Raptors soar on wings of receiver Garnes

EAGLECREST 21, GRANDVIEW 14

Over the past three years, senior Victor Garnes has steadily made a case for himself as one of the best athletes in Eaglecrest history.

That case continued to build Friday night in a high-stakes Class 5A rivalry at Legacy Stadium, where the wideout had two gamechanging touchdown receptions in the No. 3 Raptors’ 21-14 victory over No. 7 Grandview.

“Obviously, we’d be dumb if we didn’t try to get him the ball when we can,” Eaglecrest coach Mike Schmitt said. “We put him in those types of game-changing situations, and then if the defense over-adjusts to him, we have other guys who can make plays. But as we saw tonight, Vic is plenty capable of making plays on his own.”

First, Garnes made a diving 27yard touchdown catch at the pylon in the second quarter to build Eaglecrest’s lead following senior Kenny Wantings’ 2-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter. The heave from senior quarterback Jalen Mergerson on fourthand-11 gave the Raptors a 14-0 advantage and all the momentum heading into halftime.

Then, after Grandview re-energized its crowd and sideline with an Aaron Harris punt block and touchdown recovery midway through the third quarter to make it a 14-7 affair, Mergerson found his favorite weapon once again.

Mergerson escaped pressure on third-and-6 to find Garnes on a slant route. He then proceeded to cut across the field and blow by the defense for a 34-yard score and a 21-7 lead the Raptors did not relinquish.

“Jalen gets his eyes downfield every play, and he constantly works on that in practice,” Garnes said. “He does a pretty good job at it, so I just always try to reward him for breaking the pocket and still looking for receivers, which is what he did tonight.”

Meanwhile the Eaglecrest demore fense, headlined by senior middle linebacker Kyante Christian and junior nose guard Matt Youngblood acting as a 324-pound plug in the middle, limited the Wolves. It wasn’t until garbage time in the fourth quarter that Grandview senior Andrew Turner’s 17-yard touchdown reception ruined the Raptors’ defensive shutout.

“There were some times there that I felt like we could have taken control of the game, but we knew we’d be good on defense,” Schmitt said. “They’re a good offense — kudos to those Grandview guys, because they showed us a lot of formations and a lot of different schemes, but our boys were able to adjust on the fly.”

With the win, Eaglecrest proved last season’s 36-29 shootout win — at that time the Raptors’ first victory over Grandview since 2009 — was no fluke as the program continues to display a new brand of physicality to match the talent that it has long possessed.

And if Garnes — who also played a pivotal role in Eaglecrest basketball’s run to the state championship last winter and ran in multiple relays during this spring’s state track championships — keeps making plays at this rate, Eaglecrest is more than capable of building off its 2016 quarterfinal appearance.