Platte County found itself in a very familiar situation many times against Grain Valley on Friday, Sept. 14.
The Pirates would find a way to put points on the board, only to find the Eagles answering quickly multiple times. The Class 4 No. 6-ranked Pirates finally put an end to the game of chase in the second half and pulled away with a 38-22 victory at Moody Murray Memorial Stadium.
The win evens the Suburban Conference Blue Division record for the Pirates, while Grain Valley has lost two straight in its new conference.
The Eagles, coming over from the Missouri River Valley Conference, never led in the game, but on a couple occasions had the ball with a chance to take the lead.
The Pirates buckled down on defense and didn’t allow that to happen.
“We know they are pretty good, knew that going in going into the season and going into this game, they definitely have weapons,” Platte County coach Bill Utz said. “Two pretty evenly matched teams and we were able to get the better of it at the end. That is a testament to our kids for playing hard and getting after it and believing they could and deciding that is what they wanted to do.”
Grain Valley (2-2, 0-2) got the ball to open the second half after deferring the opening kickoff. Down 17-15 at the break, the Eagles had a chance to take the lead for the first time.
Grain Valley got one first down on the initial drive but were forced to punt and Platte County used an 11-play, 95-yard drive to extend the lead.
Spencer Stewart threw a 22-yard strike to Adel Freitek to move into Grain Valley territory and Freitek then took a handoff 23 yards, down to the Eagle 5-yard line.
On 3rd-and-goal from the 4, Dylan Gilbert caught a touchdown pass from Stewart, the two-time Class 6A all-state quarterback at Shawnee Mission Northwest transfer.
Grant Allen booted the extra point to push the Platte County lead to 24-15.
“What was big, in the grand scheme, one of our goals was to score at the beginning of the half,” Grain Valley coach David Allie said. “If we do that, it makes them play chase and catch up. Unfortunately, they kept getting ahead and we couldn’t catch up.”
Grain Valley (2-2, 1-2) quickly answered – something it did twice in the first half.
On the second play of the next possession, Cole Keller hit Gavin Oyler for a 57-yard touchdown and pulled the Eagles within 24-22.
William Lanear intercepted Stewart on the third play of the next drive and gave the Eagles the ball near midfield, but the Eagles were ultimately forced to punt again.
This time, Platte County (3-1, 1-1) took over at the 10-yard line and had a trio of first-down carries, one by Freitek and two by Stewart. The latter moved the ball to the 39-yard line and on the next play, Stewart hit Gilbert for a 61-yard touchdown with 43 seconds left in the quarter. Gilbert had seven catches for 123 yards.
That boosted the Pirates’ lead to 31-22.
“They had the ball with us two,” Platte County coach Bill Utz said. “It felt a lot better when we had the cushion. Our guys did a good job and stepped up when they had to … it was a track meet for a while.”
Grain Valley turned the ball over on downs on its first possession of the fourth quarter and the Pirates answered with another score to ice the win. Freitek had a key 12-yard run on 4th-and-9 from the Grain Valley 30-yard line and on 4th-and-goal from the 9, the running back bounced off a tackler and stumbled into the end zone with 7:39 to play.
“It helps a lot to back-to-back and the grind on the fourth down on big plays helps,” said Freitek, who ran for 153 yards on 24 carries and had another 47 yards receiving. “It is about not losing faith and playing hard.”
After Freitek converted the fourth-down run, a holding penalty gave Platte County a 1st-and-25, but Stewart hit the senior running back for a 10-yard gain to get some of that back and then hit Dylan Gilbert for a 14-yard gain to set up the fourth down score that Freitek took, running up the middle and bouncing off a Grain Valley tackler at the 2.
That essentially iced the win, but an interception by defensive lineman Forrest Boynton with later in the fourth quarter became the fourth and final turnover by Grain Valley.
The Pirates didn’t score again, but punter Reid Sutter pinned the Eagles on their own 1 with a 42-yard boot with 3:01 left.
“They do a great job; they got a great scheme and it is something we don’t always see offensively and defensively,” Allie said. “We didn’t adjust well in the second half and we missed some blocks. Hats off to them, they are a physical, disciplined, well-coached group.
“It was a hard-fought ball game, we just got to fix mistakes we made.”
The first half was marred by turnovers by both teams, which kept the score low.
The Pirates got the ball first but three plays into their first drive, a fumble was recovered by Michael Traynor at the 35-yard line.
Grain Valley moved to the Platte County’s 10-yard line but missed a 23-yard field goal with 8:13 left.
On the next play of the contest, Stewart hit Brice Bertram on a slant pattern and the wide receiver outran the Grain Valley defense on his way for an 80-yard touchdown.
Only 12 went off the clock and the Pirates led 7-0.
The Eagles moved the ball again, the big play coming from running back Ethan Grasher, whose 27-yard run moved the ball to the Pirates’ 23-yard line. Two plays later, Keller lost the ball and Platte County defensive lineman Peyton Stoner picked it up at the 20-yard line.
The Pirates moved the ball to midfield and pass from Stewart to Bertram near the Grain Valley sideline turned into a 20-plus yard gain, but a hit jarred the ball lose and the Eagles recovered at the 28-yard line. The Eagles weren’t able to capitalize on the turnover and a sack by Cade McNicholas on third down netted a 9-yard loss and forced a punt.
The Pirates got a 30-yard gain from Trey Phan on a jet sweep pass from Stewart, but offsetting penalties negated the big gain early in the second quarter. Grain Valley got the ball back, only to fumble at the 42-yard line, but two plays later, Stewart was intercepted by Trent Flake.
The Eagles quickly moved down the field and ultimately forged a 7-7 tie.
Grasher had 10-yard gain and a personal foul moved the ball to the Pirates’ 31. Keller called his own number and had a 30-yard gain up the middle. On 1st-and-goal from the 1, he kept it again and scored.
With a little more than 8 minutes to play, Platte County got the ball back and answered and regained the lead.
Freitek had a 9-yard gain and then Gilbert hauled in a 16-yard pass from Stewart. Another completion by Stewart to Bertram was aided with a personal foul on Grain Valley, moving the ball to the 16.
The drive stalled out at the 11, but soccer player Grant Allen booted a 28-yard field goal to give the Pirates a 10-7 with 6:18 to play.
Yet another first-half turnover led to more points for the Pirates.
Keller had a 38-yard run and got down to the Platte County 18-yard line, but Bertram got an interception at the 21-yard line three plays later to give the Pirates the ball back.
On 1st-and-10 from the 31, Stewart threw an interception to Trent LeGrotte and he returned to midfield, but a personal foul on the Eagles negated the pick and gave the Pirates the ball at the 46-yard line.
The very next play, Stewart hit Bertram for a 54-yard touchdown and a 17-7 lead with 2:28 left in the 1st half. Bertram had 199 yards receiving in first half and finished with eight catches for 215 yards.
Stewart threw for 226 in the first half and finished with 385, completing 21 of 37 passes.
The Eagles, down by two scores, got on the board before the first half ended.
A 30-yard run by Grasher was called back on a holding, which gave Grain Valley a 1st-and-25, but he gained 15 yards back on the next rush. With 47 seconds left Grasher unleashed a 34-yard run to the Platte County 29. Four plays later, Oyler caught a 14-yard touchdown from Keller with 14 seconds left.
The Eagles went for the extra point attempt, but a bad snap forced a mad scramble by holder Jace Collum, who ran to his right and hit Nick Brown wide open for two, making it 17-15.
Grain Valley won the time of possession by more than 10 minutes. The two offenses combined for more than 1,000 yards of total offense — 564 by Platte County and 460 by Grain Valley — as well as a total of nine turnovers.
Looking ahead
Suburban Conference Blue Division play continues on Friday, Sept. 21, when Raytown South visits Pirate Stadium.
Raytown South enters with a 1-3 mark, with the lone win being a 19-7 win in Week 2 against Winnetonka. Since then, the Cardinals have been outscored 70-7 in losses to Raytown and Smithville, which won 35-7 this past Friday.
In recent years, the Pirates have dominated this series, winning four in a row and five out of six dating back to 2012. Raytown South’s last win came in 2013, a 35-15 victory. The Pirates won 35-34 the next year, but since then have won by two scores, three scores and four scores, respectively.