As the final seconds ticked off the clock, Platte County senior right tackle Max Renner emphatically dropped to one knee with the end suddenly a reality.
Platte County’s players and coaches spent almost the entire second half of the Class 4 Show-Me Bowl facing a running clock and the inevitably crushing end to an otherwise historic season. Webb City left no doubt in snuffing any potential upset bid with a 48-0 victory on Friday, Dec. 6 at the University of Missouri’s Faurot Field, and Renner’s dejected reaction in the postgame signified the end of a full effort toward pushing the Pirates closer to their championship aspirations as a program.
The first state championship game appearance for Platte County in 17 years resulted in disappointment against Class 4’s historic powerhouse, which won its second state title in three years and Missouri record 15th overall.
“When you face a team like a Webb City, you’re not only meeting them one-on-one on the field or coach-to-coach but you’re competing program-to-program,” said Platte County coach Bill Utz, who led the Pirates to the Class 4 title game for the first time in program history. “A team that’s been through the trenches of doing that over and over, that’s a disadvantage on our end, so we’ve got to get here to experience it in order to get to that spot we need to be.
“Unfortunately, we have seniors who don’t get to experience that, but it’s a tremendous effort on their part to sacrifice that experience in order for our program to take another step.”
Platte County (11-4) saw its five-game winning streak in the postseason come to an end in decisive fashion. The Pirates totaled just 183 yards of offense — 89 on their first two drives — and only reached Webb City territory on three drives.
Conversely, Webb City scored on seven of its eight possessions and rang up 412 yards rushing with its relentless and often explosive veer option rushing attack. Only two of 42 attempts went for negative yards, and running backs Terrell Kabala and Devrin Weathers and quarterback Kade Hicks repeatedly tested Platte County’s defensive line of senior defensive ends Garret Watson (seven tackles) and James Gladden (one tackle) and junior defensive tackles Keaton Smith and Alex Stearns (three tackles).
Platte County senior Gabe Harmon and sophomore Trevor Scott totaled just seven tackles from their linebacker spots, while senior safety Trent Rueckert (seven), junior safety Spencer Cupp (five), junior cornerback Collin Tyson (five) and senior safety Will Hay (two) were in on the majority of stops.
Kabala led Webb City with 126 yards rushing, while Hicks added 122 and Weathers 50. The trio combined for five total touchdowns — four on the ground. Reserve running backs Dillon Harlen (94 yards) and Bronson Alcazar (13 yards) both added rushing touchdowns in the second half as the running clock went into effect after the Cardinals built a 35-0 lead early in the third quarter.
Making a second playoff trip in three years, Platte County knew what to expect from Webb City, which won a 2017 Class 4 semifinal matchup 21-18 when the two teams met for the first time in their storied histories.
“They’re a physical team, and we knew that coming in,” Harmon said. “We haven’t seen very many offense like this. We had lots of film on them, and we tried to study the film as much as possible. It’s just a different game speed when you come out and face a great team like this.”
Platte County came in as the clear underdog having lost to Class 5 Park Hill South, Class 6 semifinalist Raymore-Peculiar and Grandview in Week 9 of a season that featured its fair share of adversity but also plenty of accomplishment. Webb City’s 14-1 season included a close loss to Class 6 state finalist Joplin and a win over Class 5 state champion Carthage.
The key to creating potential doubt revolved around either an early score or an early stop.
Platte County nearly got the first, driving 59 yards on the opening possession with a confident up-tempo offense. The Pirates even faced a fourth-and-1 at Webb City’s 22 and converted on a 1-yard run from junior running back Cayden Davis. They then moved inside the 10 with a 10-yard completion from junior quarterback Chris Ruhnke to junior wide receiver Dayton Mitchell plus a late-hit penalty against the Cardinals.
However, the drive ended when senior kicker Grant Allen missed a 19-yard field goal try wide right to keep the game scoreless.
Webb City took over on its own 20 after allowing a drive that lasted nearly half of the first quarter. Watson stopped the first run attempt — a keeper for Hicks — for a 1-yard loss, but the Cardinals ended up with an initial fourth and 1, converted with a 10-yard run and scored five plays later on Hicks’ 19-yard scamper around right end to make it 7-0.
“During the week, we go through our scout team, and (this was) just a whole different speed,” said Watson, who finished his final season with 16 sacks — just 1½ off of the school record of 17½ Michael Smith set in 2017. “They can’t give us the speed (Webb City) plays at so when we first came out, it was a bit of a punch in the mouth.”
Platte County came right back with another drive into Webb City territory, but a false start penalty slowed the drive. Allen then missed a 49-yard attempt short and right in what would be the final look at points for the Pirates.
Webb City came back with a six-play touchdown drive, keyed by a 36-yard run from Kabala and finished with an 11-yard scoring plunge from Weathers to make it 14-0 with 9 minutes, 32 seconds left in the half. Knowing that trading field goals for touchdowns would be a tough strategy, Utz never hesitated to send Allen out after his left-footed specialist had made three field goals in both the Pirates’ Class 4 District 8 semifinal and championship wins over Smithville and Lincoln Prep. He also came back from an 0-for-3 start last weekend to hit the game-winner in a 15-14 triumph over St. Mary’s in the semifinals.
“Maybe (it makes a difference) a little bit from a momentum standpoint, just to feel good about getting some points,” Utz said. “One, our field goal kicker is a pretty good weapon and then you never know. Any time you have an opportunity to get points, you take them. Obviously, we’re going to want touchdowns over field goals. It could’ve changed (the game).”
Even Webb City’s lone mistake turned out advantageous to the Cardinals.
Platte County punted the ball away on its third possession, and Webb City needed just three plays to push back into Pirates’ territory. On first and 10 at the 46, Hicks attempted his second pass, and Rueckert ranged back to make the interception at his own 11.
The offense couldn’t take advantage of the brief momentum, even after Ruhnke made an initial completion of 14 yards to senior wide receiver Donny Maccuish for a first down. An intentional grounding penalty made it third and 24, and Platte County punted on fourth and 24 from inside its own 10. Allen’s punt went only 25 yards, and Cade Wilson returned it 18 yards to the Pirates’ 18 — meaning Webb City gained 28 yards of field position in the sequence.
Two plays later, Kabala scored his touchdown from 1 yard out to make it 21-0.
Platte County ended up with nearly twice as much time of possession in the first half (15:19-8:41) but trailed 28-0 at the break. Webb City took advantage of an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in a 2-minute drill situation and took stranglehold of the game with reserve quarterback Jeffrey Goddard throwing a 16-yard pass to Weathers just ahead of halftime.
“I could care less about time of possession if they have 28 points,” Utz said. “Ultimately, what they were able to do with their front three on defense puts them into a position of dropping eight and Chris is trying to throw into small windows. I’ve got to give credit to their defensive line, for sure. They manhandled the line of scrimmage and did on offense, as well.
“I don’t care if it’s a championship game or a jamboree. If you can’t handle the line of scrimmage, you’re not going to be very successful. That’s basically what happened.”
In another quirky stat, Webb City didn’t convert a single third down in the game, going 0-for-3 but making a first down on all three resulting fourth down plays. The Cardinals converted a fourth-and-2 on the opening possession of the third quarter near midfield, and Hicks scored his second touchdown from 10 yards out on a 10-play drive to push the lead to 35-0 and start the running clock.
“We knew we needed to get a stop to stay in the game,” Rueckert said. “We knew it had to be stop, score, stop, score, and so on. It didn’t happen.”
Platte County’s best drive of the second half reached Webb City territory only for a tipped Ruhnke pass to result in an interception for Cardinals senior defensive end Brayden Bond, who nearly returned it for a touchdown down the visitor’s sideline.
Utz began to rotate senior and other key reserves in for playing time on both sides of the ball after the turnover as Webb City’s lead eventually ballooned to 48-0. Davis ended up with a team-high 48 yards rushing on 12 carries to finish off his first 1,000-yard season, while senior running back Trey Phan ran twice for 11 yards.
A first-year starter following a lineage of three Platte County quarterbacks with all-state credentials, Ruhnke finished 14 of 30 for 129 yards with completions spread out to eight different receivers. Maccuish (three catches for 26 yards) and Mitchell (three catches for 24 yards), who hauled in six passes for 125 yards and both of the Pirates’ touchdowns in the win over St. Mary’s, were his top targets, and Mitchell finished the season as the team leader in receptions and yards. Pirates junior wide receiver Colby Rollins — the team leader in touchdown receptions — made two grabs for a team-high 35 yards.
Platte County senior wide receiver Hunter Clarkson added two catches for 19 yards, while senior Traizen McCown, junior running back Lewis Hunter, Davis and Phan caught one pass apiece. Webb City’s stout defense combined to hold Ruhnke under 150 yards passing for just the fourth time in 15 games.
“(Webb City is) good at doing their assignment, and they’re going to be in their spot they’re supposed to be. They’re just big, physical kids — bigger and faster than we’ve seen all year,” said Ruhnke, who threw for nearly 3,000 yards, 24 touchdowns and just nine interceptions on the season.
The frustration was evident for Platte County after the program’s first state title game appearance since the Pirates won three Class 3A/3 state titles from 2000-2002. The disappointment had to be balanced with the sense of accomplishment for a senior-laden but relatively inexperienced group.
In fact, only Watson and Renner were starters in 2017 when Platte County reached the state semifinals for the first time in Class 4, but the 23-player senior class now leaves its legacy for future classes to chase. The Pirates go into the offseason on the heels of back-to-back shared Suburban Conference Blue Division titles, the first state runner-up showing for a storied program and a now-established belief of regularly contending in the Class 4 playoffs.
“It’s bittersweet because for a lot of the seniors it’s their last ever game of football,” Watson said. “But at the same time, we made it this far and have a had a great season. It’s been good to build every year on what we’ve done prior years and just keep the program moving forward.”