Bulldogs maul Raiders

Galena scored on its first two plays from scrimmage as the Bulldogs spoiled the Frontenac Raiders’ Homecoming 50-6 Friday night.
“I thought that we did some good things, some things I was pleased with,” said Galena Coach Beau Sarwinski. “We were able to have some balance and run and throw the ball a little bit, and we moved the ball with some success.”
The Raiders also had some success moving the ball, at least early on. Frontenac ran 22 plays in the first quarter, crossing into Galena territory on all three of its drives, only to turn the ball over each time — twice by interception and once on downs.
On its first drive, the Raiders moved the ball past the 50, but freshman linebacker Zach Gougler picked off a short pass on third and four, setting up the Bulldogs at the 44. On the next play, Galena quarterback Jacoby Martin found Colton Leet open down the seam for a 56-yard touchdown.
Frontenac responded by pushing the ball onto Galena’s end of the field again after quarterback Joe Saia hit receiver Josh Garcia on a 27-yard pass. But two plays later, again on a third down, Gougler stepped in front of a Saia pass, this time giving the Bulldogs the ball at the 41.
“Zach’s in there for a reason,” Sarwinski said. “He may be a freshman, but he isn’t built like a freshman. He’s about 6-3, and that gives him a long wing span, and he was able to get in front of a couple passes tonight.”
Again, it only took the Bulldogs one play to score, this time on a Cody Clark 59-yard run.
“Their speed just overwhelmed us,” said Frontenac Coach John Palumbo. “It was just way too much for us to handle. I thought we moved the ball well, but they don’t give you any points from 20 to 20.”
It would get worse from that point. Galena scored four times in the second quarter, on a 17-yard pass from Martin to Troy Albright, an Albright nine-yard run, a Leet 51-yard punt return and an 83-yard pass from Martin to Codie Perry. By the time halftime hit, Galena held a 36-0 advantage.
“That quarterback (Martin) was awfully good tonight,” Palumbo said. “When you don’t get pressure on him, it lets those receivers run around and they’re hard to stay with. But they weren’t making diving catches — he was putting the ball right on the money and hitting them in stride.”
The scoring frenzy continued in the second half as the Bulldogs added touchdowns of two and three yards from Chase Keyser and Drew Bilke, respectively.
Martin finished the game nine of 11 for 248 yards and three touchdowns.
“He was able to get some pretty big plays in the passing game and made some nice reads,” Sarwinski said. “He’s come a long way. He’s a quiet leader, and he doesn’t get too excited. But he makes the right adjustments when he needs to. We have confidence in him.”
Leet combined 74 receiving yards with punt returns of 40 and 51 yards and two combined touchdowns. Clark finished with 108 total yards and a touchdown. Overall, Galena put up 375 yards on offense. Defensively, the Bulldogs held the Raiders to 185 yards and a little more than three yards per carry.
Frontenac was missing four starters on offense and three on defense with injury — John Oppliger, who was recovering from a concussion, played only on defense.
“We were pretty banged up tonight, so we need to try and get healthy and finish strong,” Palumbo said. “I thought the kids played hard, but that’s the thing about this league, there are no weeks off. It’s just tough. We’re going to try and heal up and get into district play and play to win it.”
Galena is now 4-1 and will host Southeast next week. Frontenac fell to 2-3 with the loss. The Raiders will travel to face St. Mary’s-Colgan next week.

Kevin Flaherty can be reached at kevin.flaherty@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 Ext. 134