​‘Perfect’ week of practice for Eagles leads to 47-0 rout of Cardinals

by Michael Smith


Grain Valley head coach David Allie and his players said they thought they had their best week of practice going into Friday’s game against Raytown South.

It showed as the Eagles dominated and controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball as they cruised to 47-0 blowout on the road.

A point of emphasis in practice was improving the snap exchange between center Korbyn Goodwin and quarterback Chase Neer. Last week, the Eagles lost two fumbles due to two muffed snaps in a 35-6 victory over Ruskin.

It was something Neer and Goodwin got down during practice as the snap exchanges between the two out of the shotgun and pistol formations were perfect on Friday. That led to a strong day on offense as Grain Valley totaled 342 yards from scrimmage.

“It was all about preparation,” said Goodwin, who is playing at center for the first time in his career. “Our scout defensive line was a big help. They represented Raytown South’s D line pretty well in practice.

“We have been working on snaps before and after practice. Our coaches helped drive us to do that.”

Grain Valley senior DJ Harris echoed similar sentiments.

“There are good practices and there are perfect ones,” Harris said. “This week was just straight perfection. We were all locked in. We had very few mental mistakes.”

Getting the snaps down between Neer and Goodwin was critical for Grain Valley to continue to utilize the same style of offense throughout the season.

“If those issues continued, we were going to have to change our offense or at least how our base offense works,” Allie said. “They did a great job working on that all week.”

The Eagles (4-1, 4-1 Suburban White Conference) scored on seven consecutive possessions in the first half and didn’t have to punt once. The running game was humming and was led by senior running back Robert Palmer, who had 162 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries as he continued his Simone Award finalist campaign. Right now, he had 959 yards on the round through five games.

Palmer scored from 3 and 26 yards out, both on pitch plays in which he went into the end zone untouched. Harris, who returned from a one-game suspension last week for disciplinary reasons, had 21 yards and two TDs on eight carries.

He had scoring runs of 1 and 2, both on fourth down. His 2-yard TD came out of a two-back set that head coach David Allie seemed to go to when the Eagles either needed a score or a first down.

“That was the Pirate formation,” Harris said. “We have some dogs in the backfield. We’re pretty deep. Our run game is excellent. We probably have the best running back trio in the district.”

The third part of that running back trio is sophomore Sjoeren Aumua. He had 47 yards on three carries and scored on an 18-yard run in which he got the edge on the left and out ran the Cardinals defense out of a hurry-up offense.

Neer got in on the action in the passing game with 38.9 seconds left in the first half as he connected with senior wide receiver Aaron Barr for a 39-yard TD on a corner route to the left side. Backup quarterback Cohen Morris, a freshman, capped the score with his first career TD on a 22-yard run late in the third period.

“They had man coverage so we had a couple of guys go in and opened up the out to Aaron,” Allie said. Aaron made a great catch and Chase put it right on the money.”

Meanwhile, the Grain Valley defense dominated and didn’t allow South to get a first down until the 5:33 mark in the second period. The Eagles limited the Cardinals to just 142 total yards with a good chunk of that coming against Grain Valley’s backups.

Junior safety Brody Jones had an interception of South quarterback Landen Harden in the third period and junior defensive back Traves Watson picked off a tipped pass in the end zone after the Cardinals drove the ball to the Eagles 3 late in the fourth to help preserve the shutout.

“We were more focused and there was less joking around,” senior linebacker Aiden Woodrome said. “Every game this year, the defensive line has been the core. That has set us up for success.

​“I used to argue with Brody on who would have more interceptions. I can’t anymore. He has more than me.”

Grain Valley senior running back DJ Harris rushed for 21 yards and two touchdowns on eight carries. Photo credit: Michael Smith

Grain Valley senior center Korbyn Goodwin led on offensive line that had one of its best games of the season after the team total 342 yards. Photo credit: Michael Smith