#1 Worth County falls short against #4 Platte Valley in a Top 5 8-Man battle

by Jeremy Benson, GrandRiverConference.com

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#4 Platte Valley 38 #1 Worth County 34

Friday morning, MSHSAA announced the districts for fall sports.  For football, #1 Worth County and #4 Platte Valley were both slotted into District 7.  What was already a big game to start the season suddenly took on greater significance.  The winner of this game would have the inside road to the #1 seed and home-field advantage throughout district play.  

Last season, Worth County knocked off Platte Valley in the District Semifinals before falling to eventual state champion North Andrew.  While both teams had some talented players graduate like all-staters Dylan McIntyre and Levi Cassavaugh from Worth County, and Carter Luke and Trevor Weir from Platte Valley, they are returning very deep and talented teams.  Worth County is picked by the coaches to win the GRC West this season, and both teams are picked by the media as Top 4 teams with Worth County at #1 and Platte Valley at #4.

Worth County received the opening kick of the game and wasted no time scoring.  On the second play of the game, Tyler New ran it in from 30 yards out.  A New to Grant McIntyre conversion made it 8-0 with 11:17 left in the first quarter.  After the Tigers stopped Platte Valley (insert mascot here), the Tigers were driving into Platte Valley territory again.  This time though, Platte Valley was able to stop Worth County on 4th down and inches.

Platte Valley was able to put together a drive and it looked like they were going to even the score, but after consecutive touchdowns by Lucky Ferry and Aydan Blackford were wiped off the board with penalties, they were stopped at the 2-yard line with 1:52 left in the first quarter.  Worth County held an 8-0 lead after one quarter of play.

In the second quarter, both teams picked up their scoring.  The Tigers extended their lead when New connected with McIntyre again.  This time on a 4th and goal from the 14 with 5:36 left.  The conversion was no good making it 14-0 Tigers.  However, Platte Valley would answer immediately.  Mason Casner's 45-yard TD run with 5:03 left made it 14-8 after the conversion.  Then Blackford would connect with Brandon McQueen with 1:03 left.  After a penalty on the conversion, Blackford scored from 8 yards out to make it 16-14.

Worth County wouldn't let Platte Valley have the momentum going into halftime.  They struck fast.  A 21-yard New to Bo Collins pass play put the Tigers in Platte Valley territory.  Then New connected with McIntyre from 19 yards with 11 seconds left.  However, Worth County was unable to convert which left the halftime score at 20-16 with the Tigers holding a slim lead.

In the second half, Platte Valley was able to answer quickly.  Blackford scampered down the field for a 63-yard TD run to put them back on top 24-20 with 10:31 left.  Worth County answered at the 8:00 mark on a New 14-yard run to make it 28-24.  But the lead only lasted one play.  Casner had another long touchdown run.  This time it was from 41 yards out.  Platte Valley led 32-28 with 7:41 left.  Platte Valley later extended the lead with 30 seconds left in the quarter on a QB keeper from Blackford.  They would go into the final quarter up 38-28.

In the 4th quarter, Worth County got to the 1-yard line on a long run by New.  But a penalty backed them up to the 6-yard line.  Two plays later, New was intercepted by McQueen in the end zone.  The Tigers still trailed by 10 with 9:19 left.

Platte Valley started to melt some time off the clock at that point.  Their ball-control offense looked like it might be able to run out the clock, but a bad snap exchange gave the Tigers new life.  Lucas Frisch recovered the fumble with 4:10 left.

Worth County was able to take advantage and cut the lead to 38-34 when Landon Wilmes scored on a 14-yard run with 2:21 left.  However, Frisch had scored a touchdown with 3:07 left, but a penalty negated the score.  After the touchdown, the onside kick was unsuccessful.  Platte Valley was able to run out the clock and secure the victory.

After the game, Clifton Grooms and I discussed the game on the GRC Podcast:

We also discussed the game on Clifton's podcast, Cliff Notes:

Here is the story from Maryville Forum Sports:

Here is the story from Sheridan Express

Here are my photos from the game:

Here are Clifton's photos from the game:

Here are Maryville Forum's photos from the game:

Here are Worth County Tiger Club's Photos of the Game:

Full video of game, courtesy of Missouri 8-Man Football Facebook: