WE/ME
Goessel Basketball – @ Canton v. Canton-Galva Friday, January 17, 2025
Tonight’s contest at Canton may not have been high on the ESPN menu, but for a large crowd assembled for small school basketball, it proved very entertaining. Goessel’s visiting Bluebirds showed hard play and focused hustle, steady work against a taller, deeper team. The home team may have expected easy sailing, but the Blue kept it within 10 almost all night, with the Eagles pulling away at the end. At one moment in the 3rd quarter, Goessel pulled to within 5, but could not get over the hump and this one finished at 46-66. Goessel’s Jack Nickel came alive in the paint, finishing with 20 on the night.
This year’s theme is We Over Me, and the Bluebirds’ young varsity squad will continue to develop experience in a challenging year so far. Tonight the team showed glimmers of what could be going forward, with several underclassmen showing steady and sure and playing together. “We Over Me.”
Trey Gaddis gave the visitors their first lead of the night with a voracious twirling onslaught to the bucket against the Eagle claws to go up 2-0. Moments later the Eagles hit the first of their 10 treys of the night to retain the lead 2-3. Gaddis went coast to coast to retake the lead 4-3 but it was soon 4-5 and the Eagles took the lead for good. Wyatt Sommerfeld put on a very solid performance tonight and went to the line twice, going 3 for 4 to keep it at 8-13. At 1:08 ball handler Senior Koy Smith hit one from very close to the Citizens State Bank location, jiggling it in with the utmost finesse. The quarter ended 11-16.
Goessel found Nickel inside +1 to go to 14-16 and Sophomore Brayton Base launched one from just inside the concession stand (knocking a bowl of chili out of the hands of one unsuspecting fan) that found nothing but nylon to lock in at 17-19. Goessel punched an in-feed to Nickel to stay at 19-23 and Sommerfeld finished on a nifty well executed break (“hey these guys can really play” -murmurs in the home fan section). 21-23 . Timeout Goessel with 2:00 in the half. The home team appeared to realize a game was going on and came alive, putting up 8 to close the half 21-31.
To start the 2nd half, Goessel found Nickel over the top twice in a row to push to 25-34 and Koy Smith buried yet another dazzling trey, this one from so far back it appeared to come from the upper deck. Sommerfeld grabbed a steal out front and beat the opponent to the bucket for the lay-in 30-38 and Goessel closed it to five on a near perfect inbounds set to Nickel in the paint. The fantastic 14-14 3rd quarter closed on yet another long pass from Smith to Nickel with a nifty catch and bounce off the glass for two 35-45. With a tiring Bluebird squad going down the stretch, the Eagles found openings for long range attempts putting up a huge number of attempts in the game. At 3:59 Coach Guhr called time again down 42-55 after a trey from the top of the key from Nickel that actually turned John Deere green and back to orange as it left the shooter’s hand. With the cheer team leading in “Go Bluebirds Go” the visiting Blue could not muster any further attempts at closing and the Eagles stretched the lead on breaks and threes to 43-66. Trey Gaddis hit the final three of the night to leave the quarter at 11-20 and the final at 46-66. Great effort and hustle Bluebirds!
Jack Nickel put up 20 tonight in a great effort for the Senior. Sophomore Wyatt Sommerfeld had a breakout evening with 9 on very positive presence all up and down the floor. Junior Trey Gaddis gave good minutes with 8. Senior ball handler and “quarterback” Koy Smith buried two treys for 6 and Sophomore Brayton Base toasted one from the corner for three on the night. Also in for Goessel were Freshman Kreed Smith and Junior Evan Walker. -Karl Brubaker
