The road to Platte County football’s fourth championship didn’t start in Week 1 of this year, and the outgoing senior leadership hopes the journey doesn’t end with this past weekend’s victory over Helias Catholic.
No doubt the Pirates and their fans will celebrate this championship for quite some time, but the leadership on the team is already thinking about next season and becoming a repeat champion like the last group of players who hoisted a state trophy. With a peak ahead at next year’s roster, most of the offensive weapons will be back for another run, including Simone Award Finalist quarterback Rocco Marriott.
Coming back with Marriott will be his stable of receivers, including Otis Taylor Award Finalist Tres Baskerville and others like Ty Christopher and Braiden Stevens. Two starting tight ends, Brooks Hall and Jack Utz, will also be back.
The Pirates featured a two-headed monster in the backfield, with this year’s leading rusher in the championship game, Adam Gisler, also returning. Marriott was asked about next year at the post-game press conference on Saturday and said his opportunistic defense is also bringing back a lot of guys, and they’ll be getting to work soon.
“We’re just going to have to approach it the same as last offseason, just getting better every single day,” Marriott said about how he will approach this year. “We can’t take any days off. We have a lot of juniors coming back on defense as well, and we’re going to stay together, and it’s going to be a fun year.”
Marriott also talked about his role as the team’s leader and how he manages a team with so many weapons looking to get the ball.
“We had a great offseason, and everyone was here working out together every day,” Marriott said. It’s almost my job to make sure everyone gets involved and making sure everyone gets their touches and stays happy,” Marriott said.
Pirates’ Head Coach Bill Utz said Marriott is a special player who has a work ethic like no other.
He’s a special athlete,” Utz said. “Like I said before, we’ve been blessed with some really good quarterbacks. Rocco is a little bit different. He has a cannon of an arm and can put it anywhere on the field. The real scary thing with him is when he gets out in the open, he can run, and it’s a very frustrating thing for a defense that has to deal with him.”
Utz said after last year’s loss in the district championship game so, people wanted to question the Pirates’ ability to make a deep postseason run and that his players, led by Marriott, took it to heart.
“The best credit I can give him is the work he’s done all summer,” Utz said. “There were a lot of questions coming off of last year. Is his accuracy there or whatever? He’s done nothing but work his tail off. He’s one of the grittiest players we’ve had in terms of how that competitiveness kicks in. Any praise he gets is earned.”
Platte County senior linebacker Darrell Smith answered questions during post game.
Getting to and winning the state championship was not just a goal but a mission for this year’s senior class. Senior linebacker Darrell Smith talked about how this group lost a championship game together in seventh grade and how it was a driving factor. Smith and others were asked about the 2019 and 2020 teams that reached the championship game but fell short. Smith said all of that was important.
“We’re a special group, and we wanted to stop that streak, and we did it here today,” Smith said.
Platte County senior safety Trevor hay answered questions during the post game presser with Head Coach Bill Utz sitting next to him.
Senior safety Trevor Hay said his group wanted to lay a foundation for the future and that he’s going to be cheering on next year’s team to do it again.
“We’ve got guys coming back next year, and I think they’re going to bring the momentum and the energy, and I think we’re going to do it again,” Hay said.
Platte County senior defensive back Caden McGhee talked about his interception in the end zone during the post game presser.