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Photo Credit: Cody Thorn/Special to PrepsKC

Complete Box Score

For the first time in a handful of years, Grain Valley won’t be breaking down an opening-week win when watching game film.

The streak of five straight wins in Week 1 for the Eagles ended with a 42-3 home loss to Smithville Friday at Moody Murry Memorial Stadium.

The Eagles were coming off a Class 5 state quarterfinal run last year but knew they had some key pieces to replace when this year started. However, there were nine total returning starters on both sides of the ball.

“Based on what we saw in the jamboree we didn’t expect this,” Grain Valley coach David Allie said. “We played like we were inexperienced and we beat ourselves quite a bit.”

The inexperience showed up in the first drive and reared its head occasionally, which helped the Warriors build a 28-0 lead at halftime.

The Eagles won the opening toss but deferred and troubles started from there. Grain Valley jumped offsides on the first play and when Smithville threw an incomplete pass that would set up third down, an unsportsmanlike penalty on Grain Valley turned into a first down and a new set of plays.

“We couldn’t get out of our own way, that is one thing with inexperience, you can’t commit unforced errors and we did that,” Allie said. “That was one goal we have that wasn’t accomplished.”

Smithville, a Class 4 state semifinalist last season, scored on the first drive and then Grain Valley went three-and-out. Down 14-0, the Eagles had another short possession, which started with an offsides call on what was a nice run by quarterback Caleb Larson.

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