Goessel proves it can play with the best
By DELBERT PETERS
Sports writer
Goessel High School football team fell into an early hole Friday against Hope, and never recovered.
After Hope took a 20-0 lead, Goessel began advancing with a string of first downs. Hope intercepted a pass deep in their own territory to kill the drive. A fumble recovered by Wade Wilson gave the Bluebirds the ball on Hope's 23-yard line.
Goessel's first touchdown came with 3:11 to play in the half. Justin Fensky took the ball across the goal line to make the score 20-6.
The Lions countered with a long run and another touchdown before halftime making the score 28-6. In the third quarter both defenses worked well causing the other team to punt twice. Goessel began to march with long gains from Fensky, Adam Goering, and Garrett Hiebert.
With 1:21 to play in the third quarter, Goering scored for the Bluebirds from the one-yard line, cutting the lead to 28-12.
On the next play, Zeb Elliot put the wheels in motion and sprinted the length of the field to score again for Hope. The third quarter ended with the Lions leading 34-12.
Goessel again was successful moving the ball in the fourth quarter. A fourth- down-and-five resulted in a Bluebird touchdown as Chad Schrag caught a Hiebert pass from the six yard line to make the score 34-18.
The ensuing onsides kick failed, but the Bluebird defense held, forcing the Lions to punt. A long pass to Kyle Unruh from Hiebert gave the Bluebird fans hope for another score.
Brett Goerzen caught a pass getting Goessel down to the six-yard line. Several plays later, Hiebert followed the blocking of his linemen, Alex Drake and Tyler Schroeder to score from the one yard line with 2:53 to play in the game to cut the lead to 10.
This time the Nick Cooper onsides kick did work and the Bluebirds had the ball near their own 40-yard line.
With 1:56 to play, the Hope defense held on fourth down, forcing the Bluebirds to turn the ball over near the end of the game.
Hope is now 4-0 and was ranked fifth in the state by some polls.
Goessel moves to 3-2 overall and 0-1 in district play. The top two teams from each district move on to the bi-district level and the Bluebirds now hope to win four games in a row to assure themselves second place in District 3.
The Bluebirds will host Marais des Cygnes Valley next Friday for another district match-up.
