Moose Goose'm

PALMER — The first-half noise from the Moose Gooser proved too much for the West Valley Wolfpack.

While the familiar sound of the Moose Gooser cannon has been a stalwart on the sidelines near the south end zone at Machetanz Field, sounding every Palmer score for decades, it had been absent this season. The Moose Gooser returned with a bang, sounding 20 first-half Palmer points in the 20-16 Railbelt Conference victory over West Valley.

Palmer faced fourth down with a four-point lead twice late in the fourth quarter, and twice converted to extend the drive and run out the clock. Lavar Marshall extended a drive on which he took much of the carries by fighting through tackles for 5 yards on 4th-and-2. Senior quarterback Luke Guggenmos, who was named the Homecoming King during halftime, iced the game with a 3-yard run on 4th-and-1. Marshall, ever the workhorse, lead all Palmer runners with 16 carries, 102 yards and eight points.

Marshall gave the Moose the lead for good with 3:27 left in the first quarter. Set up by a 31-yard run from Chase Bruesch and a 7-yard pass from Guggenmos to Palmer wideout Dawson Van Tassel, Marshall sliced up the West Valley defense and carried members of the Wolfpack into the end zone with him. He then extended the lead slipping through the line for the two-point conversion.

“He’s a big, strong, fast guy,” Palmer head coach Rod Christiansen said of Marshall. “Part of it’s inside there [points to heart]. You saw he was going to get the first down at all cost and he wasn’t going to let his teammates down.”

Each quarterback started out playing effectively under center. Guggenmos capitalized the first Palmer possession by finding Van Tassel in the end zone from 10 yards out. He was 1 of 2 with one touchdown on the drive. Senior West Valley quarterback Marcus Maiden imitated Guggenmos, capping a there-play drive with a 64 yard strike to Preston Demario. Maiden was 1-2 with one touchdown at the time. Guggenmos would finish 7-9 with 56 yards. Maiden completed 7 of 13 passes for 102 yards through the air and rushed 14 times for 21 yards.

“I think what we did pretty well in the second half particularly was taking away his [Maiden’s] options, not giving him enough time to throw. He had some things going there and we decided at half that we have to get after Maiden because we were more concerned about his running than his throwing,” Christiansen said.

Facing 4th-and-3 at the West Valley 25-yard line midway through the second quarter, Guggenmos rifled a pass to senior tight end Harlan Hamilton for a 13 yard gain. Makeehan Knittle hauled in a pass to get the ball to the 2-yard line, and Guggenmos cashed in three plays later, scoring from one yard out. The Moose Gooser would sound three touchdowns in the first half, and the three scores would be enough to hold off the Wolfpack.

Palmer utilized a variety of tricky special teams play on Friday. Following the Marshall touchdown, Palmer’s slippery squib kick passed through the hands of the West Valley returner and the Moose recovered their own kickoff, but they would hand the ball back to the Wolfpack two plays later on a fumble. Facing 4th and 2 at their own 36, the Moose set up to go for it on 4th down, but when Guggenmos took the shotgun snap, he quickly dropped and punted the ball high and spinning in the air for 25 yards.

With West Valley charging late in the first quarter, Palmer senior Micah Natwick stifled Demario’s attempt around the end of the line for a loss of four yards. Maiden dropped back to pass on the next play and Natwick sacked the quarterback, costing the Wolfpack 11 yards in two plays. The Moose were even tougher on defense coming out in the second half, as Palmer forced two straight three-and-out’s on the first two West Valley drives of the third quarter.

Maiden started the third quarter by leading a methodical Wolfpack drive down to the two yard line on a slant to Tyrell Johnson. The Palmer defense stopped Maiden for no gain and dragged down Isaiah Warner for a three yard loss before Maiden ran the ball up the middle for the score to cut the Moose lead to 4 at 20-16.

Palmer suffered injuries to key players on Friday. Christiansen said that players would need to step up in their absence until they pass through the protocol. Palmer debuted it’s own marching band during halftime. Palmer improves to 5-1 with the win and will play Lathrop next weekend.

Friday, Machetanz Field

Scoring

First Quarter

Palmer — Van Tassel 10 pass from Guggenmos (2 point failed) 6:35

Palmer — Marshall 15 run (Marshall 2 point) 3:27

West Valley — Demario 64 pass from Maiden (Demario 2 point) 5:23

Second Quarter

Palmer — Guggenmos 1 run (2 point failed) 3:55

Third Quarter

No Scoring

Fourth Quarter

West Valley — Maiden 1 run (Campbell pass from Maiden for 2 point) 6:11

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — West Valley: Maiden 14-21, Warner 10-15, Demario 4-11; Palmer - Bruesch 13-84, Marshall 16-102, Christiansen 10-33, Guggenmos 2-4, Farris 1-2, Mumma 1-3, Van Tassel 1-2.

Passing — West Valley: Maiden 5-11-102-1; Palmer: Guggenmos 7-10-56

Receiving — West Valley: Demario 2-70, Campbell 2-11, Warner 1-3, Johnson 1-18; Palmer - Knittle 1-7, Corbin 3-13, Hamilton 1-13, Van Tassel 2-17.