Close game becomes OT shootout as Grain Valley beats Raytown for district championship

At halftime, the scoreboard read 9-7.

The final score looked a lot different: Host Grain Valley edged Raytown 38-37 in triple-overtime to secure the Missouri Class 5 District 7 football championship.

If you think the second half must’ve been wild, 41 of the points scored after halftime came in overtime as the teams traded body blows.

But to even get the game to that slugfest of an overtime, Grain Valley had to march down the field and score a touchdown with 50 seconds left in regulation, trailing 17-10.

Grain Valley had attempted fewer than 15 passes all game. With no timeouts remaining, the Eagles needed their offense to produce.

Junior receiver Keagan Hart answered the call. On the game-tying drive, quarterback Caleb Larson found him three times, the third time for a touchdown in the back of the end zone.

“Keagan and I have been playing football together since we were little kids,” Larson said. “We’ve always had that connection. In clutch moments, I can rely on him.”

In addition to the last-minute touchdown, Hart accounted for Grain Valley’s only other score in regulation, a 65-yard catch-and-run in the second quarter. Playing offense, defense and special teams, he also recovered a punt that gave Grain Valley the ball near the red zone.

But football is a team sport, and no one seemed to know that better than Hart.

“I couldn’t have done this without my teammates,” he said. “I have to give them all the credit. Without them, I couldn’t do what I do.”

Grain Valley coach David Allie was more than happy to give Hart his share of the credit.

“He’s a special kid. What more can I say?” Allie said. “For him to play in all phases of the game, it shows what kind of athlete he is. It shows what he can do.”

If it was the Hart Show for four quarters, overtime belonged to Raytown’s Zhamari Gary. He scored the go-ahead TD in the second half and all three of Raytown’s scores in overtime.

Raytown coach Logan Minnick said his halftime message to Gary, who accounted for 300 yards and five touchdowns last week, was to keep pounding.

“He’s an explosive player,” Minnick said, “so you’ve just got to keep putting it in his hands. It’s like that saying in basketball: ‘Shooters keep shooting.’ We were just going to keep giving him the ball.”

After Gary’s third rushing touchdown, Raytown still trailed 37-38 in the third overtime. Minnick decided to keep his offense on the field and go for the win.

It was two-point conversion pitch to Gary ... but Grain Valley tackled him short of the goal-line.

In an epic game, Grain Valley had edged Raytown by one point, advancing to play Fort Osage in next week’s state quarterfinals.

On the decision to go for the win, Minnick said, “We asked them (his players) after the second overtime, ‘If we score again, do you guys want to go for the win?’ We had a play we had a lot of confidence in, and we were going to put the ball in Gary’s hands.

“There will be a lot of second-guessing, I’m sure, but sometimes you have to go for the win, and we definitely tried to.”

This story was originally published November 13, 2021 at 12:06 AM.