GEARY — A high-scoring affair occurred in Geary Friday night in Corn Bible Academy’s football distric opener.
Geary won the game 50-48.
“We kept fighting and we were really close,” coach Asa Zoschke said. “We learned a lot and grew a lot from this game. We kept fighting and fighting, but came up short in the end.”
Corn Bible was down two touchdowns early in the game and it remained that way most of the way through.
Quarterback Brendan Miller and Joshua Clayton came up big for Corn Bible. Miller scored three rushing touchdowns and threw four passing touchdowns, all to Clayton.
Corn Bible got back into the game with plays like Miller finding Clayton open for a 20-yard touchdown Corn Bible scored another touchdown as Miller threw a 60-yard pass to Clayton.
Corn Bible trailed 32-16 at halftime. Zoschke said the message at halftime was for the defense to step up and get stops.
“We made some adjustments at halftime,” Zoschke said. “I told them we had to get at least three stops. I was more than confident and knew we would score, but we have to get stops in the second half.”
Corn Bible got those stops. Corn Bible overcame some mistakes on the offensive side of the ball and Miller scored a short rushing touchdown and Miller found Clayton open for a 35-yard touchdown pass.
Corn Bible got within striking distance as Miller scored a short rushing touchdown. Trailing and neede a big play to get back into the game, Corn Bible got that play as Miller found Clayton open for a 64-yard touchdown pass.
With 40 seconds left in the game, Corn Bible trailed Geary 50-42 near midfield. Miller found Clayton open again on a 49-yard touchdown pass to Clayton, making it 50-48. Corn Bible tried the 2-point conversion, but failed to get it.
Corn Bible kicked the onside kick and recovered, but got called back due to a penalty. Geary ran out the clock and won the game, 50-48.
Zoschke said the offensive line was key in keeping Corn Bible in the game as they blocked really well.
“The second half, we came out and were a completely different team and I cannot say enough about how well the offensive lineman played,” Zoschke said. “The offensive line gave Brendan a lot of time to make throws. Andrew Koscheski, Cooper Brittain and Blake Brewer all did an outstanding job blocking and giving Brendan excellent pass protection.”
Zoschke thought after the game they competed well and film showed that to be true.
“We made some big plays and played well,” Zoschke said. “After watching film from the game, I noticed Phillip Javorsky and Karson Schmidt blocked really well. The defensive lineman played really well and we were super resilient. We came up just short, but I am proud of the effort and we showed we can compete.”
Corn Bible falls to 0-1 in district play and 0-4 overall. Corn Bible’s next game is 7 p.m. at home against Beaver and the game will be Homecoming.
“We really want our first win of the season,” Zoschke said. “We will have to get stops on defense and execute better on offense. Beaver is a lot like Geary and is struggling like we are. We will have to have a good practice this week if we want to win Friday.”