By Richard Polen
rpolen@joplinglobe.com
GALENA, Kan. — Galena won the Class 3A sectional championship and advanced to the state semifinals for the first time in school history Friday night with a 26-15 victory over Rossville.
Galena, 12-0, travels next Friday to Marysville, 11-1, which knocked off previously unbeaten Silver Lake 21-14 in the other Eastern sectional.
For Galena, the game against Rossville started with a bang. On the first offensive play of the night, Cody Clark took a handoff from quarterback Jacoby Martin and sprinted down the far sideline, then cut back across the middle of the field for an 88-yard touchdown run.
“It was kind of a reverse,” explained senior offensive lineman Dillon Katzer. “All the linemen crack down one way. He just got a little opening and took off. We don’t run it very often. It set the tone, the first play.
“There’s a lot of emotion,” he said. “We didn’t come this far to lose.”
From there, Galena relied on the passing of Martin and the running of Troy Albright to take a 19-0 halftime lead. Meanwhile, Galena’s defensive secondary held Rossville’s passing game in check with good coverage and quick tackles.
“We got some turnovers but we did a nice job covering their receivers,” Galena head coach Beau Sarwinski said. “We went into the game wanting to put our best athletes on their best athletes and we were fortunate enough to stay with them. All week, we talked about keeping them in front of us, keeping them out of the end zone and getting some turnovers.”
Linebacker Codie Perry made Galena’s first big defensive play late in the first quarter when he sacked Rossville quarterback Mitch Buhler and forced a fumble on a third-and-goal from the Galena 10. When Buhler took the snap, Rossville’s center was the only offensive lineman near the ball, but Perry wasn’t fooled and Martin recovered the ball for Galena.
On its next possession, Rossville drove to the Galena 8 midway through the second quarter but was stopped on the first of two interceptions by Perry.
“One of our problems is we get down close and don’t execute well,” Rossville head coach Steve Buhler said. “We got down inside the 10 twice and didn’t score. We came back in the second half and played hard and made it a good ballgame.
“We always enjoy coming down here to play, except for the score,” he said. “It’s a great atmosphere.”
Albright had 165 yards rushing on 28 carries and Clark had 144 yards on 10 carries. Martin completed 10 of 15 passes for 165 yards, including six receptions by Leet for 114 yards.
Mitch Buhler was 24 of 40 passing for 226 yards.
Galena took a 13-0 lead in the first quarter when Martin’s pump fake allowed Albright to get behind the Rossville secondary for a 25-yard touchdown reception.
Then, on its last possession of the first half, Galena drove 79 yards in 12 plays, highlighted by passes of 14, 19 and 18 yards to senior receiver Colton Leet. Clark scored on a 1-yard run with 14 seconds left in the half.
“Their quick score in the beginning kind of got us on our heels,” Steve Buhler said. “I thought their kids, their athletes made big plays and we made mistakes and you can’t do that this time of year.”
Galena took a 26-0 lead late in the third quarter on an 80-yard drive that ended with a 21-yard touchdown run by Clark.
Rossville’s first touchdown came on the next-to-last play of the third quarter on a 26-yard run by Sawyor Askren, and a 5-yard touchdown pass from Mitch Buhler to Matt Buhler pulled Rossville to within 26-15 with 3:23 to play.
With Rossville out of timeouts, Galena ran out the clock from there.
“Our offensive line did a nice job keeping guys off our backs,” Sarwinski said. “I really believe that was the difference. We won the battle of the trenches and were able to run the ball.”
