Bluejays stunned on football field in Niagara

The Three Lakes-Phelps varsity football team traveled to Niagara last Thursday night and left with a surprising first loss of the young season, 28-0. This one-sided conference outcome did not seem likely, considering that the Bluejays won their season opener two weeks ago with a convincing 20-6 performance at Gillett High School. At the same time, the Niagara Badgers were soundly defeated 53-0 at Lena High School.
In addition, the Bluejays have beaten the Badgers in each of the last three seasons, scoring 184 total points while holding Niagara under 10 points in two of the three contests. Given this backdrop, the Jays were confident coming to Niagara, and while the game started slowly for both teams, there was an expectation that the Bluejays would turn up the heat at some point. Instead, the Badgers went on a quick 22-point scoring spree between the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half and walked away with an easy victory.
“We were not as sharp as we should have been,” head coach Justin Szews commented after the game. “But Niagara is a good football team, and they played well tonight. They are a more fundamentally sound team than any Niagara team I have seen in many years. They were very impressive while we struggled to get things going. We have a lot of young players on this team, so hopefully it will be a good long-term learning experience.”
One area of disappointment for the coach was the offensive line performance and the limited time available for quarterback Sam Koshuta to properly run the offense.
“Last week, our line did a great job to give Sam the time he needed to make plays. Tonight, there were just too many holes and it was difficult for the offense to find some rhythm and get points on the board,” stated Szews.

The game started in a promising way for the Bluejays as running back Jack Westfall carried the ball on the first two plays and gained a first down near the 50-yard line. Then a couple of short runs and an incomplete short pass put the Jays in a punting situation. Zach Weavers, who had a nice game against Gillett, tried to handle a poor snap and was immediately swarmed by Badger players for a turnover on downs.
Fortunately for the Jays, the Niagara offense started very slowly, also turning the ball over on downs during two consecutive possessions. Late in the second quarter, however, the Badgers turned it up a notch as quarterback Brayden Bartels led his team down to the Bluejays’ six-yard line. From there, Bartels made a short floating pass to Owen Dunkes for the first touchdown of the game. The Badgers made a two-point conversion and led the Jays by an 8-0 score.
During the next possession, the Bluejays had the ball on their own 25-yard line with third down and 15 yards to go for another first down. Under heavy pressure, Koshuta then had a pass intended for Liebscher picked off, and the Badgers were in another scoring situation. With just seconds remaining on the clock for the first half, the Badger combination of Bartels to Dunkes hit with another pass play for another touchdown score. Following another successful two-point conversion, the Badgers closed out the half with a 16-0 lead and went on to the easy 28-0 victory.
While disappointed with the outcome, coach Szews acknowledged the fine running of Westfall and Sawyer Szews, along with a couple of nice catches by Liebscher. He specifically called out the defensive effort that Liebscher made when chasing down a runner from behind to save a touchdown score late in the game with a diving tackle.
The Bluejays will have an opportunity to get back on track this Thursday, September 4, at Three Lakes High School when they will face Marion-Tigerton with a 6:00 p.m. kickoff.