The win probability was pretty low for Platte County, if such stats are kept for high school football games.
The Pirates entered the fourth quarter Friday night with a three-score deficit against Grain Valley but a gaffe in special teams allowed the Pirates to pick up an 18-17 win at Pirate Stadium.
Trent Rueckert was the hero of the night picking up a blocked punt and returning it for the go-ahead touchdown.
The defense then made two late stands to secure the come-from-behind win.
Platte County (3-1, 2-0 Suburban Blue) trailed 17-0 but took advantage of two turnovers by the Eagles (2-2, 0-2) to turn the tide and rally for a fourth straight win in the series.
This marked the first stunning victory for Platte County this year, but was a norm last year with a 28-point rally against Smithville and a last-second win against Ray-Pec.
“We played so weird,” Platte County coach Bill Utz said. “I felt good going into the game, almost maybe too good, you know? Maybe it was one of those things a little bit of a hangover from last week (a 51-14 win vs. Kearney). Don’t take anything away from Grain Valley. They are good and I predicted them to win the conference. They aren’t a bad team. We just couldn’t get out of our own way. It is interesting; once we scored, they got tight.
“I was just thinking give me a break, give me a break. It didn’t come until late but credit to our kids. They stuck with it and made plays. They could’ve given up easy but it was nice to see them do that.”
The Eagles led 7-0 at halftime but it could’ve been more.
Jamore Goulden had a 59-yard touchdown in the first half called back on a block in the back that would’ve made it 14-0 in the second quarter.
Late in the second quarter, Platte County missed a field goal attempt that could’ve made it 7-3.
Grain Valley boosted the lead to 17-0 in the third quarter against the Pirates, then ranked No. 7 in the Missouri Media poll.
Grain Valley got a 34-yard pass play from Cole Keller to Parker Bosserman to move to the Platte County 12-yard line on the second drive of the third quarter. Four plays later, a 28-yard field goal by Jack Knust made it 10-0.
Bosserman and Keller connected on the next drive, this time for a 45-yard touchdown on the third play of the drive.
With 3:33 to play in the third, the Eagles were up 17-0 but things went south from there.
Grain Valley’s defense forced a three-and-out but on the fourth play of the ensuing drive a screen pass was intercepted by Platte County defensive lineman Keaton Smith, who ran it back to the 20-yard line. A 19-yard pass from Chris Runke to Dayton Mitchell moved the ball to the 1-yard line but the quarter ended.
Platte County needed to convert on fourth down at the 1-yard line to keep a comeback alive and got a touchdown from Lewis Hunter 12 seconds into the fourth quarter. The point after attempted kick missed.
Grain Valley went three-and-out and were forced to punt and the Pirates took over with 9:32 left. On the first play, Mitchell and Ruhnke linked up for a 47-yard touchdown that took nine seconds off the board.
The two-point conversion failed and Grain Valley led 17-12.
“We had some adversity and our defense carried us for three quarters,” said Mitchell, who had two catches for 66 yards. “We came out a little flat. We had some lag and maybe a little bit hung over from last week, but we got the job done.
“The touchdown was crazy, it went by in a snap. I knew the play was meant for me and Chris gave me a perfect ball, literally, so perfect.”
Ruhnke completed 13 of 29 passes for 185 yards in the victory.
The Eagles had the ball three more times before the whistle sounded but the next drive turned the tide.
Grain Valley converted on one fourth-down attempt when Keller ran for a 2-yard gain but facing 4th-and-7 from their own 34, the Eagles’ Bosserman punted. Gabe Harmon got his hand on the attempt and the deflection bounced up to Rueckert, who picked it up and ran 20 yards for a score.
The Pirates had the lead for the first and only time with 5:20 left to play.
“Props for Gabe for blocking, all I did was pick it up and run,” Rueckert said. “We liked the look all night and then they slid their protection outside so we came at it from a different angle.
“Whenever we were down we could feel some energy and we could feel we were going to mount a comeback, we were just one little stop or one little play away. This was a huge come-from-behind-win, like Smithville last year. It is a huge confidence booster.”
Grain Valley’s next two drives ended on incomplete passes on fourth down. The Eagles got to midfield on the first of those two. That drive featured a 22-yard run by Keller, who ran for 52 yards to go with 161 yards passing.
The Eagles used their last time out with 1:55 left and forced a punt by Platte County’s Grant Allen, which went 50 yards.
That pinned Grain Valley at the 5-yard line and they gained only 15 yards — coming on a roughing the passer penalty on Platte County with 49 seconds left.
Keller was sacked on two of the final four plays, the other two plays were incomplete passes.
His 14th and final incomplete pass of the game came with 5 seconds left and Platte County took over the 10-yard line and took a knee.
“We didn’t have an answer in pass protection,” Grain Valley said David Allie said. “They did a pretty good job on the run (defense).”
The Pirates finished with less total yards than Grain Valley (293 to 254) and held the ball for only 16 ½ minutes in the win. Grain Valley ran the ball 42 times and had possession for more than 31 minutes.
The Pirates will look to avoid a ‘trap’ game this week with a game with Raytown South (1-3) on the road with a showdown and likely conference championship matchup with Smithville the following week.
The Cardinals have lost the past three after opening the year with a 6-0 win against Fort Osage. Raytown South lost 51-16 to Smithville last week and the defense has yielded 108 points the past two games.
Platte County has had success Raytown South, scoring at least 23 points during a five-year winning streak.