Bluebirds’ Defense Steel Sharp v. Canton
Bluebird Guys Varsity Basketball v. Canton-Galva January 9, 2018 Goessel, Kansas
On December 5, 2017 Goessel faced the Canton-Galva Eagles and could not overcome hot shooting from Sophomore Nick Pearson, who put up 24 in the 48-50 loss. Tonight, fresh from the Christmas break, the Bluebirds looked very sharp, with a defensive set that held Pearson to just 2 all night. Goessel jumped out to a stunning 20-4 lead before letting the Eagles back in it 22-14 at the half. With sensational defense and a flurry of soft jumpers in the 3rd, the Blue went on a 16-2 run to put this one on ice, finishing it 47-28. Dylan Lindeman put up a double double with 12 boards and led all scorers with 18 points; Jordan Griffin put up 17 as nearly every aspect of the Bluebird game looked solid tonight. This gets Goessel into the win column for the 17-18 campaign, to use the old baseball parlance the team is now “off the schneid.”
Lindeman led things off with a silky pull up; the Eagles were attempting to play a “box and 1” on the powerhouse ball-handler. Zogleman fed Griffin on a crafty give and go for two more and Lindeman buried one from somewhere close to multiple blue foam fingers in the horn section. At 4:33 Koehn finally got the Eagles on the board with a contested turn-around in the paint, but the ‘Blue continued to run with Lindeman scoring from the line, on a coast to coast lay-in and a three so deep it caused announcer Booth to break forth in a rendition of the “Wabash Cannonball.” On an inbounds play, Hagewood was overlooked and caught the inbounds right under the basket completely unguarded. 15-4. Goessel performed well on the boards tonight, and Griffin put up a nice catch and bounce for two more to close the 17-4 quarter.
With Griffin on the bench, at 7:30 Jerah Schmidt let loose from beyond the Goessel Welcome sign for a trey to lead 20-4 before the Eagles’ Sargent and Wood hit for a string of buckets to go on a 10-2 run. Griffin was back in at 4:55. The 2nd quarter run was interrupted only by a Griffin 14 footer. Highlights of the stanza were Jerah tying up ball-handler Pearson, then on the ensuing run down the floor, getting the whistle for an errant elbow from Sargent, two key hustle efforts for #5. The half closed 22-14.
In addition to an outstanding defensive job on Pearson, keyed by the Schmidt brothers, Goessel was ready to fly in the 3rd. At 7:00, Jerah put up one from somewhere out in the stratosphere, causing many fans’ popcorn to fly out of their hands and Jayley’s Bluebird sunglasses to glow. Dylan jumped the pass, and finished going south in fantastic form. Timeout Canton 6:37. Griffin rollicked in a follow of a long Schmidt miss, then a moment later found pay-dirt with one that came from very near the Bergen back yard gazebo. 32-14 and another timeout from the Eagles at 5:10. Canton threw a press at the Bluebirds for most of the remainder of the contest. Goessel answered with steady pressure on the offensive boards, with Griffin adding two and Sterk putting up a nice inside move to go up 38-16. At 1:19, Griffin attempted the breakaway layup and when the effort was not successful, had to sit with his 3rd foul on the rebound.
Everett and Sargent attempted to get the Eagles back in from the arc and hit three in the 4th quarter, but efforts were offset by shots from Griffin, Hagewood, Lindeman and the 9-12 quarter left it at 47-28 for the first win of the season for the Bluebirds. Sargent led Canton-Galva with 11 in what appeared to be one of Goessel’s best defensive efforts in a great while.
Dylan Lindeman led Goessel with 18 and 12 rebounds, but Jordan Griffin (8 boards) was close behind with 17. Jerah Schmidt hit for two giant treys for 6 and played awesome defense in the front court. Jake Hagewood jived and juked for 4 and Carson Sterk added two in the paint. Also seeing action tonight for Goessel were: Jayce Schmidt, Zach Zogleman (6 rebounds), and Nathaniel Schmucker. In the first home action since the Christmas break, Goessel’s band and cheer team brought great spirit to the heartening and best-played game of the season. Goessel shot 44% from 2FG tonight and 38% from three point land. The Bluebirds grabbed 9 offensive boards.
