Oak Park High Schools Northmen and Platte County’s Pirates will match up this Friday in what will be nothing short of a cornerstone game for both teams. Will the Pirates win and move closer to .500, or will Oak Park end the streak and continue adding to their best start since 2003?

Oak Park and that 5-0 record have had a lot of tricky history. The Northmen in 2005-2008 saw the 4-0 record 4 straight times and every single time, that 5th game ended up in the loss column. The last time Oak Park started 5-0 was in 2003 where the Northmen would go on to make it to 7-0…… and before running into a 3 games losing streak. A win this Friday would speak margins for Coach Clemens and Co as Oak Park would solidify a .500 record for the first time since 2008, and get Oak Park’s first win against Platte County in the history of Oak Park (0-6)

Oak Park has looked like a perennial contender through 4 games. Besting teams, they statistically should by halftime, and winning the close ones under the lights when they needed to. This young offense has looked more impressive than anyone could have imagined, and this is mainly in part to their dominant run game. #36 ’25 Treyvon Pankey has looked like a 4-year starter in that backfield and is getting the recognition he deserves. The 2nd year back has been the vital to Oak Parks Success, getting all the momentum from his 472 rushing yards through 4 games which is good for 15th in the entire state of Missouri. 

Pankey isn’t the only one having fun throughout the first month of football, #1 ‘23 Marlon Gant has been a scoring machine, scoring rush 6 TD's on only 13 carries. The power offense has also given #2 ‘24 Aidan Hinkle a chance to shine, his 5.3 yards a carry has been great. Hinkle hasn’t had many opportunities to sling the rock, but when he has it has looked effortless, 12/15 for 254 with 3 touchdowns, producing his best game by far versus Truman in Week 4, connecting on a 64-yard bomb to #8 ’23 Xavier Williams up the right sideline against Truman last week. 

Oak Parks offense matches up well against a talented Pirate defense

Talent comes in bunches from Platte County and the latest phenom from Coach Utz is #9 ‘23 Chandavian Bradley. The 6-5 220 Edge is a Tennessee commit, the 64th best player in the country (247 Sports) and the 8th best at his position in the country. This will prove to be a test for a young but experienced O-Line lead by ’05 Coach Nick Maysent. 

QB Dylan Zimmerman has spread the love this season, throwing for 739 and 4 touchdowns across 3 games this season. 

County hasn't earned much on the ground, but they do have some playmakers in that backfield, Nate Walls has shined when his O-Line has given him some room. 

Platte county’s offense has played some tough competition through 3 weeks and hasn’t put up a ton of points but they'll look to change this week. Platte County doesn’t share a whole bunch on defense, but everyone will have #9 keyed on every play and will look to neutralize the talented senior.

History. Status. Notoriety. Rankings All of these will be on the line when Pirates and Northmen face off this Friday and add another chapter in this rivalry.

Catch all of the action from tonight's game LIVE:

Broadcast: https://GoNorthmen.org/watch

Stream: https://youtube.com/NorthmenSports