The city of Garden Plain is buzzing with excitement for this year’s fall homecoming events. All events are leading up to the Friday night matchup between the Garden Plain Owls and the Haven Wildcats.
Both teams are coming into the game with a 3-1 record. They have had different routes to get to where they are in the season. The Owls are down two two-way starters for this week’s matchup.
Junior cornerback Cooper Scheer had to get his appendix removed after coming back too early from an injury earlier in the season. He will be sidelined for only a couple weeks the coaches hope. Senior linebacker Aden Stuhlsatz was not so lucky. The leader suffered a season ending injury weeks ago.
“Being without Aden and Cooper,” sophomore linebacker Cooper Baker says, “It changes our whole game plan. We have had to move people around to positions they have never played before, but more importantly we are missing two leaders. Both Cooper and Aden are vocal leaders, who want to make their teammates better in any way possible.”
The Owls beat Chaparral last week 49-0. The Wildcats won their week four matchup against Lyons 44-0. These high scoring offenses have very different play styles. Haven is known for their midline run game, and bootleg passing concepts. The Owls are a ground and pound football team, who have long, methodical drives that are fueled by the occasional chunk play.
Garden Plain has started out great, winning three of four games to start the season. Their only loss has come to the hands of the Cheney Cardinals, who are one of the top ranked teams in the state (Ranked no. 7 in state overall).
Last year, the Owls had a rough up and down season. They went .500 in the regular season, winning and losing every other game.
The Owls won last year’s matchup against Haven 45-18. While the team was fueled by many seniors during their 2022 campaign, the Owls have a very good chance to repeat last year’s performance.
In their week 4 matchup, the Owls were able to get both the run and pass game working. Quarterback Brady Brack had his biggest game of the season throwing for 3 touchdowns and 170 yards. Two of the scores were to junior running back Seth Dugan who had himself a pretty big night to say the least.
The Owls also managed to get two turnovers. One of them came on the first play of the game which swung the momentum for Garden Plain. The turnover eventually turned into points on the ensuing drive. Later in the game, sophomore Pete McGregor jumped a screen route and picked off a ball. He returned it 30 yards for the score.
GP will definitely have a test this week, but the player’s think they are up to the challenge. The Owls invite everyone to come out and watch the game Friday night. Be sure to show up early to see all of the homecoming festivities.
