Multiple seniors pitch in to Eagles 43-7 blowout of Belton

by Michael Smith


Friday’s Senior Night game against Belton could not have gone much better for the Grain Valley football team.

At least one senior was involved in every touchdown scored and two seniors made a huge impact for a surging Eagles defense.

Seniors like Gabe Storment, Braylon Harden, Ty Williams, Sal Caldarella, and Tyler Wyzard were among those who contributed in the team’s 43-7 blowout of Pirates at Moody Murray Memorial Field.

Friday was the first time the Eagles got to play their backups in the fourth quarter all season because the seniors helped build such a big lead.

Head coach David Allie credited a much improved defense that started the season giving up 33.3 points per game in the first three contests. As of late, that unit is starting to stymie opposing offense, holding them to just 16.3 per game.

The Eagles are getting better at stopping the run game as of late and that was apparent against Belton. They held Belton senior running back Javon Minor to just 66 yards on 24 carries. They only allowed 73 on the ground and 165 yards total to the Pirates.

“That’s their bread and butter, they like to run the ball,” Gabe Storment said. “Everyone on defense just honed in. When we stopped the run, we made them throw the ball. When they threw it, we forced them into mistakes.

“It was an overall dominant performance from the defense.”

Grain Valley (5-1) not only limited the yards allowed, but it forced four turnovers.

Senior cornerback Braylon Harden had a ball thrown right to him from Belton quarterback Cooper Shrum for an interception late in the first, Storment picked off Shrum twice and sophomore recovered a fumble forced by junior DJ Harris late in the contest on a run from Kyron Tharp.

Storment nearly had his first career pick-six when he caught a wobbler from Shrum at the Grain Valley 31-yard line and took it all the way to the Belton 5 before getting tackled.

“I saw everyone running and I was just trying to make some cuts,” Storment said. “I got inside the 4 and I thought I was going to get there but their quarterback was just sitting there squatting.”

While the Eagles defense dominated, their offense continued to hum. Through the first five games, Williams, a running back, has been the key cog to the engine of the Eagles offense.

Coming into Friday’s Suburban White Conference against Belton, the senior running back had 1,102 yards rushing and 16 TDs with an average of 220.4 yards per game. He also had eight catches for 243 yards and three touchdowns through the air.

He still had a sparkling performance against the Pirates as he rushed for 191 yards on 18 carries and a score, but there were other Eagles who joined in on the fun.

Caldarella led the offense by completing 7 of 9 passes for 143 yards and two scores and he also ran the ball five times for 29 yards and two more TDs. He connected with five different receivers and threw accurate passes from all ranges Friday night.

He hit tight end Eli Monrian for an 11-yard TD pass in the back of the end on a play action pass at the 5:33 mark in the first. With 6:40 left in the first half he scored on a 2-yard run on a run-pass option play to put Grain Valley up 14-0.

Belton scored with 1:14 remaining in the first half on a 1-yard scoring run from senior running back Javon Minor to narrow the gap to 14-7.

But after that, it was all Eagles as Caldarella continued his stellar night by throwing a deep pass to junior wide receiver Aaron Barr, who made a leaping TD grab from 27 yards out with a defensive back all over him to put the Eagles (5-1) up 21-7 going into halftime.

“It was awesome to see that,” Caldarella said of Barr’s TD grab. “I have been putting more trust into my non go-to guys over the week. He came down and made a great play on the ball.”

Caldarella capped his special senior night with a 5-yard TD run on another run-pass option play with 11:27 left in the game.

Williams did his thing earlier in the third period when he scored on a 71-yard jaunt after breaking a tackle, making one cut, and outrunning the Belton defense. But he wasn’t the only running back to shine as Wyzard had eight carries for 36 yards and had a 3-yard scamper into the end zone as he earned a season-high in touches.

​“It felt great,” Wyzard said. “I am glad I am getting more reps. I have definitely been working really hard.” 

Photo credit: Clara Jaques