​Grain Valley’s offense sputters in 15-8 loss to Fort Osage

by Michael Smith
 
Grain Valley head football coach David Allie said he felt like he needed to make a change.

His Eagles were in a 8-8 deadlock halftime at against Suburban White Conference rival Fort Osage Friday as starting quarterback Chase Neer lost two fumbles and the offense had yet to score a touchdown through the first 24 minutes.

Allie turned to sophomore Ethan Page to try and have him provide a spark in the second half, but the Eagles were held scoreless by a stingy Fort Osage defense and the Indians scored late in the third period as Grain Valley fell 15-8 at Moody Murray Memorial Field.

“We felt like we needed a little bit of a spark,” Grain Valley head coach David Allie said. “Chase did well for us. He can read the defense and we ended up having too many turnovers, snap issues, whatever you want to call them. We needed to try to … not save the day … give us a little bit of extra mojo. We thought he did well for his first time getting in there.”

On the Eagles’ penultimate drive of the game, they made it to the Fort Osage 17-yard line and looked like it might have a chance to tie the game with Fort Osage being ahead 15-7. However, penalties derailed the drive and after a false start made it fourth-and-9 from the 21, the Indians pass rush made Page rush his throw and he was intercepted by Fort senior Alex Todd and the ball was placed at the Indians 22 after a block in the back penalty during the return.

A face mask penalty on the Eagles extended the ensuing drive for Fort Osage and the Indians ran all but 10 seconds left off the clock in the fourth quarter, which was aided by an 8-yard run by senior running back Ryver Peppers, who made it to the first-down marker after he ran the ball out of the wildcat formation.

The Indians (5-3, 5-1 Suburban White Conference) scored the only touchdown by either team in the second half when freshman quarterback Lucas Tucker, who was making his first varsity start of his career, hit junior wide receiver Trace Smith on a tunnel screen. Smith nearly fell down but planted his right hand on the ground, kept his balance, outraced the Grain Valley defense for 82-yard receiving TD to make it 15-8 at the 1:43 mark of the third period.

“Something broke down there,” Allie said of the screen pass. “They made a great call. We moved the ball; we just couldn’t put it in the end zone. We came close to scoring a touchdown but we either missed a block or missed a snap.”

Fort Osage’s defense bottled up the Eagles offense as the home team totaled just 154 yards from scrimmage. The Indians were the first team to hold Grain Valley senior running back Robert Palmer to under 100 yards as he had just 31 yards on 13 carries. Sophomore Sjoeren Aumua led the team with 84 yards on 13 totes.

Grain Valley got all its points in the first half. Six of them came on a pair of 32-yard field goals made by junior Colton Clyman. The second one was made as time expired in the first half and was set up by a kick return from Palmer, who caught the ball the Eagles 28-yard line and made it all the way to the Fort 12.

The Eagles also notched a safety when a bad snap got by Tucker and he was tackled out of the back of the end zone by senior linebacker Toby Inman, which gave Grain Valley (5-3, 4-2 Suburban White Conference) it first lead at 2-0 at the 6:46 mark in the first period.

Grain Valley surrendered a touchdown with 24 seconds left in the first half when Tucker connected with 6-foot-5 tight end Isaac Woodward, who made a leaping catch on the right side of the end zone for a score. The Indians added a two-point conversion on a pass from Tucker to Siri Ray to make it 8-5 before Clyman later tied it with his second field goal.

That TD was set up by Neer, who fumbled while trying to hand the ball off to freshman wide receiver Dawson head as Woodward recovered the fumble at the Eagles 36, setting them up with a short field.

“In a rivalry game like this, the team that keeps their composure and makes the fewest mistakes wins,” Allie said. “In the first half, each team matched each other mistake for mistake. Unfortunately, we made one more and that allowed them to score. We got to clean those things up.”

​Junior linebacker Hunter Nally led the Eagles defense with nine tackles and four for a loss. He also added a sack. Junior safety Brody Jones had an interception of Tucker late in the third, but Grain Valley couldn’t capitalize.

Sophomore Sjoeren Aumua led the team with 84 yards on 13 totes. Photo credit: Addie Kennedy

​Junior linebacker Hunter Nally led the Eagles defense with nine tackles and four for a loss. He also added a sack. Photo credit: Addie Kennedy