The Goessel High School football team was ousted from the 8-man Division I playoffs Saturday, falling to Baileyville 58-24.

The Bluebirds outscored their opponent 16-14 in the first quarter, but were done in by a 14-0 second quarter and a 24-0 fourth quarter. Goessel's scorers were Cameron Stultz (14 points) and Weston Hiebert (10 points).

Neal Brubaker completed 17 of 40 passes for 266 yards and two touchdowns with a 53-yard long completion, but also threw four picks. Stultz rushed for 76 yards including a 60-yard long.

Stultz was in on 18 tackles and Hiebert had 16. Goessel finished the season with an 8-3 record.

The Bluebirds scored first and never trailed Tuesday (Nov. 3) at Burden, and rattled off five second-half touchdowns to turn a 14-6 halftime lead into the meeting with Baileyville.

Neal Brubaker completed 10 of 15 pass attempts for 163 yards and two scores, but the running of Cameron Stultz (22 rushes – 142 yards) and Johnathan Berkholz (15-135) carried most of the Bluebirds' offensive load.

Berkholz opened the scoring by breaking a 56-yard touchdown run, and Stultz scored the subsequent conversion; these were the only tallies in the first quarter, and Stultz broke a 25-yard scoring run in the second quarter.

Then Burden broke through with a 6-yard pass from Bo Savage to Jacob Lawson.

After halftime, Goessel responded with a 23-yard completion from Brubaker to Hayden Goerzen. Stultz added a 35-yard run, with Weston Hiebert catching the ensuing conversion pass.

Burden struck again late in the quarter, but Goessel added three insurance touchdowns in the fourth quarter: a run and a reception by Berkholz, and a run by Brubaker.

Centre

?The Cougars? season ended in a 48-0 loss at Hanover on Saturday. Centre finished 8-2, having outscored the opposition 402 to 220.

Against Hanover, the Cougars were simply overmatched, and trailed by 42 at halftime.

The Cougars had qualified for the Round of Eight in the 8-man II state playoffs with a 56-26 blowout of South Haven Tuesday (Nov. 3).

For the game, Centre quarterback Tanner Brunner threw for 289 yards and six touchdowns on 12-for-21 throwing.

The Cougars led 40-12 by halftime and 56-18 after three quarters. Their scores came on a 4-yard run by Brunner, a 19-yard pass from Brunner to Cole Svoboda, a 28-yard pass from Brunner to Rustyn Kerbs, a 45-yard pass from Brunner to Zach Antoszyk, an 8-yard run by Trevor Troutt, a 47-yard pass from Brunner to Alex Hajek and a 50-yard pass from Brunner to Hajek.

Centre totaled 176 yards on the ground with Brunner runner for 72, Troutt for 67 and Kerbs for 37.