Platte County separates from Fort Osage in critical conference, district win

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — When a penalty negated a possession deep in the red zone, Tres Baskerville’s penchant for big plays finally provided some needed separation.

The Platte County junior wide receiver created a two-possession lead for the first time in the third quarter on a long touchdown reception, helping propel the Pirates to a 28-13 victory over Fort Osage on Friday night in a critical Suburban Conference White Division and Class 5 District 8 matchup at Fort Osage High School. The 57-yard score on a well-placed deep ball from junior quarterback Rocco Marriott changed the complexion of a defensive struggle in what ended up a fairly convincing win to continue an unbeaten start to the season.

Baskerville has recorded a 50-plus-yard touchdown in each of Platte County’s three wins.

“I try to do the most when I get the ball,” said Baskerville, who finished with three catches for 74 yards. “My teammates, I’ve always got to thank them because they’re really putting on a show for us. We’ve really been steamrolling, and these next couple of weeks we plan to keep it going.”

Platte County (3-0) overcame an early self-inflicted deficit behind four total touchdowns for Marriott, who threw for three and added a short rushing score in the first quarter. He spread the passing scores to Baskerville and junior Braiden Stevens, who now leads the Pirates with seven touchdowns — at least one in each of the first three games and a school-record-tying four in the season-opening win over William Chrisman.

Fort Osage managed just over 200 yards of until gaining 76 on the final drive and scoring a touchdown on the final play — a pass from sophomore quarterback Jonathan Ross to senior running back Ryver Peppers, the star Iowa State commit who played for the first time this season. The Indians (1-2) entered unranked after a 21-0 loss to defending Class 4 state champion Kearney in Week 1 while without him but earned three votes in this week’s Class 5 media poll.

The implications for the matchup were obvious.

Platte County, which continues to rank No. 2 behind unbeaten two-time defending state champion Cardinal Ritter (2022 in Class 3 and 2023 in Class 5), took control of the White Division race after back-to-back wins over Grain Valley (2-1) and Fort Osage. The Pirates also now own the tiebreaker in the Class 5 District 8 standings with St. Pius X (2-1), ranked No. 5 with the only loss to Class 6-ranked Rockhurst, the only other likely contender for the top seed in a seven-team field.

“That’s a really good football team,” Platte County coach Bill Utz said of Fort Osage, “and that’s a really good high school football game between two good teams.”

Platte County took the lead for good late in the first half on a 78-yard touchdown pass from Marriott to Stevens, but the tenuous 14-7 lead persisted through the first two drives of the second half.

Fort Osage went three-and-out after forcing the Pirates to punt near midfield to end the opening possession of the third quarter. The Indians then committed a seemingly deflating miscue with an errant punt snap on fourth and 8 from their own 25.

Ross, filling in for Fort Osage’s injured starting punter/kicker, retrieved the loose ball, but Platte County seniors Archie Wesley and Darrell Smith along with junior Cole Johnson converged to tackle him at the 9. Platte County prepared to take over in a goal-to-go situation but instead, a facemask penalty led to a replay of the down. The Pirates then fielded a punt at their own 32.

After completions to Platte County senior running back Dayton Doll (9 yards) and Stevens (10 yards) sandwiched around a holding call, Marriott dropped back again and looked toward Baskerville, who shook a defender on a head fake before finishing a post pattern behind the secondary. He secured the catch in stride and raced into the end zone untouched to put the Pirates ahead 21-7 with 4 minutes, 22 seconds left in the third quarter.

Baskerville scored on a 58-yard punt return in the first half of the blowout of William Chrisman and contributed to a second-half blowout of Grain Valley with a tackle-breaking catch-and-run of 55 yards last week.

“Rocco threw a beautiful ball in stride, and touchdown,” Baskerville said of the most recent touchdown. “It feels great, but I’ve always got to thank my teammates. You know, (Clemons) broke me open on the punt return. I got some great blocks from Brooks (Hall) and all of them (last week vs. Grain Valley).”

Having used a persistent rushing attack to shorten the game, Fort Osage couldn’t rely as heavily on Peppers, who needed 27 carries to gain 86 yards. The results were similar to last year’s loss to Platte County in the Class 5 District 8 semifinals when the Pirates also held him in check to advance to the title game.

Ross, who took over as starter after an injury in Week 1 to junior Collin Stratton, ended up 11-for-22 for 110 yards with Peppers hauling in four passes for 47 yards and the 22-yard score against mostly backups on the final series.

“That was the adversity we were talking about all week. We were going to face it, and we just had to push through it,” said Platte County senior linebacker Brock Fowler, who who transferred to Platte County from Staley but played with many of his current senior teammates in youth football.

Platte County avoided the big plays that detracted from an otherwise solid effort in the 52-21 win over Grain Valley a week earlier. The Pirates’ senior linebacker duo of Cobe Pollard (six tackles and a pass breakup) and Fowler (five tackles plus one for loss and 1 1/2 sacks) were consistently around the ball with sophomore Carlos Baskerville adding a pair of stops in late action.

However, Platte County’s deep defensive front again helped create havoc in the backfield and limited the exposure of a secondary suddenly without senior cornerback Tyler Stambersky (foot) for the rest of the season and using senior safety Caden McGhee despite a shoulder injury. The starting unit of Wesley (four tackles and a fumble recovery), senior defensive tackles Jordan Miller (three tackles plus one for loss) and senior Kameron Doyle (two tackles) and junior defensive end Cale Buntz (two tackles) led the way with juniors Cole Johnson (three tackles) and Cooper Hammontree (two tackles) plus sophomore Brody Hawk (one tackle plus one for loss) seeing plenty of rotation.

McGhee posted four tackles after missing the second half of Platte County’s win over Grain Valley, while senior Bronson Ryan (six tackles plus one for loss) received his first career start at cornerback in place of Stambersky and opposite senior safety-turned-cornerback Montez Clemons (five tackles). The solid run support on the outside benefited Smith ((two tackles, three for loss and a half sack) and senior free safety Trevor Hay (four tackles, two pass breakups), while sophomore Jack Johnson (three tackles) helped spell McGhee.

“We’re lockdown everywhere. I say every position on the field is just, we’re dialed in — the whole time,” said Fowler,

Following Baskerville’s touchdown, Fort Osage worked across midfield, and a helmet-to-helmet contact penalty called after a big hit from Clemons put the Indians just outside the red zone. Platte County then took advantage of a botched handoff between Ross and Peppers with Wesley quickly corralling the loose ball in a crowd for the Pirates’ first forced turnovers since a pair of first half interceptions in Week 1 against William Chrisman.

Platte County’s resulting possession lasted more than 6 minutes but ultimately resulted in a 27-yard field goal attempt that missed wide right.

Fort Osage immediately went three-and-out, and Marriott capped Platte County’s final drive with an 11-yard touchdown pass over the middle to Stevens on a third-and-4. The Pirates were content to use the reserves on defense for the final 3:11, which concluded with Ross finding Peppers with a dump-off in the flat along the home sideline for the final touchdown.

“We knew they would be a tough challenge, so I’ll take the result any day of the week,” Utz said. “We knew exactly what to expect coming in here, and it played out that way. What I come away with, more than anything, is Fort O is really good. For us to come in and earn a win at their place, I’m happy with what we got.”

Fort Osage’s final points came a long time after the first ones. The Indians took the opening kickoff but ultimately punted from Platte County’s 47.

Ross’ low, line-drive kick eventually bounced into Baskerville with Fort Osage recovering the live ball at the 14. The unexpected red zone opportunity led to a 17-yard touchdown pass to 6-foot-5 senior tight end Isaac Woodward two plays later to put the Indians ahead 7-0 with 8:33 left in the first quarter.

Platte County’s first possession took up nearly the entirety of the rest of the first quarter, assisted early with a pass interference penalty that led to a first down on an initial third-and-15 with Marriott off balance before underthrowing junior wide receiver Ty Christopher while allowing him to draw the contact on the play. Marriott later hit junior tight end Brooks Hall for 9 yards on a critical fourth-and-2.

The drive ultimately ended with Marriott plowing into the end zone from 1 yard out on a third-and-goal.

“The only problem in the first half that was glaring was the muffed punt,” Utz said. “We gave the defense into a short field. Early on when the defense does a great job and force the punt and we give them the ball back and they’re able to score on it, but other than that, the defense stepped up and made huge plays.”

Platte County only ended up with only full three possessions in the first half plus a kneeldown on the final play of the second quarter.

Fort Osage’s second drive into Pirates’ territory culminated in a fourth and 8 at the 18, and the Indians eschewed a field goal try with a makeshift kicking unit. Ross scrambled for 3 yards resulting in a turnover on downs.

Two plays later, Marriott hit Stevens for a 78-yard score to put Platte County ahead for the first time with 1:35 left before halftime. He finished with team-highs of six catches for 121 yards.

“You’re talking about two really good competitors; they’re both really good athletes,” Utz said. “They play really well together. They have a pretty nice connection. Obviously, Brayden and him have a nice connection, but I thought Rocco threw the ball well all over the place tonight. He had another good night, and Braiden is that receiver who does a good job of getting open and catching them when he has the opportunity.”

Marriott now has 12 touchdowns and no interceptions through three weeks after going 17-for-23 for a season-high 250 yards while upping his completion percentage to over 70. In addition to the touchdown scorers, Hall caught a pair of passes for 27 yards and continued his critical contributions in not only the passing game but in smaller ways like when he recovered his quarterback’s fumble on what ended up a touchdown drive the week prior against Grain Valley. Doll (16 yards) and Christopher (13 yards) also hauled in two passes apiece while senior wide receiver Lane Webb’s lone reception on a screen went for negative-1 yard.

In addition, Marriott led Platte County in rushing with 45 yards on 13 attempts. The Pirates were dealt early adversity with junior running back Adam Gisler knocked out early in the first half and did not have a carry. He rushed for more than 1,200 yards as a sophomore when Doll missed almost the entire season due to a shoulder injury.

Doll managed 43 yards on 18 carries against a strong Fort Osage front seven that includes two-time all-state senior Anthony Thompson, younger brother of Miami Dolphins quarterback Skylar Thompson.

Platte County’s starting offensive line of junior left tackle Quinn Lightle and seniors Gus Keeton (left guard), Riley Hixson (center), Drew Doll (right guard) and Owen Rawlings (right tackle) remained intact for the third straight week and passed the biggest challenge yet. The Indians had allowed only the 21 points to Kearney with one of those touchdowns an interception return for the final points of that shutout.

“We would like everything to a T, but sometimes it doesn’t,” Utz said. “I thought that after we kind of figured out what we had and saw what we had, we were able to execute. The two-score lead was huge. If we get the field goal, that would’ve been huge but we got the last one. The clock became their worst enemy, but that was a really good game.”

Platte County must navigate the limited but notable injuries against a strong and unfamiliar opponent. The Pirates return home Friday to host Washburn Rural (1-1), a Class 6A semifinalist in Kansas last year. The Junior Blues enter off of a 38-7 loss to Blue Valley, which went into Week 2 ranked No. 2 in Class 5A.

In the most recent matchups with a team from the Sunflower State, Platte County swept a home-and-home with Lansing in 2020 and 2021. Overall, the Pirates have just seven wins total, according to available records, against a wide variety of Kansas opponents — most going way back into the program’s 100-plus-year history that dates to 1907. The overall record in those games is 7-9-4:

• Argentine 1-0
• Company K of Leavenworth 0-1
• Immaculata 2-3
• Lansing 3-0
• Leavenworth 0-1-1
• Leavenworth 2nd team 1-1-2
• Leavenworth YMCA 0-1
• St. Joseph Shawnee (KCK) 0-1-1
• Tonganoxie 0-1