Grain Valley senior running back Ty Williams accomplished something few others have in the history of Missouri High School football.
Coming into Friday’s Class 5 District 8 semifinal game against William Chrisman, he had 1,905 rushing yards and 25 touchdowns coming in.
Not only is he having a Simone Award worthy season, but he also obtained the rare feat of rushing for over 2,000 yards in season. Against the Bears, he had 179 yards and four TDs, bringing his season total to 2,087 rushing and 29 scores during a 49-8 victory at Moody Murry Memorial Field.
“I give the credit to God, without him, none of this is possible,” Williams said. “Shout out to my O line. They’re the ones getting beat up and dirty. I just get the glory from it.”
Grain Valley (9-1) will now play Platte County at 7 p.m. next Friday in the district championship game at home. The Pirates defeated Fort Osage 28-21 in the other semifinal.
According to MSHSAA.org, only 25 players have rushed for more than 2,000 yards in a season. Williams became the 26th on Friday as he hit the milestone on a 24-yard run on the Eagles’ second drive of the game.
“He’s so humble about it,” Grain Valley head coach David Allie said of Williams. “He’s getting close to being the school record holder.
“He’s blessed with talent. He knows it’s not all about him. It’s about the guys blocking for him and the quarterback putting him in the right positions.”
Williams is a player opposing teams have had to focus on when going over the defensive game plan. He draws a lot of attention but still manages to gash his opponents on the ground time after time.
“He has enough acceleration to get away from a defense and he runs his feet on contact,” Chrisman head coach Michael Rose-Ivey said. “I am interested to see how many yards he gets before first contact.
“They do a really good job blocking up front. They have a very simplistic scheme, but it’s hard to stop because of the angles.”
The senior is a powerful runner who runs over defenders and breaks tackles frequently and also has the speed to break off long touchdown runs when he gets into open space. His agility has also been impressive as he’s deked multiple defenders by making cuts at the perfect times.
“Everyone thinks I am super big, so I am going to run everyone over,” Williams said. “At the last second, I cut the other way, and it catches them off guard.”
He showed his explosiveness and elusiveness on the Eagles first drive of the contest. After a high snap led to a 22-yard loss and a holding penalty pushed back the Eagles another nine yards, Williams broke off a 54-yard run by dodging two tacklers to pick up a first down.
He ended up scoring on runs of 5, 5, 7 and 20 in the first half.
“It’s almost a guaranteed touchdown every time he touches the ball,” Grain Valley junior defensive back Jordan Fuller said.
The defensive focus on Williams allowed senior quarterback Sal Caldarella to have an impact in the rushing attack as he rushed for 77 yards on six carries. He scored on a 17-yard scramble on a play action passing play early in the first quarter.
“He had a big run against Chrisman last time,” Allie said of Caldarella. “He’s even more of a threat. He’s going to have those opportunities to do that in the playoff with Ty getting a lot of attention.”
Junior DJ Harris, who has played at linebacker for the majority of the season, scored the Eagles final touchdown on a 5-yard run late in the third.
Meanwhile, on defense, the Eagles varsity defense held the Bears to just 107 yards of total offense. Chrisman scored its lone touchdown on a 67-yard dump off pass from quarterback Declan Watson to running back Lance Nauer against Grain Valley’s second-string defense.
The Eagles also had two interceptions of Watson, one of which was a 25-yard return for a pick six from Fuller.
“I did a lot of preparation and worked my butt off in practice,” Fuller said. “It showed in the game.”
Grain Valley senior Jayveon Irvin led the Eagles defense with four tackles, two of which were for loss.
