Turnovers doom Eagles in 33-14 season opening loss

by Michael Smith

One major concern Grain Valley head football coach David Allie had following last week’s preseason jamboree was turnovers.
In the preseason scrimmage against Liberty North and Lee’s Summit, the Eagles committed a total of four turnovers, and that was something the veteran coach wanted to clean up before Friday’s season opener against Fort Osage.
What happened in the jamboree seemed to carry over to the Eagles at Fort Osage High School. Grain Valley gave the Indians great field position throughout the game as it committed five turnovers in a 33-14 loss.
Grain Valley quarterback Caleb Larson completed 19 of 32 passes for 169 yards and also rushed for 54 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown. However, he threw three interceptions.
Senior Keagan Hart and Larson each had a fumble after a Fort Osage defender punched the ball out of their grasp.
“Our No. 1 goal was to secure the football and we did not do that,” Grain Valley head coach David Allie said. “They scored on four of the five turnovers. It kills you.”
“You can’t turn the ball over because, one, it takes away our opportunity; and two, it gives them an opportunity and they capitalized on it.”
After both teams struggled on offense for the first few drives, Grain Valley struck first when it scored in a 49-yard drive that ended with a 7-yard scoring run by sophomore DJ Harris, who went into the endzone untouched on a run to the right side with 5:32 left in the second period.
Later in the half, Grain Valley quarterback Caleb Larson was pressured by three Fort Osage pass rushers and he tried to lob a pass to wide receiver Noah Olah, but the ball was intercepted by Fort senior Roman Tillman and returned to the Grain Valley 32.
That led to defensive tackle Brock Branstietter scoring on a 1-yard run to tie it at 7 with 1:49 left in the half.
Grain Valley immediately followed that up with another turnover as Larson threw a screen to senior Keagan Hart, who fumbled after getting hit and Fort Osage junior Devin Jennings recovered the ball at the Eagles 29. Sophomore running back Ryver Peppers later broke loose for a 20-yard jaunt, led by a block by Branstietter to make it 14-7, which was the halftime score.
We wore them down in the first half,” Allie said. “We were driving it and we threw an interception. Then we had another drive that led to nothing.”
Fort Osage increased the margin to 17-7 on its opening drive of the second half following a 42-yard field goal from Xander Shepherd. However, Grain Valley answered back with an 80-yard drive capped by Larson’s 4-yard TD run to narrow the gap to 17-14 with 7:30 left in the third.
After getting a stop on defense, Grain Valley made it into Fort Osage territory but the turnover bug bit it again as Larson threw another interception that was returned by senior Lorenzo Fenner to the Eagles 32, which eventually led to the 32-yard touchdown pass from Menne to Peppers on fourth-and-9, making it 23-14 after a failed 2-point conversion attempt.
Grain Valley had yet another turnover on the ensuing possession, which was recovered by the Indians. That eventually led to a 22-yard field goal from Shepherd with 7:30 remaining in the fourth.
“Our No. 1 goal was to secure the football and we did not do that,” Grain Valley head coach David Allie said. “They scored on four of the five turnovers. It kills you.”
Fort Osage then put the game away with 3:52 left when backup running back Jeffrey Alexander scored on a 41-yard run along the right sideline.
Despite the loss, Allie said he was pleased with his defense. Hart led the team in tackles with 11.5. Junior defensive lineman Colin Burd had a team-high 3.5 tackles for loss.
“Our defense played lights out but we had our defense out there for too many minutes,” Allie said.

Correction: Story corrected 8:10am 8/27/22 to reflect two fumbles were on Hart, Larson.

Grain Valley quarterback Caleb Larson completed 19 of 32 passes for 169 yards and also rushed for 54 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown. Photo credit; Clara Jaques 

Grain Valley struck first when it scored in a 49-yard drive that ended with a 7-yard scoring run by sophomore DJ Harris. Photo credit: Clara Jaques

Larson’s 4-yard TD run narrowed the gap to 17-14 with 7:30 left in the third. Photo credit: Clara Jaques

Photo credit: John Overstreet