Platte County’s 1st season in Class 4 comes to abrupt end in opening round of districts

KANSAS CITY — Platte County’s season came to an even more abrupt end than expected.

After struggling to finish offensive chances early, Liberty North created sustained and unbroken momentum in a 9-1 victory Monday at Oak Park High School in a Class 4 District 8 first round matchup. The Eagles’ final goal came with 19 seconds left in the first half to invoke the eight-goal rule and end the game at halftime.

Platte County’s 12 seniors saw an up-and-down season conclude with three consecutive losses with their careers closing with a difficult postseason assignment — a move up to Class 4 for the first time in program history to play the third-seeded Suburban Conference Gold Division champions in the opener.

“I think the first 20 minutes we were doing a good job, and we had some intensity going out,” Platte County coach Ashlyn Brantley said. “I think the good parts we were stepping to them on defense and not allowing them to turn. Where the game turned, I think we started sitting back a little too much and giving them more time on the ball.

“When we had the ball, we gave it away — kicked it out or kicked it long. We didn’t really have a purpose when we had the ball. That’s what made the difference.”

Liberty North (16-7), which went on to advance to the district championship game after a 3-0 win over second-seeded Liberty in Wednesday’s semifinals, didn’t score until the 19th minute but ended up posting nine goals in the final 22 minutes. The last four came in a span of about 5 minutes of game time.

The No. 6 seed, Platte County (10-12) even briefly responded in the 24th minute when senior attacking midfielder Cameron Habel dropped a pass back to fellow senior Thien Nguyen, who finished well to cut the deficit to 3-1. The Pirates’ lone goal came directly off the kickoff after Liberty North went ahead 3-0, and the Eagles added their about a minute and a half later.

“That goal that we had was a beautiful goal,” Brantley said. “We had to knock it around a couple of times. We’re capable of doing it. We just needed to do it on a more consistent basis.”

Platte County sophomore goalkeeper Jack Girdner turned in a solid performance with 11 saves, helping to avoid the eight-goal deficit until the final seconds.

However, Liberty North began to dominate possession while applying constant pressure against a besieged defensive backline of seniors Wally Baldwin and Westin Summers and sophomores Kai James-Gallimore and Sawyer Sullins. The Pirates entered the postseason off of back-to-back losses to Fort Osage (3-2 in OT) and Grain Valley (8-0) and ultimately ended up allowing the first goal in the final 11 games of the season following a 4-0 shutout of Kearney.

However, Platte County actually won four of those games in succession to move over .500 for a second time before the closing skid that culminated with Liberty North’s dominant effort.

“The speed of play was different (against Liberty North),” Brantley said. “We want to be on that level. We’ve told them all year that we’re quite capable. We just weren’t able to always play that way for a whole game. That hurt us.”

Since posting a 15-5 mark in 2023, Platte County has now finished under .500 for a second straight season. Fort Osage and Grain Valley completed season sweeps of their Suburban Conference White Division home-and-home matchups. The Pirates finished 7-7 in league play.

Fort Osage’s 3-2 win on the previous Monday started with a 1-0 lead on a penalty kick about 12 minutes before halftime, but Platte County came back to lead on goals from Habel in the 43rd minute and senior midfielder Ian Mathews, who hammered home a free kick in the 54th minute. The Pirates’ lead held until the 69th minute.

The equalizer sent the match to overtime, and Fort Osage converted the winner with five minutes left in the second half of sudden-death overtime with penalty kicks looming.

Two days later, Grain Valley led 5-0 at halftime and invoked the eight-goal rule a little more than 10 minutes into the second half. Girdner missed both games with a wrist injury, and freshman Cooper Miles made seven total saves in the two losses — four against Grain Valley.

Of Platte County’s seniors, only Habel started all four years, while a group including Nguyen, Mathews and fellow midfielder Abe Norman, forward Andi Sanchez and Baldwin became two-year contributors. Summers became a mainstay on the outside of defense this fall, while Chaz Cox returned to the roster and took on an increasingly important role as an attacking midfielder with junior forward Camden Noller (back) and junior midfielder Ryan Waldman (ankle) sidelined with injuries in the closing stretch.

Utilizing a deep roster much of the season, Platte County’s senior class also included Jacob Hein, Logan Jones, Dylan Musel and Brook Ayiche.

“We just told them: don’t let this define the four years you’ve put work into this,” Brantley said. “These last few games, it’s tough, and yes, soccer doesn’t go your way sometimes, but they put a lot of effort in. We’re going to miss them when they leave, and we need some returning players to step up.”