Platte Valley suffers Homecoming loss to North Shelby

The Platte Valley Longhorns fought valiantly, but couldn’t contain the option-heavy offense delivered by state-ranked North Shelby September 21 at Barnard.

“We knew they were a heavy option team and they run the option well, and hats off to them tonight,” Platte Valley Head Coach Cree Beverlin said. “We were telling the guys to stay at home and know who you have. It showed every time we made a mistake because when the end bit on the dive they capitalized around the edge.”

Beverlin added it also showed when the Longhorns did things right, including a safety against the Pirates.

The Pirates came out with a successful showing early on, but a fumble deep in Platte Valley territory was picked up by Vincent Holtman and the Longhorns looked to be able to hold their own. The athleticism from North Shelby proved dangerous on both sides of the ball, and the Longhorns were forced to punt shortly after.

From that moment on, it was a game of sustaining and limiting the damage brought on by the Pirates. North Shelby scored on its next possession to go up 6-0, where the first quarter would end.

Platte Valley’s next possession ended with an interception in the endzone, ran back only to the goal line. The Longhorns’ highlight of the game came the very next play when the initial hit by Holtman in the endzone was accompanied by assists from Taylar Freemyer and Arthur Giffin for a safety that put Platte Valley on the board.

It didn’t take long for the Pirates to return the favor, and North Shelby would go on to score two more touchdowns before the close of the half while Platte Valley struggled to get past midfield with their offense.

A 22-2 lead at the half didn’t last long as the Pirates continued to succeed with their option-powered offense and scored three more times over the course of the second half. Back-to-back possessions for North Shelby led to touchdowns as the third quarter ended 36-2 with another score in the fourth quarter for a final score of 42-2 over the Longhorns.

Despite the Homecoming loss, Platte Valley did show signs of growth. Beverlin said he hopes to build on that in the coming weeks as the schedule only gets harder for the Longhorns. In the next three weeks, Platte Valley will travel to SW Livingston and DeKalb before coming back home to host Stewartsville.

“Some of these sophomores and juniors have experienced almost everything teams have to offer,” Beverlin said. “They’ve played state-ranked teams and everything else so I know we’re going to keep growing. It’s just going to take a while because we’re young. But I’m seeing things clicking in practice as these guys are understanding the game more and more.”

Crowned for Platte Valley’s Homecoming were South Nodaway king and queen Taylar Freemyer and Layla Wolf and Jefferson king and queen Dalton Luke and Emma Lager. Freemyer is the son of Bryan and Carrie Freemyer, Wolf is the daughter of Brad and Amy Wolf, Luke is the son of Mark and Veronica Luke and Lager is the daughter of Kevin and Lori Lager. Crowning the candidates were Maverick Swinford and Akasha Schank for South Nodaway and Eli Meyer and Grace Sturm for Jefferson.