Eagles lean on running game to win sixth district title in seven years

by Michael Smith, Grain Valley News
 
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Last season was a rare one for the Grain Valley football team.
 
The Eagles didn’t win a district championship for the first time in five years as they fell to Webb City 21-9 in the semifinals of the district tournament.
 
They were back in familiar territory Friday as the Grain Valley took on Raytown in the Class 5 District 7 championship at Moody Murray Memorial Field.
 
The Eagles leaned on sophomore running back Dawson Head and the running game as he totaled 290 yards and three touchdowns on a whopping 35 carries to help lead his team to its sixth district title in the last seven years following a 49-28 victory.
 
Grain Valley (9-3) will advance to the Class 5 quarterfinals to face the defending state champion Platte County Pirates at 7 p.m. next Friday at home.
 
Following the game the Eagles circled around head coach David Allie, jumped up and down and shouted with jubilation as the veteran coach held the district championship plaque up high.
 
“The work ethic, leadership and determination has all been great this season,” Allie said. “That’s a quality win. They had a good record. That was a big-boy win for us.”
 
Once again, Grain Valley’s high-touted offensive line and Head did the heavy lifting for Grain Valley on offense. Head grinded out some tough yards as he scored on TDs of 7 and 9 in the first half.
 
He said his weakness of his coming in 2025 was being a physical, between-the-tackles runner as he was known more for his speed prior to the season. In the playoffs he showed his physicality and opposing defenses have had a tough time bringing him down.
 
On his 9-yard TD run that put the team up 14-7 at the 3:08 mark in the second period, he powered through a Raytown tackler to make his way into the end zone.
 
“I had never been a physical runner,” Head said. “I worked on getting better and better at that every week and it’s paid off.”
 
Head got the opportunity to be the lead back for the Eagles after junior Sjoeren Aumua went down with a broken collarbone in a Week 6 loss to Kearney. From the game against the Bulldogs going forward, Head has exploded for 1,367 yards and 21 touchdowns on the ground.
 
Head has accomplished in six games what a lot of running backs don’t in a full nine-game regular season and one playoff game.
 
“It all starts with the guys up front and Dawson will tell you that,” Allie said. “Coach (Mike) Tarrants does a great job with our offensive line. Dawson has definitely improved at being physical and breaking tackles. He got some tough yards today. He earned them all.”
 
The sophomore did get some help from junior wide receiver Terrell King, who made arguably the biggest play of the game. With nine seconds left, Grain Valley quarterback Cohen Morris connected with King near the right sideline at the Raytown 20.
 
King quickly turned around, raced past a Blue Jay cornerback and outran the rest of the defense for a 40-yard TD reception as time expired to put Grain Valley ahead 21-7 going into halftime.
 
“I saw the (defensive back) drop down and take the three, so I was wide open,” King said. “I saw I could make the spin there and get into the end zone.”
 
On their first drive of the second half, the Eagles created separation as a block from left guard Logan Bennett paved the way for Head to score on a 35-yard run untouched to make it 28-7 at the 7:22 mark in the third.
 
The Blue Jays (7-5) never got closer than two scores the rest of the way as sophomore running back Brody Davis scored on a 1-yard run, King returned a squib kick 67 yards for a touchdown on a kickoff and half back Zach Dowhower scored the Eagles final TD with 2:19 left on a 10-yard run up the middle on a scissor run play concept.
 
Raytown got its only touchdown in the first half on a 14-yard strike from quarterback Kayden Downing to wide receiver Jayden Davis. The Blue Jays had a 19-yard touchdown pass from Downing to wide receiver Roger Haney waived off due to a chop block penalty. Had the score held, the score would have been tied at 14-14. The Blue Jays turned the ball over on downs on that possession
 
In the second half, Downing connected on TD passes of 38 and 11 to Haney. Senior Aaron Giles scored on a 1-yard run midway through the fourth on a drive set up by a recovered onside kick for Raytown.
 
But in the end, the Eagles had a big enough cushion to withstand Raytown’s late push. They will now turn their attention to the Pirates, who defeated the Eagles 54-23 in the regular season.
 
“We will have to do what we did this week,” Head said when asked what it would take to get past Platte County. “We need to stick to our assignments, execute and play our style of football.”

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