The Class 4 District 13 opener went Grain Valley’s way Friday night.
Despite a big edge in statistics, the Eagles held on for a 21-18 victory over Warrensburg.
Trace Goade rushed 22 times for 129 yards in sparking the Eagles, who had 19 first downs and 395 total yards while holding the Tigers to 5 and 212.
Three first half touchdowns stood up for the Eagles (4-4).
“We came out in the first half and played pretty well on offense and defense,” Grain Valley coach Forrest Rovello said. “We hadn’t played good defense all year. But in the second half we had a lapse and went down the wrong road. We turned the ball over three times and made it a ballgame.
“We had twice as many yards, 19 first downs to their 5 and what’s the way it has been all year long. We put up a lot of numbers but don’t have a lot to show for it.
Two second quarter touchdowns built a 21-6 halftime lead that stood up for the Eagles.
In the first quarter Robby Sodano scored on a 1-yard run and Alec Velasquez kicked the first of three extra points that proved to be the Eagles winning margin.
Quarterback Austin Gouldsmith plunged 1 yard and passed 37 yards to David Richards for second-quarter Grain Valley touchdowns.
James Lafernier ran 43 yards for a Warrensburg touchdown.
The Tigers made it 21-12 in the third quarter on Alex Kostas’ 15 yard pass from Layton Moore and then closed to within 21-18 in fourth quarter on Andrew Frencken’s 5-yard run.
RAYTOWN 34, KC NORTHEAST 8: Justen Mack scored a pair of touchdowns to lead the host Blue Jays (2-6, 1-0) to a Class 5 District 9 win over the Vikings (1-7, 0-1).
The meeting was the first between the two schools since the 1960 season when Raytown prevailed 13-0. The two teams played 10 times between 1951 to 1960 with Raytown holding an 8-1-1 series edge.
Mack scored first for the Blue Jays on a 2-yard run. He also tallied his team’s final TD on an 8-yard run.
Avery Adair hauled in a 17-yard pass from T.J. Taibi to give Raytown a 14-0 lead at halftime.
Anthony Sylvan scored twice for the Blue Jays in the third quarter. The first on a 3-yard run and the second on a 27-yard fumble recovery.
Taibi kicked four of five extra point attempts to round out the Raytown scoring.
PLATTSBURG 47, VAN HORN 6: The Falcons (0-8) enjoyed the first quarter of their Class 3 District 2 opener against the Tigers (6-2) at Plattsburg.
Jace Banner returned the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown to give the Falcons an early 6-0 advantage and it held up until the second quarter.
In the second quarter, the Tigers scored 21 points and added 19 in the third quarter to put the game out of reach.
