The Galena Pirates went head to head with the Marquette Rebels at Galena’s home field on November 9. This game meant a lot to the Pirates because not only were they fighting for a spot in the quarter-finals, but it was the last game that would be played at Chuck Korte Field. With this in mind, the Galena Pirates went into the game with one goal: to win.
In the first quarter, Myles Schumacher ‘25 struck first for the Pirates with a 34-yard run. This put Galena on top 7 to 0 on Marquette after Jose Hernandez ‘25 knocks in the extra point.
The second quarter was a standstill with no opponent scoring. The Pirates took a knee to kill the quarter and headed into halftime with a 7-0 lead. “It feels great to be a part of the team. I’m glad we made it this far in the playoffs,” said Jack Vincent ‘28. “I hope we can continue our run.”
In the third quarter, the Pirates struck again with a Roman Romer ‘26 41-yard rushing touchdown. This put the lead to 13-0 going into the point after. Jose Hernandez ‘25 hit another extra point giving the Pirates a lead of 14 to nothing going into the fourth quarter.
The Pirates weren’t slowing down thanks to another touchdown from the fullback Zach Heller ‘25. “All credit goes to the line,” said Heller. “Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to score. Thanks to them we got the energy to win the game.” The extra point was successful. The lead was extended to 21 to nothing.
The Pirate’s defense stopped the Rebel’s offense and gave the ball back into the hands of Myles Schumacher and the Pirate offense. With nine minutes left on the clock, Schumacher broke for another touchdown. The point after was missed. The score was increased to 27-0.
The defense had another stop on defense and gave the ball back to the red-hot Pirates offense. The first play of the Pirates offense after the stop was an 80-yard touchdown by none other than Schumacher. The point after was missed again but it doesn’t matter. The score was 33-0 with 6 minutes left.
The final score of the game was 33-6 with the Pirates taking the win. “I knew going into this game I was going to play the best I ever have and leave everything on the field and after the game, I can say that I did. I have to give my teammates credit for my success because without them I wouldn’t have made half of the plays that I did,” said Schumacher about his performance.
Romer had a quiet passing game going 5 for 8 passing with 54 yards but he had an exceptional rushing game with 8 carries for 77 yards and a score. Shumacher led the game on the ground with 13 carries for 168 yards and 3 touchdowns. Owen Hefel ‘26 led the Pirates in receiving with 2 catches for 31 yards. Gus Nack ‘26 led the Pirate’s defense with 8 tackles with 5 of those tackles being for negative yardage. Maxwell Schulz ‘26 was great in the secondary and turnover game with a fumble recovery and an interception. “I knew this was going to be a big game,” said Nack. “I knew I had to get ready physically and mentally so I put in the work and the results show that.”
