GOSHEN – Standing at midfield of a rain-soaked Eagle Stadium Friday night, you could hear the disappointment in the voice of head coach Bart Snyder following a 30-13 setback to Class 1A, No. 8 ranked Georgiana, but those words were quickly replaced with optimism, and you could not help but to believe in his words, and believe in his team.

“I want to quote one of our players, Shawn Macias,” said Snyder. “As he came off the field and hugged me he said we are better than this, and he said he does not understand. I am glad he feels that way, because that’s what we are. We are a better ball team than this. We have just got to get focused. We’re going to work to get this fixed. We will never give up and we will never quit loving and keep believing in these guys right here. That’s what we do.”

Goshen stands at 2-3 on the year overall, but enters a stretch of their key region games, matchups Snyder believes they can win.

“We’re here at the end of season, and we still have five more games,” said Snyder. “It’s in our hands and it is up to us. We can win against Luverne this upcoming Friday night, we’ve got Central of Calhoun and Central Hayneville, and we’ve got Highland Home and Brantley and we can beat them all, and we can end this season on a good note and go into the playoffs to where it is a whole different season. This is what we have to do, and this is what we have to do as coaches. We’re going to get them ready.”

Goshen jumped out on Georgiana right out of the gate Friday night, as on the first offensive play of the game Caleb Dawson raced 64 yards for a touchdown, and a 6-0 lead.

The Eagles’ defense held the Panthers on fourth-and-one at the Goshen 10, but on the first play of the next series a Goshen fumble was scooped up and run into the end zone by Kendall Long, and Georgiana led 7-6.

Georgiana went up 14-6 on a 43 yard touchdown run by LeCendric Hayes, and a field goal of 24 yards by Hayes was good for a 17-6 lead with 9:20 remaining in the first half.

The Panthers added another touchdown in the third quarter when Hayes took it in from 5 yards out for a 24-6 advantage, and Kyle Powell scored raised the score to 30-6 when he took it in from 14 yards out with 9:00 to play in the contest.

Goshen got on the board one more time when Bryan Galloway found DeTrevian Dix in the end zone for a 15-yard score, Bryce Williams added the PAT, and the 30-13 final.

Dawson led Goshen in rushing with 99 yards and one TD, while Georgiana, improving to 5-1, was led by Christopher Mixon with 65 yards, Hayes picked up 57 and two TD’s, and Powell gained 56 yards and scored one touchdown.

The Eagles host Luverne next Friday evening in Eagle Stadium.