​Eagles suffer key injuries, fall to Kearney 28-14

by Michael Smith, Grain Valley News
 
The Grain Valley football team had a tough challenge ahead of it.
 
The Eagles went up against Class 4 No. 1-ranked Kearney Friday on the road. The Bulldogs aren’t your average Class 4 team. They had some big wins against Class 6 squads this season, including victories over Park Hill and North Kansas City.
 
Grain Valley was going up against the favorites to win the Class 4 title. Not only that, misfortune hit the team during the game.
 
Junior running back Sjoeren Aumua, who was having a breakout season coming in with 702 yards rushing and seven touchdowns, exited the game in the first period with a right shoulder injury. Starting corner back Jack Fuller also suffered a shoulder injury of his own shortly after and had to sit out the rest of the game.
 
In the fourth period, the senior defensive tackle Maui Sua appeared to have cramps and hopped on one leg to the sideline late in the game. Even through all the injuries, the Eagles put up a fight thanks to a solid defensive effort and career night from sophomore running back Dawson Head, but they ultimately fell 28-14.
 
“Having two running backs helps a lot, so losing Sjoeren hurts,” Grain Valley head football coach David Allie said. “We lost Jack, too. We don’t know how long they’re going to be out. Hopefully they are going to be OK. We’ll see.”
 
After Sjoeren exited the game, Head stepped up and delivered a 144-yard, two touchdown performance. His efforts, combined with Grain Valley defense that held Kearney scoreless in the second half until the final minute, helped keep the team in the contest.
 
“Dawson is a good running back,” Allie said. “He runs the ball well. He ran the ball hard tonight. He trusted himself and trusted his speed.”
 
Kearney dominated time of possession in the first half and limited Grain Valley to just three drives. Junior quarterback Carter Temple came up big on a third-and-13 play in which he was almost sacked by Grain Valley defensive end Max Allen, but he slipped out of the attempt, scrambled to his right and found tight end Drew Nelson for a 33-yard pass to the Grain Valley 44-yard line.
 
Later in the drive, he converted a fourth-and-1 by gaining two yards on a quarterback keeper up the middle. He finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run out of the ham formation to make it 7-0 after his team milked 6 minutes and 38 seconds off the clock.
 
After the Bulldogs defense forced a three-and-out on Grain Valley’s first possession, Kearney got a first down on a third-and-10 and fourth-and-two. The latter was converted on a seven-yard pass from Temple to running back Matthew Lindsey on a slant route. The drive was capped by a 6-yard TD run from Temple with 8:07 left in the half to put the Bulldogs ahead 14-0.
 
Head gained 31 yards on his first rush and eventually scored on a 1-yard run during the Eagles’ second possession to cut Kearney’s lead to 14-7 at the 5-minute mark.
 
The Bulldogs made it to the Grain Valley 13 but couldn’t get a first down on fourth-and-3 after a Temple pass intended for Nelson fell incomplete on the following possession. The Eagles went three-and-out on their next drive, which gave Kearney the ball back with 46 seconds left in the half following a Colton Clyman punt.
 
That’s when Kearney had its biggest play of the contest when Temple hit Hendrix for a 44-yard screen pass that resulted in a score as the junior running back broke four tackles on his way to the end zone to make it 21-7 going into halftime.
 
“They shortened the game,” Allie said of Kearney. “We only had so many possessions and we didn’t capitalize on those.”
 
Head helped cut the lead to 21-14 on a 14-yard jaunt as he hit pay dirt untouched at the 5:38 mark in the third.
 
Early in the fourth period, Grain Valley (4-2) had a chance to tie it as the offense got the ball to the Bulldog 18. But on fourth-and-5, a pass from quarterback Chase Neer intended for tight end Landon Marriott, who was in the end zone, was broken up by senior cornerback Brad Doll.
 
Kearney followed up with another clock-killing drive that ended with a missed 21-yard field goal from Nelson with 2:29 left in the game, giving the Eagles life. However, Grain Valley had a turnover on downs as a low snap resulted in Neer getting sacked on fourth down by Isaac Beaver.
 
Kearney took over at the Eagles 18 and Temple capped the scoring with a 14-yard TD run.
 
“We have to execute and we didn’t do that,” Allie said. Physically, we played well. We have to fix a few things. We have to put together a complete game.”