Eagles special teams sparks 34-7 win over Raytown

by Michael Smith, Grain Valley News
 
Grain Valley head football coach David Allie held out punter and kicker Colton Clyman because of leg soreness.
 
The Eagles were without their Class 5 first-team, all-state selection from 2024, so the veteran coach turned to freshman place kicker Ryan Ogle. Once Allie delivered the news to him Wednesday that he’d be the starting place kicker, the nerves set in for Ogle.
 
“He looked like a deer in the headlights,” Allie said.
 
He didn’t show it in Friday’s season opener against Raytown.
 
The freshman and junior Terrell King helped jump start an Eagles team that struggled on offense early. Ogle made a 29-yard field goal to put Grain Valley up 3-0 at halftime and King returned the opening kick of the second half 88 yards for a score to boost their team to a 34-7 victory over Raytown in Friday’s season opener at Moody Murray Memorial Field.
 
Ogle also made a 30-yarder with 4:54 left in the game to put Grain Valley up 27-0. He made three out of four extra-point attempts in his first varsity game.
 
“It was pretty nerve wracking, but I tried my best,” Ogle said. “I just focused on me and the ball. That’s all that matters. I took deep breaths.”
 
Allie was impressed with what he saw with Ogle and his right tackle, Will Page, who filled in at punter for Grain Valley and did an admirable job.
 
“Raytown called a timeout right before he made the first attempt,” Allie said of Ogle’s first field goal. “He had to rekick it and make the next one. He also had a good pooch kick that we recovered. I was really impressed that as a freshman; he did what he did.”
 
The Eagles led 3-0 after Ogle’s field goal with 6 seconds left in the first half. King then followed up by finding a huge hole in the middle for his kick return TD and he showed his speed by breaking away from the Raytown defense.
 
“I saw a wide-open gap and took it,” King said. “It was awesome. Timmy Harris had a great block on that return.”
 
That return seemed to spark the Eagles as the offense began to click after a rough first half in which the Eagles totaled 138 yards but didn’t score.
 
Sophomore Dawson Head, who lost a fumble at the Raytown 1-yard line in the first period, got redemption as he scored on touchdown runs of 2 and 79 yards in the third period. The latter came after the offensive line opened a huge hole in the middle of the field and the sophomore raced past the second level of the Blue Jays’ defense.
 
Head finished with 117 yards and two scores on nine carries. Fellow running back Sjoeren Aumua added 152 yards on 25 carries. The Eagles totaled 211 yards in the second half.
 
After Ogle’s field goal made it 27-0 late in the fourth, junior safety Owen Hames put an exclamation point on the win with an interception of Raytown quarterback Kayden Downing that he returned 28 yards for a pick six with 4:32 left.
 
“It was the most surreal moment of my life,” Hames said. “My teammates did all the work; I just caught it and ran.”
 
He was a part of an excellent defensive effort from Grain Valley as it held the Blue Jays to just 163 total yards. Seventy-four of those came on a touchdown run from senior Kaden Cannon, who scored with 3:34 left when the game was out of reach.