By NICHOLAS KIMBALL and DELBERT PETERS

Staff writers

Goessel

Friday’s game at Wakefield was dominated by the Bluebirds.

Nine different players scored for Goessel, with the Bombers unable to score for the first 11 minutes of the game.

The Bluebirds led 25-0 at the end of the first quarter and by 40-7 at the half. With a rotation of substitutes, Goessel continued to lead 47-16 at the end of the third period, allowing the fourth quarter to be played with a running clock.

Goessel won by a final score of 53-24.

Noah Schrag led the team with 14 points, followed by Jack Nickel’s 11 points and Koy Smith’s 8.

In a make-up game, the Bluebirds traveled Saturday to Little River. Goessel led 10-9 at the end of one period, but the home team scored six consecutive points in the second quarter and led 19-13 at the half.

Little River pushed to its biggest lead, nine points, but Koy Smith and Noah Schrag connected on three-pointers to cut the deficit to three at the end of three quarters.

Two baskets by Jack Nickel gave the Bluebirds a 31-30 lead beginning the fourth quarter. Goessel trailed by two points with 4.1 seconds to play.

The Bluebirds executed a full- court play that ended with Javin Schmidt getting a high percentage goal just before the buzzer rang, sending the game into overtime.

Goessel snatched a two-point lead as Jake Flaming sank two free throws. Errant passes by the Bluebirds forced them to foul, and Little River hit 7 of 10 free throws to win the game, 51-48.

Noah Schrag ended with 17 points, followed by Jack Nickel with 12 and Koy Smith with 9.

Goessel (7-7) will have home Wheat State League games this week with matches Canton Galva (7-7) and Herington (5-9).

Hillsboro

Off to a slow start in the first half, Hillsboro was unable to battle back Friday against Hesston, losing 55-35.

Wyatt Plenert and Lincoln Wichert both scored 10 points each. Noah Beavers scored eight.

Seth Driggers pulled down five rebounds on both offense and defense. Plenert had five rebounds on defense.

“We really struggled to score in the first half and slow down their scoring,” coach Kyle Kroeker said. ‘We dug ourselves a large hole that we weren’t able to overcome.

“Hesston is a tough team, and we will use this experience to prepare us for the remainder of the season.”

The Trojans (7-7) will be host Friday to Halstead (4-10).

Marion

The Warriors lost 74-38 on the road Friday against Sterling,.

Jack Lanning put up 14 points, and Jonathan Frese scored 12.

Frese pulled down four rebounds, but Jackson Howard led the team with five. Kadon Mercer pulled down four as well.

“We battled throughout the game but gave too many second-chance opportunities,” coach Donald Raymer said. “Cole Smith played really well, but was in foul trouble most of the game. Lanning and Frese carried us offensively when Cole was out.

“It was a good game to see where we were at leading into this next week.”

Marion (7-7) will be back on the road Friday to play Ell-Saline (10-2).

Centre

Centre was unable to make it close Friday against Little River, losing 62-35 on the road.

Santiago Knepp, Nick Krch, and Robert Spohn were the top scorers for Centre.

The Cougars (3-12) will look to sweep Peabody-Burns (2-12) Friday.

Peabody-Burns

The Warriors lost to Canton-Galva at home 73-40 at homecoming Friday.

Peabody-Burns (2-12) will be on the road for revenge Friday playing county rival Centre (3-12) for the second time this season.