Resilient Eagles Come Up Short Against Blue Jays

by John Unrein

Football is not an easy game. You must earn everything. They do not give out awards for moral victories in the sport, and the outcome of games is usually how things are evaluated. Case in point, the resiliency on display by the Eagles coaching staff and football team is not reflected in their 44-29 loss to Raytown.

The first half of the game resembled a track meet. Both teams moved the ball effectively up and down the field. The Blue Jays found pay dirt first with an off tackle run by quarterback Joe Campbell three minutes into the first quarter.

Raytown took advantage of a matchup they had in the swinging gate formation on the extra point attempt to throw a successful fade pass to wide receiver Desmond Hutson, giving them an 8-0 lead.

Grain Valley answered with 5:58 left in the first quarter. Quarterback Cole Keller made a read to keep the ball off jet sweep action and scampered 21 yards for a touchdown. The ensuing extra point was good, and the Eagles drew closer at 8-7.

Raytown would go on to score twice more in the half. They moved the football with wide receiver quick screens out of the spread formation, running back Messiah Miller carrying the football, and quarterback draws by Joe Campbell.

The Eagles scoring chances were enhanced by support from their defense. Senior defensive end Bennett Disco contributed a first half sack as well as pressure on Raytown’s quarterback that led to an interception by junior linebacker Seth Dankenbring with :21 left in the first half.

Grain Valley countered with two more scores of their own, as well as a successful two-point conversion.

Successful traps off tackle and toss sweeps to ball carrier Ethan Grasher helped the Eagles move the football. Keller contributed an additional throwing and rushing touchdown to knot the game in a 22-22 tie at halftime.

“Our quarterback put us in a great situation with the running reads he was making in the first half. Raytown was moving their ends between pinching inside and lining up in 5 techniques outside. It’s hard to pass against that defense. They were manned up on the corners to take away our outside guys. We went into halftime feeling good about what were able to do,” Head Coach David Allie said.

Grain Valley was hampered by a turnover as well as a turnover on downs to start the 3rd and 4th quarters respectively. A fumble on the handoff exchange by the Eagles on the second play of the 3rd quarter led to a Raytown recovery on Grain Valley’s 21-yard line. Raytown would capitalize with a score on a quarterback run with 9:34 to go in the 3rd quarter to move the Blue Jays ahead 29-22. Raytown would follow this later in the quarter with a 62-yard touchdown pass from Campbell to Hutson off jet sweep play action, pushing their lead to 37-22 after a successful two-point conversion.

The fourth quarter opened with a turnover on downs by the Eagles after hard running by Tanner Bailon and Grasher.

“Our starting long snapper was out with an injury. That was part of our motivation to go for it on 4th down. We also were trying to keep the clock running and limit their possessions of the football. That was part of our game plan,” Allie said.

Grain Valley refused to relent as the second half progressed. One of the adjustments made was lining up in a two back set and running the load option with success.

“We were able to move the football with load option based on the looks Raytown was giving us. If they did this, we would do that and vice versa. We trusted Cole to get us into the correct situation and he did. So, hat’s off to him,” Allie said. “Throwing the football vertically in third and long situations against their defense can make it hard to do so effectively. Gavin Oyler didn’t play much offense for us tonight because we felt we would need him in the defensive backfield. We needed to grind things out and that makes it tough to catch back up quickly,” Allie said.

Raytown would go on to add a late 4 th quarter touchdown after a steady diet of handoffs to Miller. Grain Valley refused to make things easy for Raytown as the game wound down.

“You can’t talk about resiliency you have to see it. I ask our team to pick three words that they wanted to define them at the start of the season. They selected family, physical, and heart. Heart is resiliency through hard work in practice through the last second coming off the clock in a game. I think our kids show that on the field,” Allie said.

Allie turned the football field into a classroom as a reminder of what sportsmanship looks like as the game ended. Raytown’s final possession came with 1:10 left in the fourth quarter and the game’s outcome secured. Two subsequent fade passes by Raytown would later fall incomplete near the Grain Valley goal line prior to them taking a knee on the final play of the game. Allie showed civility in being a class act in his post-game handshake with the opposing team’s head coach.

Grain Valley will travel on the road next to face conference opponent Kearney on Friday, October 5.

Senior defensive end Bennett Disco contributed a first half sack as well as pressure on Raytown’s quarterback. Photo credit: John Overstreet

Junior linebacker Seth Dankenbring reaches out for an interception.Photo credit: John Overstreet

Quarterback Cole Keller breaks through the Raytown defense on his way to the goal line. Photo credit: John Overstreet