‘Tis The Season
Goessel Varsity Guys Basketball - @ Peabody December 14, 2018
Goessel has not seen scoring production like tonight’s outburst at Peabody since the early part of the Obama administration. Tonight’s Bluebirds exhibited huge intensity at both ends in the raucous Peabody Auditorium. Balanced scoring from 8 different players and no “dead” quarters allowed the Bluebirds to jump out to a 41-18 lead at the half and a 70-34 final score. Goessel’s Drew Lindeman took advantage of defensive mis-matches to put up 18 on the night, 9 in each of the 1st and 3rd quarters. Brother Dylan Lindeman was key handling the ball and scored 13. Miguel Ballesta came off the bench to put up 11 huge points in the first half and finished with 13 as well. Coach Curtis Guhr indicated he was very pleased with the Bluebird’s efforts and intensity on the night.
The Bluebirds looked ready to play off the first tip. Drew corralled a 20 miss and went back up in truly aggressive style to lead 2-0. Back down the floor, he put up a soft fade for two more, then at 6:31 Dylan bounced to Zack Zogleman in heavy traffic, and the Blue jumped to a 5-0 lead with the charity. Peabody looked solid at the line to start, hitting 4 straight but Entz missed a wide open layup to allow Goessel to never go behind in this one. Out of a Bluebird timeout at 5:32, Jerah Schmidt set and put up one up a whisker away from the way over the top raucous Warrior student section. The giant trey didn’t take away their voice, but the decibels went way down. It went to 8-8 on two Warrior forays, then 11-11, but Drew broke it open with a picture perfect move in the paint +1, then was fouled again and added two more. Fan Garrett Hiebert observed that (perhaps unique in Goessel basketball history) at that moment the Bluebirds had a Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior and Exchange student on the floor at the same time. Goessel went on a huge 10-1 run with Dylan hitting 2 for 2, Miguel tallying two on a nifty inside spin move, Skyler coasting in a sensational runner, and Miguel also getting 2/2 from the charity stripe. Drew went to the bench with his 3rd personal to close the quarter and Goessel played Lindeman-less in the final minute.
Jerah brought the fans to their feet with a dazzling bounce feed to Miguel, then Dylan found the Spaniard streaking down the left side for two more. Rocco W. rolled in two for the Warriors, but the next time down Zogleman threw a Mahomes no-look side-arm while being tackled strike to Lindeman. Now in the double bonus, Miguel could not find the FT range, then Dylan hit Jerah perfectly in stride on the break for the 29-16 lead. In front of the waiting half time dancing elves, Miguel put up one from so far out it made each red hat glow to lead 32-16. Timeout Peabody 4:28. Skyler notched a great fake and turn in the paint; fouls stood at Peabody 10, Goessel 4. Jerah put up yet another scintillating runner that jiggled around and finally fell through, then Dylan pummeled one inside to Zogleman who faked and dropped it in off the glass. On a Bluebird inbounds set, Dylan caught the pass, dribbled and set at the buzzer from so far out it caused the wheels to spin wildly on Daniel L’s green tractor backpack. 41-18. Goessel had hit 80% from the line (8/10) in the first quarter and Peabody 5/6 - 83%. During the 20-6 2nd quarter neither team hit one free throw.
After the dancing elves half time exhibition (cuteness factor = huge), Drew was back in and put up five quick points on solid movement in the paint. Jake Hiebert found nothing but net from 12 and Drew went to the line again as the 4th personal was called on Jack Parks. Dylan slid baseline for a fantastic finish, then Drew found pay-dirt from so far out the sonic boom from the fan reaction nearly caused the Santa Fe train downtown to derail. 54-22 Jake Hiebert finished on the break and then Dylan put up two more. Hiebert had to sit with his 4th at 1:39. Fans were treated to a highlight moment (this one is likely already on YouTube) of Dylan doing 2.89 seconds of high-impact jumping jacks in the low post (he was open). Dylan was fouled going to the hoop and toasted both charities to close the 19-10 quarter at 60-28.
In running clock, Drew went hard to the hole and tempestuous Hauck fouled out at 7:15. Moments later, as the house heated up, administrators were called over the PA system for a fan ejection and the home fans experienced additional frustration as Parks fouled out at 5:50, with Jerah hitting both charities. Weerts was called for an unexplainable back-court intentional wrap-around foul at 4:06 and Jerah converted the back end of two technical charities. Miguel sallied forth with a solid runner to lead 65-30 and it was all bench players in at 4:06. With time running down Sophomore Nate Zogleman galloped one in from somewhere close to the Graze N Layz open range chicken farm outside of Peabody. 68-32. Skyler Wuest put up a fine effort, going hard to the hoop for the final score in this productive offensive night: 70-34.
Goessel goes to 2-3 overall with the Wheat State League win and will next face Wakefield away on Tuesday before the Christmas break. Tonight, Drew Lindeman led all scorers with 18 (as far as this writer can tell). Dylan Lindeman put up 13 and Miguel Ballesta added 13 as well. Jerah Schmidt put up 10 in a strong outing, Skyler Wuest notched 6, Jake Hiebert 4, Zach Zogleman and brother Nate Zogleman finished the A-Z scoring night with 3 apiece. Also on the floor tonight were Kale Funk and Eddie Gaeddert.
