Hook and ladder helps Bluejays reel in win

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, November 4, 2026

By Mike O'Brien

A third quarter hook and ladder play may have been the ‘play of the season’ for the Guardian Angels Central Catholic football team in the opening round of the Class D3 State Football Playoffs on October 30 at Pleasanton.

Following a Pleasanton touchdown and momentum shifting, GACC faced a third and long, and was one play away from punting the ball.

Instead, Hudson Bramlet hit Timmy Gerrish, then Gerrish flipped the ball to a streaking Joe Eames who took it to the house for a 66-yard touchdown.

That play sparked the Bluejays to completing a 50-8 road win over #4 Pleasanton in the D3 playoff opener.

“I don’t know if I should have called it, but the moment just felt right,” GACC head coach Matt Schlaebitz said. “Momentum is big in this game. They had a lot of momentum at that point in the game.”

After that play, momentum never left the Bluejays.

“I’m just so proud of them; it’s hard to even put it into words. That was a good football team we beat,” Schlaebitz said.

The Bluejays took a 23-0 lead into halftime with two Luke Guenther rushing touchdowns, a safety and a Jaxson Wegner TD reception.

Pleasanton struck first in the 3rd quarter, but after that, it became the Joe Eames show as he generated some tough runs and found the end zone three times in that period.

Kaidyn Strehle capped off the Bluejay scoring with a 4th quarter score.

“We just executed when we really needed to,” Schlaebitz said. “When we had to punt, we were fine with that because our defense played great. Defense is really what won us this game.”

For Schlaebitz, stacking good practices and effort were keys to victory.

“These kids are really buying into the fact that if they give great effort, good things will happen,” Schlaebitz said. “They might not happen right away, but you just have to persevere; that’s our motto, ‘always forward, never back’. These guys are exemplifying that right now.”

The Bluejays (now 8-2) will have another lengthy road trip as they travel to #12 Anselmo-Merna (8-2) today (November 6) in the quarterfinals round.

GACC   14 9 21 6 –  50

Pleasanton   0 0 8 0 –   8

Scoring Summary

First quarter

GACC: Luke Guenther 22 run. (Sam Hass kick)

GACC: Guenther 18 run. (Hass kick)

Second quarter

GACC: Safety.

GACC: Jaxson Wegner 17 pass from Hudson Bramlet. (Hass kick)

Third quarter

PLS: Grady Riley 2 run. (Jack Classen pass from Sam Smith)

GACC: Joe Eames 66 pass from Bramlet. (Hass kick)

GACC: Eames 21 run. (Hass kick)

GACC: Eames 8 run. (Hass kick)

Fourth quarter

GACC: Kaidyn Strehle 67 run.

Team statistics

  GACC PLS

First downs   16   8

Rushing   40-254 25-51

Passing   5-11-0 9-30-1

Passing yards   134   86

Total offense   388   137

Fumbles lost   0   0

Penalties   6-42   4-19

Bluejay Stats

Rushing: Luke Guenther 23-118, Joe Eames 12-76, Kaidyn Strehle 2-70, Owen Eby 1-(-1), Daniel Gerrish 1-(-3), Timothy Gerrish 1-(-6).

Passing: Hudson Bramlet 4-of-9 for 105, Guenther 1-of-2 for 29.

Receiving: Eames 1-66, T. Gerrish 2-42, Jaxson Wegner 1-17, Mason Strehle 1-9.

Leading Tacklers (Total Tackles): D. Gerrish 2, Tucker Steffen 1.5, T. Gerrish 5, Levi Strehle 1.5, Landon Schuetze 0.5, Guenther 3.5, M. Strehle 2.5, Rexton Stratman 0.5, Bramlet 1, Eby 1, Trevor Steffen 4.5, Wegner 1.5, Eames 5.5, Henry Wooldrik 0.5.