Galena football tunes up for McQueen

RENO - When you're the Galena Grizzlies, its hard not to overlook an opponent like Wooster if you've got McQueen coming up the following week, but the Grizzlies looked sharp against the Colts Friday night in a 55-7 pounding at Galena.

Galena coach Steve Struzyk saw the struggle within practices this past week.

"You never want to look past any team in this 4A league. They're all tough and that's what our coaches have been stressing all week with Wooster coming in, but when you've got a team like McQueen coming up, well...its awfully hard not to (overlook Wooster)."

Offensive line coach Kawika Edwards agreed.

"A lot of these kids have been waiting since last year's playoffs (for McQueen). You never want to overlook someone, but Monday's a day we've been looking forward to for a long time."

The Grizzlies looked sharp on both sides of the ball against Wooster. The offense used a balanced attack to move the ball seemingly at will while Galena's defense held the Colts offense virtually motionless throughout the game.

Starting quickly, Galena scored on its first possession. Junior quarterback Jacob Anderson hit his tight end, Jake Hess for a 56 yard strike to set up a nine yard touchdown run by senior Jimmy Sargent.

Wooster's first possession ended badly when senior safety Kevin Gerow stepped in front of Scott Greene's pass at the 25 and returned it for a touchdown. After a penalty for an illegal block moved the ball back 15 yards, Michael Parker was unable to convert the extra point.

The Colts got a glimmer of brilliance on the kick return as A. J. Garcia returned Parker's kick 95 yards through the coverage to score Wooster's only touchdown of the contest.

The Grizzlies scored again before the end of the first quarter when Anderson again hooked up with Hess, this time for a 19 yard score. Sargent scored the two point try to give Galena a 21-7 lead.

Sargent would score again on a one yard dive midway through the second quarter.

After a short Wooster punt, Galena's Gerow returned the ball to the Wooster 25. Seven plays later, on a fourth and nine from the 14, Anderson ran a bootleg to his left and found Pete Lazzari alone in the end zone. The extra point gave the Grizzlies a 34-7 lead going into the half.

Galena would score three more times in the second half while thoroughly dominating the Wooster offense. The Colts, who had managed just 16 yards of ball movement in the first half, were able to run only 12 plays in the second half for seven yards. Again, the sole bright spot for Wooster was a kick return as Alex Brown managed a 29 yard return on Galena's last kick off.

Sargent carried 18 times for 104 yards and three touchdowns, while Lazzari got eight carries for 48 yards. Hess got six totes for 41 and Demerritt carried seven times for 38 yards and a touchdown. Anderson threw 15 times, completing seven for 150 yards and two TDs. Hess caught two for 75 yards and a touchdown.

Edwards and Struzyk saw a lot to be positive about.

"We played real well on both sides of the ball," Edwards said. "Its all about getting better. Our goal is to get better every week."

Struzyk agreed. "We're just getting better overall. We still have a lot to work on. Obviously, special teams is one thing we'll be looking at this week, but overall I'm pretty happy. We looked fairly solid tonight."