Goade has build to carry Eagles to win

Forrest Rovello isn’t one of those frantic coaches who searches for the panic button when things aren’t going right for his Grain Valley football team.
Rather than pushing the panic button, he wraps himself in his security blanket – 235-pound senior fullback/linebacker Trace Goade, who placed the Eagles on his broad shoulders and carried them to the first Class 4 playoff win in team history.
Goade would be the first person to step away from the spotlight and turn the attention to his deserving teammates.
He might be the most unassuming student/athlete I’ve had the pleasure of writing about at Grain Valley High School, but the accolades are well deserved.
Just check out this scenario:
The Eagles were in an Old West-style shootout with an explosive Hickman Mills team that seemed to have an answer for every Eagles score.
“We needed someone who could run some time off the clock and get some tough yards,” Rovello said, “so we put Trace in there.”
Goade, the only Eagle who plays both offense and defense in Rovello’s first-year platoon system, was just what the doctor ordered following a crazy Cougars touchdown in which Jerrin Walton stripped the ball from an Eagles player and returned it 22 yards to trim the Hickman Mills deficit to 28-26 with 5:18 left in the third quarter.
On back-to-back touchdown drives, Goade was the Eagles go-to back. He scored on a memorable 1-yard run in which he plowed through all four of the Cougars’ defensive linemen and then battered and bashed the Hickman Mills defense for 49 of the 63 yards on a game-deciding drive that was capped by a 5-yard Austin Gouldsmith touchdown run.
“I’m so proud to be a part of this team,” Goade said, following a 104-yard, one-touchdown rushing performance that also included an interception on defense. “I was going through a drawer the other day and all I have is blue and white (Grain Valley school colors) T-shirts and clothes. I’m an Eagle, and I’m so proud to be an Eagle.
“And I’m so proud to be a part of this team. Our line was blocking like crazy today, and Austin was doing a great job mixing things up on offense.
“You don’t win a Class 4 playoff game without everyone making a contribution.”
While he ground out so many key yards late in the game, Goade also threw a scare at his coaches and teammates when he was tackled on a helmet-to-helmet collision that sent him to the turf.
“My heart stopped,” Rovello said, “then he just bounced back up. We took him out for a play and he wanted to go right back in. That’s Trace. He’s pretty special.”
His teammates agree.
“When Trace went down, I was like, ‘What happened?’ ” offensive lineman Drew Liddle said. “We had to have him. We all breathed a sigh of relief when he got up on his own.”
Added Gouldsmith: “Trace gets the tough yards when we really need them. He was huge tonight – but everyone was huge. This was one of those rare games where all of us can get on the bus and feel like we contributed to something special.”