Cougars lose home heartbreaker
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
The Centre Cougars and Goessel Bluebirds faced off Friday at CHS in a thrilling, action-packed contest that kept the interest of the fans. It was marked by long runs and long passes.
A total of 15 touchdowns were scored, seven by Centre and eight by Goessel. The two teams were even on two-point conversions, giving Goessel a 56-50 victory after scoring its eighth touchdown in overtime.
Centre made impressive gains on the ground, led by Bryant Gutsch, who carried the ball 24 times for 171 yards.
Halfway into the first quarter, Thieen Antoszyk received a seven-yard pass from quarterback Dustin Burnett to score the first touchdown of the game. Burnett ran for the two-point conversion to give the Cougars an 8-0 lead.
An interception by Burnett at 3:13 gave the ball back to the Cougars on their own 28- yard line. Good gains on the ground and a 20-yard pass to Antoszyk resulted in a second touchdown. The PAT failed, and the quarter ended with Centre ahead, 14-0.
A two-yard run by Justin Fensky of Goessel gave the Bluebirds their first touchdown. The two-point conversion was successful.
Goessel intercepted the ball on the Cougars' next possession, and a 58-yard run tied the game, 14-14. The PAT failed.
Centre responded with a 69-yard kick return by Seth Jirak and a run for the extra points by Burnett to regain the lead, 22-14.
Goessel dominated the remainder of the quarter. A long pass knocked incomplete by Burnett was ruled pass interference, putting Goessel at Centre's 19-yard line.
Two plays later, Fensky ran for 14 yards to score a touchdown and ran for the extra points to tie the game at 22 all.
After Centre was forced to punt, the Bluebirds went on to score another touchdown with 12 seconds remaining in the first half.
The PAT failed but Goessel led 28-22.
The Cougars came charging back in the second half. In the opening play, Burnett ran for 47 yards for a Centre touchdown. He executed the two-point conversion, once again giving the Cougars the lead, 30-28.
Goessel answered with a touchdown of their own. The PAT failed but they led 34-30.
Centre scored again on a 60-yard run by Gutsch to go ahead, 36-34.
In one of the most thrilling moments of the game, Drew Donahue recovered a Bluebird fumble on their own one-yard line and ran back 80 yards for a touchdown. Jirak ran for the extra points, giving Centre a 10-point, 44-34, lead at the end of the third quarter.
The Cougars struck again nine minutes into the fourth quarter when Jirak ran 71 yards to score. The PAT failed but Centre led by 16 points, 50-34.
Things were looking good for the Cougars, but the Bluebirds weren't ready to throw in the towel.
They forced the Cougars to punt and scored two more times, the last touchdown coming with just 20 seconds remaining in regulation play. Adding two successful PATs, they had tied the game, 50-50.
Goessel had first possession in overtime and scored quickly to lead 56-50. After Centre took over, the ball was intercepted in the end zone on a pass, bringing the game to an abrupt end.
Needless to say, the Cougars, as well as their fans, left the field disheartened and disappointed.
The Cougars outrushed the Bluebirds 314-306, but were outdone in the air, 90-251.
Coach Bud Peterson was pleased with his team's performance.
"I thought we played well," he said. "Everyone played well. We hate to give one away like that. Those long passes hurt us. We'll be working on pass defense."
The team is 2-2 on the season.
