The West Platte football team (0-1) made a last stint effort to defeat Polo (1-0) in the opening game of the fall, but the Blue Jays ended on the wrong side of the scoreboard, falling 30-26 on August 26.
With an inexperienced West Platte squad, the opening game became more pivotal when district assignments were posted earlier that day putting both teams in the Class 1 District 8 Tournament. The winner of the season opener has the upper hand in tiebreakers later in the year when teams get seeded.
“There were a lot of unknowns going into game one this year,” West Platte head coach Jim Newsted said. “We only had two returning starters on both sides of the ball so we weren’t sure what the new kids would do.”
The Blue Jays trailed by as much as 12 in the contest and never led until the final minutes of the contest. Polo scored a touchdown early in the fourth quarter to take a 24-12 margin and then West Platte rattled off 14 straight points.
Kane Cogan – who had never taken a snap as quarterback on the varsity level prior to the game – made his first career passing touchdown with 10:03 left in the contest. The sophomore connected with Peyson Chandler for a 26-yard score and Afton Buckler rushed in for the 2-point conversion.
“I was impressed with Kane (Cogan) tonight. I thought he did a great job controlling the offense and he did a great job throwing the ball,” Newsted said.
Buckler gave the Blue Jays their first lead of the season with a 3-yard rushing touchdown with 3:21 to play and the Panthers trailed 26-24. Polo had a huge 4th down conversion on the ensuing possession and eventually regained the lead with 38 seconds left.
“We have a lot of work to do on defense. Polo had five big plays that totaled almost 300 yards of offense, with the most profound one occurring with two minutes left in the game at 4th and 30. We had them on the ropes for the win and we let them strike us with a 40-yard pass completion, which later resulted in a touchdown,” Newsted said.
Time was not on the Blue Jays’ side after Polo scored on a 2-yard rush, but Hogan connected with Chandler on a pass, and he fumbled it out-of-bounds at Polo’s 20-yard line and the clock ran out before another snap. The game concluded with West Platte on the losing end, but it fought its way back.
West Platte’s Afton Buckler had 24 carries for 114 yards and two touchdowns in the Blue Jays 30-26 season opening loss to Polo on August 26.
“We left a few drives short in the red zone and our kids have to have a bigger sense of urgency when we get that close to the end zone. All in all, a very good start to a young offense,” Newsted said.
The game started with Polo taking a 6-0 lead in the final two minutes of the first quarter and Cogan scored his first career rushing touchdown with 7:44 left in the second quarter to tie the game at six. Polo took a 12-6 lead at the break and West Platte tied it again in the third quarter with a 4-yard rushing touchdown from Buckler.
The running back filled the stat sheet with 24 rushes for 114 yards and two scores on the ground. Cogan had an efficient day, completing 11 of his 12 passes for 165 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
Chandler caught five passes for 66 yards and a touchdown on offense, while having 11 tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack. West Platte will look to bounce back in its first road game of the year when they head to South Harrison (0-1) on September 2.