Heat Meets Work
Goessel Varsity Guys Basketball - @ Rural Vista January 4, 2019
In their first return to action after the holiday break, Goessel’s varsity guys anticipated a huge tussle in the friendly confines of Hope Arena. In the pre-season coaches poll, the Bluebirds were picked 5 and Rural Vista 6. The Heat came in 4-2 and have a stacked starting 5, including 6’-6” 230 lb Slovakian post Tomas Berko. This game saw single digit scoring from both teams in every quarter; every possession, every touch, every board, every free throw was critical. The Heat’s main foursome, Berko, Jacobson, Capuzano and Sandow put up all of the home team’s 31 points. Each of the Heat’s starting five have quick hands and the Heat played with hardly any bench support. Goessel’s theme of “Work” was huge tonight as every defensive stance required total effort and concentration; offensive possessions took every ounce of savvy, game sense, and good judgment. Goessel was able to get its share of stops, blocks, deflections, and excellent hustle chances in the contest that saw 7 lead changes. Goessel led by as many as 5 but saw the home Heat make a 7-12 run, could not convert two 1-1 situations, and then fell victim to a huge three from Campuzano with 9 seconds left to tie it at 27 and send it into overtime. In overtime, Goessel went up 30-27 but sent Sandow to the line and he tied it at 30. Goessel could not corral on offense and after a timeout, Rural Vista punched it into Berko for the foul underneath and he delivered one of two charities to win 31-30 with time nearly expired.
In the defensive scrum to start, Jerah Schmidt hard bounced into Drew Lindeman and he coasted the short jumper in to lead 2-0. Goessel got one of several huge blocks on big man Berko, then Miguel Ballesta caught a Dylan carom and bounced back in with a lovely Seville runner to go to 4-2. Symptomatic of the night, Drew went empty from the stripe and it was back and forth nearly for the full quarter with each team unable to jiggle in the 3FG attempts against packed zone defenses. At 6-6 Campuzano hit a big three for the biggest RV lead of the night 9-6, but with 6 seconds left, Dylan ignited the assembled Blue fans with a drop-dead gorgeous three from beyond the nacho cheese fries stand. The quarter was knotted at 9-9.
Hustle defense wins championships in the NFL and that would be true tonight as well; it looked like this one was going to come down to a coin flip or some very minute details. After Coach Guhr called time at 4:37 down 9-11, Dylan swooshed one in from so far out the letters on the Lindeman fan t-shirts all lit up with “Dilly Dilly Autumnal Mead” dancing elves. Moments later two more lead changes left it at 14-13 as Zach Zogleman calmly knocked one down from 8 feet over the outstretched 7 foot wingspans. Goesel looked primed to go on a roll as Jake Hiebert cut off a passing lane and sailed in for a gorgeous lay in finish at 1:27. No further scoring in the 7-4 quarter left the half at 16-13.
The Department of Labor had an excellent jobs report today and Goessel did its share of Work tonight. The DOL report will be amended tomorrow to show incrementally more jobs added to the economy. The 3rd quarter continued the back and forth chess match. Dylan fleeced the defense for two more to go up 18-15, then Jerah had his way underneath in the redwoods with a picturesque finish off the glass for Goessel’s biggest lead of the night 20-15. Drew notched another nifty turn in the paint to lead 22-17, and the 6-6 defensive slugfest quarter ended 22-19.
Campuzano played hero tonight with yet another timely three to tie 22-22 at 6:58 and Coach Guhr called time at 5:56 after Sandow took the lead again 22-24. Out of the break, Ballesta coasted a baseline runner in to knot at 24, then Dylan absolutely buried one from so far out the pre-game sound track spontaneously came on, causing RV to call time out at 1:53. Drew put on an impressive defensive show against Berko, this time with a huge stuff in the paint to save an easy two. Rural Vista fouled Ballesta two times at :37 and and :22 but he could not convert in the 1-1 and the Heat called time with 16 seconds left, then again at 9.2 seconds. With an in pass then back out to Campuzano, he let loose with the save of the night from long range and the shot rattled in to tie at 27-27. It appeared that Goessel attempted to foul prior to the three but it was not called. Dylan’s long range attempt from half court hit the rim and an attempt at a poke back fell off the rim to leave it at 27-27 and overtime.
In overtime, Drew was fouled and went to the line in the 1-1; this time he was able to convert the front end of two but on the night Goessel finished a disappointing 1 for 6 from the line. Interestingly, the only successful FT’s the Heat shot were in overtime, going two for three. Off the Drew miss, Dylan was able to corral the rebound and Ballesta took it to 30-27 with a nice inside finish. In another frustrating officiating sequence, Sandow appeared to take 3.5 long NBA steps going to the hoop but was not called for the travel and instead got the continuation call with the prayer +1 to tie at 30-30. Dylan captured a huge steal and Goessel took a timeout with 33.9 seconds. Ball handling woes against pressure D left Goessel with no shot attempt and Rural Vista again possessed with a timeout at 9.3 seconds. The Heat set a play with a pass in deep to big man Berko back out then back in to him with him pushing inside to get fouled. This is what happened. Berko went to the line with 2.7 left and hit the first charity to lead 31-30. Goessel in-bounded but could not get it far enough to get the sideline timeout. With 2.5 seconds left there was not enough time to get off a good attempt the Heat pulled off the win 31-30 in overtime.
Goessel’s Dylan Lindeman put up 11, Miguel Ballesta 6, Drew Lindeman 5, and Zach Zogleman, Skyler Wuest, Jake Hiebert, Jerah Schmidt all scored 2 in the losing effort. Goessel also saw huge effort tonight from Jake Hagewood.
The Bluebirds go to 3-4 on the year (2-1 Wheat State League). Wins against Peabody and Wakefield have started off the WSL quest and this one was disappointing against an opponent also in the middle of the pack.
Best wishes in 2019 Bluebirds!
-Karl Brubaker
