Goessel wins another close game
After a heartbreaking loss on Oct. 8 at Melvern, the Bluebirds rebounded and won a hard-fought battle against the Flinthills Mustangs.
Travis Buller started the scoring with a 15-yard dash after Goessel recovered a fumble deep in Flinthills territory. The kick was good for a 7-0 score. It did not take two minutes and the Wildcats used a "flea flicker" play to get the end to run the ball nearly 50 yards for their first score and their kick was good leaving the score 7-7. After several possessions, Flinthills moved the ball to the 13-yard line and the 23- yard field goal attempt split the uprights to give the visitors a 10-7 lead with 2:59 in the first quarter.
Justin Fensky broke loose for a 53- yard sprint but the point after was not good and Goessel led 13-10. Flinthills missed on a 38-yard field goal attempt and had the misfortune of having a 66- yard punt return called back because of a penalty. Tyler Schroeder came up with big defensive plays in the first part of the second quarter forcing the Mustangs to punt. With 8:00 minutes in the half, the momentum shifted to the visitors as they intercepted a pass and then scored a minute later on an eight- yard pass. Goessel's defensive surge blocked another PAT kick, but the Mustangs led 16-13 going into the half time break.
On the second play from scrimmage in the second half, Flinthills connected on a long pass play and then scored on a three-yard run. The Bluebirds blocked another PAT kick, but found themselves behind 13-22.
With seven minutes to play, the Mustangs seemed to be wearing down. Their sophomore quarterback suffered what appeared to be a fairly serious leg injury. A sack of the new quarterback by Kurtis Duerksen seemed to be the spark the Bluebirds needed. When the Bluebirds got the ball back, Fensky again broke loose for a 43-yard touchdown, and a well executed fake allowed Garrett Hiebert to toss the ball to a wide open Ryan Janzen for the two point conversion.
"Our offensive line started moving people off the ball in the second half," said Coach Justin Coup.
The third quarter ended with Goessel trailing by one, 21-22.
In the fourth quarter, Adam Goering made a decisive sack forcing Flinthills into a passing situation. With 6:02 to play, Kyle Unruh intercepted a Mustang pass at the 30-yard line and took the ball down to the four-yard line. Buller took a handoff around the right end for the score with 5:58 to play in the game. Fensky successfully converted the two point attempt and the Bluebirds led by seven, 29-22.
"Unruh's interception was the play of the game," said Coup later.
As Flinthills was attempting to move the ball without using too much clock, Brian Meeks and Kurtis Duerksen sacked and hurried the quarterback. Goessel was able to use up time on the clock and keep Flinthills from marching down the field.
Preliminary stats showed that the Bluebirds totaled six sacks for the night enroute to their fourth victory of the season. The Bluebird record is now 4-3 with two more games to play. This was the first win in the eight man district and the next two games also count for the district record.
According to results on Friday, Hope beat Hartford and a big relief for the Bluebirds was that Burlingame defeated Marais des Cygnes Valley. Goessel will be at home next Friday with Burlingame and a Bluebird win could set them up for a tie for second place in the district. Two teams from the district advance to Bi-District play.
The high school junior varsity football team is now 5-1 after their game on Oct. 11.
Goessel loses heartbreaker at Melvern
In the second week of district play, Goessel traveled to Melvern to take on Marais des Cygnes Valley. Goessel played well to stay even with the home team. With five seconds in the game, MDCV got the ball to the Goessel four- yard line and then broke a 22-22 tie on a four-yard pass to take the victory away from the Bluebirds.
Hope is still undefeated in the new district format.
