​Eagles defense, Williams stand out in 45-24 win over Pirates

by Michael Smith


It had been a struggle for the defense of the Grain Valley football team.

Through three games, the Eagles surrendered an average of 33.3 points per game to their opponents. The Eagles also had a hard time stopping the run.

The latest example was in the Week 3 contest against Oak Park, in which the Northmen totaled 290 yards on the ground.

The Eagles made sure that didn’t happen again in Friday’s Suburban White Conference opener against Platte County. They limited the Pirates to just 113 yards rushing and 238 total, while forcing three turnovers and collecting four sacks in a 45-24 victory on the road.

“We just workshopped it and hammered into stopping the run all week long,” Grain Valley senior cornerback Braylon Harden said. “If you did something wrong, you did push ups.”

“Defense has always been a staple at Grain Valley and always will be.”

Senior Stylz Blackmon, who plays on the line on offense and defense, credited the resurgence to one thing.

“Faith,” Blackmon said. “We have the players to get it done (on defense). We just need to find that click, and I think we did tonight.”

Grain Valley (3-1, 1-0 conference) got all its turnovers in a second half in which it outscored Platte County 28-10.

Harden intercepted a tipped pass from Platte County quarterback Rocco Marriott late in the third period; senior Jace Worthington recovered a fumble on a botched handoff by Platte County and junior Aaron Barr picked off Marriott midway through the fourth period.

The Eagles did a great job at pressuring Marriott, as well. Junior linebacker Toby Inman led the Eagles with 1.5 sacks of quarterback Rocco Marriott. Seniors Jayveon Erwin and Collin Burd added one each.

“Jayveon is a kid who has been banged up a little bit,” Grain Valley head coach David Allie said. “This is the first game he’s been able to play a significant amount of reps. He’s going to be a special kid. He’s explosive.”

“Toby is one of our guys who has stepped up. He can play in the inside and outside.”

While the defense was a big reason for the win, so was senior running back Ty Williams. He continued his outstanding season as he had 339 yards rushing on 28 carries and had two catches for 63 yards with six total touchdowns.

Against Platte County, he was frequently breaking tackles and when he got into open space, he often outran the opposing defense.

“He’s a workhorse,” Allie said. “He wants the ball and we’re going to give it to him.”

Through four games, Williams has 914 yards and 14 TDs. For reference, the Eagles leading rusher last year was then quarterback Caleb Larson, who had 1,059 yards and 13 scores. Williams is on pace to pass his former teammate next week and could finish with more than 2,000 yards at season’s end.

Even with the massive amount of success he’s had so far, Williams defers the credit to his offensive.

“Shout out to my O line, they are in there day in and day out banging on each other, just to make me look better than I actually am,” Williams said.

After forcing a three-and-out on defense, Grain Valley scored on the first drive when Williams found a big hole up the middle and he ran away from the Pirate defense for a 70-yard rushing touchdown to make it 7-0.

Both teams traded empty possessions, which included an Eagle drive that resulted in a turnover on downs when Williams was stopped behind the first-down marker on a fourth-and-1 run from the Platte County 48.

The Pirates later took advantage of a pass interference penalty on the Eagles, which  gave them a first down on third-and-6. Sophomore running back Adam Gisler capped the possession with a 2-yard TD run to tie it at the 1:36 mark in the first.

With 17 seconds left in the first period, Williams broke off another big run. He fit through a small hole, kept running through a Platte County defender tugging his jersey and hit pay dirt from 32 yards out to make it 14-7.

After getting another stop, Grain Valley made it down to the Platte County red zone, but had to settle for a 19-yard field goal from senior Ben Drinkwater to go up 17-7.

On the Pirates’ ensuing drive, a 63-yard pass from Marriott to sophomore Braiden Stewart helped set up a 1-yard TD run for Gisler to cut Grain Valley’s lead to 17-14.

That score held until halftime and the Eagles (3-1, 1-0 conference) ran away with it in the final 24 minutes.

Grain Valley began the big half with Williams catching a pass from quarterback Sal Caldarella and taking it in from 61 yards out early in the third quarter to put the Eagles up 24-14.

“It was a little Texas route,” Williams said. “It was a little angle and Sal saw me. He hit me. It was all kind of a blur and I just kept running and breaking tackles.”

Williams later scored a trio of TDs on a pitch play from 13 yards out, a 1-yard plunge up the middle and an outside run to the left for 65 yards to put the exclamation point on the contest with 1:52 left.

“It’s been surreal,” Williams said of his hot start to the season. “It’s been great, it’s been fun. It wasn’t just given, it was earned. We all worked hard.”

Senior running back Ty Williams continued his outstanding season as he had 339 yards rushing on 28 carries and had two catches for 63 yards with six total touchdowns.
Photo credit: Clara Jaques

Photo credit: Clara Jaques