Piece of Work
Goessel Varsity Guys Basketball - v. Centre @ Goessel February 5, 2019
Goessel’s guys varsity used balanced scoring, solid defensive play, and concerted work all over the floor to put away the visiting Centre Cougars on State of the Union night. The Bluebirds won every quarter tonight, were solid from the line, and overcame a “closely officiated” contest to emerge victorious 56-28. Dylan and Drew Lindeman each scored 14, but the Bluebirds had 9 different players in the book tonight. Centre played with a very lean bench tonight and had to bring in diminutive Freshman Hilhan to close the contest. Thoughts are with ball-handler Espinoza who injured his ankle early in the 4th quarter.
Goessel blazed to a 11-2 lead in this one after an 0-2 start. Dylan stroked a 15 footer, Drew stopped and popped perfectly and Jerah hit a smooth as silk three from another realm. On the break, Hagewood would not slow down and finished with an extra kick to go to 9-2. There were strange “throws down the field” for both teams, but the wildest was an aggressive Cougar north to south toss that went straight into the waiting arms of wide receiver Daniel Uhlig, positioned in the end zone for the catch. Had he not pulled it in, it had so much energy it would likely have broken something in the school library. Again on the break, Dylan found Hagewood angling to the bucket and the Junior galloped yet another in to lead 11-2 after one entertaining quarter.
Miguel, the Spanish Inquisitor, did his best Michael Jackson baseline moon break to get to 13-6, and Jake Hagewood pushed inside for yet another robust close to lead 15-8. Hird buried one to get back into it at 15-11, but down the floor the next run, Drew again emerged from the scrum to stroke one in slow motion out of the paint. In one of the best plays of the year, Sport Center lit up with a gorgeous sliding bounce Dylan in-pass through at least 4 bodies to Drew for the lay-in to go up 19-11. ESPN replayed the perfect bounce in fast mode at least 7 times. At 3:59 Dylan hit one from so far back the State of the Union speech was interrupted for a moment of awe. 22-11. Dylan had to sit at 2:26 with three fouls; moments later Mr. D - Zach Zogleman was credited with his 2nd taken charge of the night. Goessel was able to hold the visitors at 13 for the duration of the quarter and got another giant three from Jerah, this one prompted Willie the Wildcat to momentarily do a dance at center court with the Jayhawk at Bramlage. With just half a tick on the clock, Hird inexplicably hammered Drew 8 feet south of center court (he would have made the half court shot) and Lindeman calmly went to the line and hit all three charities to close the half 28-13.
The body language of the visiting Cougars was bleak as they emerged from the tunnel. Jerah caught a feed back door and finished pretty from the left. Dylan bombed one in from the corner and caused the visiting cheer team to suddenly talk in Helium voice for just a second. Moments later Dylan found Jake Hiebert on the break and this one also made the Sport Center highlight reel as the Sophomore laid the finish in with near perfection. Dylan socked one in off the drive, then went 2 for 2 from the line and Drew got hammered on an awesome ball fake and roll to lead 40-23 after three.
With the cheer team leading in great rhythm with “we’ve got the Bluebird beat”, Drew caught an in-pass inside and turned with another perfect post move. Espinoza fell to the floor in agony with an ankle injury and had to be carried off. Dylan nestled in two more charities and Jake caught Jerah in a perfect roll pattern off the pick for an easy lay-in.
Now looking in rhythm, Drew put on a perfect block and Jake found Drew inside to lead 48-25. Miguel followed a Skyler miss with a pop back up and in. Skyler followed one back up and the benches were cleared at 1:56. Luke Wiens hit a lovely jumper and Eddie Gaeddert bounced one back in off the glass in traffic to close to 56-26 with half a minute left. The contest ended 56-28. Thanks again to Mr. Taylor and the Bluebird band for their excellent efforts and sound; it’s a great treasure!
Dylan and Drew each put up 14 tonight, Jerah also scored in each quarter and finished with 10. Jake Hagewood got the team going with some nice moves to the bucket and scored 6, Miguel Ballesta finished with 4 and Jake Hiebert, Skyler Wuest, Luke Wiens and Eddie Gaeddert each put up 2. Also in for the Bluebirds were Kale Funk, Nate Zogleman, and Zach Zogleman. -Karl Brubaker
