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County football teams take tough losses

Marion and Hillsboro lose on the road; Goessel defeated at home

Staff writer

Marion County football teams suffered setbacks with three tough losses this weekend.

Marion and Hillsboro were defeated on the road. Trojans were bested 14-8 by Smoky Valley as Marion fell to Kingman in a 61-0 rout.

Goessel also was defeated 66-20 by Little River at home.

Centre and Peabody-Burns canceled games Friday. Several Centre players were injured, which left the Cougars without enough to field a team. Peabody-Burns game was canceled because of COVID-19 concerns at Stafford.

Marion

The Warriors endured a disappointing 61-0 loss to No. 1 Kingman on the road Friday.

Marion is now 2-1 for the season.

“I thought the guys continued to play hard, but they didn’t always play smart,” coach Shaun Craft said.

Kingman twice scored on third and long.

“We can’t give up the big plays,” Craft said. “If we have the opportunity to stop a team or get an interception, we can’t miss that. We can’t give them a second chance, especially a team as good as Kingman.”

Part of the trouble was a steep learning curve for an inexperienced team.

“We kind of lost what we were doing the first two weeks,” Craft said.

Marion will face Haven at 7 p.m. Friday for homecoming.

Hillsboro

Because little mistakes and missed cues added up to a 14-8 loss for Hillsboro against Smoky Valley, coach Demetrius Cox plans to focus on details this week as the team prepare to take on Sterling.

“We can bounce back and learn from this,” he said. “I don’t doubt that.”

The Trojans defensive line performed well with seniors Tristan Rathbone, Garrett Helmer, Filow Cruz and Juniors Jake Thiessen, and Lane Rogers leading the team in tackles.

“Filow Cruz did a great job on defense,” Cox said. “I think he has probably been one of our best players overall these past weeks.”

Hillsboro’s Matthew Potucek led the Trojans’ offense, rushing for 96 yards on 14 carries.

The Trojan senior scored the team’s only touchdown on 54-yard run and ran in a two-point conversion, putting Hillsboro up 8-6 in the first quarter.

But Hillsboro couldn’t break through the Vikings’ defense , which held the Trojans during several later scoring attempts inside the 20-yard line.

“We knew going into it that they were really good in the red zone,” Cox said. “We were down there three times with no points — which is huge —Not coming away with points hurt morale.”

Cox plans to work with the team on its offensive strategy in the red zone to get ready to face Sterling. Like Smoky Valley, the Black Bears prefer to carry the ball to victory.

“They are another team that runs the ground-and-pound,” Cox said. “We will get back to work and understand that we will face a team that’s going to ride up and run directly at us again.

Hillsboro will face Sterling at 7 p.m. Friday on the road.

Goessel

Goessel fell to No. 1 Little River 66-20 at home Friday.

It was the second time this season the Bluebirds had faced a ranked team in eight-man.

The Bluebird defense held during the Redskins’ first possession, taking over the ball on downs, but Little River got the ball back on a Bluebird fumble. The mistake set up scoring drive for a 8-0 lead.

Redskins junior Braxton Lafferty ran in another touchdown of 9 yards and made a two-point conversion.

Goessel and Little River traded touchdowns in the second quarter.

Goessel sophomore Grant Bryant hurled a 21-yard pass to junior Skyler Wuest to score for the Bluebirds.

Little River junior Rylan Konen completed a 13-yard pass to Lafferty, bringing the score to 24-6 at half time.

Goessel sophomore Jake Weins scored on a 9-yard run early in the third quarter and ran 65 yards for another Bluebird touchdown.

Little River dominated the rest of the third with six touchdowns.

The Bluebirds will be at Attica-Argonia on Friday.

Delbert Peters contributed to this report

Last modified Sept. 23, 2021

 

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