BY JARED PORTER
With the game's outcome hanging in the balance, Platte County head coach Bill Utz called upon his standout senior quarterback, Christopher Ruhnke.
Then Ruhnke delivered possibly the biggest pass of his high school career.
Late in the fourth quarter, the Pirates' signal caller completed a pivotal fourthdown pass to a double-covered Colby Rollins in the corner of the end zone to give Platte County the goahead score it needed for a 24-21 win over Webb City in Saturday's Class 5 state semifinal at Cardinal Stadium.
It marked the third passing touchdown of the game for Ruhnke, who accounted for more than 250 yards of offense, and it helped Platte County punch its ticket to the state championship to take on Jackson, a 49-14 victor over Fort Zumwalt North, next Saturday at Helias Catholic High School in Jefferson City.
"I'm obviously super proud of our effort," Utz said. "I thought our kids played hard the whole game. It goes without saying, but Webb City is a tremendous team. So to come in and be able to do this against such a great program, such a well-coached program and kids, it's a huge win for our kids this year and our program in general."
Saturday's contest was a rematch of last season's Class 4 state championship that Webb City won 48-0 in Columbia.
Webb City, held to a season- low point total, saw an 11-game win streak come to an end and finished its season with an 11-2 record.
"When you start the playoffs, every team except for one is going to end that thing with a loss, and only one team is going to have a win in their last game of the year," Webb City coach John Roderique said. "So hats off to Platte County. They did what they needed to do, had a great plan defensively. They played really, really well against us.
"Like I said to our kids (after the game), if there's a line to take credit for today, I'm the first one in line. The buck kind of stops with me. I just wasn't good enough today, and we just had so many situations, so many things that maybe we weren't prepared for. But our guys played their guts out."
Webb City trailed by as many as 14 points but managed to take its first lead, 21-17, after junior running back Dupree Jackson found the end zone on a four-yard run with 9:25 remaining in the fourth quarter. The score capped a 74-yard drive that was aided by two pass plays of 30-plus yards, including a 33-yard strike from senior quarterback Cole Gayman to senior wide receiver Mekhi Garrard that advanced Webb City to the Pirates' 4-yard line.
But Platte County responded on its ensuing drive, marching 64 yards in about 31/2 minutes before Ruhnke recorded his nineyard, go-ahead touchdown pass on fourth down-andgoal. During the possession, the Pirates also had three third-down conversions and were aided by a roughing penalty that gave them a fresh set of downs.
Rhunke finished 19 of 44 passing for 227 yards. His favorite target, Carter Salzman, hauled in five passes for 87 yards and two touchdowns.
"I've got a pretty good quarterback right now and a pretty solid receiving core," Utz said. "That's stuff we've worked on for a long time, and so they're really comfortable with each other."
The Cardinals had two possessions in the final 5:58 but didn't advance beyond midfield on either.
Despite amassing more than 330 yards of total offense, Webb City was ultimately hindered by three turnovers and five punts. Two of the turnovers came on the Cardinals' first two drives — losing two fumbles, one of which was recovered by the Pirates in their end zone — as Platte County built a 14-0 advantage.
"There was a little panic early, especially because we weren't moving the ball really well early on," Roderique said. "So there was some panic. Then we'd get one score and then another one to tie it. ... But it just felt like we couldn't ever get the advantage."
After starting the game with two lost fumbles and two punts, the Webb City offense found its footing late in the second quarter as it scored two touchdowns in the span of 1 minute, 14 seconds.
Senior running back Devrin Weathers, a Kansas State commit, accounted for both touchdowns on runs of 82 and 38 yards to tie the game at 14-14. Weathered finished as the game's leading rusher with 192 yards on 16 carries, while Jackson tallied 60 yards on 10 carries.
Before the game went to halftime, Platte County drove more than 50 yards and reclaimed the lead, 17-14, on a 38-yard field goal by Cole Rhoden as the clock expired.
The third quarter saw the Webb City defense generate a pair of takeaways — two interceptions by senior defensive back Treghan Parker — and force one punt. The Cardinals also held the Pirates to a 31-yard field goal attempt midway through the period that missed wide right.
"Treghan, just what a great player that guy's been," Roderique said. "Gosh, he's been tremendous for us, replacing a great player in Alex Gaskill a couple of years ago. He's just phenomenal."
But again, the Cardinals failed to make up any ground on the scoreboard as their offense suffered through another scoring lull that spanned from the 3:32-mark of the second quarter to the 9:25-mark of the fourth. Webb City had three consecutive threeand- outs in the third quarter alone.
"Sometimes there's a really fine line between winning and losing," Roderique said. "We've been really fortunate that we've been on the good side of that most of the time, but today is just wasn't to be."
Joplin Globe 11/29/2020 (Used by permission)