On a wonderful fall evening with a good crowd in the stands, the JV Eagles went to West
Catholic HS to take on the Falcons. The first quarter was a tough one for GRC as West Catholic
took their two drives of the quarter into the endzone for TDs while the Eagles struggled to
overcome penalties and were forced to punt on their two tries.
The Falcons opened the second quarter with another TD drive and this time the Eagles were
able to answer. After a nice kickoff return by Wyatt Stuit set the Eagles up at the 37, QB Bradley
Nuiver was able to pay off some positive plays by finding Brieon Walton streaking down the
sideline for a 43-yard TD. Easton Howe completed the XP and the Eagles were on the board.
West Catholic’s next drive was moving the ball until a beautiful fourth-down pass break-up by
Justin Davis allowed the Eagles to take over again. GRC and West Catholic traded punts and
then West Catholic was able to get one more score before halftime, which featured one of the
most beautiful sunsets you’ll see!
The third quarter saw the Eagles come out fighting; driving the ball down to the 8-yard line
behind the strong O-Line play, a 24-yard strike from Nuiver to Braylon Taylor, and consistently
tough running by Justin Davis. Unfortunately, the drive stalled there on fourth down. WC took
the ball on a meandering drive for a TD but Arie Tietsma blocked the extra point. The gritty
Eagles then marched on a nearly 7-minute drive. The offensive line kept Nuiver clean in the
pocket and opened holes in the run game. The drive included a key third down completion from
Nuiver to his trusty tight end Xander Leatherman, a pin-point 30-yard strike to Braylon Taylor,
and three tough runs from the 10-yard line by Elden Grover to get the ball down to 4 th and goal
at the 3-inch-line. The whole Falcons D reacted to the play-action fake to Grover, Nuiver spun
out to his left and found Leatherman for the 1-yard score! The XP was blocked and that ended
the scoring for the game. Final score, Falcons 33, Eagles 13.
On the night, Nuiver completed 13 of 23 passes for 190 yards and 2 TDs. Elden Grover and
Justin Davis combined for 38 yards on the ground with Grover adding 24 receiving yards. Eagle
receivers were led by Braylon Taylor with 4 catches for 68 yards and Brieon Walton with 2
catches for 59 yards and a TD. Defensively, Justin Davis led the way with 5 tackles, a pass
breakup, and force fumble. Lennox Veldheer added 5 tackles of his own and Hudson Ogle had 4
solo tackles.
The Eagles will work hard this week and look to bounce back when the Hamilton Hawkeyes
come to Eagle Stadium on Thursday, October 3 for a 5:30pm OK White matchup. Let’s Roll
Eagles!