Building the Fire – Senior Recognition Night
Goessel Guys v. Udall Senior Recognition Night @ Goessel February 21, 2017
Goessel brought fire to the court on Senior Recognition Night, hopefully a pre-cursor to a solid performance v. Little River Tuesday night in the Goessel sub-state. Tonight, the Bluebirds used a considerable size advantage to go strong in the paint and ended up at the charity stripe 29 times. Goessel won each quarter, putting up increasing numbers in each (11, 13, 16 and 18). Udall came in at 2-16 (2-9 league), so this did not promise to be a huge test for the Bluebirds. The Bluebirds had scoring from nine different players and were led by Jordan Griffin who scored in every quarter and finished with 17. Seniors Josh Schmidt, Rhett Makovec, Trevor Beisel, and Miguel Guerrero were recognized along with their parents. Goessel’s biggest lead of the night was 22 and the game ended at 58-39.
Goessel showed man most of the night and Udall a 2-3 zone. Udall began patient working against the Goessel hands and found pay-dirt first on a scoop from Fielder. Jordan closed with a follow on the break to knot at 2 and Rhett corralled an errant Eagle pass, finessed a touch inside to go up 4-2 and Goessel never looked back. Miguel hit one from so far out, Grace’s Cinderella Build a Bear sat up and held up two gigantic foam fingers. Rhett pummel bounced one into Jordan for a near perfect Garrett Hiebert baseline move and Goessel led 9-2 . In the quick quarter, off another head fake and an 8 footer, Miguel added another 2 and the score was at 11-4.
Dylan Lindeman went strong baseline for two, then caught a long pass in the corner and was hammered as he put up the three. The foul was #3 on Fielder, who had to sit. #20 could not convert any of the three FT’s in a very unusual sequence. Schmidt hit a running Jordan for a decisive finish, then Josh picked the ball-handler, was fouled and hit both ends to go to 17-6. Goessel’s half court pressure created some turnovers and allowed the Blue to go to the hoop in transition. Jordan hit both ends for the 19-8 lead, then Schmidt went kamikaze with another gorgeous steal for the 21-10 lead. Lindeman swatted one so hard it ended up in Gary Duerksen’s sheep barn. Lindeman was credited with a nifty pick, went end to end, but missed the finish, however Makovec was there to follow and punched in the lay up for the 23-13 lead; the half ended 24-13.
Perhaps the best player on the court for the Eagles was Freshman point guard Sadler. He came alive in the 3rd quarter, hitting two back to back threes and a total of nine points. After a steal from Schmidt, a follow from Rhett, and a very nice inbounds set to Dylan, Goessel was up 32-15. Sadler then led the Eagles on a 9-0 run. After closing the gap to 32-24, Miguel flew out of bounds, made an incredible save, threw directly to Griffin, who put his head down and finished for a great answer to the Eagle run. Goessel immediately called time at 3:07. In the high intensity 3rd, Griffin tallied yet another sumptuous drive, bulled in for two more, then Dylan followed a Schmidt miss with the left side jumping tap in to take it to 40-28.
The ochre colored hair Eagles attempted to foul in earnest in the fourth. Goessel went to the line 15 times. With some outstanding efforts from Schmidt on defense, the Blue ran it to 44-30, then there was a multi-minute delay with a score controversy at 45-30. Rhett hit the front end of two, then Guerrero hit again from way beyond the practice football field fence. The senior had a great night and his fist pump after the trey rattled in was seen round the world. Rhett notched a great stop on D. The final minutes were a progression of trips to the line. Beisel took a charge from Sadler and the Bluebirds continued with strong inside pushes. The contest ended 58-39.
Griffin led all scorers with 17 and pulled down 8 boards. Josh Schmidt showed over the top effort for the 2nd game in a row and finished with 12, including 6 for 8 from the stripe. Josh also was credited with 7 steals on the night. Miguel Guerrero had a career night, hitting for 10. Rhett Makovec and Dylan Lindeman (8 rebounds) each added 7 points, Trevor Beisel 2, and Zach Zogleman, Nathaniel Schmucker, and Jake Hagewood each were able to add a FT to the Blue scoring. Also in for the Bluebirds were: Jayce Schmidt, Jerah Schmidt and Carson Sterk. Goessel limited themselves to 12 turnovers and secured 12 steals on the night. The Bluebirds play Little River in the Goessel sub-state on Tuesday 2/28/17 at 7:30 pm.
