Perhaps more inevitable than intentional, standout individual games might become a rarity this season.

Platte County junior quarterback Rocco Marriott throws a touchdown against William Chrisman on Friday at Pirate Stadium.
Platte County’s deep and talented core of returners plus capable new contributors on offense have opportunities to split, but in Friday’s season-opener, junior wide receiver Braiden Stevens took advantage of a likely rare starring role. The Pirates’ 58-0 victory over visiting William Chrisman at Pirate Stadium included Steven hauling in six passes for 180 yards and tying a school record with four receiving touchdowns in a game.
All of the production came in the first half.
“I don’t want to say greedy. I don’t know. I was expecting them to put more guys on me, but they didn’t,” said Stevens, who caught four touchdowns in the entirety of his sophomore season. “I thought I was going to open up other people, my other teammates, but they couldn’t guard me.
“We’ve got a lot of stars on the team; it’s not just me. We are all equally as good, and we put each other in positions to score.”
Platte County (1-0) produced nine points on special teams from a safety on a botched punt snap that should have and could have gone for a touchdown and junior wide receiver Tres Baskerville’s scored on a 58-yard punt return to cap a 51-point outburst in the first half. The Pirates also forced turnovers — interceptions for senior safety Darrell Smith (two tackles for loss) and junior defensive end Cale Buntz — to record their first shutout since blanking North Kansas City in Week 3 last fall.
Unlike last year’s matchup to close the regular season, William Chrisman posed almost no problems for the outset and didn’t gain a first down until the second quarter.

Platte County junior wide receiver Tres Baskerville returns a punt for a touchdown Friday against William Chrisman at Pirate Stadium.
Platte County did little to temper overwhelming expectations for success this season in the Suburban Conference White Division opener. The Pirates opened tied for second in Class 5 in the first Missouri Media Class 5 poll of the season but now face a daunting stretch of games starting with road tests at Grain Valley (tied for ninth) and Fort Osage (over the next two weeks before hosting Kansas Class 5A Washburn Rural in Week 4.
“I challenged them to come out and take care of business (against William Chrisman), and they did that. They did everything I asked them to do,” Platte County coach Bill Utz said. “We’ve gotten a lot of preseason expectations, a lot of preseason noise, and you have to control that a little bit, be able to handle it. Like I told them, they haven’t done anything to accomplish it, and honestly, nobody really cares anyway. You just have to go out and keep playing.
“If we take care of ourselves, we’ll let that other stuff work itself out.”
Platte County junior quarterback Rocco Marriott finished with 230 yards passing on 12-of-20 passing and tied his career-high with four touchdown passes, while adding a 79-yard scoring run in the first quarter. He completed passes to just four different receivers with junior Ty Christopher adding three for 36 yards in his return to the offensive side of the ball, while Baskerville (12 yards), senior running back Dayton Doll (2 yards) and junior tight end Brooks Hall (0 yards) caught one apiece.

Platte County junior left tackle Quinn Lightle blocks for junior running back Adam Gisler against William Chrisman on Friday at Pirate Stadium.
With the box mostly filled with William Chrisman defenders, Platte County didn’t have as many chances to feature the expected one-two punch of Doll (four carries, 19 yards) and junior Adam Gisler, who ended up with just three carries for 2 yards after rushing for more than 1,200 last season. However, the Pirates received a strong performance from an offensive line returning seniors Riley Hixson (center) and Drew Doll (left guard) and junior Quinn Lightle (left tackle) to the starting lineup.
With potentially seven contributors in the fold, Platte County gave the first career starts to seniors Gus Keeton (right guard) and Owen Rawlings (right tackle). Replacing graduated all-stater Muyonta Maxwell at left tackle, Lightle in particular provided an aggressive presence in his first career start at that spot after injuries limited him as a sophomore.
“They didn’t let up a sack so shoutout to them,” Stevens said of his offensive line.
Last season, William Chrisman picked off a pair of passes early in Week 9 but ultimately ended up with a 48-6 loss.
Platte County avoided surrendering any momentum with Smith, a two-year starter at inside linebacker, showing off his coverage skills to range over and pick off a pass from Bears senior quarterback Declan Watson on the third snap of the game. Doll provided an 11-yard run to convert a third down, and Marriott capped the drive by scrambling to his left and finding Stevens uncovered in the back of the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown.
William Chrisman again went three-and-out, and a mishandled punt snap ended up in the end zone.

Platte County senior defensive back Cayden McGhee (2) and senior defensive lineman Brayden Eschliman try to block a punt against William Chrisman on Friday at Pirate Stadium.
Platte County senior safety Caden McGhee, who recorded a tackle and forced a fumble in his first game since a season-ending ACL tear last fall against North Kansas City, tried to dive on the loose ball, and Smith’s followup pounce sent the ball out of the back of the end zone to give the Pirates a 9-0 lead and possession with 7 minutes, 36 seconds left in the first quarter.
The ensuing possession ended with a diving, juggling 19-yard touchdown catch for Stevens in the end zone.
“I’d say the one in the corner where I had to dive out for it (was my favorite). It looked cool, and it was in front of the student section,” Stevens said.
Staked to a 16-0 lead, Platte County then scored on the next play after another William Chrisman punt. Marriott ended up running to his left and found the open field and outraced the Bears’ entire defense on the highlight reel 79-yard score. He ended up with a team-high 83 yards rushing on just two attempts.
“He’s a great athlete; he can do a lot of great things,” Utz said. “I told him after the play, after about a 1-yard gain, he was gone. As soon as he made a cut and stepped forward, there was no doubt he was gonna score. He just has that ability. He’s got great speed, and the stride length along with it — it’s definitely a special weapon.”

Platte County senior Kameron Doyle makes a tackle against William Chrisman on Friday at Pirate Stadium.
Platte County’s next possession did end without points, and the 23-0 lead held until early in the second quarter.
William Chrisman gained an initial first down on offense with a 41-yard completion for Watson, who finished 7 of 21 for 76 yards, to wide receiver Isaiah Harris. The Bears ultimately finished with less than 100 yards of offense with Platte County’s deep rotation of defensive linemen keeping pressure off the next levels. The Pirates’ returned senior defensive tackles Kameron Doyle (one tackle) and Jordan Miller (one tackle for loss) plus Buntz and senior Archie Wesley on the ends but also saw dynamic production from the reserve rotation of junior Cole Johnson (one tackles plus three for loss), senior Brayden Eschliman (tackle for loss), junior Cooper Hammontree and sophomores Brody Hawk (two tackles plus two for loss), Kyler Parker (three tackles for loss).
With Smith shifting back to safety, Platte County senior Cobe Pollard started his third season as a starting linebacker with with two tackles plus two for loss, while senior Brock Fowler — a transfer from Staley — debuted with a pair of stops. The Pirates’ reshuffled secondary put seniors Montez Clemons (two tackles) and Taylor Stambersky (one tackle) at cornerback after both have spent time at safety the past two seasons, while senior Trevor Hay (two tackles) slotted in at free safety with Smith and McGhee at the strong safety spots.

Platte County senior safety Darrell Smith makes an interception in a 58-0 win over William Chrisman on Friday at Pirate Stadium.
“That’s what we plan on doing, and (shutting them down) felt pretty good,” Buntz said. “We got our interceptions, our turnovers — did everything we were supposed to do.”
Following the long completion to Harris, William Chrisman eventually punted.
Platte County needed just two plays to score again with Gisler running for 9 yards before finding a wide-open Stevens for a 66-yard catch-and-run score on a corner route. The duo capped their career days on the next possession with Marriott buying extended time in the pocket while evading defenders before Stevens came open over the middle. He hauled in a well-placed pass, turned and ran untouched into the end zone for a 68-yard score to put the Pirates up 37-0.
Three plays later, Watson dropped back to pass, but Buntz pressured from the outside, jumped up to bat the ball into the air and then came down with the interception. His short return supplied another short field and set up another touchdown.
“We had the right call,” said Buntz, who assumed a pivotal role earlier than expected as a sophomore but continued to earn additional playing time. “I put my hands up, just looked up for a prayer — happened to be right in my hands.”

Platte County senior running back Dayton Doll carries the ball during the first half of a 58-0 win over William Chrisman on Friday at Pirate Stadium.
In addition to limited attempts, four holding penalties helped negate some of Platte County’s effectiveness in the run game. However, Buntz’s interception created an important opportunity for Dayton Doll. After an illegal man downfield flag negated a passing touchdown to Hall, Dayton Doll plowed into the end zone nearly untouched for a 6-yard score on the next snap — his first since splitting time between running back and wide receiver in a breakout sophomore season. A shoulder injury suffered in a season-opening win over Kearney cost him almost the entirety of his junior campaign.
Platte County led 44-0 with 3:27 left in the first half, all but ensuring the offensive starters were essentially done for the night.
“Any time you come off an injury like that, you haven’t played for a long time, there’s a mental side of that, too,” Utz said. “I thought he came out, right out of the gate, and was running hard and playing hard. There was no hesitation at all. That’s a sign of a pretty mentally strong athlete.”
After Baskerville’s sprint down the home sideline with under a minute left, Platte County took a 51-0 advantage into the second half and then used deep rotations on both sides of the ball with a running clock in the remainder. The Pirates put in senior quarterback Brady Davis to start the second half, and he engineered a touchdown drive that concluded with senior running back Isaiah Seymour scoring on a 20-yard run. He finished with 46 yards on four attempts, and sophomore kicker Sterling Wilson recorded his first career extra point after the touchdown with junior Jackson Goodale going 7-for-7 on PATs in the first half.

Platte County senior quarterback Brady Davis throws a pass in the second half Friday against William Chrisman at Pirate Stadium.
Davis finished 5-for-7 for 43 yards with completions to junior tight end Jack Utz (23 yards), senior wide receiver Lane Webb (3 yards), junior wide receiver Kylar Howren (8 yards), sophomore Hudson Humes (6 yards) and sophomore running back Chase Hulett (3 yards).
“Awesome. (Brady and Isaiah) are great kids. They know where they’re at on the team and the depth chart, but it’s great to see them come in and have success, too,” Bill Utz said.
William Chrisman reached the red zone just once on the game’s final drive after recovering a punt that hit a Platte County player. The Bears took advantage of two penalties and a 26-yard completion to Harris but threw an incompletion on the final play.
Platte County’s reserve defensive players included sophomore linebackers Devin Lumm (two tackles, one sack), Carlos Baskerville (tackle for loss) and Hank Fowler (one tackle); junior defensive backs Mogie Walkingstick (tackle and forced fumble), Adeboye Akande (one tackle) and Drew Tyson (one tackle); senior defensive back Bronson Ryan (one tackle); sophomore defensive back Jack Johnson (one tackle) and sophomore defensive lineman Sayer Reik (one tackle). In addition, junior wide receiver/long snapper Grant Fadler (two) and Christopher (one) made special teams tackles.
The extra snaps for less-seasoned players were mostly beneficial, outside of a heart-wrenching injury in the second half. Hulett carried twice for 10 yards in the fourth quarter, but on his short reception, he suffered an apparent left knee injury almost a year to the day he tore the ACL in the same leg during a freshman game that ultimately cost him his football and wrestling seasons.

Platte County junior defensive lineman Cole Johnson (center) and sophomore Kyler Parker help bring down a runner Friday against William Chrisman at Pirate Stadium.
Hulett and teammates were clearly emotional in the aftermath, especially as he left the field on a cart after the game. The unfortunately somber conclusion overshadowed an otherwise overwhelmingly positive set of performances.
“I was really happy with the way they responded to things, and they did it well and a lot of people made a lot of great plays,” Bill Utz said. “You don’t want to run the score up, but you have the punt return in there; you have some turnovers in there, and it’s kind of one of those things where that can quickly get out of hand fast. I’ve been on the other end of that, too, and it’s not good in that scenario. But at the same time, we felt like we wanted to get some stuff accomplished and did.”
Platte County otherwise goes into Friday’s matchup with Grain Valley, tied for No. 9 in the state rankings, healthy. The Eagles have won the last three matchups in the series including a regular season game and the Class 5 District 8 title game last year.
The most recent win for Platte County in the series came in the 2020 Class 5 District 8 title game, and the teams could only meet again in the playoffs. The Eagles moved to District 7 this season with state-ranked Webb City (tied for second) and Carthage (sixth).

Platte County junior defensive end Cale Buntz pressures the quarterback against William Chrisman on Friday at Pirate Stadium.
While not factoring into District 8 seeding, the matchup does have White Division implications with Grain Valley the defending champion. Fort Osage, which received votes in the first state poll, also joined the conference and has split the last two meetings with Platte County, which won last year’s district semifinal between the two but dropped the 2021 district title game to the Indians.
Those teams have a critical rematch in Week 3 that will go a long way toward determining homefield advantage in District 8, although newcomer St. Pius X (1-0, No. 5), which opened with a 24-12 loss to Class 6 No. 3 Rockhurst, will be favored in the final eight games of the regular season.
“We realized who we were playing, and we realize who we’re playing all the other games,” Stevens said. “I don’t really care. I’m not gonna lie. I don’t care; none of us do. We’re gonna go out and play our game.”