With the postseason looming, Platte County Basketball is looking to change the course of the season with their overall record sitting at 10-15, as of Feb. 27, 2025.
The newest Platte County Thousand Point Club member, Judah Vignery, is currently playing for Iowa Western Community College where he has already racked up the accolade of 2nd Team Academic All-Region in the National Junior College Athletics Association (NJCAA). While most people still rave over him and his accomplishments, they also look to a newer star who has been waiting in the shadows for his time to shine.
Current senior forward, Jaden Peterson, who himself is on course to reach the thousand point club is stoked for his climax to his senior year and sees what is left of the season as an opportunity for the team to play as a collective unit and not just rely on one lone scoring force.
“I feel like Judah was a good and vocal leader,” Peterson said, “But that scoring can be overcome as we play as a team throughout the year.”
This season especially, Peterson feels like a collaborative effort is what is going to bring the team together and amend their current record in the postseason.
Peterson, after the pirates’ studded senior night blowout against William Chrisman on Feb. 25 left pirate nation with a one-of-a-kind scoring performance that he has not matched his whole career. He ended the night with 41 points, leaving just a small amount of 29 points left for him to achieve Thousand Point Club honors himself.
Already bolstering offers from Avila University, William Jewell College, Benedictine College, and the University of Saint Mary, Peterson plans to further his basketball career with hopes of becoming an athletic trainer or physical therapist in the foreseeable future.
However, following the pirates’ most recent game off of William Chrisman, Coach Richard Hodge had one key message to share with his players after the game in the locker room.
“This morning, I was listening to radio coverage on college basketball and they were talking about how KU Head Coach Bill Self crashed out of the top 25 AP poll rankings,” stated Hodge. “A little later into the interview, Self tells the broadcaster that his team is too talented to give up on and immediately as soon as I heard that I sat there and said to myself, that is my team.”
With their sights set on Fort Osage today at 5:30 p.m., the Pirates plan to truly begin their season with their Class 5 District 8 matchup against Pembroke Hill on Mar. 5 at 6 p.m. The squad has a very powerful belief that they can break the bracket in March.
