Galena closes with a loss

Damian Rivadeneyra scored a late fourth-quarter touchdown for Galena High School, but it was too late to overcome McQueen in the Grizzlies' season-ending 37-6 loss to the Lancers.

Galena (1-7) finished the season 0-5 in Division I play, while McQueen (7-1) finished with a perfect 5-0 record and will face Douglas in the first round of the Northern 4A Zone playoffs next week.

McQueen's Chris Carr had two first-half touchdown runs as the Lancers raced out to a 17-0 lead by halftime. Carr opened the scoring in the first quarter with a four-yard run, then added a two-yard plunge before halftime.

"The defense didn't play bad," Galena assistant Chad Fawley said. "We had a clipping penalty to start the game, and we had to punt from our own end zone. They scored after a nine-yard punt."

Brian Fritz tossed a pair of scores for the Lancers in the third quarter. He connected on scores from 16 and 25 yards out, putting McQueen up 31-0 by the start of the fourth.

Rivadeneyra, who rushed for 78 yards on 10 carries, ran one in from 10 yards out late in the game. He was his team's leading rusher, followed by Jeremy Wilkes, who had 40 yards on 10 carries.

Curtis Baker led the Galena receivers with three catches for 29 yards.

The Grizzlies have fought this season despite their youth, and their defense has been impressive at times.

"Pat Nohr played another great game at middle linebacker tonight," Fawley said. "He's been doing that for us all year. We've been great on defense, but they just spent too much time on the field. By the end, we haven't been able to keep up with them."

Galena will look to build next year on a young offense that included sophomore quarterback Garrett Estep, who finished his season with 27 yards against McQueen on a 4-for-17 effort.

"Our offense didn't do a whole lot tonight," Fawley said. "We had two sophomores on the offensive line and two juniors running the ball. The J.V. team ended up .500, so we're really looking forward to the next couple of years.

"We just need to be more consistent, that's the thing."

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Northern 4A Division I Football

McQueen 37, Galena 6

McQueen107146-37

Galena0006-6

Galena scoring

G-Rivadeneyra 10 run (kicked failed)

Galena Individual Stats

Rushing: Puryear 2-15, Wilkes 10-40, Rivadeneyra 10-78, Eldridge 3-4, Jones 1-0, Devencenzi 1-3, Estep 2-(minus-12).

Passing: Estep 4-17-27-3INT

Receiving: Baker 3-29, Rivadeneyra 1-(minus-2).

Final records: Galena 0-5, 1-7 overall; McQueen 5-0, 8-1.