In recent years, the Platte County football team has been a powerhouse and the Pirates are still expecting to be heavy hitters this fall.
Platte County made back-to-back trips to the state championship game in 2019 and 2020, before falling to Fort Osage in the Class 5 District 8 Championship Game last year. The Pirates’ defense was a force to be reckoned with in 2021, only allowing double digits in four of the 12 games – three of which were their sole losses.
“This season, if you take a step back and watch practice on how we compete against each other, there’s times where our offense looks really good and then there’s times when the defense looks really good,” Platte County head football coach Bill Utz said. “I anticipate it to be a balanced attack from the team standpoint; what it boils down to is we have to find ways to win games in many different ways.”
While the Pirates’ defense might be less dominant this season, it will still be stellar led by senior Chandavian Bradley. The defensive end has committed to the University of Tennessee ahead of his senior campaign where he’ll also be a pass rusher and an outside linebacker.
“What I’ve seen out of him is he has grown – he’s put on 20 to 25 pounds of muscle – so he’s physically bigger and he understands the game better. We can do some fun things with him because he’s so gifted so you’re going to see him in a couple of different spots,” Utz said.
Along with Bradley, the Platte County defense will be led by linebacker Cameron Wolfe and defensive back Garett Smith. Wolfe is going to be a four-year letterwinner and three-year starter, while Smith is coming off an all-state junior campaign.
“Cameron has come into his own in terms of it’s looking easy for him, and he is going to make some good plays. Garett Smith is a talented athlete, a great cover kid; he knows the game well and he’s smart,” Utz said.
Kohry Woessner and Tucker McDowell are both coming back from a bit of playing time and the Pirates expect some good things out of them. Mar’Ques Brown and Blake Rueckert can fill some of the spots on defense as well.
Chandavian Bradley is one of the Pirates defenders’ coming back from a remarkable 2021 campaign where their defense only gave up double digits in three games.
“Blake isn’t in the starting lineup yet, but he’s athletic enough to fit on the edge and skilled enough and still good enough to get inside a little bit. Andy McClure is a senior who will fill in as a safety role who didn’t get a ton of time because he was behind a 4-year letter-winner Cade Fowler, but he was the leader on that JV defense and has been able to take over that role this summer,” Utz said.
On offense, the Pirates will be relying on Dylan Zimmerman as the quarterback. The senior was a backup last season and was a key contributor on the Platte County baseball team that won a state title last spring.
“Dylan had a nice baseball season, and he’s taken some success from there into football and that has brought the increase of confidence. I’m a big multi-sport guy and I think you can learn a lot from other sports, so I feel comfortable with him, he’s a very good athlete,” Utz said.
The Pirates have some experienced skill players with three-year starting wideout Carter Salzman, who will also return punts, and last year’s starting running back Nate Walls. Tristan Magnuson is another lengthy vertical threat and sophomore Dayton Doll is adding depth to the backfield.
“Dayton is a hybrid at wide receiver and running back, and we can maneuver those two (Walls and Doll) around and use them in a lot of different spots. Dayton is a good running back too, so we feel we have two solid running backs,” Utz said.
On the offensive line the Pirates return Braden Parker, Sage Lutz and Muyonta Maxwell and are filling out the line with Tyler Burch, Brody Gates and Gage Fulk. Senior Aaron Cordova, who moved back to Platte County after being at another school the last two years, is a dual sporter with soccer and will be the Pirates’ kicker as they have moved conferences.
“There’s not one team in this conference that doesn’t legitimately feel like they can beat us; it’s a very even conference from top to bottom. We don’t only have to unify as an offensive group or a defensive group, we have to unify as a whole group and then tie in our special teams on top of it,” Utz said.
The Pirates have switched to the White Division in the Kansas City Suburban Conference. Platte County will play the likes of Belton, Grain Valley, Raytown and William Chrisman.