Well, here we are at Week 2 of the 2013 high school football season and there’s a few things we can already say with certainty when it comes to two of the local gridiron squads: the Platte County Pirates are going to throw the football and the Park Hill Trojans are going to run the heck out of the pigskin. The Pirates whipped William Chrisman 42-7 last week in game that featured a running second-half clock. Given that – and the fact that Chrisman does not appear to be a very good team – it’s hard to gauge how good the Pirates are. We will have a much better idea after tonight (Friday), when PC travels to St. Joe to take on a projected-to-be good SJ Central squad that is likely still smarting after their 41-6 loss to top-ranked Blue Springs last week.
Anyway, Platte County threw for only 111 yards vs. Chrisman, but junior quarterback Tyler Cooper - a 6-3, 225-pound junior with a shotgun right arm – threw four TD passes in the first half. His targets included junior wide receiver Aliek Reed (twice), a deep threat if there ever was one; senior Nic Blaha and senior newcomer Jordan Branson, both of whom look like terrific running/receiving threats.
Now, the Pirates will also run the ball plenty – backs Robbie Geran and Willie Smith can also tote the rock – but I’m thinking Cooper will air it out early and often, no matter who the foe is.
Tonight’s matchup at Central should be telling.
As for Park Hill, new Trojans coach Josh Hood made it pretty plain to anybody watching the PH 35-7 win over Ray South last week: the Trojans have a handful of powerful running backs and they are going to use them all. Leading the charge last week was senior back Charles Leapheart, a transfer from Platte County who rushed for 104 yards. Kenyatte Harris and Matt Harris also ran the ball well and quarterback Clay ford did a solid job running the read-option.
Like Platte County, though, Park Hill’s schedule gets exponentially tougher this week when it travels to perennial big class power Lee’s Summit West. I would imagine Coach Hood would love nothing more than to pull off a big road upset over the Titans – last season, when Hood was a Staley assistant coach, LS West manhandled Staley on national TV.
Enjoy the Friday Night Lights and we’ll talk again soon.