Grant Allen didn’t necessarily envision this type of scenario when he decided to split between soccer and football in the fall. Tie game. Season in the balance. Rival on the other side of the line of scrimmage.
Yet, Platte County’s senior kicker calmly lined up for a 20-yard field goal attempt in the final minute of a tense and hotly contested Class 4 District 8 semifinal Friday, Nov. 8 at Pirate Stadium. Allen drilled the short kick, immediately turning to the home sideline to celebrate what would be the winning points in a 23-20 triumph that sent Platte County to a fifth straight championship game berth.
“Don’t miss. That’s pretty much it. Don’t miss, do your steps, take a breath, kick it,” said Allen, who tied a career high he set with three field goals in the first matchup this season with Smithville — a 15-0 win for Platte County in Week 5.
Smithville raced to a 13-0 lead after just 9½ minutes but only scored once more. The Pirates overcame the deficit with a pick-six interception from junior cornerback Collin Tyson, a response touchdown run from senior running back Trey Phan and a late defensive stand that set up Allen’s winning kick.
A high-powered offense all season, Platte County settled for three short field goals and threw a red zone interception, managing just one offensive touchdown.
“When you win games like that, you’re pretty happy with them, pretty proud of them,” Utz said. “Just the ability to come back from 13 down and stay with the plan, not get over anxious, not get freaked out and pull out a victory.”
Yes, Platte County triumphed over Smithville in yet another postseason matchup. The two teams have met in each of the eight Class 4 District 8 brackets under the current playoff format.
ROSS MARTIN/Special to the Citizen
Platte County’s Grant Allen watches a field goal attempt against Smithville on Friday, Nov. 9 at Pirate Stadium. Platte County won 23-20.
Platte County is now 5-3 in those meetings, including semifinal victories in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019. The Pirates also avoided last year’s scenario of winning in the regular season only to drop the rematch.
Smithville reversed the result last year, beating Platte County on their home field on the way to a Class 4 state semifinal berth. The Warriors finished this season at 9-2 with both losses to perhaps their top rival, entering the second game at No. 6 in the Class 4 rankings while the Pirates had fallen to No. 9 after an upset loss to Grandview in the final week of the regular season.
After surviving a much-hyped rivalry game, Platte County must now refocus and travel to unbeaten, playoff Cinderella-candidate Lincoln Prep (11-0) on the Blue Tigers’ brand new blue-turf stadium in downtown Kansas City. Lincoln Prep earned the top seed in District 8 while winning the Interscholastic League and represents the formidable hurdle between the Pirates and the district championship plaque and a second playoff trip in three seasons.
“I think (the players) are good with that,” Utz said. “That’s the first thing they said (after the win over Smithville). I think we did a good job preparing them this week to understand they had to have this in order to play for the district title. Everything stopped with this game. From early on when you saw the seeds that this was going to be a tremendous game if we were both able to get to this point. It is a championship feeling because we have so much respect for (Smithville).”
Platte County didn’t lead until Allen hit his third field goal with 51 seconds left in regulation, and the win wasn’t sealed until Smithville quarterback Spencer Miller’s final pass resulted in his second interception. The Warriors started their final possession by drawing a pass interference penalty and worked across midfield before Platte County senior safety Trent Rueckert picked off a last-gasp pass with just 2 seconds left.
Smithville didn’t score in the regular season matchup between the two teams but held the lead for the majority of the second meeting. The Warriors produced 179 rushing yards — 92 on 22 carries for senior running back Isaac Miller and 87 for Spencer Miller — while averaging 5.0 yards per carry. Spencer Miller was also more efficient in the passing game than the first time around, completing 9 of 13 attempts for 70 yards.
Despite the numbers, Smithville only managed two sustained scoring drives and took advantage of a huge early mistake to produce the 20 points.
Platte County sophomore linebacker Trevor Scott led the defense with 11 tackles, while Tyson had eight in addition to his highlight reel touchdown in the third quarter. Pirates senior linebacker Gabe Harmon and junior defensive lineman Alex Stearns also finished with eight tackles apiece, while senior defensive end James Gladden had five.
In addition, Platte County’s defense shifted to put Rueckert at cornerback opposite Tyson, while junior Luke Filger provided depth at safety after going into the early two-touchdown hole.
“We settled down,” Utz said. “We knew (Spencer Miller) was going to carry it; we knew 18 and (Isaac Miller) were going to be their guys and especially in a game like this it’s for sure going to be their guys. They made plays, and you know, we missed a few here and there, but that’s a great team.”
Smithville marched 91 yards on the game’s opening possession and scored on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Spencer Miller to wide receiver George Fisher (five catches, 57 yards) to make it 7-0 with 5:47 left in the first quarter. Platte County immediately went three-and-out, and Allen, who doubles as the punter, was ruled to have touched his knee down at his own 8-yard line while taking the long snap on the punt attempt.
Four plays later, Smithville scored on fourth-and-goal with a 1-yard quarterback sweep from Spencer Miller. The Warriors missed the extra point and led 13-0 but only scored seven points in the final 38:24 of game time.
“We stick together as a team. We came in as a family and brought each other up after every drive — made sure we kept our heads,” Tyson said. “We had to get physical, and I felt like we did that over the course of the game.”
Allen made field goals of 26 and 22 yards at either end of the second quarter to close the gap to 13-6 at halftime. The first directly answered Smithville’s second touchdown and the second came after Smithville punted for the first time on their only true possession of the second quarter. The Pirates started at their own 20 and used up about 5 minutes of clock before kicking the second field goal with 27 seconds left in the half.
“The missed extra point was big,” Utz said, “and then getting that field goal puts you to six, puts us a score down. If we’re down two scores going to half, now you’re approaching things a little bit differently. To get the ball and only being down a score kind of changes what we thought.”
Platte County took the ball to start the third quarter, and for the third time in as many drives, the Pirates marched into the red zone. However, a deflected pass resulted in an interception near the goal line with Smithville taking over at its own 1.
Two plays later, Spencer Miller threw a pass toward the right sideline, but Tyson broke early on the play and grabbed his first interception of the season. With Scott dragging his teammate and a Smithville player for the final few yards, Tyson returned the interception 8 yards into the end zone to tie the score at 13-13 with 6:43 left in the third quarter.
Tyson said he heard Smithville’s quarterback call out, “Hot,” while tapping his helmet before the play, giving a clue as to what might be coming.
“Usually when they say, ‘Hot,’ (the ball) comes out fast, so I was thinking they were going to cut down short,” said Tyson, Platte County’s shutdown corner who had two interceptions a season ago but only a forced fumble and fumble recovery in a win against Raytown South to his credit this season. “I just trusted my instincts and just went for the ball and made a play, and my teammates helped me into the end zone.”
“I just thought, ‘Make a play.’ We needed it, I felt like, and I just went out there and did it.”
Tied for the first time, Smithville came right back with its third and final touchdown drive. The Warriors went 78 yards on 14 plays — 13 of them runs — with Isaac Miller splashing in from a yard out with 11:07 left in regulation.
Down 20-13, Platte County responded with its only touchdown drive — a 65-yard march that included completions of 23 and 6 yards from junior quarterback Chris Ruhnke to junior wide receiver Dayton Mitchell. Pirates senior running back Trey Phan finished the drive with an 8-yard touchdown run to tie the score for the second time.
“Our offense stepped up there,” Utz said. “It was good to go down and answer that because that was the big question. If you don’t answer that, the momentum stays on that side, and the ball game is probably over. That was a huge drive for us.”
Platte County then forced Smithville to punt for just the second time, and a short kick set the Pirates up at Smithville’s 45. Phan, who has emerged as the Pirates’ leading rusher, converted a fourth-and-1 on the drive with a 2-yard run, and then after a 7-yard completion from Ruhnke to Mitchell, Phan carried on five straight plays for 24 yards.
While junior running back Cayden Davis started and carried nine times for 29 important yards, the ball was in Phan’s hands for most of the critical drive. Davis entered the season as the leading returner in rushing yards but suffered an ankle injury in the opener. That gave Phan a chance to add a speedy backfield option that’s led to the Pirates’ top duo being nearly equal in production on the season.
While Davis set an initial career-high in the first win over Smithville with 183 yards rushing, Phan had a career-high 133 on 24 carries in the rematch as the unexpected go-to option with the season on the line.
“If you’d have asked me in August, I’d have said you’re crazy,” Utz said of having Phan be in this position. “But if you’d have asked me really any time this season, I’d say he’s done a tremendous job for us. Honestly, I haven’t looked at stats until this week, and he and Cayden are even — almost identically even, which is a great 1-2 punch for us. We’ve had the same philosophy all year: give it to the guy who is hot. Trey stepped up and had a tremendous game.”
Phan’s final carry went for minus-1 yard and set up third-and-goal from the 3. After Smithville used its final timeout, Platte County rolled Ruhnke right, and a low pass for senior wide receiver Hunter Clarkson fell incomplete in the end zone after initially appearing to be the go-ahead touchdown. Ruhnke finished just 11-for-23 with 122 passing yards and no touchdown passes for just the second time this season — both against Smithville. In addition to Mitchell’s game-highs in catches and yards receiving, Clarkson had one catch for 29 yards, senior wide receiver Donny Maccuish two for 9 yards and Phan one for 5 yards.
With the offense having done the job, the spotlight turned to Allen, a defensive stalwart on Platte County’s Class 3 district champion soccer team. He had a standout junior season as the Pirates’ placekicker but has missed two games this year (one due to a soccer conflict and one due to injury) and had some unexpected misses, including two wayward extra points and a missed field goal in the 36-13 Class 4 District 8 first round win over Winnetonka.
But Allen was at his best in big moments to down Smithville.
“You have bad days; you have good days,” Allen said. “I guess I’ve been catching some of the bad luck in the second half (of the season). Today, I put it all together. It was a great day.”
Platte County and Smithville have shared a part of the Suburban Conference Blue Division the past two years and have become familiar foes as renewed league rivals. However, the Pirates have not seen Lincoln Prep in nearly two decades but have undoubtedly taken notice of the Blue Tigers and 280-pound junior quarterback Howard Brown, who bowled into the end zone for a touchdown in the second overtime to seal a 41-38 win over fourth-seeded Excelsior Springs in their Class 4 District 8 semifinal last week.
Lincoln Prep has captured the metro’s attention with their hashtags of #ForTheCity and #FTC while slowly growing the program’s stature this season. The Blue Tigers have also been playing in the postseason minus star running back Israel Gentry, injured in a car accident just prior to their Class 4 District 8 opening win over Kansas City East.
ROSS MARTIN/Citizen photo
Platte County quarterback Chris Runke rifles a pass over Smithville defender Gunnar Swindall during a game on Friday, Nov. 8 in Platte City.
Considering the venue and circumstance, Lincoln Prep will be the sentimental favorite in most circles.
Platte County and Lincoln Prep haven’t played in recent years but used to be regular opponents in Class 3A/3 districts in the late 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. The Pirates lead the all-time series 9-1 with the most recent meeting in the 2003 Class 3 district opener — a 45-6 win for Platte County.
Lincoln Prep’s lone win over Platte County was a 20-7 triumph in a Class 3A district game in 1993. This is the only game out of 10 the Blue Tigers scored more than eight points.
Platte County vs. Lincoln Prep
All-Time Series Results
1988 — 45-6, Platte County
1989 — 27-0, Platte County
1992 — 25-6, Platte County
1993 — 20-7, Lincoln Prep
1994 — 54-8, Platte County
1995 — 17-6, Platte County
1996 — 35-7, Platte County
1997 — 35-0, Platte County
2002 — 63-6, Platte County
2003 — 45-6, Platte County