After a tough season that ended with a mere two wins and seven losses, the Pirates redeemed themselves in the game against Dakota on October 21 which ended in a bittersweet loss after a game when the varsity once again looked like Pirate football players.

“It was the best game we played all year against a playoff caliber team. I was very proud of the effort that everyone gave but unfortunately, we came up a little short. We had to battle through some tough situations throughout the game. The last drive with everything on the line down 8 with 1:48 left was executed very well,” said Coach Freed.

Galena was leading Dakota 28-20 at the end of the third quarter. The Pirates were outscored 16 to 6 in the fourth quarter leading to their loss of 36 to 34. Though a loss, the team seemed to click: making big plays, long run gains, and even when questionable flag were thrown the team still continued to fight hard.

The “Rise as One” slogan  became a prediction of the season’s progress this season. “It was a fitting motto for this group,” said Coach Freed. We had to stay together as one through tough times and were able to play our best game in week nine.”

There were some struggles that lead to the sub-par season. “We started the season out with a tough schedule for the first half of the season and when you’re a team that isn’t returning a lot of experience and numbers it can be tough. We had a few more injuries than we typically do,  coupled with not as much depth and that caught up with us at times,” said Freed.

“Losing Dalton after week two to an injury was a tough blow and then we had some other players that missed some significant time. We weren’t quite as athletic as we needed to be to match up physically with the top teams in our league. That is something we will address in the off-season as we need to continue to improve our strength and speed,” Coach Freed said.

“We need to work extremely hard to improve athletic ability in the offseason to be able to compete against the top half of the league”. The team will be looking to “develop more depth and get stronger and faster” for the 2017 season.

This team’s greatest accomplishment was living up to the season’s motto “Rise as One.” “Our seniors did a good job of leading us and helping everyone to stick together and rally around each other when times were tough and through some adversity that we had. That is something we can be proud of and will be remembered by our coaching staff.”

Coach Freed wraps up another season. “Overall I am  proud of the senior., Thank you, senior group, for giving a lot to our program and leading us this year through sometimes

on and off the field. Underclassmen, we got a lot of hard work this offseason and hopefully you understand and invest the time and effort it takes to be successful in our league,” he said.