Senior Recognition Night
Goessel Guys Varsity Basketball Herington Railers @ Goessel February 14, 2020
In the post-game roundup tonight, Goessel’s entire team came together with fans and family to celebrate a strong Valentine’s Day performance and the contributions of three great Seniors: Jacob (Jake) Hagewood, Jerah Schmidt, and Dylan Lindeman. Bluebird Kingdom also rejoiced in a huge accomplishment for Lindeman: Reaching the career 1,000 point level, which he did with a dazzling three from the corner in the third quarter tonight. Very few high school players are able to reach that remarkable plateau. Goessel was never behind in this one, winning every quarter tonight and closing it out in running clock at 60-33.
Pound the Stone!
In an eye-popping start, Lindeman pulled up from just north of the center court Bluebird’s tail feathers and swooshed one to lead 3-0 with just 10 ticks expired. At 7:00 Sophomore Skyler Wuest launched one from beyond the little Emma Creek bridge west of town, but the Railers stayed on the tracks and tied at 6-6 before Lindeman put up another brilliant launch to lead 9-6. Goessel’s Junior Nate Zogleman went 2-2 from the line, then Lindeman cut off a lane and coasted in for two more. Hagewood bagged yet another steal and ran coast to coast +1 to lead 16-11, and with 2.5 ticks left Lindeman was inexplicably fouled while hanging out somewhere close to Fred, Kansas (look it up, its interesting) and toasted in three more charities to lead 19-13 at the break. The Bluebirds’ 6-6 shooting from the charity stripe made fans think that the Buffalo Wild Wings guys were in action at Canton in last night’s contest when the FT rims were very unforgiving.
Goessel did an excellent job moving against the varying defenses put on by the Railers tonight. Wuest penetrated and slow-danced a nice frolic into the hoop, then added another dollop in and Lindeman converted another steal into 2 . At 5:04, fouls stood at Goessel 6 and Herington 7; Zogleman coasted for a nice lay-in and Coach Guhr called time at 4:14. Hagewood has become the guy the Blue counts on to hit the pressure 12 footer and he did not disappoint tonight, hitting once then tucking the ball in like a halfback and sliding baseline for a near Garrett Hiebert move and 32-15 lead. Wuest toasted another nice pull up jumper, then Hagewood put back a 10 footer to lead by 20, 36-16. With the officials calling this one tight and a nice rhythm in place, Goessel put on a very strong 19-5 quarter and was up 38-18 at the half.
The Railers went on a 5 point mini-run, but the Bluebirds soared with a Jerah Schmidt sortie at 6:06, a Zogleman 8 footer in the lane, and a strong Lindeman push to the hoop to lead 44-23. Down the floor the next time at 4:20, after moving the ball around the perimeter for 20 passes, Zogleman #4 fed it to #5 Schmidt (4 x 5) who fed it to #20 Lindeman in the deep right corner and fans in the stands erupted as the Senior buried a three that was absolutely drop dead gorgeous. A sign emerged indicating that the trey covered the 19 point over/under needed to reach the stunning plateau of 1,000 career points. Congratulations Dylan! Hagewood added two more, then Jerah Schmidt popped one while standing on the rear trunk of Principal Boden’s purple Duster to lead 52-25 and the quarter closed 52-28.
Lindeman added icing to the Valentine cake with another long range finish, then Jerah splashed another great finish in that caused nearly everyone who didn’t have camouflage on to feel a little rouge et blanc. Rob Lehrman’s whiskers glowed red for just a fraction of a second. With the 58-28 lead at 5:55, running clock went quickly and the bench was cleared at 3:10. Junior backup Dawson Stutzman floated one in baseline on a nifty inside move to close out the contest 60-33. Goessel won the 4th quarter 8-5. Lindeman put up 23 tonight, was perfect from the line, and socked in four huge treys for a great Senior Recognition night. Hagewood hit five field goals, went one for one from the charity stripe and finished with 11. Wuest hit one three and put in 7 in the 2nd quarter to close with 10. Jerah Schmidt lit it up from long range with two treys and a total of 8 and Zogleman tallied 6 on the night. Stutzman came off the bench in the 4th to finish with 2. Also contributing up and down the floor were: Kale Funk, Luke Wiens, Timothy Schrag, Jacob Schrag, Caiden Duerksen and Eddie Gaeddert. -Karl Brubaker
