Platte County’s regular season ended with an expectedly strong 57-22 result in a Suburban Conference White Division dual with Truman on Thursday night in Independence. However, the Pirates were beneficiaries of two forfeits and again put multiple inexperienced wrestlers in the lineup with two weeks of practice left to prepare for Class 4 District 4 competition.
Truman never led but did win four matches total, including pins at 120, 165 and 175 pounds.
The dual started with Platte County sophomores Lennon Fitzpatrick (106 pounds) and Cade Crawford (113 pounds) taking forfeits to give the Pirates a 12-0 lead. The advantage went to 12-10 after losses for freshman Preston Harp, filling in for senior Gabe Wittel (illness) at 120 and senior Liam Franksen, who dropped a 13-5 major decision at 126.
Platte County pulled away starting with sophomore Hassan Alyssiri’s pin at 132 in just 20 seconds followed with junior Jaxson Shute’s fall at the 1:18 mark of the first period. There were vastly different experience levels in those matches with Alyssiri making his debut after an impressive start to his season at the junior varsity level, while Shute continued his work back from a December shoulder injury as the Pirates’ most decorated postseason wrestler. He finished second in the Class 3 MSHSAA Wrestling Championships at 106 pounds as a freshman before winning a state title at 120 a year ago.
Alyssiri received the start and helped avoid any dropoff with sophomore Ian Giese absent.
Those were the first of nine straight pins in the dual with the first five going Platte County’s way. However, Chase Hulett — a first-year junior who missed the past two seasons due to separate torn ACLs suffered as a freshman and sophomore — went to his back in the first period of the 144 match before recovering and scoring his fall against Kylan Bolin at the 2:35 mark, while Pirates senior Grant Fadler gave up the first takedown but needed just 1:41 to rack up eight points and then pin Daylen Curry at 150.
Platte County’s lead then hit 42-10 after sophomore Hank Marriott’s win by fall at 157 pounds.
Fadler, Marriott and junior Jack Johnson — three of seven returning state qualifiers on the roster — all recently dropped a weight for the Pirates.
Jack Johnson didn’t wrestles against Truman due to illness with freshman Kyle McGee receiving a spot start and taking a loss at 165, while junior Justice Martin now fills the 175 spot. He went scoreless into the second period against Gabriel Soliz, who turned and pinned Martin in 2:26 for the last of the Patriots’ wins.
Platte County senior Cooper Hammontree scored three takedowns in the first period of the 190 match and pinned Abdullah Zmerda in 1:50, while freshman Phin McMain continued to receive extensive time in the lineup with senior Cole Johnson still out. McMain recorded a fall against Aaron Baylie in 1:04.
Wrestling just his sixth match of the season, Platte County senior Quinn Lightle again wrestled a full three periods and won a 10-6 decision over Noah Talato in the 285 finale. The two went scoreless in the second period before Lightle took the down position and recorded a go-ahead escape and takedown to create the final margin. The dual victory for the Pirates gave them a somewhat disappointing 5-2 record in conference duals with the losses to Fort Osage and Grain Valley.
Shute, Crawford (fifth, 106) and Cole Johnson (second, 215) were the returning state medalists for Platte County, which finished fourth in Class 3 last season to earn a team trophy. However, the Pirates have yet to have all seven returning qualifiers in this year’s lineup.
Fadler, Marriott, Hammontree, Jack Johnson, Cole Johnson and Lightle all started the season late after helping Platte County earn a second straight state championship in football this fall. Cole Johnson and Lightle also carried over injuries with both delayed for their debut until January.
Further complicating the situation, Cole Johnson suffered a head injury in his fifth match of the season while competing in the Blue Valley West Dual Tournament, and his status for the postseason remains uncertain.
Platte County carried strong expectations into 2025-26 after last year’s state finish, but in addition to lineup consistencies, the team also ended up as the smallest in Class 4 for this year’s postseason assignments. The Pirates compete in the state’s biggest classification for the first time.
Class 4 District 4 includes six-time defending team state champion Liberty plus St. Pius X, the 2024 Class 2 and 2025 Class 3 title winner continually bumped up due to the private school success factor. Staley finished fifth in Class 4 last season, while Park Hill sits sixth and Fort Osage eighth in the current Missouri Wrestling power rankings.
