Platte County posts rare shutout against Webb City to power way into state semifinals

WEBB CITY, Mo. — Rocco Marriott bought time in another display of increased pocket presence. Tres Baskerville did the rest of the work to put a punctuation on a historic victory.

Two of Platte County’s junior offensive stars connected on what looked like an ordinary pass play late in the third quarter of Friday night’s Class 5 quarterfinal at Cardinal Stadium. Marriott’s jumping throw found Baskerville along the visitor’s sideline, and he slipped two tackles and zigged across the field for the final points in the Pirates’ emphatic 35-0 victory over Webb City.

Platte County not only came away with the win over a program with a record 16 state championships but did so as the visitor while dominating all phases of the game in the process. The Pirates handed Webb City their first shutout loss since 2003 while continuing their own pursuit of their first Class 5 title.

“To play here in November means you are doing something right,” Platte County coach Bill Utz said. “To come in and play the way we did and get a win is awesome. It doesn’t get any better. It’s one of the best stadiums to play at in the state. I’m nothing but proud of these guys.”

On defense, Platte County (12-0) held Webb City’s vaunted veer option rushing attack to just 81 yards, a total that included three sacks of senior quarterback Jackson Lucas — 1 1/2 for Pirates junior defensive end Luke Buntz, one for sophomore defensive end Brody Hawk and a half for junior defensive tackle Cole Johnson. The Cardinals were held under 200 yards total and reached the red zone just once and immediately committed one of three turnovers while trailing 35-0 early in the fourth quarter.

Conversely, Platte County scored on five of the first full six possessions despite Webb City’s two-high safety look on defense that helped limit big plays in the pass game for the most part. Marriott totaled three touchdowns — two on the ground in the earlygoing — and junior Adam Gisler added rushing scores of 35 and 33 yards on either side of halftime for the Pirates, who ran for 259 yards total in a deliberate and efficient performance.

“Just the next play mentality,” Marriott said. “That’s just what we do all game. We just executed whenever we had to.”

Back in the playoffs for the first time since 2020, Platte County advances to the state semifinals for the ninth time in program history hosts another traditionally powerful program with a trip to the Class 5 state championship game on the line. MICDS (11-2) travels to Platte City for Saturday’s 1 p.m. kickoff at Pirate Stadium after a 49-3 demolition of Fort Zumwalt West (7-6) in their quarterfinal matchup.

Platte County and MICDS have never played before, but former Harrisonville and Staley coach Fred Bouchard brings plenty of familiarity with Utz, the Pirates and Kansas City-area football to this cross-state matchup.

“I’m just super happy for the seniors to get one more home game. It just always feels great to play in front of the home crowd,” Marriott said.

Ranked No. 2 in the final Class 5 Missouri Media poll of the regular season, Platte County carries plenty of momentum after dominating No. 3-ranked St. Pius X in the District 8 title game, which the Pirates led 42-7 at halftime before winning 45-23, and dooming Webb City (6-7) to the program’s first losing season since 1982. The Cardinals’ last shutout loss came against Kearney more than two decades earlier in a state semifinal also played at home.

Platte County and Webb City matched up for the fourth time in eight seasons — all meetings in the playoffs — with the series now level at 2-2. The Pirates have won each of the past two, the last a 2020 Class 5 semifinal.

Even entering at .500 and off an upset 42-28 victory over rival Carthage in the District 7 title game, Webb City presented potential problems in a night game at home with a ball-control offense that can alter the expected flow of proceedings.

Platte County never blinked, driving 65 yards for a touchdown on the opening possession in a methodical manner. The Pirates converted two initial third downs and then scored on a fourth and 1 from the 20. Facing a third and 4 short of midfield, Marriott scrambled for 5 yards on the first, and three plays later, he converted a third and 15 on an improvised connection with senior Lane Webb, who finished with two catches for 16 yards and moved the chains in a critical spot for the second straight week.

Utz didn’t hesitate on the fourth down at the edge of the red zone with Marriott keeping the ball and going right to run behind a fullhouse backfield that included Gisler and senior running backs Dayton Doll and Isaiah Seymour.

“They’re always being physical,” Marriott said.

Platte County took more than 6 minutes off the clock to take the initial 7-0 lead.

Webb City found success on the correlating opening drive with Lucas keeping on back-to-back plays for gains of 10 and 15 yards to push the Cardinals across midfield. However, Platte County senior defensive tackle Kameron Doyle stopped his third and five run for a loss of 1, and senior safety Darrell Smith pushed running back Andrew Elwell out of bounds 2 yards short of the first down on the next play to give the Pirates possession back.

On the opening drive, Lucas accounted for 28 yards rushing, but he finished with 25 on 17 attempts. Elwell led Webb City with 39 yards on 11 carries, but the Cardinals committed three turnovers and regularly gave the ball back on downs around midfield.

Smith recovered two fumbles to help Platte County record their third shutout of the season and second in the postseason.

“The four times we’ve played them, we’ve had the same coaching staff,” Utz said. “We’ve seen it enough that we’ve been able to look at it enough that we know how to do it; it’s just a matter of if we can do it. I think there’s a lot of people that know that offense this way, but we had some confidence coming into it. Our kids did a tremendous job.”

After overcoming a pair of penalties on the first scoring drive, Platte County worked around another on the second to help build a 14-0 lead. Marriott hit junior wide receiver Braiden Stevens for 15 yards on a third and 8 on what ended up an 11-play touchdown march that featured nine combined runs from Gisler, Doll and Marriott.

Again using the power-shotgun look, Marriott went right and plowed into the end zone to put Platte County up two scores with only 8:59 left before halftime. The Pirates never wavered from the ground attack with Gisler finishing at a team-high 134 yards on just nine carries, while Doll added 53 on nine rushes. Marriott totaled 12 attempts between scrambles and designed runs with 72 yards and no sacks.

Platte County forced to make a change to the offensive line. Pirates senior Gus Keeton stepped back into the starting spot at left guard alongside the still consistent setup of fellow seniors Riley Hixson (center), Drew Doll (right guard) and Owen Rawlings (right tackle) plus junior Quinn Lightle (left tackle).

Keeton started the first five games but suffered an ankle injury in a Week 5 win over Belton.

Platte County put junior Michael Poncavage in that spot for the next six games. Poncavage (concussion) was unavailable for the matchup with Webb City, and Keeton went from a rotational contributor back to starter in a big spot.

“I’m super happy for (Gus),” Marriott said. “He’s worked hard all week, obviously, with Michael out. He just came in, did his job, and we just all appreciate him.”

Webb City’s next two possessions both ended with negative plays. Down 14-0, the Cardinals went three-and-out with Smith (five tackles plus two for loss) pressuring Lucas into an incompletion on second down, and Johnson and Buntz (two tackles) combining for a sack on the next play to force the punt.

Platte County continued to work around penalties to build the lead, coming back from a post-play personal foul on the second play of the third drive. Marriott hit Stevens down the home sideline for a 37-yard gain to convert a second and 20, and Gisler went around left end for a 35-yard touchdown on the next play to push the advantage to 21-0 with 6:44 left before halftime.

“There were a lot of things they have got frustrated with, and I thought they did a great job with that,” Utz said. “Whether it was first and 10 or first and 20, we still made some plays, and the players got us in spots where they were able to continue to have success. These guys love to play, and when you love to play, it’s easy to do that kind of stuff.”

Eleven plays later but with Webb City still short of midfield, Johnson stripped a scrambling Lucas with Smith falling on the loose ball to return possession back to Platte County. The junior reserve continued to work in behind Doyle and fellow senior starter Jordan Miller (two tackles, forced fumble) while making repeated impact plays that have included five tackles for loss, two forced fumbles and two split sacks in the past four games.

Platte County senior starting defensive end Archie Wesley added three tackles plus one for loss, while Hawk (one tackle, forced fumble), junior Cooper Hammontree and sophomore Kyler Parker were also a part of the deep rotation tasked with the initial disruption of Webb City’s timing-based run game.

“It’s absolutely amazing,” Johnson said. “I love coming out and playing with my friends. I love this sport so much, and to be able to have an impact on this game, it makes me so much more excited to play.”

Platte County did not take advantage with Dayton Doll fumbling the ball back as he breached the red zone on a run just before halftime. The 21-0 advantage going into the break didn’t fully underscore the dominance due to the limited possessions, but a week after torching St. Pius X with deep pass plays, the Pirates were content to take steady chunks of yards going 4-for-6 on third downs and 1-for-1 on fourth-down tries in the first half.

Marriott finished 10 of 15 passing overall for 172 yards with completions spread to Baskerville (three catches, 81 yards), Stevens (four catches, 67 yards), junior tight end Brooks Hall (one catch, 8 yards) and Webb.

“That first drive, the 6-minute drive, was a killer, especially the way we did it,” Utz said. “All three scoring drives in the first half were that way. Take the fumble away, and it was going to be four. I thought our guys did a great job of implementing the game plan and doing what they needed to do. (Webb City) just didn’t really have an answer for (our offense), which is really rewarding on our end.”

Webb City gained an initial first down to start the third quarter but turned the ball over on downs to give Platte County another short field. Three plays later, Gisler scored his second touchdown — 10th in seven games since returning from a shoulder injury — on a 33-yard scamper that looked much like his scoring play from the first half.

After a 1,000-yard season a year ago with Dayton Doll missing all but one game with a shoulder injury, Gisler goes into the state semifinals with just under 600 yards on just 52 carries, once for about every five times he touches the ball.

“He’s always had that burst, ever since we were young,” Marriott said. “He works so hard. That comes with the fresh legs. Every time he comes in, he’s ready to run the ball as hard as he can, and he’s just really explosive.”

Down 28-0 after Gisler’s second touchdown, Webb City needed to mostly abandon the run game and went to a lot of deceptive play-action passes. A 31-yard completion to tight end Fisher Derrick, who leaked down the seam to come wide open, plus a pass interference penalty gave the Cardinals some life, but Buntz’s full sack helped force a turnover on downs.

That set up the punctuating 56-yard scoring pass play to Baskerville that started the running clock for the final 14:43.

Marriott became Platte County’s all-time leader in passing touchdowns in the process with 60. After having one as a freshman, he currently sits at 35 this season, a total trailing only the efforts of Tanner Clarkson (38, 2017) and Spencer Stewart (37, 2018), and he moved past Chris Ruhnke (52, 2018-2020), Brandon Gutshall (56, 1997-2000) and Justin Mitchell (59, 2013-16) on the career list over the past three games.

“Obviously, not the end goal, but it’s always a great thing to have in your back pocket,” said Marriott, who came into the season tied for 13th in career touchdown passes.

Platte County managed to hold the shutout with Webb City calling timeouts until the final seconds and penalties piling up from a seemingly adversarial officiating crew. There were 10 penalties enforced against the Pirates — five in each half — for a staggering 123 yards.

Immediately after Baskerville’s touchdown, Webb City completed two long passes to reach the red zone, but on the first play of the fourth quarter, Smith blew up a double reverse play to force a fumble. He eventually recovered, as well, after senior cornerback Bronson Ryan batted the ball downfield while trying for a scoop and score. The Cardinals’ last play ended with Hawk recording a sack and Hammontree recovering as officials signaled the end of play.

Webb City gained 37 yards rushing on the first drive and 30 on the final possession against mostly reserves. Lucas finished 7 of 17 passing for 113 yards.

Behind the defensive line, Platte County senior linebackers Cobe Pollard (team-high eight tackles) and Brock Fowler (three tackles) were disciplined while sophomore reserve Tres Baskerville added five tackles plus one for loss. The Pirates’ defensive backs also handled the increased duties with senior safeties Caden McGhee (eight tackles), Trevor Hay (six tackles, two passes defensed) and Smith and senior cornerbacks Montez Clemons and Ryan (four tackles each) all providing critical run support.

Platte County juniors Mogie Walkingstick (four tackles) and Matthew Cisco (one tackle) plus sophomore Jack Johnson (three tackles) also rotated into the defensive backfield in a complete effort. The Pirates’ other shutouts came in Week 1 against William Chrisman (58-0) and in a Class 5 District 8 semifinal against Central (St. Joseph) (50-0).

“Our ability to play as a team I would say makes us very close knit,” Cole Johnson said. “We all like to work together, and we all have a fundamental part to play. And we all play it really well.”

Platte County seemed to truly even the series between the two teams. The Cardinals won the first two in 2017 (21-18, Class 4 semifinal) and 2019 (48-0, Class 4 Show-Me Bowl) but lost a 2020 Class 5 semifinal (24-21) and Friday night’s matchup. The Pirates came up short of a state title in 2019 and 2020, losing their first and only trips to the championship game since winning three straight in Class 3A/3 from 2000-2002.

The matchup with MICDS marks the fourth state semifinal for Platte County under Utz and ninth overall, but the Pirates will play this round at home for just the third time in program history — the other two in 1999 (Class 3A loss to Aurora) and 2002 (Class 3 win over Seneca).

Just two years ago, Platte County finished 5-6 — just the fourth losing season for the program since 1983 — but rebounded to post nine wins in 2023 with a roster filled with underclassmen in high-profile roles. The Pirates lost in the Class 5 District 8 championship game for the second time in three seasons, but the experience served the current seniors and juniors well in a resurgent season.

Platte County has scored 35 or more points in 11 of 12 games and won all but three in the undefeated run by more than 30. MICDS’ lone losses are to Class 6 semifinalist DeSmet (10-2) and Class 4 No. 1-ranked Lutheran North (11-1), which travels to play defending state champion Kearney (12-0) this week in a semifinal. The Rams gave up 28 points in both while scoring six against DeSmet and 13 against Lutheran North

“It’s awesome,” Utz said. “To be able to play the semifinal at home in such a special game, I’m happy for our kids; I’m happy for our community, especially our community and get our students there and hopefully be able to show out.”

Previously known as St. Louis Country Day School prior to a merger with Mary Institute, MICDS owns seven state championships and most recently reached the title game in Class 4 while finishing as runnerup in 2018 and 2020. The Rams also lost to eventual champion Smithville in a 2021 state semifinal before making the Class 5 playoffs in both 2022 and 2024

With a 30-18 upset of top-ranked Cardinal Ritter (9-2), Lafayette (Wildwood) (12-1) earned the right to travel to Jefferson City to face Helias (11-1) in the other semifinal. The winners play in the Class 5 Show-Me Bowl on Saturday, December 7 at Faurot Field on the campus of the University of Missouri in Columbia.

Lafayette’s lone loss came to Class 5 Eureka (9-1), which suffered a surprise loss in a district semifinal. Helias lost in overtime to Class 6 quarterfinalist Rock Bridge in Week 5 but goes into Saturday on a seven-game winning streak. Rock Bridge’s season ended with a 28-14 loss to DeSmet over the weekend.