The Galena football team just couldn't find any room to run against Douglas Friday night.
Douglas held the Grizzlies to just 52 yards rushing as a team, and kept Galena's No. 1 running back Ben Fry under wraps, holding him to 19 yards on eight carries as the Tigers ran away with a 31-13 victory at Keith Roman Field in Minden.
Spike Agosta led Douglas offensively with 129 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries and Roman Davis passed for 84 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 36 yards and a touchdown.
"They (the defense) get better every week," Douglas coach Mike Rippee said. "These guys have really taken ownership over this defense, which you love to see.
"Anybody that knows anything about football knows that the defense can really carry you through those big games."
Linemen Tyson Estes, Mike Buffo, and Tyree Holdridge and linebackers Kyle Luken, Brent Koontz, Cory Hartzell and Keenan Copp swarmed to the ball all night, penetrating through the line to make eight tackles at or behind the line of scrimmage.
Not to say that the pass defense wasn't outstanding as well.
With the exception of a few broken pass plays, Tim Senger, Sam Sourikoff, Zack Johnson, Bryan Brady and D.J. Brady kept the ball away from the Galena receivers. All five each had a hand in at least one explosive hit during the game.
Bryan Brady picked off a Jordan Arnold pass on the third play of the game, setting Douglas up at the Galena 11.
Two plays later, Davis rolled right to find Luken wide open in the end zone for a six-yard touchdown pass.
For the second-straight week the Tigers had several fumbles in the game, a trend that Rippee said he would like to see remedied before Douglas opens league play against North Valleys next week.
A fumble late in the first quarter set Galena up at the Douglas 37. To open the drive, Arnold handed off to Fry, who dropped back to complete a 30-yard pass to Tony Fritsche. Three plays later, Arnold hit Fritsche for a five-yard score to tie the game up at seven.
"We have to stop those offensive mistakes," Rippee said. "You turn the ball over like that, you give them chances to score.
"Galena was fired up, they were looking for a win and our team responded to the challenge and the defense stepped up for us."
The score remained tied until late in the first half when D.J. Brady picked off an Arnold pass, setting Douglas up at Galena's 38.
Douglas drove in for the score on seven running plays, culminating with a one-yard run by Agosta.
"Our offensive line has picked it up so much in the last week," Agosta said. "They have been firing out doing what they are supposed to do. I couldn't ask for anything more."
Douglas came out in the second half and wore Galena down with a steady dose of Agosta.
Agosta kicked a 23-yard field goal in the third quarter and later followed the blocking of Hartzell and Estes en route to a 34-yard touchdown run.
Galena managed a late score when Arnold hit Fry for an 11-yard touchdown with a little more than two minutes left.
