Bluebird boys fall in Sub-State Semi-finals
Bluebird Season Closes v. Elyria
Goessel Guys Basketball – Elyria Christian @ Goessel 1A Substate March 3, 2023
With four lead changes in the 1st quarter and a full house watching, #5 seeded Goessel looked like it was going to make a game of it against the #1 seeded Elyria Eagles. Goessel was the visiting team on the scoreboard tonight. Goessel led by as many as 3 in the first quarter and was down by 6 at the half 16-22. A relentless trapping Eagle man to man opened things up for the home team in the 2nd half and the #1 seed put it away with a 5-17 third quarter and 7-18 fourth to sew up the win and a berth in the sub-state final tomorrow 28-57. Goessel’s year ends at home and Seniors /long term friends joined together for pictures after the contest. Elyria Christian will play Canton-Galva for a state berth.
Jake Wiens elevated against three taller Eagles, got one finger on the carom and poked it back up for the first Bluebird bucket of the night. Reporters tried reviewing slo-mo of the replay and still can’t figure out what happened. With 4 minutes left, Noah Schrag buried one from the top of the circle, giving the Blue their largest lead of the night 9-6 and Thing 1 and Thing 2 in the Eagle student section were yelling their blue and white heads off. After the Eagles took it to 9-13, Caleb Burkholder hauled in a tipsy #4 long ball underneath and popped it in the hole to stay within 2, but hard pushes down the floor for the Eagles got the non-blue birds up 11-15 at the quarter.
In for Goessel, at 7:40 Koy Smith set and released from the corner so perfectly, there was a quiet hush just as the ball was in the air, then an explosion of Blue Heat as the Bluebirds brought it back to 14-15.
Joey Lapp coasted in for two more with a superb runner to pull again within 1, 16-17, but a huge three from the opponents took the wind out of the sails and the hard-fought 5-7 quarter ended 16-22. Schrag’s half court heave at the buzzer clanged off the rim. The first half was a great defensive effort both ways.
If we are measuring defense in Thai heat indices from 1-5, the first minutes of the 3rd quarter the Eagles raised the sauce heat to a 5. With wingspans, quick hands and a spread man, the Eagles forced errant Bluebird passes and points off turnovers. The 9-0 run to start took the air out of the room, and Goessel could never recover. At 3:28, Schrag delivered one inches from the Bluebird mascot’s feathers, with the reverb from the “nothing but net” shot causing momentary beak malaise. The trey was practically the only offense the “visiting” Bluebirds could get going, as the Eagles soared with yet another 8-0 run to 19-39. Burkholder gave the fans something to cheer about with a no holds barred drive to the bucket at the buzzer and scored to go to 21-39 in the 5-17 quarter.
The fourth quarter dragged on forever, with practically the only highlight a Schrag pick of the Eagle ball handler and lay-in conversion at 4:35, the only interlude in a 15-3 Eagle run. Burkholder stopped and popped to go to 26-54, but Elyria put it into running clock at 26-57 at 2:33. Both benches cleared and Goessel’s Eli Boden nailed two charities to close out the season 28-57.
Seniors Jake Wiens, Caleb Burkholder, Joey Lapp, Grant Bryant, and Kacen Smith will be remembered for their many contributions on the court. Thank you! Junior Noah Schrag led Goessel scorers tonight with 9, Caleb Burkholder and Joey Lapp each put up 6, Sophomore Koy Smith had three and Jake Wiens notched 2. Junior Eli Boden finished with 2. Also in for Goessel tonight were: Grant Bryant, Junior Jake Flaming, Sophomore Jack Nickel, and Sophomore Royser Duran. Junior Javin Schmidt and Senior Kacen Smith have been out with injury. Thank you coaches Curtis Guhr and Gerard Dunne. Goessel finishes the season 10-11. – Karl Brubaker
