Platte County makes enough of game-changing defensive plays to down Park Hill South

The plays were almost identical — at the very least providing the same needed jumpstart for the offense.

For a second straight game, Platte County senior Seth Martin found himself in position to pounce on a live ball after a punt made contact with an unwitting opponent. The versatile linebacker’s fumble recovery late in the first quarter Friday night set up the opening touchdown in a 24-21 victory over Park Hill South. The Pirates never trailed and leaned on a mostly dominant defensive effort — especially against the run — to extend their current win streak to three in a row.

A week earlier, Martin’s opportune play allowed Platte County (6-2) to steal a possession late in the first half against Belton, extending a lead to 14-0 at halftime in what became a 42-7 rout.

“He’s just an instinctual player,” Platte County coach Bill Utz said. “It’s amazing. If you give effort, you’re always going to be around the ball. That’s what Seth does, just by being active and getting after things a little bit. That puts you in a spot to be able to make plays when the play is there for you. He’s been blessed to make a lot of them for us this year.”

Platte County could not pull away this time around, thanks to some breakdowns in pass coverage and untimely penalties.

However, Park Hill South, which entered with a 1-6 record but now reports an 0-8 mark after retroactively forfeiting the seven games prior to Friday due to an ineligible player, ended up completely one-dimensional on offense and attempted 40 passes while running for -12 yards on 12 attempts. The Pirates created three turnovers total with senior cornerback Ayden Watts recording an interception for a fourth straight game, while sophomore Ty Christopher grabbed his second in three weeks and third overall.

Platte County’s offense did just enough with sophomore quarterback Rocco Marriott running for two scores — one early and one late — while adding a touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Dawsen Mizell in the second quarter. The Pirates went into halftime up 17-7 thanks to a 25-yard field goal from sophomore kicker Jackson Goodale on the final play of the first half.

“The defense has really done a pretty solid job for a lot of the year; the last couple of weeks have been really good,” Utz said. “We’ve hung a few curveballs up there, and they’ve taken them yard a few times. But other than that, we’ve been solid against the run, and if we can continue that, we’re going to put ourselves in a position to be in most games.”

Marriott finished 18-for-38 with 174 yards passing but also threw a pair of interceptions — the second on the second play of the third quarter.

Park Hill South took advantage after senior defensive back Jayvius Smith returned his pick to Platte County’s 37. Two plays later, Panthers senior quarterback Kenny Paulakovich threw his second touchdown pass, a 35-yarder to junior wide receiver Saeed Mukhtar to cut the deficit to 17-14 with 10 minutes, 9 seconds left in the third quarter.

From there, Platte County struggled to answer on offense but also held strong on defense.

Park Hill South all but abandoned the run after halftime, and Paulakovich ended up attempting 40 passes, completing just 11 but three of them went for touchdowns. The two teams combined for 49 incomplete passes, creating an agonizingly long third quarter where Platte County failed to take advantage of Christopher’s interception and a shanked punt. Goodale missed a 33-yard field goal on the Pirates’ third possession of the second half.

“(The quarters) were long,” Utz said. “At one point at the end of the third quarter, I actually thought were in the fourth. Felt like we had the thing wrapped up, and holy cow, it’s still the third quarter. It just kind of kept draggin’ on, draggin’ on, draggin’ on. This was a close game that was kind of tense, and we wanted the clock to move faster but it just didn’t.”

Paulakovich consistently dropped back and faced a mix of basic defensive looks and blitzes, yet Platte County ended up with just one sack shared between junior linebackers Darrell Smith (five tackles plus one for loss) and Archie Wesley (one tackle).

“As soon as I saw the linemen sitting back, I was like, ‘Oh yeah, it’s time to put some pressure on the quarterback’ because all they’re doing is throwing,” Smith said. “If we can do that, we can help our secondary out a lot.”

Platte County finally went back up 10 points after another special teams miscue following the missed field goal.

Paulakovich threw three straight incompletions on Park Hill South’s third possession with a chance to tie or take the lead in the second half. Either due to a bad snap or a badly designed fake, Panthers senior Mason Love — known more as a placekicker headed to South Carolina — rolled left on fourth down, and the Pirates dropped him for an 8-yard loss.

Taking over at Park Hill South’s 12, Platte County generated an initial first down on an 8-yard run from Marriott and a 2-yarder from sophomore running back Adam Gisler. Marriott then sneaked down to the 1, only for a false start penalty to back the Pirates up to second and goal from the 6.

After a run for no gain, Marriott hit Mizell on a quick slant for a 5-yard gain down to the 1, and Utz bypassed the field goal try and allowed his 6-foot-3 quarterback to burrow into the end zone from a yard out to put the Pirates up 24-14 with 1:28 left in the third quarter.

“Our defense stepped up and kept making plays for us and giving us more opportunities,” Utz said.

Park Hill South mustered one final response marching 67 yards on a drive that ended with Paulakovich’s third touchdown pass.

Platte County committed a pair of critical penalties in the process, and sophomore Chance Taylor hauled in a 4-yard touchdown pass on the only third down the Panthers faced, trimming the Pirates’ lead to 24-21 with 10:59 left in regulation. Love brings the ability to hit field goals from well past 50 yards, but he would not have an opportunity at a tying kick.

After forcing a quick three-and-out, Park Hill South gave the ball back four plays later after another Mason run on a second apparent fake punt. The Panthers took the ball back once more in the fourth quarter down three and and punted from their own 29.

“They obviously had some big plays that put us in a spot to hold our breath a little bit,” Utz said, “but it was one of those games where you felt like we were in control. We just never could get that separation. It was just a weird feeling game.”

Needing to run out the clock, Platte County leaned on Marriott to finish off the win, which ended a two-game losing streak to Park Hill South. He had runs of 17 yards and 11 yards on the final drive and then ran for a tough 2 yards to convert a final third and 1 at the Panthers’ 35.

Marriott spread out his completions to Gisler (five for 82), Mizell (five for 45) and sophomores Trees Baskerville (six for 31 yards), Braiden Stevens (one for 9 yards) and Jack Utz (1 for 7 yards). However, the developing first-year starter also managed 55 yards on the ground on 22 attempts, which included sacks taken.

“I think when it did come down to it, and we had to have a yard, I thought the line buckled down and created holes,” Bill Utz said. “We decided right from the get-go that we kind of go as (Rocco) goes. His ability to run when he does is really nice for us, especially when it’s time to close out a game. He’s a big strong athlete, and he wants the ball in his hands and expects us to call his number and wants us to call his number.”

Platte County’s run game continued to excel but looked the most diverse at any point this season thanks to Marriott’s contributions.

Gisler just missed a third straight 100-yard game and sixth overall since taking over as the lead running back after junior Dayton Doll went down with a season-ending knee injury. He also continued his development as a pass catcher on short reads and screens with career-highs for both receptions and yards receiving in a game.

However, consistency lacked at times with the majority of Gisler’s 95 yards coming on gains of 12, 26, 11, 22 and 10, while the other 14 of his 95 yards came on the other 18 out of 23 total carries.

Platte County has started the same five players on the offensive line in all eight games so far with seniors Muyonta Maxwell (left tackle), Becker Grego (right guard) and Gage Fulk (right tackle) plus juniors Drew Doll (left guard) Riley Hixson (center) in the same combination for a fourth straight game. Hixson and Grego switched spots in Week 5, while sophomore Quinn Lightle rotated in at right tackle in the first half and left guard in the second half, continuing his acclimation into what has become a six-player rotation.

Lightle started most of last season at right tackle as a freshman but missed the first four full weeks of this season due to a knee injury.

“(The inconsistencies) are O-line stuff, too,” Bill Utz said. “The O-line has to get more consistent, too. I thought here were times when we did some really good things, and there were times where we had a little bit of leakage that led to those plays that didn’t go in our favor.

“Adam does a great job of finding holes and get those extra yards. A lot of times they are 4- or 5-yard carries that turn into big chunks because of what he does.”

Platte County’s run game struggled early in what became a back-and-forth exchange of punts to start the game. Yet, Martin’s fumble recovery put the Pirates at Park Hill South’s 20 with just over a minute left in the first quarter, and Gisler ran for 12 yards to set up first and goal.

On the next play, Marriott kept the ball on a read option and went left to the pylon for an 8-yard score that put Platte County up 7-0. Martin now has 31 tackles plus seven for loss and four pass breakups as a first-year starter, having transferred over to the Pirates from Northland Christian ahead of last season but ineligible to play varsity in his junior season.

“He’s a good leader,” Smith said of Martin. “He’s leading us well. He’s a very good example of how our defense should act (and bring) effort. It’s real leadership.”

However, Park Hill South’s first play of the second quarter resulted in a 72-yard game-tying touchdown from Paulakovich to Taylor. The next key sequence came on an exchange of interceptions. First, Marriott overthrew Mizell down the field, only for Watts, who has stepped into a starting role after junior safety Caden McGhee went down with a season-ending knee injury in a Week 3 win over North Kansas City, to bring down his two plays later.

Platte County again made the turnover count. Gisler’s 26-yard run — longest of the night for either team — set up the touchdown pass to Mizell two plays later. Marriott found him near the goal line behind the defense for a 27-yard yard strike — the fourth scoring connection between the two in two weeks.

“Dawsen’s a great athlete who does a great job of running routes and making plays when he has the opportunity,” Bill Utz said. “He had a great week last week that got him back on the track and had another solid night tonight.”

Park Hill South failed to gain a first down on either of its last two drives of the first half.

Platte County ended up with the 10-point lead at the break but nearly regretted not making more of the possessions on either side of halftime. Marriott completed three passes in a 2-minute drill to put the Pirates at second and goal with under a minute left in the second quarter but eventually settled for Goodale’s 25-yard field goal after a reverse to junior Lane Webb went for -7 yards on third and goal from the 1.

The first two plays after halftime for Platte County were a run of -4 yards for Gisler and an interception that led to Park Hill South’s second touchdown.

“We could have gone for it again at the end of the first half but could have come up with a zero there instead of three,” Bill Utz said. “I thought the three was good. I wanted to go up by 10, knowing we were getting the ball back. The idea was we were going to get the field goal and then another score with that mentality. It didn’t work out that way and ended up more of a dogfight than what we wanted.”

Platte County created pressure on Paulakovich during his repeated dropbacks but also remained disciplined against the run. However, the stats were limited with only 12 runs and eight completions that didn’t end in a score. Smith and junior safety Montez Clemons tied as the Pirates’ leader in tackles with five apiece, while senior defensive end Tucker McDowell (one tackle), junior defensive tackle Jordan Miller (two tackles), junior linebacker Cobe Pollard (one tackle), junior linebacker Trevor Hay (two tackles), sophomore linebacker Cale Buntz, Christopher (one tackle) and Watts (one tackle) each made a tackle for loss.

Hay returned from a broken wrist suffered in Week 1’s win against Kearney and bolstered Platte County’s defense, which remains without McGhee and senior reserve defensive lineman Kevin Taylor (season-ending ankle injury). The Pirates were as close to full strength as they’ve been this year but now have a mostly four-man rotation up front of McDowell, Miller, junior nose guard Kameron Doyle and senior Markus Delfin to pair with the diverse linebacker group.

Platte County’s first-choice cornerbacks have now become Watts and senior Jordan Burnett, while Christopher, Clemons and junior Taylor Stambersky all see time at safety. The Pirates have now allowed 40 points in the three-game winning streak after giving up 45 and 35 in back-to-back losses to Grain Valley (7-1) and Oak Park (8-0).

“We’re a stop-run-first defense,” Pollard said. “Lsat year, we kind of weren’t. This year we are. Our secondary got better; Everybody’s a good tackler on our team.”

Platte County’s strength of schedule took the smallest of hits when Park Hill South gave up the season’s only win early this week.

Ranked No. 2 again in this week’s Class 5 media poll, Grain Valley continues to hold the top spot in the Class 5 District 8 standings with just a week left in the regular season. Fort Osage (5-3) continues to hold an advantage of 1.20 points on Platte County for the second spot even though the Pirates’ losses are to a pair of ranked teams. Park Hill South’s forfeitures widened the gap, which is sizeable to make up in one week.

Oak Park (8-0) remains at No. 7 in Class 6 and incidentally hosts Fort Osage this week.

To move to No. 2 and set up the possibility of two home games in Class 5 District 8 play, Platte County needs to win at William Chrisman (4-4) and have Oak Park win the Week 9 matchup with Fort Osage and then have the numbers play out in an advantageous manner in what should be tight match. Grain Valley has already earned the first-round bye and home field advantage while William Chrisman, North Kansas City (2-6), Winnetonka (2-6) and Raytown (1-7) occupy spots four through seven.

“We’re ready,” Smith said of the task at hand.

Raytown is almost assured of the No. 7 seed barring an unlikely upset of Grain Valley this Friday, while Winnetonka needs a win this week at Raytown South to have a chance at passing North Kansas City for the fifth spot.

Platte County continued to rank at No. 9 in the most recent Class 5 state poll with wins over Class 4-ranked Smithville (7-1, No. 1) and Kearney (6-2, No. 4) as part of a 3-0 start to the season.