Platte County spent years trying to chase down Kearney in its rivalry series, the Suburban Conference Blue Division standings and the Class 4 state pecking order. For now, the Pirates have taken the lead.
On Friday night, Platte County rolled to a convincing 35-14 win at Kearney High School to hold on to the Highway 92 Showdown rivalry trophy for another year. Pirates senior quarterback Chris Ruhnke finished 24 of 38 for 292 yards with three touchdowns, while senior running back Cayden Davis ran for two more scores.
Platte County won on the road against Kearney for the first time in coach Bill Utz’s highly successful tenure.
“To get two in a row, that’s a big milestone so it’s good for our program,” Platte County coach Bill Utz said. “It gave us something to shoot for for the week, and our kids were able to reach that goal.”
While state rankings are unavailable with the state still sorting out this year’s classification model, Platte County (2-0) continues to look the part of a top-tier team. The Pirates will now have a chance to avenge another 2019 loss this week when Grandview (1-1) comes to town.
Platte County opened the season with a 35-17 win over Park Hill South, which toppled the Pirates a year ago. Grandview upset Platte County in Week 9 to force the Pirates to share the Blue Division title.
A return trip to the Class 4 Show-Me Bowl will be Platte County’s main goal, but motivation will not be lacking vs. Grandview with a chance to get to 2-0 in Blue Division play. But to get to this point, the Pirates had to again solve their chief rival, and they built a 14-0 lead then responded quickly to both of Kearney’s touchdowns.
“We faced some different adversity,” Utz said. “To see those adversities and be able to fight through it, it’s a big step.”
After Kearney failed on an early fourth-down gamble deep in its own territory, Platte County jumped to its two-score lead with touchdowns on back-to-back first quarter drives. Davis ran for a 10-yard touchdown to get points off of a short field, and after a quick Bulldogs punt, Ruhnke hit 6-foot-6 senior wide receiver Joey Schultz for a 4-yard score.
Kearney, which finished with just 161 yards of offense, answered with its best drive of the night, culminating with a contested 35-yard touchdown pass on a reverse pass trick play from quarterback Ian Acosta to second quarterback Dawson Meinert.
With the lead cut to 14-7, Platte County needed just two plays to respond. Ruhnke hit sophomore wide receiver Carter Salzman for a big gain and then found junior wide receiver Cole Rhoden behind the defense for a 44-yard touchdown.
“We have so many threats as a receiving corps, I really think that no matter who Chris throws it to we have a chance for a touchdown every time,” Schultz said.
Seemingly in control at 21-7 coming out of halftime, Platte County again faced a challenge.
Kearney sophomore Luke Noland returned the opening kickoff of the third quarter 91 yards for a touchdown. At this point, Platte County was without its top two wide receivers and only up 21-14. Dayton Mitchell, a senior, did not dress due to a practice injury, while senior Colby Rollins was hurt in the first half and didn’t play after halftime.
Ruhnke again delivered, leading an 86-yard touchdown drive. Kevin Hughes, a senior reserve wide receiver, had two big catches on the march, and a 9-yard catch set up Davis’s 1-yard touchdown run on the next play to make it 28-14.
“We’ve been pretty blessed with our receivers,” Utz said. “Kevin had a great game. Honestly, Joey did what we knew Joey could do. We knew Kevin could do it; he’s never had the opportunity, so he got the opportunity and made the best of it. Really, he made some nice plays and some catches that kept things going. To give credit where it belongs, he probably deserves it.”
Kearney only managed a missed 41-yard field goal try the rest of the way and couldn’t make last year’s loss just a blip in an otherwise dominant edge in the rivalry with Platte County.
Davis finished with 94 yards rushing on 17 carries, while Hughes and Salzman finished with six catches apiece to lead Platte County’s receivers. Schultz had four catches for 62 yards and two more touchdowns, giving him four scoring grabs in his first two career games.
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