Centre Cougars give Bluebirds tough tussle
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
The Centre High School Cougars, with a record of 4-4, played their last game of the season Thursday at home against 7-1 Goessel Bluebirds.
Although they knew they would not be going on to bi-district play, the Cougars came out fired up and ready to play. The five seniors on the team — Thieen Antoszyk, Seth Jirak, Lance Diepenbrock, Alfonse Klenda, and Kevin Mueller — along with their fellow players, were determined to make it a good game.
For three quarters, they stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Bluebirds, matching touchdown for touchdown.
Centre quarterback Antoszyk scored the first touchdown at 10:49 in the second quarter after executing several exciting running plays.
The Bluebirds answered with a touchdown of their own, tying the game at 6-6.
Strong running back Jirak crossed the goal line on a 36-yard run for a second Centre touchdown and a 12-6 lead.
Before the half ended, Goessel scored again, and the game was tied, 12-12.
The Bluebirds took their first lead in the third quarter, 18-12. The Cougars answered with a touchdown of their own on a run by Antoszyk. The quarter ended in an 18-18 tie.
The fourth quarter belonged to Goessel. They scored 14 more points including a two-point conversion.
The Cougars couldn't get the passing game going. They attempted a pass into the end zone with a minute and a half remaining, but the ball was intercepted, sealing the 32-18 loss.
Despite the loss, Coach Kelly Steiner was pleased with the effort his players put out.
"Goessel has a very good team and we played even with them for most of the game," he said. "Field position hurt us in the second half."
Junior Aaron Bowman was strong defensively, accumulating 20 tackles, including 11 solo and nine assists. Jirak contributed seven solo tackles and 11 assists, and Diepenbrock five solo tackles and nine assists.
At least 228 of Centre's 310 yards rushing were gained by Antoszyk in 20 carries. Jirak had six carries for 47 yards and Diepenbrock nine carries for 35 yards. Centre had no pass receptions.
Goessel gained 197 yards rushing in 54 carries, and also gained 127 yards in the air with nine pass receptions in 13 attempts.
Reflecting on the past two months, Steiner said, "Overall, I think we had a good season. We played a very difficult schedule and fought hard in every game. We will miss the seniors and will need a lot of people to step it up next year."
