​Eagles’ defense continues to dominate in 53-0 rout of Patriots

by Michael Smith


The defense for the Grain Valley football team has been consistent all season.

Outside of two games against Kearney and Platte County, the Eagles had not surrendered more than 2 points in any of their other six games.

That trend continued in Friday’s regular-season finale against Truman as the defense shut down the home team in a 53-0 rout on the road.

With the win, Grain Valley clinched the No. 2 seed in the Class 5 District 7 Tournament as they leap frogged Neosho after it lost 42-20 to Carthage, which will be the No. 1 seed. The Eagles will take on Belton at 7 p.m. next Friday at home.

“We fell a little short of our standard which is the one seed,” said senior linebacker Toby Inman, who had a sack of Truman quarterback Preston Wuestling, “but we are still going to play our best and go for another district title.”

“The Eagles’ defense has been a big part of yet another successful regular season. That unit held the Patriots to just 131 yards of total offense and created four turnovers – two fumble recoveries and two interceptions.

“We came into today with a goal to have three turnovers,” Inman said. “The coach’s kind of looked at us funny after saying that but we got it. I am happy with how we played.”

One of those turnovers came with on the last play of the first half when senior linebacker Aiden Woodrome jumped an out route that Wuestling tried to get to running back Doral Thompson. He intercepted the pass and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown to give the Eagles a 33-0 halftime lead.

“That was my first pick six,” Woodrome said, “Me and the other side back were communicating. If we see the back go out, just go. The back ran a little flare and a read it and took off with it.”

Sophomore Brayden Storment also had an interception third period and senior cornerback Jordan Fuller and sophomore Jaxon Lopez each had a fumble recovery to highlight a dominant defensive performance.

“We came out and tried some things and we kept them out of the scoring zone,” Grain Valley head coach David Allie said of the defense. They’re firing on all cylinders, and we had some young guys who got to play, too. Braden Storment had that pick and a big hit on the quarterback.”

Meanwhile on offense, Grain Valley had three turnovers themselves. Quarterbacks Chase Neer and Ethan Page threw one each and wide receiver Aaron Barr was picked off on a trick play. All three interceptions were Truman junior Roman Rosenbuam.

Other than the turnovers the offense had its fair share of dominance and the Eagles put up 50-plus points without senior running backs DJ Harris and Robert Palmer as they were out with a shoulder and knee injury, respectively.

Allie said both players are day-to-day, and he said he hopes to have them back before next week’s game against the Pirates.

“They tried to give it a go this week, but they couldn’t really go full speed,” Allie said. “We didn’t want to push them because we want them healthy for the playoffs. If they can practice on Tuesday and Wednesday, they will be able to play on Friday.”

In their absence, sophomore Sjoeren Aumua took over as the lead back and made the most of his opportunity. He had 11 carried for 156 yards and two touchdowns on runs of 43 and 6. Freshman wide receiver Dawson Head also got some reps at running back as he two carries for 49 yards and two scores.

“Dawson is a great athlete and running back his natural position,” Allie said. “And he looked great on that toss play (that went 44 yards for a score).”

Neer scored on a read option run from 14 yards out for the Eagles first score and the Eagles’ second TD came on a 24-yard scoring pass from Page to senior tight end Eli Monrian. The final score came when freshman Cohen Morris connected with sophomore wide receiver for an 8-yard TD pass early in the fourth period.

Allie said he used both Neer and Page to get a look at both and to evaluate on who would be the starter for the playoffs.

“Competition is good,” Allie said. “We saw some things out of them tonight that we were looking for. We saw some things they can improve on, too. We were trying to get the guys motivation going into the playoffs. We wanted to get both reps in case we need both.”

​Grain Valley senior linebackers, Toby Inman, left, and Aiden Woodrome helped the Grain Valley football team earn its second shutout of the season in a 53-0 win Friday on the road. Photo credit: Michael Smith