with a broken wrist suffered in a Week 1 win over Kearney that featured his only other career interception prior to Friday. “(On the second), I was trying go through there, see if I could get to the end zone. I don’t know. It’s weird going through defenders again.”

Already up 49 points, Platte County ended up with one more drive in the first half, and Marriott and Christopher hooked up on a 60-yard catch-and-run touchdown for a one-play scoring drive that sent the Pirates into halftime up 63-7. The Pirates attempted only two passes after halftime with sophomore reserve Brandon Reynolds going 0-for-2.

Christopher matched Stevens with three catches that went for a team-high 78 yards, while Webb and junior wide receiver Tres Baskerville ended up with one reception each. Baskerville’s went for 8 yards.

“Obviously, getting the defensive scores, we’ve strived to do that all year,” Platte County coach Bill Utz said. “It was nice to see Trevor get a couple and make it all the way back to the end zone. He had a great play but there were some great blocks ahead of it. It was nice to see and fun to watch. Then we had an opportunity to work on our 2-minute offense and then we scored. It was one of those things that kind of got out of hand a little bit, but again, I can’t take away anything from our guys, who got after it and played well.”

After Seymour took the majority of the third quarter rushing attempts, Platte County also used junior running back Zach Burch (five carries, 20 yards) and sophomore Ben Horsley at running back while trying to drain out the clock. Burch scored his first career touchdown on a 1-yard plunge in the fourth quarter.

Platte County junior linebacker KJ Stallings (three tackles, one pass breakup) and sophomore linebacker Hank Fowler (two tackles, one pass breakup) turned in solid performances in the second half, while the defensive line second unit of Hawk (one tackle), juniors Cole Johnson (one tackle plus two for loss) and Cooper Hammontree (one tackle) and sophomore Kyler Parker (one tackle) helped limit Truman to -13 yards rushing in the quick second half.

In addition, Platte County also saw the sophomore trio of defensive backs Jack Johnson (one tackle) and Matthew Cisco and linebacker Carlos Baskerville record one tackle each. The Pirates have had a running clock for all or part of the second half of the last three games and multiple chances to build experience for many of the reserves who have shown the ability to provide depth as needed.

“We’re just trying to improve ourselves each week. We’re just trying to prepare for the playoffs,” Gisler said.

Platte County continues to hold the top seed in the Class 5 District 8 standings in front of No. 3-ranked St. Pius X (6-1) and Fort Osage (4-3), which moved back up to the third spot after the injury-riddled Indians knocked off Raytown 57-25 for a second straight win and third in four games.

Winnetonka (4-3), Central (St. Joseph) (3-4), Lincoln Prep (2-5) and William Chrisman (1-6) round out the seven-team standings.

Platte County travels to Ruskin (4-3) in Week 8 before concluding the regular season on Friday, October 25 at home against Raytown (4-3). A win in both would lock up the White Division title for the Pirates, who last won a conference crown in 2020.