Bluebirds played Burden Tuesday night

By DELBERT PETERS

Sports writer

On a windy, rainy Thursday night, the Goessel football team hosted Pretty Prairie in a title game for the district championship. Both teams came into this game 5-0 in district play.

Unfortunately for the Bluebirds, they were defeated by the visiting Bulldogs, 26-16.

Goessel took the ball into the end zone on their first possession, with Cameron Stultz going 37 yards off the right tackle. Tyler Schmidt found Weston Hiebert for the extra points and the Bluebirds led, 8-0.

 Pretty Prairie had to punt as Alex Ross, Weston Hiebert, and Bryant Miller stopped the Bulldogs rushing game. The Bluebirds turned the ball over to Pretty Prairie on fourth down but again key tackles from Trey Schmidt and Ross forced the Bulldogs to punt.

With 1:36 left in the first quarter, a Bulldog defensive lineman got his hands on a slippery pass and ran the ball back to the end zone to tie the game, 8-8.

In the second quarter, the weather prevented any predictable passes.

The Bulldogs scored with 2:55 left in the half with Daniel Krehbiel running through the right side of the line for 30 yards and the score. The Bluebirds had to punt late in the half and Pretty Prairie got the ball with good field position. Again, Krehbiel broke tackles at the line of scrimmage and then went 29 yards to the left corner for another score with 17 seconds left in the half. Pretty Prairie led at the half, 20-8.

Goessel kicked off to begin the third quarter and Krehbiel took the kickoff 73 yards for another score. Within three minutes, the Bulldogs had scored 18 points. Neal Brubaker connected with Cameron Stultz on a crossing pattern for an 8-yard touchdown and Hiebert caught a pass for the extra points — spinning to get into the end zone — making the score, 26-16.

Jacob Smucker and Aaron Reimer made key tackles to bolster the Bluebird defense. Tyler Schmidt intercepted a Bulldog pass deep in Goessel territory and after three plays, the Bluebirds punted. The punt was blocked and the ball tumbled 10 yards downfield with Goessel landing on the ball.

Bryant Miller, Ross and Austin Cooper blocked well to allow Stultz to gain several first downs early in the fourth quarter. Krehbiel intercepted a Bluebird pass and both teams traded punts. The Bluebirds tried to put together a passing game in the last minutes, but again weather conditions played havoc.

The Bulldogs intercepted another pass with 2:33 to play and were able to run out the clock. Pretty Prairie ended the season at 9-0. Goessel is 7-2.

Stultz accumulated 100 yards on the ground in 22 carries. Hiebert led the team in tackles with nine solos, followed by Miller and Ross with four each. The Bluebirds gained 50 yards through the air, well below their average. 

Goessel will travel to Burden Tuesday to play the 7-2 Central High School team.

The winners will play Saturday.

Fans can check the Goessel School Web site www.usd411.org for location and times of games.