With another win in the books, the 7-0 Platte County Pirates cruised to an outstanding blowout win of 77-7 against the 1-6 Truman Patriots on Oct. 11.
The experienced pairing of seniors Dayton Doll, running back and Safety DJ Smith gave their input on the outstanding record and performances they have recorded this season with PCHS Football.
“The mentality for the team is to win out the rest,” Doll confidently stated.
After achieving second team all-conference his sophomore year, he has stormed back to being an offensive weapon this year for the Platte County offense after suffering an injury that made him sit a huge portion of his Junior year which gave an opportunity for Junior Running Back, Adam Gisler to step up into the spotlight and pick up the slack for the Platte County running game.
“Last season I suffered a shoulder injury with about a 6 month recovery that put me out for the rest of the season my junior year,” Doll stated. “Being injured the first drive of the season last year was not the plan but now I’m back.”
Doll this week compared to others was limited with only 31 yards on 4 carries out of the backfield. The reasoning behind this was the absolute massacre that happened during the abnormal win against Truman.
However, the other running backs in the room such as Gisler and senior Isaiah Seymour had given this offense a “three-headed dragon” with unlimited versatility in the backfield this season.
Being gifted as a multi-sport athlete, Doll has also verbally committed to play baseball at Missouri Western State University. On the baseball side of things has racked up plenty of accolades including a state championship as a freshman. Not to forget last season where he won conference player of the year and first team all-state honors as an infielder. When it comes to being a well known athlete, Doll is your guy.
Changing gears a little bit to highlight what some fans consider the most electrifying player on the field, Smith with a heart full of pride, is a force to be reckoned with in his own regard.
“The support from the fans really motivates me to do my best on the field, being part of this defensive unit means we all push each other to improve and stay focused daily. It’s a team effort week in and out, I’m just glad I can play my part in keeping our defense solid,” Smith exclaimed.
Smith believes in the work ethic of the whole team and takes a ton of pride into translating practice and the work in the offseason into first class performances as shown in the team’s record.
“Being 7-0 feels incredible, we are grateful to have this accomplishment, it’s a result of the hard work we put in during the offseason and especially practice. Each week our coaches make sure we are focused on our key details and adjust our game plan week to week,” Smith claimed. “We’ve been really good this year studying film and making small tweaks that make a huge difference. The team’s consistency comes from everyone doing their job and trusting the process.”
After achieving all-district honors last season as a junior and also the placement in the all-district second team his sophomore year as a linebacker, he has been tasked with a different role this season compared to what he has had on his plate previously. This season he started with playing safety as well with the inclusion of the senior transfer from Staley, Brock Fowler.
However, he has handled this challenge well, being a part of Coach Eric Mitchell’s defensive system who had just recently held off the Truman Patriots to an astounding 77-7 win, “has been an absolute blessing” for him to play on.
Smith, holding offers from William Jewell, Simpson University, Dordt University, Drake University, Missouri Western, and South Dakota State University has taken a huge liking to the senior safety and Smith’s future is essentially in his hands.
Giving grace to those who give Junior Quarterback Rocco Marriott time to work are the ‘hogs’ or better known as the offensive line.
The o-line led by Coach Eric McDowell with the transfer of Derek Kohler to the state of Arkansas at Pea Ridge High School to seek out a higher income while coaching.
This season McDowell has put together a line up of men that he not only values as players, but more importantly as people.
“I want to make sure my position group always knows that I value them more as people and my goal is to help make them better men, husbands, fathers and all sorts of good people in the future rather than putting their progression as a football player first,” McDowell pridefully said.
Coach McDowell has found that he gets more out of his players when he establishes this relationship with his players and it has certainly shown this season with giving up minimal sacks this year and allowing the offense to have enough time to make explosive plays.
He also wanted to highlight those who do not get enough praise for the work they put in and it is the JV players.
“What people do not realize is that JV football players probably have the toughest job on the team,” McDowell said. “They play Monday nights and then they play with the tar beaten out of their bodies followed by the reps they get on scout team which is playing directly against the varsity in practice which is a demanding schedule four days a week. In the game against Truman last Friday, seeing them get rewarded with snaps on varsity makes me very happy as a coach.”
The “gladiators” of the football team as McDowell calls them, is something the team as a whole takes pride in developing and watching them grow and get on varsity is always something beautiful to see.
He also took time to highlight the talents of the team and the versatility of the roster that he has at o-line, but really is a testament to this special team.
“We have no shortage of talent this year in almost every spot. One of our starting offensive linemen this season [Senior, Owen Rawlings] was a tight end year” McDowell said with pride.
He highlighted the versatility of the receiver room as well with several of them having to switch to defensive back. An example of this is Junior Braiden Stevens who got snaps on both sides of the ball including his third role on special teams as punter.
Changing gears to the bigger picture, McDowell finished off with a powerful anecdote about the Platte County community.
“When opposing coaches come to our place and play, them along with the players cannot get enough of the huge support that we have at Platte County High School. Opposing schools wish they had the support from the community like we do and we cannot be thankful enough from it,” exclaimed McDowell. “I mean how could you not get pumped up and play your best on a Friday night when you have 2,000 fans wrapped around your stadium. The community support is second to none and it makes a huge difference because the team knows they have a lot to play for.”
With the pirates 7-0 record they are presented with a matchup against Ruskin who holds a 4-3 record. Ruskin also came off with an abnormal win of 63-14 against East (Kansas City) High School. This game is poised to be a good one and Pirate Football looks forward to witnessing Pirate Nation make another away appearance for the “Friday Night Lights”.