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2009-11-20

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Friday, October 30, 2009 10:59 PM

Sports Photo Gallery of Senior Night: Purchase Photos!

Photo by Elliot J. Sutherland/The Ottawa Herald

Ottawa High School junior Gene Dydell runs the ball Friday during Ottawa’s home game against Gardner Edgerton. For more photos, go to www.ottawaherald.com.

Trailblazers too much for Ottawa

Season-ending loss

By Greg Mast/Herald Sports Editor

Gardner-Edgerton showed why the Trailblazers are a favorite to reach to the 5A state championship game.

The second-ranked squad had too much for Ottawa High School Friday at Steve Grogan Stadium. Ottawa fell 48-6.

“They are pretty good,” Ottawa coach Marc Bergan said. “Their backs complement their offensive line well. They did what they wanted to do.”

Gardner did not punt and was held on downs once, which was late in the game.

Ottawa did move the ball against Gardner, which has not given up many points this season.

“Offensively, we had a couple of nice drives,” Bergan said. “We should have scored on the first one. The fade was there. If we execute there that would have been important for us.”

That was came on Ottawa’s first drive of the game after Gardner methodically marched 72 yards for a score.

Ottawa went from its own 35 to the 2, but turned it over on downs. Gardner scored on seven of its nine possessions.

All-state junior quarterback Bubba Starling engineered a lot of the offense. He accounted for nearly 250 total yards. He rushed for a touchdown and tossed two touchdown passes.

Bergan said Starling is so big and fast.

“He got to the second level before we could touch him,” Bergan said.

Ottawa opened the second half with a 51-yard scoring drive. The big play was a 36-yard run by senior quarterback Corbin Goedert.

On fourth down at the 12, he connected with Levi Daniels for the touchdown to pull Ottawa within 28-6.

“We played harder in the second half,” Bergan said. “One of our goals is we want to play hard from the opening kickoff to the final whistle.”

Ottawa made Gardner drive the field for its scores and did possess the ball on offense.

Ottawa rushed for 155 yards with Gene Dydell picking up 99 yards and Goedert 66.

Bergan hopes Ottawa, which will move down to 4A the next two years in football, will take the lessons learned against the 5A competition.

“That will help us,” Bergan said. “We have gotten better. Nobody said it was going to be easy. Obviously we have a ways to go.”

It was the final high school game for six OHS seniors, who were introduced before the game.

“They are very good people,” Bergan said. “They did a lot of stuff for us.”

Ottawa finished at 1-8. The Cyclones’ win over Baldwin earlier this season broke a 33-game losing skid.

Scoring

G — Jensen 1 run (run failed).

G — Starling 49 run (Jensen run).

G — Weber 1 run (run failed).

G — Stubler 38 pass from Starling (Jensen run).

O — Daniels 12 pass from Goedert (pass failed).

G — Jensen 6 run (Lee kick).

G — Knorr 22 pass from Starling (Lee kick).

G — Weber 11 run (kick blocked).

Individuals

Rushing: Ottawa (30-155) — Dydell 19-99; Diel 3-3; Dunlap 2(-13); Corbin Goedert 5-66; Connor Goedert 1-0; Gardner (40-371) — Weber 13-68; Jensen 15-106; Starling 9-150; Webb 1-7; Seymore 1-2; Goldsmith 1-38.

Passing: Ottawa — Corbin Goedert 5-14-1 40; Dunlap 0-1-0 0; Connor Goedert 0-1-0 0; Gardner — Starling 6-113-0 92.

Receiving: Ottawa — Dydell 2-15; Burnett 1-6; Daniels 1-12; Dunlap 1-7; Gardner — Berry 4-32; Stubler 1-38; Knorr 1-22.

Greg Mast can be reached at sports@ottawaherald.com