​Eagles respond to early TD with a vengeance in 61-16 rout

by Michael Smith


It took just one throw from William Chrisman to light a fire under the Grain Valley football team.

The Eagles scored on their opening drive to lead 6-0 after a failed 2-point try early in its Friday night game at home.

Their Suburban White Conference foe was aggressive on the first play of their drive when Bears sophomore quarterback Connor Elliott took advantage of a broken coverage in the Grain Valley secondary for a 69-yard touchdown pass to senior Jamir Robinson-Smith, who caught the pass and ran untouched into the end zone.

Chrisman led 8-6 after the play and a successful two-point conversion throw from Elliott to Robinson-Smith, but after that, it was all Grain Valley.

“That woke us up,” Grain Valley head coach David Allie said. “We don’t want that to happen. That did seem to get a fire under them. That was a pretty explosive half.”

The Eagles scored a whopping 55 unanswered points en route to a 61-16 thumping of the Bears at Moody Murray Memorial Field.

After the early Bears TD Grain Valley looked like an angry football team. It scored nine consecutive touchdowns, senior safety Gabe Storment recovered an onside kick when his team was up 20-8 in the first quarter.   

Senior wide receiver Anthony Greco didn’t mince words about how he felt after the Bears (4-4, 1-2) went up by two points.

“Don’t do that,” Greco said. “Don’t go for (a two-point conversion). That will piss everyone off.”

The win seals at least a share of the Suburban White Conference title and the No. 1 seed in the Class 5 District 7 tournament for Grain Valley. It has a big enough cushion in the district point totals between them and the current No. 2 seed Fort Osage. The Eagles have 47.35 points, while the Indians have 40.22. The Eagles also own the tie breaker over Fort Osage because of a 46-42 win over the Indians in the first game of the season.

The No. 1 seed also comes with rewards– a first-round bye and homefield advantage throughout districts.

“Unfortunately, we have been bit by the injury bug,” Allie said. “Cam Nelson didn’t play because of a concussion. If we can get healthy, that bye week will help us. We have a pretty good team that has a chance to make some noise.”

The Eagles (7-1, 3-0) got big performance from quarterback Sal Caldarella and running back Ty Williams as they ran away from the Bears early on. The Eagles led 34-8 after the first period and 61-8 at halftime.

Williams continued his Simone Award worthy season as he totaled 204 yards on 23 carries and two scores on the ground. He also caught two passes for 73 yards and a TD. He scored Grain Valley’s first TD as he was wide open in the flat and Caldarella hit him for a 45-yard catch and run.

He also had two rushing scores in the second period of 41 and 5 yards. The former came after he made one cut to evade a defender and stiff armed another on his way to the end zone. The latter came on a toss play in the red zone.

“Ty Williams is a beast, man,” Chrisman head coach Michael Rose-Ivey said. “He’s going to play ball at the next level and do some really good things.”

But Williams wasn’t the only Eagle to get over 100 yards rushing as Caldarella totaled 103 on the ground and two scores. He also connected on 7 of 8 passes for 201 yards and four more TDs through the air.

On his two rushing scores beat the Chrisman defense on the right side as he went in untouched from 27 yards out in the first. In the same quarter, he ran a play action pass and scrambled for a 64-yard score. He did a pump fake that got a Chrisman cornerback to jump and he outran the defense the rest of the way.

In addition to the scoring pass to Williams, he hit an open Jaxon Anderson for a 33-yard TD, rifled a 5-yarder to tight end Peyton Woodrome in the end zone and threw one deep to Greco for a 75-yard trip to pay dirt.

“That was definitely the most touchdowns I have ever had in a game,” Caldarella said, “but honestly, my offensive line blocked great and executed perfectly.”

Greco, who missed the first five games because of a leg injury, is starting to return to form and Caldarella is excited to have him back.

“We have been talking about this for easily over a year,” Caldarella said of being able to play with Greco. “I am glad we can finally come true.”

Added Greco of his first TD of the season: “I have been waiting way to long for this, man. It’s great to be back on the field with the guys.”

The Eagles’ other score came on a 27-yard run from senior Tyler Wyzard. On defense, the Grain Valley defense held the Bears to just 270 yards of offense. Only 127 of those came against the varsity defense while the rest came against the backups.

Junior Aaron Barr led the Eagles on defense with two interceptions of Elliott.

“I think we got good chemistry with all 11 guys,” said Barr, whose defense has allowed just 17 points per game in their last five. “We have just been playing really good football lately.”

Afteward, Chrisman head coach Michael Rose-Ivey had high praise for Grain Valley.

“Grain Valley does a great job of getting their kids in the weight room,” Rose-Ivey said. “They really buy in. It’s a one high school town so that’s something that works to their advantage. That is a program I want to be like and emulate.”

Photo credit: Clara Jaques