By DELBERT PETERS

Staff writer

The Goessel football team had to come from behind, but managed to win its first game of the season against Sylvan United at home on Friday.

Sylvan United scored first, but the Bluebirds answered with Josh Schmidt dodging tackles for a 34-yard score.  The Mustangs scored two more times in the first quarter, taking a 20-6 lead after the first period.

The Bluebird defense kept the visitors out of the endzone in the second period. Miguel Guerrero went 18 yards for a score. With less than two minutes left in the half, the Bluebirds were backed up deep in their own territory.  Chase Flaming broke through the line and went 77 yards for a score, giving Goessel a 22-20 lead at halftime.

Neither team was able to score in the third period.  Kellen Froese crossed the goal line with 8:10 to play in the fourth quarter.  Sylvan cut into the deficit in the quarter, but Trevor Beisel took 6 seconds to run the kickoff 38 yards for another Bluebird score.  Goessel led 40-26.  Sylvan scored on a 50-yard pass play to get within 8 points.  For the last five minutes of the game, both defenses held the other team out of the endzone.  Goessel won 40-32.

Defensively, the Bluebirds had 8 tackles for losses, with Chase Flaming getting four of those stops.  Luke Unruh was credited with 8 tackles, Miguel Guerrero with 7 and Lucas Hiebert with 6.

Schmidt led the team with 116 yards on the ground, with Froese gaining 109 yards.  Flaming had the long run for 77 yards and Guerrero picked up 52 yards.

Goessel (1-3) begins district play next week at Little River (2-2).