The Platte City Pirates football team upset the Kearney Bulldogs Saturday afternoon by defeating the Bulldogs 21-19. The victory was enhanced for the Pirates when Coach Maxwell, Coach Buell, Principal George Taubel, wrestling coach Faust and girls basketball coach Schultze all walked the 26 miles from Kearney home to pay off a bet. On Tuesday before the game, Coach Maxwell told the team that he and Coach Buell would walk home from the game if the Pirates could upset Kearney, who was ranked third in the state, at their homecoming Saturday afternoon. The idea spread through school and as the challenge kept building other school officials became involved. At 5 p.m., the group started walked home and reached Platte City about 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning. During the time the temperature dipped from the 40s to around 28 degrees by midnight. Their wives took them some coffee and sandwiches and at Smithville they had some chili. The game was exciting and everyone knew about the challenging bet. Kearney scored twice in the first six minutes of the game. Then Platte City scored when Brad Babcock caught a 26-yard pass from Todd Maxwell and David Bridger kicked the PAT. In the second quarter, J.D. White scored on a four-yard run and David Bridger added the PAT to make the score 14-13 Pirates. In the fourth quarter, Bridger scored on a 13-yard run and also kicked the extra point.
It sounds unreal, but it snowed in Platte City Monday and the thermometer has gotten as low as 28 degrees.