Edges taken away, Marquette falls to Galena 33-6 in 1A

GALENA – The song “Love and Marriage” has a line that states “You can’t have one without the other.”

That on Saturday afternoon at Galena’s Chuck Korte Field pertained to what the host Pirates did to disrupt the balance of Marquette’s offense during their IHSA Class 1A second-round postseason game.

The Pirates used run blitzes off the edge to take away MA’s sweeps and jet sweeps from the very start of the contest, then used their size to make anything up the middle increasingly difficult and wound up holding the Cru to just 42 ground yards on 40 carries.

That defense paired with four big-play touchdowns – three by Myles Schumacher and one by Roman Romer – led the 12th-seeded home team to a 33-6 victory over the Crusaders and a spot in the 1A quarterfinals at No. 1 seed LeRoy.

For the No. 13-seeded Cru, Grant Dose (13 tries for 37 yards) and Payton Gutierrez (14 attempts just 23 yards) eventually found a little running room inside. However, the speed guy off the edge, Jaxsen Higgins, was the marked man who never got to turn the corner, running the ball five times for minus-21 yards.

Forced to the air, quarterback Anthony Couch completed 4 of 10 tries for 87 yards – 50 on a bomb to Blayden Cassel – and two interceptions, with three of his other incompletions batted down at the line of scrimmage. Marquette ended up with 163 yards of total offense, while Schumacher’s big day led the Pirates to 316.

The only thing preventing the shutout were back-up QB Caden Durdan’s two pass completions, a 30-yarder to Koby Clark to set up a 6-yard scoring strike to Connor Baker with 1 minute, 31 seconds left.

Told that Galena coach Ed Freed had said his team’s goal was to stop the sweeps, Marquette coach Tom Jobst responded, “Well, they did it.

“We came out flat, that’s it, against a team like that, that’s big, that’s physical, that’s athletic, that can do a lot of stuff. … We had our moments, just not enough of them. It was a tough day, but that’s how it goes.

“I’m really proud of these kids, and I want everyone to know that. They worked hard and exceeded all the expectations put on them. They’re good, hard-working kids, good athletes, tough kids who worked hard for what they wanted. I’m so proud of them.”

Adding to the frustration were the big plays by the Pirates offense. After a Marquette fumble on the first series, Schumacher started things by stepping through some tackle tries for a 33-yard scoring run on the hosts’ third play from scrimmage. Jose Hernandez’s kick made it 7-0.

Marquette threatened to tie it in the second period, converting two fourth-down plays in a march from their own 19 to the Pirates’ 14, but the third fourth-down try came up short.

The real backbreaker for MA came in the third quarter when Romer picked his way through the line and scampered 41 yards to paydirt for a 14-0 advantage. After that, interceptions by Max Schulz and Gus Nack around a 6-yard score by Zach Heller had widened the gap to 21-0, and Schumacher’s last two scores in the fourth period – from 25 yards out and the last from 80 yards away, giving him 167 yards on 12 rushes – closed the door.

The Crusaders’ reserves got them on the board late, with Durdan connecting with Clark for 30 down to the Galena 6, then lobbing a score to Baker on the next play.

“Our defense was impressive, the best we’ve played all year, and against a very tough offense,” Freed said. “The counters, the jet sweeps, we worked hard on those. We’ve seen a couple of wing-T teams in our conference that used them, too, so that helped. … Myles is an explosive player, had some big runs, but our offensive line really stepped up today as well and allowed us to stay the course and do the things that got us here.

“We’re peaking at the right time of year, and that’s what it’s all about. You have to have guys step up and make plays, and that time is now. … LeRoy is next, and we’re excited for the opportunity.”