Noah Geselbracht: 'We're putting Moeller back on the map, and we've got two more games'

By Jordan Carter | Photo by Ben Jackson

MASON — For the first time since 2013, Archbishop Moeller is heading to the state semifinals.

A huge game from sophomore running back Jordan Marshall and a steady one from senior quarterback Noah Geselbracht led the Crusaders past Lakota West and its vaunted defense 21-17.

"We all knew coming into the game — great secondary with an OSU commit, UK commit, Malik's (Hartford) got a ton of offers — they have a great defense," Geselbracht said. "We knew coming in that it was going to be a battle."

Lakota West had held defending Division I state champion St. Xavier to just two points the previous week behind Jyaire Brown (the OSU commit), Alex Afari (the Kentucky commit) and Hartford.

And although the Moeller offense didn't do whatever it wanted against the Firebirds, the Crusaders did enough to win.

"They schemed us up pretty good, but we found it when we needed to find it," Geselbracht said.

Moeller kicked off the scoring with a 7-yard TD pass from Geselbrecht to Marshall, and the QB later added a 4-yard TD pass to Jared Merk to make it 14-3.

Most of the Moeller offense throughout the night went through the sophomore running back Marshall, who had 125 yards on 19 carries and a touchdown.

"It's a true brotherhood, and we all play together," Marshall said.

The Crusaders led 14-9 at halftime after an interception by Lakota West linebacker Michael Brankamp at the goal line prevented them from extending the lead.

Lakota West took its lone lead of the game on Cameron Goode’s 6-yard run and a two-point conversion pass from Mitch Bolden to Trent Lloyd with 2:54 left in the third quarter to make it 17-14.

Marshall's 3-yard run proved to be the winning score after Bolden's two deep pass attempts fell incomplete to end the game.

“It’s a tough one," Lakota West coach Tom Bolden said. "I feel for these kids. But you know when you get to this type of big-time games, the little things are what you have to concentrate on and make more plays than they do, and we didn’t.”

Archbishop Moeller will advance to play Springfield in the state semifinals next week.

"We haven't been to the regional finals since 2014, I think," Geselbracht said. "We're putting Moeller back on the map, and we've got two more games. We've got to go finish it out."