By Phil Keren

Correspondent

Though Garfield’s season ended Friday with a 38-20 Division V Regional Quarterfinal playoff loss to Garaway, G-Men head coach Mike Moser told his team to keep their heads up and be proud of their successful 10-2 season.

Moser said he told his team they shouldn’t let the loss to a talented Garaway squad overshadow a 2024 campaign that included a league championship and nine consecutive

victories.

It’s a major accomplishment when one considers that this year’s squad was less experienced than the 2023 team.

“We were a young team, replacing nine starters on both sides of the ball coming into this year,” Moser said. “We were playing a couple of freshmen, a couple of sophomores all year long. (We

had) a very small senior class that I thought did an excellent job of holding us together. The

message is how proud we are of them and how much we love them. It hurts tonight, but we’ll

find a way to be back and figure it out again.”

On Friday, the G-Men struggled to get its patented running game on track against a stingy Garaway defense, which forced two turnovers that led to two touchdowns. On defense, Garfield gave up five plays of 20 yards or more to a Pirates offense that mixed running and passing plays effectively.

“That’s a heck of a football team we were playing tonight,” Moser said. “They do a great job,

they’ve got good kids, they’re well prepared, we knew it was going to be a tough battle.”

Garfield started the game with excellent field position thanks to an unusual kickoff sequence. The Garaway kickoff was a low line drive that ricocheted off one of Garfield’s up men and popped into the air back toward the Pirates’ coverage team. Incredibly, Garfield’s Henry Veccia

darted downfield and snagged the ball at the Pirates’ 38-yard line despite being surrounded by Garaway players.

The G-Men were unable to take advantage of the field position, however.

Senior Harper Troyer was stopped for a loss of two, a bad snap on second down led to an 11-yard loss and junior Brandyn Bogucki picked up six yards on third-and-23.

On Garaway’s second offensive play of the game, senior Dillon Soehnlen broke away from the

G-Men for a 55-yard gain to the Garfield 24-yard line. The G-Men “D” tightened up and forced

Garaway to settle for a 26-yard field goal from senior Anderson Colon to take a 3-0 lead.

After holding Garfield to a second consecutive three-and-out, Garaway put together a five-play,

51-yard drive that was capped by senior quarterback Brady Geibel connecting with Soehnlen

on a 28-yard scoring pass. Geibel threw a screen to Sohenlen, who picked up a nice block and

sped through the crease for the touchdown to put the Pirates ahead 10-0 with 3:12 left in the

first quarter.

With Garaway geared up to stop the running attack, Garfield took a deep shot to pick up its

first first down of the game. On second-and-5 from midfield, G-Men junior quarterback Jack

Neikirk threw a pass down the sideline to Troyer for a 39-yard gain to the Garaway 11-yard line.

“They were aggressive,” Moser said. “We knew we were going to have to do some stuff to get

them out of the box, and Jack hit him right on the numbers. Harper doesn’t have too many of

those long catches on the year, but that was a nice one.”

The drive began to stall with a couple short running plays and a delay of game penalty. On

fourth-and-10 from the 11-yard line, Neikirk tossed a pass over the middle to Bogucki, who

caught the ball at the 5 and then plunged into the end zone as he was being tackled. After a

blocked extra point, Garaway led 10-6 early in the second quarter.

Moser highlighted the play of Bogucki, who finished the game with seven carries for 51 yards,

one reception for 11 yards, and two touchdowns.

“Brandyn’s a special player,” Moser said. “We found some stuff for him. We just couldn’t put

enough of them together to get off the field on defense.”

For a moment, Garfield had garnered some momentum, but Garaway quickly took it back. On

the Pirates’ ensuing possession, Geibel backpedaled, pump faked and threw a high-arcing

pass down the sideline to junior Micah Yoder, who secured the ball in stride and accelerated

into the end zone for a 67-yard touchdown.

Garfield then turned the ball over on two straight possessions and the Pirates took advantage

each time. A G-Men pass was picked off by Garaway senior Braden Raber, who returned the

ball 20 yards to the Garfield 45. Soehnlen then ran through the middle of the G-Men defense,

cut to his right, sprinted away and was finally brought following a 39-yard carry to the Garfield

6. Soehnlen then took the next handoff and followed his blockers up the middle for a 6-yard

touchdown to give his team a 24-6 advantage with 5:23 left in the first half.

On Garfield’s next possession, Garaway junior Cooper Gintz produced a sack and fumble that was recovered by teammate Matthew Frey.

Four plays later, Soehnlen scored on his second 6-yard run to put the Pirates ahead, 31-6, just before halftime.

“I thought we found some stuff there for a little bit,” said Moser. when addressing the play of his offense. “We moved the ball a little bit all night long. Turnovers killed us.”

In the second half, Garfield’s touchdowns came on an 18-yard cutback run from Bogucki and a

53-yard scamper off tackle from freshman Ryder Cain.

At halftime, Moser said he told his team to keep working hard, and he thought the message

was received.

“Our guys kept fighting, and I’m proud of them for that,” Moser said. “They kept it respectable.”

In Week 2 of the season, Garfield lost its only other game of the year to Warren JFK.

Moser noted he felt his young team had made huge strides since then.

“(In Week 2), I thought that maybe the lights were a little too bright for some of our young guys,

but I don’t think they are anymore,” Moser said. “Our young guys grew up, and we rattled off

nine in a row, won a league title, won a playoff game, played a lot of really good football. The

bright side is most of these guys will be back.”

And he offered kudos to the leaders who played their last game for the G-Men.

“That senior class leaves here with four playoff appearances, three league titles, and 40-some

wins,” Moser said “(They’re) small in numbers, but big in stature, what they’ve done for us.”