Dalton Powell made it clear early and often he was going to throw the ball.
Unfortunately for Southeast senior quarterback, by the time two of his 29 pass attempts found the end zone, the Lancers were already digging out of a deep hole.
Galena scored 20 points in the final four minutes of the first quarter, built a 28-0 halftime lead and earned a 48-14 season opening victory over Southeast in a CNC Conference contest at Abbey Field Friday night.
With Tyler VanCleave making his first varsity start at quarterback for the Bulldogs, the 5-foot-10, 185 pound sophomore completed 9 of 16 passes for 258 yards and two touchdowns and added another 49 yards rushing and two more scores.
“We said we were going to come out and throw the ball and I thought early on, we did a good job offensively,” Southeast head coach Bryan Burdette said. “We had receivers open; there were times when we needed to give him more time and there were times when we should have had him throw the ball sooner.
“But we were not going to get away (from throwing the ball) when I thought some routes working.”
After turning the ball over on its initial possession, Galena scored on its next four possessions including a pair of big plays at the end of the first quarter.
VanCleave capped a 10 play 55 yard drive scoring on a one-yard keeper with 3:31 left in the first quarter.
Following a Lancer three and out, VanCleave was able to connect with senior wing Codie Perry who ran a drag route underneath the Southeast defense and outran the secondary for a 65 yard touchdown pass with 1:56 left in the quarter.
Another Southeast three and out gave Galena the ball with seven seconds left at the Bulldog 20. VanCleave connected with Perry again, this time on a deep cross route and an 80 yard touchdown for 20-0 Galena lead.
Perry, a 6-foot, 185 senior, caught four passes for 172 yards in the game with the two touchdown receptions accounting for 145 yards of his total. He added another 45 yards on five carries rushing.
The Bulldogs fourth touchdown came on an eight play, 56 yard drive with sophomore fullback Trenton Little scoring on a one yard run with 6:15 left in the second quarter.
“They hit us for some big plays; Galena is good and they showed it tonight that they still possess quite a bit of talent,” Burdette said.
The Bulldogs added three touchdowns in the third quarter — a seven yard run by Little, a 30- yard scramble by VanCleave on fourth down and a junior fullback Tylor Albright on a three-yard run for a 48-0 lead.
