Trojans, Bluebirds win home games; Marion, Peabody end seasons
Staff writers
Hillsboro and Goessel are one step closer to state titles after winning at home.
Hillsboro beat Douglass in a 60-7 blowout while Goessel eked out a 44-36 victory over Skyline in overtime.
Marion’s first winning season in four years ended Friday with a 34-14 loss to Chaparral on the road. Peabody-Burns lost its away game to Victoria, 52-6.
Centre ended its six-man season with a 66-20 win over Golden Plains.
Hillsboro
Fireworks started in the first quarter Friday as the Trojans came out swinging against Douglass, scoring four times.
Each touchdown was greeted with a display aerial pyrotechnics over Joel H. Weins Stadium.
Jamari Harris, Matthew Potucek, and Anders Weisbeck were explosive on offense for Hillsboro. Harris rushed for 122, Potucek 120, and Weisbeck 71 yards.
All three scored for the Trojans. Harris ran like a rocket to score on an 85-yard run.
“He is a fast kid,” Coach Demetrius Cox said. “He has been the spark the offensive line has needed for several years.”
The Trojans’ line did a great job blocking, which kept Harris and Potucek untouched during scoring drives.
Potucek showed his versatility on offense Friday; hurling a 22-yard touchdown pass to Nicholas Smith and scoring on a 36-yard run.
“Potucek is a true dual-threat quarterback,” Cox said. “He is the key to our engine. He is a talented athlete who I feel has the ability to take it to the next level.”
Cox prepared the Trojans to play a full game despite six weeks of blowout wins.
Hillsboro will face Chaparral at home to vie for regionals.
The Trojans and Roadrunners are ranked first and second in their league.
“They look solid on film,” Cox said. “I think this is the game where we will have to play all four quarters, but we have prepared all week to play a full game, like we do every week.”
Cox hopes the win over Douglass will inspire the Trojans to stay focused.
“We have a motto, ‘Keep getting 1% better every day and keep chopping the wood,’ ” Cox said.
Marion
Marion’s first winning season in four years ended Friday with a 34-14 loss to Chaparral.
The Roadrunners will play Hillsboro at home Friday.
Assistant coach Jordan Metro said the Warriors’ six sophomores, three juniors, and two seniors surpassed his expectations, going 5-4 with an extremely young team.
“I am really grateful to have the opportunity to coach these guys. They dealt with a lot difficulties this year, but continued to fight through it all, and for that I am extremely proud of them,” Metro said. “They can all hold their heads high after this season, especially the seniors who go out with a winning record for the first time in their high school careers.”
Warrior underclassmen stepped up Friday against the Roadrunners.
Jack Lanning led Marion in passing and rushing. He completed six passes for 128 yards and rushed for 108 yards against Chaparral.
The sophomore was responsible for the Warriors’ only two scores of the game Friday with a 48-yard run and a 34-yard scoring pass.
Juniors Chance Shults and Ian Inglels stepped up as receivers.
Ians caught two passes for 63 yards and Shults grabbed the 34-yard touchdown pass.
Underclassman Trevor Schafers headed the defensive line and grabbed an interception in the first half.
“He’s a kid who has kind of taken charge as our defensive leader,” Metro said. “He makes sure to get guys lined up correctly and is really coming into his own, which is awesome to see from just a sophomore.”
Marion faltered in the third quarter against Chaparral’s quarterback Wyatt Drouhard, who hurled touchdown passes of 15 and 50 yards.
“We didn’t tackle very well when we had chances to, and had some coverage breakdowns as well,” said Metro. “We knew they were a team that offensively could be dangerous throwing the ball on us, especially when they had that massive wind behind them.”
Metro is excited to see what Ingels, Shults, and Lanning will do for the Warriors next season.
“Lanning has been a huge piece of our team, both offensively and defensively,” Metro said.
The Warriors will need to get younger members ready to for varsity play to build on their success.
“They have to understand they still need to work hard in the off-season and continue to build on that team bond and continue to become a tighter family group,” Metro said.
Centre
The Cougars ended their six-player season last week with a record of 4-1 after defeating Golden Plains, 66-20.
Centre led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter and kept outscoring Golden Plains. The game ended early on a 45-point mercy rule.
Luke Hudson ran for 23 yards, and Gentri Holub caught a three-yard pass from Santiago Knepp for the first two touchdowns. Hudson kicked for two points.
Centre had 23 carries for 331 yards, compared with 21 carries and 121 yards by Golden Plains.
Hudson was the leading rusher, with 13 carries for 206 yards, followed by Knepp with six carries and 113 yards. Knepp passed for 40 yards, and Hudson passed for 39.
Krch had two receptions for 39 yards, and Hudson had three for 30 yards.
“The guys felt good about their season,” coach Kelly Steiner said.
Peabody-Burns
Peabody-Burns’ season ended Friday with a 52-6 loss against Victoria on the road.
Noal Reynolds and Thomas Smith, both juniors, led the Warriors on offense with Reynolds rushing for 97 rush yards and Smith rushing 86 and receiving 33.
Reynolds scored on a 35-yard run in the first quarter for Peabody-Burns’ only touchdown of the game.
“We learned as a team that we need to put the effort in outside of football season,” coach Kody Tegtmeier said.
Next year, the Warriors will play six-man football.
“It will be a change for us, but a good change,” Tegtmeier said said.
Tegtmeier coached six-man Cheylin in Bird City, so he is familiar with the rules.
“The biggest difference is going to be figuring out a way to cover the field with two fewer players,” he said.
Goessel
Goessel eked out a 44-36 victory at home over Skyline in an overtime nail biter.
The Bluebirds scored twice during an explosive rally in the fourth quarter to tie Skyline and force the game into overtime.
In overtime, Jake Weins scored on a three-yards for Goessel and Grant Bryant ran in a two-point conversion.
A sack by Goessel’s Caiden Duerksen of Skyline’s Brayden Berens at the Bluebirds 40 yard line and an interception by Bryant held off Skyline giving Goessel the win.
Goessel’s took the lead early in the game when their defense forced Skyline to punt on their first possession and the Bluebirds Kacen Smith scored on 33-yards.
Skyline answered with a five yard scamper to tie the game 8-8.
With time expiring in the first quarter, Grant Bryant launched a 20-yard pass that found Duerksen in stride giving the Bluebirds a 14-8 lead at the end of the quarter.
Goessel and Skyline kept each other scoreless in the third quarter after adjusting their defense.
Goessel struggled for first downs in the fourth quarter but Weins ran in a touchdown and Bryant hurled a scoring pass with less than eight minutes left in the game.
Skyline became very deliberate, using as much time as possible between plays running the clock down to 1:29 when they scored again from 17 yards, but the Bluebird defense prevented the extra points.
The score stood at Goessel 28, Skyline 36.
The Bluebirds knew that a score and two-point conversion would be the only way to salvage this game.
With 31 seconds left, Bryant found Wuest in the back of the end zone for a 28-yard touchdown pass.
Goessel converted the extra point on a pass to Wuest, but a penalty on the Bluebirds put the ball back on the eight yard line.
Smith then completed a pass to Wuest for a tie that forced the game into overtime.
Goessel won the coin toss in and chose to receive.
The Bluebirds picked up several yards on two plays and Wiens crossed the goal line from three yards for the go-ahead score.
Bryant was stopped at the goal line on the conversion, but a second effort propelled him into the end zone to secure a 44-36 victory for Goessel.
The Bluebirds will play Mackville Friday at home.