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Thursday, March 28, 2024
The Observer

Fisher opens with victory

Freshmen are not supposed to have an immediate impact on the outcomes of games. Apparently, Pat Gotebeski did not get that memo.Gotebeski, Fisher's freshman quarterback, helped lead the Green Wave to a 13-7 victory over Sorin Sunday by completing 7-of-11 passes for 90 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for 15 yards, including another touchdown on a quarterback sneak from the 1-yard line."Interhall football was a lot more competitive than I thought," Gotebeski said. Both teams had some trouble getting their offenses going, as the defenses dominated during the entire first half and most of the second. Fisher only accumulated 150 yards of total offense compared to 110 yards for Sorin. The running game for each team was basically non-existent the entire game, with neither gaining more than 50 yards on the ground.Fisher's defense was in the face of Sorin quarterback Collin O'Keefe all game, registering two sacks along with consistent pressure which resulted in three Otter turnovers, including a pivotal fumble off a botched pitch late in the game. That last turnover set up the game-winning play for Fisher."The defensive line was really the key to the game for us," Fisher captain and running back Andrew Pfister said. "They really stepped it up with the pressure." Gotebeski threw a 30-yard touchdown strike through double coverage to sophomore wide receiver Pat Donnelly, who used his height to pull down the pass as he fell into the end zone. The catch was especially satisfying for Donnelly."It was great to redeem myself after a few drops," Donnelly said. "It felt great to make that play. Pat just kind of threw it up there for me."The Otters were relentless however, stopping Fisher for the rest of the game and giving their offense a few more chances as time wound down. Fisher tried to run out the clock with a few kneels, but was forced to punt with about 10 seconds left. The snap was botched, however, giving Sorin four seconds to heave the ball into the end zone from 40 yards away. But Fisher's secondary knocked the ball down to seal the victory."Since it was the first game, I'm fairly happy with the way we played," O'Keefe said. "We were missing a couple of guys, made a few mistakes, dropped a pitch ... it was the turnovers that really killed us."Sorin will look to do just that when they take on Zahm in two weeks while Fisher starts planning for those same Rabid Bats this Sunday. Siegfried 13, Knott 10Two interhall football rivals came face-to-face Sunday with Siegfried proving victorious by a score of 13-10 over its fellow Mod Quad dorm Knott."We are disappointed," Knott co-captain Joe McCarthy. "But we learned a lot about [our team]."We expected to score some more," Siegfried co-captain Kevin Phipps said. "We changed things for last week after the scrimmage that we didn't like."Knott was first to score with a field goal by Eric Wooldridge. Before halftime, Siegfried scored a touchdown, and the extra point attempt was good to make the score 7-3 in favor of the Ramblers. After halftime, Siegfried recovered a fumble by Knott. This led to a second touchdown for Siegfried, but Knott blocked the extra point attempt.Knott scored a touchdown to make it a three-point game, but Siegfried ultimately prevailed with the close win. "We had some bad penalties," Knott co-captain Jason Creek said. "We had some sloppy plays. But our offensive line did a great job"Siegfried had to deal with the loss of their safety, in the game. A member of the offensive line took on that job."He blitzed and knocked out the mouth guard of their quarterback," Siegfried co-captain John Hughes said. The game was well attended by fans of both teams, whose animosity toward each other produced a lively atmosphere.Siegfried was very excited to have won the game."I've been here four years and we haven't lost to Knott," Hughes said. The Juggerknotts are not about to let this game bring them down. "We can't beat ourselves up over the game," McCarthy said.Siegfried takes on Carroll Sunday while Knott will face with St Ed's.Zahm 20, St. Ed's 6The Stedsmen never knew what hit them.Zahm came out to open the game with a new wrinkle in its offensive scheme, and it worked like a charm as the Rabid Bats cruised to a 20-6 season opening win.That wrinkle was the veer option, which the Rabid Bats ran to perfection in the first half.Zahm won the opening toss and elected to receive, and promptly rammed the ball down the throat of the Stedsmen defense. The Rabid Bats began their drive with a pass, then stayed with the run game as they marched 65 yards in a little under 10 minutes to take the lead.The drive was capped off by a 5-yard option, in which the Stedsmen overcommitted to Zahm quarterback Sean Wieland, allowing Corey Brisee to scamper into the end zone untouched.St. Ed's went three-and-out on its first possession, which allowed Zahm to manufacture yet another long touchdown drive, this time capped off by a short pass from Wieland to Brisee.Fullback Eric Tarnowski scored the third Zahm touchdown.The second half did not bring much life to the Stedsmen offense as St. Ed's continued to struggle to move the ball downfield. Through the first three quarters of the game, the Rabid Bats had only played eight snaps on the defensive side of the ball."The strength of our team this year is our offensive line," said Zahm captain Kyle Jones prior to the game. The Rabid Bats' front five proved its worth Sunday, opening huge holes for the Zahm tailbacks all day long.After Zahm opened up a 20-0 lead, the Stedsmen finally got on the board. The St. Ed's offense ripped off a huge 55-yard touchdown run. Although it appeared that the Stedsmen tailback was forced out of bounds at the five, officials credited him with the score.Zahm looks to run its record to 2-0 Sunday against Fisher. St. Ed's looks to get on the right side of the win-loss column against Knott in a matchup of 0-1 teams.