HERSHEY — Gothenburg scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to come from behind and defeat Hershey 16-6 on Friday in Hershey.
“Another ugly win,” Gothenburg coach Riley Freeland said. “But one thing about this team is we feel very comfortable in the fourth quarter. We trained a lot this summer and conditioning wise, so there wasn’t a lot of stress once we got to that fourth quarter. We may have been down going into the fourth, but I felt very comfortable going in with the guys that we had.”
Here are three observations from the game:
Gothenburg’s defense is its strength
Aside from one Hershey scoring drive late in the second quarter, the Gothenburg defense played well.
People are also reading…
The Swedes held Hershey to under 200 total yards at an unofficial 193 and forced Hershey to punt the ball three times and turn the ball over on downs four more times.
The Panthers couldn’t move the ball in the second half, and Gothenburg’s defense kept the Swedes in the game until the offense scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
Blake Brown even came up with a fumble recovery midway through the fourth quarter after Gothenburg had scored to take a 9-6 lead.
“I'll tell you what,” Freeland said. “Every night when I tuck my head down on that pillow, I say a quick thanks to God that coach (Tom) Scott is on my staff because man, I have never met a defensive coordinator who is just that mentally capable of handling every single situation. He is phenomenal. I am so happy to have him on my staff.”
Hershey and Gothenburg have running backs that can carry when needed
Both Hershey and Gothenburg saw strong performances from their top running backs that helped both teams maintain control at different points of the game.
Gothenburg’s Callen Johnson earned the Chick-fil-A (who sponsored the game) Most Valuable Player award after he ran for a game-high 85 yards and a touchdown, most of which came in the second half.
Johnson ran in a seven-yard touchdown with 8:24 left in the game to give Gothenburg a 9-6 lead. He also had 44 yards on that drive alone.
Hershey’s Korbyn Herrick led the Panthers with 83 yards, and while he didn’t score the team’s lone touchdown – that honor belongs to quarterback Cole Murdock – Herrick had 11 of his 20 carries go for at least four yards.
“Korbyn’s a playmaker,” Hershey coach Chris Stier said. “That’s a kid that works his butt off in the weightroom. He goes hard, all the things. He’s only a junior, and I know he looked up a lot to Rhodee Hill and wants to be the guy that fills those shoes in the next two years.”
Gothenburg’s offense is doing fine. The Swedes just need to figure out how to score
The Swedes are 2-0 after two low-scoring games to start the season.
Gothenburg opened with a 14-7 win over Cozad, and now the Swedes added a 16-6 win over Hershey in Week 2.
“We were doing a great job of moving the ball, getting it to the other side of the field, and then one mistake happens and it just snowballs,” Freeland said. “We weren’t able to overcome those small mistakes. That will be something we grow in. We’re going to get a lot better about overcoming that kind of adversity as the season goes on.”
Against Hershey, quarterback Dillon Floyd passed the ball well. He completed 10 passes for 79 yards and no touchdowns. He ran for 36 more yards, which would have been higher without victory formation loss of yards and a 15-yard loss in which the ball was snapped right by him.
There were a few times throughout the game where Gothenburg came close to scoring. The Swedes opening drive ended in a 31-yard field goal after Gothenburg’s momentum was halted by an eight-yard sack and two incomplete passes.
Gothenburg’s next drive was a turnover on downs after picking up some first downs, then Floyd threw an interception in the end zone caught by Murdock.
Gothenburg had plenty of chances, they just need to figure out how to convert those chances into more points.
Gothenburg stats
Braden Ehlers ran in a 39-yard touchdown with 3:27 left in the game to set the score at 16-6.
Axtyn Jesseph and Ehlers both caught four passes for 32 and 18 yards, respectively.
Hershey stats
Murdock ran for 35 yards and a touchdown.
Kale DaMoude ran for 16 yards and caught two passes for 32 yards.
Kolton Palm ran for 21 yards.
