Platte County spoils expected competitive clash, routs St. Pius X for district title

A quiet confidence in the leader slowly crescendoed into a resoundingly significant result on gameday.

In a much-anticipated matchup, Platte County never trailed in Friday’s Class 5 District 8 championship matchup between two teams ranked in the top three of the final Missouri Media Poll of the regular season. The Pirates pulled away early and even put a running clock into effect for part of the second half in a dominant 45-23 victory over visiting St. Pius X at Pirate Stadium.

Platte County (11-0 and No. 2 in Class 5) earned the program’s first playoff berth since 2020 in dominant fashion with four of junior quarterback Rocco Marriott’s six total completions going for touchdowns — spread between junior wide receivers Braiden Stevens (two), Ty Christopher and Tres Baskerville —while adding a rushing score. The Pirates rolled up 38 unanswered points, pulling away with back-to-back one-play scoring drives in the second quarter and turning what many predicted as a tossup into a blowout.

“Just with our guys, you can’t not believe in them with what you’ve seen them do,” Platte County coach Bill Utz said. “We were confident. They’re a confident bunch, which is awesome.”

“I think we all just progressed a lot throughout the year,” Platte County senior defensive tackle Jordan Miller said. “We’re all playing together. It’s just a great moment to be 11-0.”

St. Pius X (10-2 and No. 3 in Class 5) entered on a 10-game winning streak. The Warriors had allowed 20 or more points just three times with 24 the high-water mark during the season-opening loss to Class 6 Rockhurst.

Platte County scored on seven of the first eight drives with Marriott’s 1-yard touchdown run with 14 seconds left before halftime increased the lead to 42-7 and put the running clock into effect for the start of the third quarter. From there, the Pirates’ fifth district title under Utz became almost a formality with the defense allowing a pair of fourth quarter touchdown passes for St. Pius X freshman reserve quarterback Jacob Nichols against a mishmash of starters and reserves. The Warriors also converted two-point plays after both scores.

The margin of victory did little to diminish a dominant effort with Platte County senior linebacker Cobe Pollard (10 tackles), senior safety Darrell Smith (nine tackles plus two for loss, a forced fumble and a pass breakup) and senior cornerback Montez Clemons (seven tackles) leading a stout effort.

Marriott finished 6 of 11 for 225 yards with his four passing touchdowns gave him 59 for his career allowing him to pass Brandon Gutshall (56, 1997-2000) and now sit tied for the all-time lead in Platte County’s storied history with Justin Mitchell (2013-16), while the running back duo of junior Adam Gisler and senior Dayton Doll combined for 155 yards rushing on just 17 attempts in one of the offense’s best running performance of the season. St. Pius X, which entered averaging more than 50 points per game, managed only 129 yards of offense in the first half, just 51 after putting up a tying touchdown on the first possession of the first quarter. The Pirates also sacked star junior quarterback Hudson Bailey five times — one each for senior defensive tackles Kameron Doyle (three tackles plus two for loss) and Miller (one tackle), senior safety Caden McGhee (six tackles), junior defensive end Cale Buntz and sophomore lineman Brody Hawk.

Bailey finished 8 of 15 for 90 yards before leaving due to injury early in the third quarter, and Platte County never truly blinked against a touted offensive unit that blitzed through the portion of a schedule heavy in smaller Midland Empire Conference opponents.

“There were nerves and confidence, but the closer it got to the game, it all became confidence,” Miller said.

Seeded No. 1 in Class 5 District 8 thanks to the program’s first unbeaten regular season since 2006 (19th overall), Platte County put an end to the anticipated intrigue early against St. Pius X and earned the opportunity to renew another limited intriguing pseudo-rivalry with the state’s most decorated program.

Webb City (6-6) overcame an early 14-point deficit to take down No. 1-seeded Carthage in the Class 5 District 8 title game. The Cardinals went into the postseason with just three wins but host Platte County in Friday’s state quarterfinal matchup. The Pirates play at Webb City for the third time since 2017 with the other meeting coming in the 2019 Class 4 Show-Me Bowl.

In the three prior matchups, Webb City owns a 2-1 advantage.

“Webb City’s obviously a great place to play,” Utz said. “I’ve said it before: I love playing in Webb City because if you’re playing Webb City it means you’re doing something right, and you’re playing at a time of year when it’s extremely important. Even with the record and where they’re at, the bar is still set very high in Webb City. If you’re playing against Webb City in November, you’re having a pretty good year.”

Platte County and St. Pius X played for just seventh time in their history with the Pirates improving to 6-1 all-time in the possibly rejuvenated series. They won the first meeting 14-7 in 1958 then took three straight (2002, 2003 and 2005). The latter started a string of three straight Class 3 playoff meetings with the Warriors advancing with a 10-7 victory in 2006 before losing the most recent 17-10 in 2007.

Since then, Platte County’s growth made another matchup unlikely, but the new private school success multiplier plus St. Pius X’s growth led to them sharing the Class 5 District 8 bracket. The Warriors lost in the 2020 Class 2 and 2021 Class 3 state title games and were a semifinalist in Class 3 a year ago before bumping up.

The first drive for each team ended with a touchdown and gave a false indication of tight proceedings, even after Marriott threw an interception on his second pass attempt.

Platte County also overcame potentially damaging offensive penalties on two straight possessions, the second after a momentum-swinging fumble recovery on a kickoff return for junior safety Mogie Walkingstick (one tackle). That ended up as the lone turnover the Pirates forced during the competitive portion of the game despite a suffocating effort that included holding St. Pius X senior running back Larry Cascone to just 61 yards rushing on 22 attempts.

“We all knew what was going to happen,” Stevens said. “Shoutout to our defense, only allowed 23 points? Yeah, 23 points. We just knew what we had to do and executed.”

Taking the opening kickoff, Platte County’s running game set the early tone before the Pirates took advantage of St. Pius X playing man coverage with all defensive backs within 7 yards of the line of scrimmage. Doll rushed 16 yards up the middle on the opening snap, and two plays later, Marriott found Stevens behind the defense for a 63-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead just 1:20 into the first half.

The lead didn’t even last 3 minutes.

Bailey completed his first two passes around 21 yards rushing for Cascone on four straight run plays. The second throw went to senior Tommy Hutsler, who umped over senior free safety Trevor Hay (three tackles, one pass defensed) to haul in a 30-yard touchdown to even the score at 7-7, but the Warriors would not score again until the fourth quarter with Nichols, who finished 9 of 12 for 122 yards, completing touchdown passes of 33 yards to freshman wide receiver Brock Chisam and 56 yards to Hutsler for his second and final catch.

“We just had to reset our minds, come back and, like I said, do what we do,” Miller said.

A 20-yard run for Marriott, who finished with 31 on the ground on five attempts, and a pass interference penalty immediately moved Platte County into St. Pius X territory. However, his only big mistake came when he underthrew an open Baskerville, allowing Warriors junior cornerback Dwight Medbery to make up ground and grab a leaping interception.

St. Pius X immediately went three-and-out.

Marriott ran 8 yards on the next play but fumbled, only for Stevens to alertly fall on the ball. On the next snap, Marriott bought extra time and found senior wide receiver Lane Webb for a toe-tapping 11-yard completion along the sideline — his lone catch. Three of the next four snaps resulted in penalties for the Pirates, and even with a 9-yard pass to Baskerville, the Pirates faced a second and 22 at the 44.

Platte County dialed up another deep shot with Christopher beating the defensive backfield on another deep post for a 44-yard touchdown on his only reception that put the Pirates up 13-7 after a blocked extra point with 1:43 left in the first quarter.

“We just ran past everyone. All of us,” Stevens said of the ability to get open deep against St. Pius X.

On the ensuing kickoff, Smith forced a fumble from St. Pius X senior Charles Ross III, and Walkingstick scooped up the ball and ran to the 8-yard line.

Even after Doll ran 7 yards to the 1, Platte County didn’t immediately extend the advantage to two possessions. An illegal participation penalty for having 12 players on the field during a Marriott 1-yard touchdown run led to second and goal at the 18. He calmly picked out Baskerville along the visitor’s sideline of the end zone for an 18-yard score. He finished with two catches for 27 yards.

Marriott added the two-point run to push the lead to 21-7 ahead of the start of the second quarter.

“It’s one of those things where you look at it, and that’s what a team does,” Utz said. “You never actually know who is going to be the one to make the play, and on a good football team, you definitely don’t know who is going to be the one who makes the plays. But there’s somebody who does it. It’s one of those things where when plays needed to be made, we made plays, and I thought we played well. I thought we complemented each other well.”

Platte County’s defense appeared to have another quick three-and-out, but a roughing the punter penalty gave St. Pius X a first down and reprieve from a fourth-and-11 situation. The Warriors moved all the way to Platte County’s 39 but ultimately decided to take a delay of game and kick the ball away.

However, the punt traveled into the end zone, and on the next play, Stevens again beat his press coverage and hauled in Marriott’s pass with a slight bobble and went into the end zone untouched for an 80-yard touchdown and a 28-7 Platte County lead. Stevens finished with both catches going for scores and 143 yards total.

The second marked Marriott’s 34th passing touchdown this season — a number trailing only Spencer Stewart (37, 2018) and Tanner Clarkson (38, 2017) for the most from a Pirates quarterback in one season.

St. Pius X crossed midfield on the next drive, as well, but Bailey’s pass on a fourth and 4 fell incomplete and led to a turnover on downs. On the next play, Gisler found the corner on the left side, juked two defenders and raced 52 yards for a touchdown with the Pirates suddenly up 35-7 but still with 5:44 left before halftime.

“He’s amazing,” Stevens said of Gisler, who finished with 80 yards on just seven carries. “I was going to block for him. I was going to block for him. I knew he was going to make my corner miss. He did. I went, and he was already past me by the time I had to block the dude.”

The sack from Buntz helped stop St. Pius X’s final full drive of the half after only three plays.

Platte County responded with a deliberate and methodical possession, marching 57 yards and eating up all but the final 14 seconds of the second quarter. Doll ran on the first four of nine plays, gaining 27 of his 75 yards, with Gisler going for 3 and then 20 on a carry to the left where he broke three tackles in the backfield to set the Pirates up with a goal-to-go situation at the 2.

Marriott gained 1 yard on each of the next two snaps, plowing into the end zone on the latter to put the running clock into play for the second half.

St. Pius X ran two plays before halftime with Hawk sacking Bailey to close out the second quarter. The Warriors drove into Platte County territory to start the third with help from a roughing the passer penalty on Buntz. Bailey exited the game after the play, and a personal foul facemask negated an apparent sack from Clemons only for Bailey to throw incomplete on the repeated fourth down following the flag.

Doll and Gisler totaled 28 yards rushing on Platte County’s resulting possession, and junior kicker Jackson Goodale hit a 38-yard field goal for the Pirates’ final points. They consistently ran the ball behind a starting offensive line consistently in place since Week 6 — seniors Riley Hixson (center), Drew Doll (right guard) and Owen Rawlings (right tackle) and juniors Michael Poncavage (left guard) and Quinn Lightle (left tackle) — plus junior tight ends Jack Utz and Brooks Hall, who went without a catch while Marriott’s passing attempts were limited.

Platte County senior running back Isaiah Seymour finished with just 2 yards on six carries, but the ground output nearing 200 yards marked the most since going for 238 against Smithville in the unit’s first game together after an injury to senior guard Gus Keeton, who remains a rotational contributor. The Pirates only needed 37 yards on the ground in a 50-0 rout of Central (St. Joseph) in the previous week’s Class 5 District 8 semifinal matchup that featured short fields for the offense and a defensive touchdown.

“We really didn’t know how (St. Pius X) was going to defend us,” Bill Utz said. “We knew there was going to be some issues. They were going to have to make a choice in what they were doing, and once we kind of got rolling and figured out what it was, we found some spots, and obviously, our guys made plays.”

The late scores did little to dampen the effort of Platte County’s defense, and junior long snapper/special teamer Grant Fadler (three tackles) even forced a late fumble with Buntz recovering on the Pirates’ second punt of the second half.

With Doyle and Miller leading the effort from the middle, Platte County’s defensive line helped both erase St. Pius X’s running game while also pressuring Bailey and Nichols without much need for blitzes. The Pirates continued to use the deep rotation up front that included senior Archie Wesley and Buntz as the starting defensive ends, while junior Cole Johnson continued to flash impact plays (two tackles plus two for loss and a pass defensed) and junior Cooper Hammontree (one tackle) and sophomore Kyler Parker also contributed.

While Pollard led the linebackers, Platte County senior Brock Fowler (three tackles) and sophomore reserve Carlos Baskerville (five tackles) also helped to fill gaps. Perhaps most impressively, the Pirates’ pass coverage held up, especially outside with Clemons and senior Bronson Ryan (four tackles, plus one for loss and two passes defensed) providing important run support while also limiting Hutsler to just two catches, although both went for touchdowns, and forcing the focus onto senior wide receiver Noah McPhee (five catches, 47 yards) and senior tight end Jackson Rotterman (six catches, 20 yards).

Ryan stepped into a starting role in Week 3 after Platte County lost senior Taylor Stambersky to a season-ending foot injury during a practice after the season-opening win over William Chrisman. The consistency allows Smith and McGhee to mostly stay in the box, while Hay’s previous four games included five interceptions, three returned for touchdowns, as the roaming free safety over the top.

The late points from St. Pius X kept Platte County’s margin of victory under 31 for just the third time in 11 games — the others a 28-13 win over a mostly healthy Fort Osage and a 49-20 rout of Washburn Rural (Kansas) in Weeks 3 and 4.

“We had a nice comfortable lead, and we didn’t play even close to perfect,” Bill Utz said. “We knew with the running clock, things are going to fly. That helps, but you’re just trying to make the clock go. Sometimes that’s really hard because they know what we’re going to do; we know what we’re going to do, and it makes it a difficult situation. Obviously, because of the work we did early, you have a comfortable lead, and you felt like that was OK.”

Platte County carries all the momentum into a historic setting against a 16-time state championship program ready for a familiar veer option attack. A year ago with a roster filled with underclassmen in key spots, the Pirates lost a lead late to Grain Valley in the Class 5 District 8 title game, and the Eagles went on to lose to Webb City in the quarterfinals.

The chance to raise the championship plaque Friday meant a lot to ensure this large class of Platte County seniors didn’t go four years without a playoff berth.

“It felt great, especially after a loss,” Stevens said. “There’s that saying you always gotta lose one before you get one, and we finally got one. It felt great.

“We want it really bad, and (the seniors) do, too.”

“You’re in a situation where you can win a district championship, but no matter what, the main thing that these guys want is another game,” Bill Utz added. “This is going to be nothing. Their prize is getting to play again on Friday. The trophy, plaque, whatever doesn’t matter. It’s about moving on.”

Platte County hopes to use the next game to even the all-time series with Webb City.

In 2017, Webb City hosted a Class 4 semifinal between the two teams and escaped with a 21-18 victory on the way to one of nine titles between 2008 and 2021. The Cardinals dominated the Class 4 state championship game between the two teams in 2019 at the University of Missouri’s Faurot Field with Platte County’s win the following season in Webb City coming a week before the Pirates lost in the Class 5 Show-Me Bowl against Jackson.

Webb City becomes the next obstacle Platte County needs overcome in pursuit of the program’s first state title since winning three straight in Class 3A/3 from 2000-2002. The Pirates became the first team in state history to go to back-to-back state title games while moving up a classification in 2019 and 2020 but finished as runnerup in both instances.

Those mark the last three of eight all-time state semifinal appearances that also include 1999 and 2006.

With a win, Platte County would host either Fort Zumwalt West (7-5) or MICDS (10-2) on Thanksgiving weekend, likely on a Saturday afternoon, with a spot in the Show-Me Bowl on the line. The Pirates have only played at home in two other state semifinals — a 1999 loss to Aurora and a 2002 win over Seneca.