Points pile up in historically lopsided conference win over Truman

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — In instances of an astoundingly lopsided final score, miscues and lapses in execution typically end up at minimum.

Platte County piled up points from start to finish in an 83-0 blowout of winless Truman on Friday night regardless of how deep first-year head coach Derek Yost went on the depth chart. However, the Pirates ended up with an ill-advised interception, a missed extra point and penalties nullifying a pair of touchdowns — all well within a large margin of error but still correctable for when competition improves in the postseason.

Truman didn’t have an offensive first down, and Platte County not only recorded the third shutout of the season but also added a pick-six and fumble return for a score in an expectedly dominant performance.

“Our focus was on prioritizing mastery of a skill and execution rather than the end result,” Yost said. “We preached that all week coming into this game, and we want to make sure our guys are firing on all cylinders as we get closer to districts.”

Still at No. 5 in the Class 5 Missouri Media poll, Platte County (6-2) won a third straight game while posting the second-most points for a single game in program history, trailing only a 134-0 victory over Weston in 1912. The Pirates scored on all but two drives — one on the lone turnover committed and the other when time ran out in the first half.

Platte County sophomore quarterback Kade Fowler threw a career-high four touchdowns, and junior running back Caleb Hill reached the end zone again, having done so at least once in all eight games so far this season. The starters were out by the middle of the second quarter and most of the second-string players exited during the third quarter.

“You only get so many of these Friday nights,” Yost said. “You have be excited and bring your own energy. I thought the guys did an amazing job of that tonight and propping people up when good things happened.”

Hill finished with a team-high 109 yards rushing on just eight attempts and chewed big chunks on Platte County’s opening drive, setting up a short 4-yard touchdown pass from Fowler to freshman tight end Braxton Seifert.

Just three plays later, Truman committed the first of five turnovers, and Platte County senior cornerback Jordan Moore went high to snag an interception. He then raced 46 yards down the visitor’s sideline for a touchdown — his second straight week with a pick-six — to give the Pirates a 14-0 lead after less than 3 1/2 minutes.

Platte County then forced a quick punt, and a roughing the kicker call gave the Patriots their lone first down and negated a punt return score for Moore, who like senior safety Matt Cisco finished without a tackle due to a lack of pass completions and runs going beyond the line of scrimmage.

“He might still be figuring out the lanes some on punt return, but he’s fun to watch with the ball in his hands, for sure,” Yost said of Moore.

Truman botched the snap on the next punt attempt four plays later.

Platte County took advantage of a short field, and Hill pushed the lead to 21-0 with his 13th rushing touchdown of the season — an 8-yarder up the middle. The Patriots mishandled the ensuing kickoff that resulted in another lost fumble.

Two plays later, Fowler threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Jude Brown to put Platte County up 28-0 with 4:26 left in the first quarter. Fowler’s other two scoring throws in the first half went to junior tight end Hank Marriott for 7 yards and senior running back Devin Smith for 10 yards.

Fowler finished 6-for-12 for 80 yards with single completions to Brown, Marriott, Seifert and senior wide receiver Noah Omoike (18 yards), while Smith finished with game-highs of two catches for 32 yards.

Platte County led 34-0 going to the second quarter after Marriott caught his touchdown but senior kicker Sterling Wilson missed his first extra point of the season with 51.5 seconds left in the first. He went 8-for-9 but didn’t have a field goal attempt for the first time since Week 1, while sophomore Cooper Miles mad the final three — the first of his career.

Truman allowed four more touchdowns in the second quarter despite also recording an interception in the first half. The Patriots immediately went three-and-out on the resulting possession, and a 21-yard completion to Smith set up a 1-yard scoring plunge for junior running back Brady McDaniel.

Another extremely short punt gave Platte County possession at Truman’s 10, and on the next play, Fowler hit Smith for a touchdown — the first of his career after having one wiped out by an official ruling him down at the 1 in Week 1 against Winnetonka.

Just two snaps later, Truman fumbled, and Platte County junior defensive end Sam Smith scooped up the loose ball and rumbled just 6 yards completely uncontested into the end zone to push the lead to 55-0. He finished with two tackle (one for loss), one sack and a fumble forced and recovered in just his third game back from an offseason knee injury.

“Super proud of Sam,” Yost said.

Devin Smith added a 9-yard rushing touchdown with just 31.5 seconds left in the second quarter, and Truman again fumbled a kickoff to give Platte County the ball back with time left. A holding penalty negated a second touchdown run from McDaniel, who finished with three carries for 19 yards plus three special teams tackles and a forced fumble that he recovered on one of the kickoffs.

McDaniel and Devin Smith both play important roles beyond reserve running back but received first-half touches behind a starting offensive line of seniors Reece Moppin (center), James Moiyallah (left guard) and Cooper Koenigsfeld (left tackle) plus juniors Max Shuey (tackle) and Gabe Mitchell (guard) on the right side. Moiyallah came back after a one-game absence and split time with senior Sayer Reik, while Mitchell continues to hold a spot after injuries to junior center Miller Bigus and sophomore reserve guard Daxton Leuschen.

“Devin’s an awesome kid,” Yost said. “His special teams play has been spectacular the last few weeks so it’s nice to see him rewarded with some playing time. He had some pretty electric runs there.”

Platte County ended up at three sacks — one each for Sam Smith, junior defensive end Greyson Reik (three tackles with one for loss plus a pass breakup) and senior safety Devin Lumm (one tackle). The Pirates also made nine stops behind the line in an unsurprisingly dominant performance that started with the five rotational linemen up front. In addition to the Sam Smith and Reik, Platte County senior defensive tackle Kyler Parker made two tackles (one for loss), while senior defensive end Brody Hawk and sophomore defensive tackle Phin McMain made three tackles apiece.

The leading tackler on the season, Platte County senior Carlos Baskerville made two stops for loss, while fellow seniors Hank Fowler (four tackles with one for loss and a pass breakup) and Maverick Troncin (one tackle) also saw limited production for a typically highly involved linebacker trio. The Pirates’ lone tackles from the starting secondary were one each for senior safety Jack Johnson, who had a fumble recovery, and junior cornerback Eric Dooley.

“Excited for the the defense. Did a nice job of not letting up at any point in the game when the result was already in hand,” Yost said.

With the starters out, Platte County rotated liberally and still scored three more times with a running clock in effect for the entire second half. The Pirates also made the shutout stand with sophomore linebacker Trey Keraus recording a team-high six tackles (one for loss) and freshman Rowdy Hawk (three tackles, one forced fumble) receiving an extended look.

Platte County junior quarterback Paxton Bennett, part of a tight offseason competition for the starting spot with Kade Fowler, went 4-for-5 and threw his first touchdown pass — a 9-yarder to junior wide receiver Will Jackson to extend the lead to 69-0 with 4:44 left in the third quarter. The Pirates scored again just over 4 minutes later on freshman Brig Nelson’s 17-yard run.

The final points came from sophomore running back Holden Wagner’s 3-yard run in the fourth quarter. Wagner finished with 49 yards on nine carries, while freshman running back Fred Bailey ended up the only ball carrier to not reach the end zone. He gained 13 yards on his only attempt.

“We were able to spread the ball around a little bit,” Yost said. “We’ve had a lot of guys who have worked really, really hard this season who had a chance to show what they can do.”

With the attempt to go deep into the depth chart, Platte County also saw senior safety Brandon Reynolds force a fumble and record a pass breakup, while senior wide receiver Derek Benner recovered a fumble. Additional, Pirates sophomore defensive back Kaiden Byng also nearly made an interception but ended up with a pass breakup while posting his career tackle, as did freshman linebacker Polo DeRose.

The lone negative ended up an apparent ankle injury to freshman defensive end Ramire Thompson, who finished with three tackles.

Platte County’s dominant performance came on the heels of a four-game stretch that most recently included three consequential matchups with Suburban Conference White Division and Class 5 District 8 implications. The Pirates started the run with a 38-17 win over rival Smithville then lost to Grain Valley before bouncing back with a a shutout of Raytown and a dominant second half in a 24-3 victory over Fort Osage.

Now, Platte County needs just a win over Belton (4-4) this Friday at home in the final game of the regular season to split the conference title with Grain Valley (6-2), which lost to Raytown earlier this season.

Platte County already locked up the top seed in Class 5 District 8 and the accompanying bye on Halloween weekend. The Pirates still must wait to see the two potential opponents with Winnetonka (4-4), Lincoln Prep (3-5) and William Chrisman (3-5) still battling for the spots behind No. 2 Fort Osage (4-4) and No. 3 Raytown (5-3).