Friday Morning Lights

PCHS Featured on the Today Show's "Friday Morning Lights"
Posted on 11/20/2024

The Today Show featured Platte County High School on November 8 for their final "Friday Morning Lights" segment of the season. PCHS's head football coach Bill Utz was interviewed by NBC's local affiliate (KSHB's Taylor Hemness), and PCHS's football team, band, cheerleaders, color guard, and dance team, along with a crowd of Pirate fans showed up bright and early to be featured.

Devan Foos at Pirate Stadium during Friday Morning Lights segmentThis unique opportunity to showcase the school's pride on national TV came about after PCHS journalism teacher Devan Foos displayed her investigative skills to her students. Mrs. Foos is an avid TODAY show fan. After seeing other football teams from around the country being highlighted, she asked, "why not us?" She researched the producer responsible for the segment and emailed NBC a pitch to cover PCHS:

"I'm a longtime Today show dedicated watcher (made it on the show with My Today Show Plaza once), SiriusXM channel 108 listener, and lover of all things NBC. I teach journalism at Platte County High School in the Kansas City Metro and couldn't help but think this morning after listening to the show on my way to school that our Pirates really would be a great feature for the Friday morning series you've been doing visiting local high school football programs, plus if I could expose my journalism students to a live national production on our own campus, that would be the most incredible experience that could ever be offered to them." 

Foos went on to say, "The team is seeing success we haven't in years. Our community is a tight-knit, football-dedicated one, and I just think we're exactly the kind of school with small town pride and love of football that you would be looking for to bring energy to your show." 

Coach Utz being interviewed in front of football team for Friday Morning LightsThe football team has had its first undefeated season in almost two decades and has had a dominant season. All wins have been by 3 possessions or more; just one by less than four possessions. Following the eventful morning under the national spotlight, the Pirates went on to defeat St. Joe Central in their first District playoff game 50-0. The Pirates then defeated St. Pius 45-23 and earned the District Championship trophy in the next round of play on November 15 at Pirate Stadium. They'll face Webb City on November 22 in the Class 5 State Quarterfinals.

Click here for a video of the segment.