Pirates rally to beat Deary
The Prairie football team rallied for a 24-22 win over Deary in their home opener Friday, August 28 at Cottonwood.
The game didn’t start well for the Pirates. They received the opening kickoff and picked up a first down on an 8 yard gain by Payton Stamper followed by a 5 yard gain by Marshall Weber. On the next play however, Kade Quintal’s pass to Cooper Riener was intercepted and returned to the Prairie 26.
Four plays later Deary scored on a 15 yard pass play. Riener batted away the 2-point pass in a play that became very important later.
Prairie’s second possession also ended with a turnover. Over a first down, Weber burst through for a big gain but had the ball knocked loose. Deary recovered at their own 40.
The Prairie defense forced a punt and Prairie took over at their own 29. They almost turned the ball over again as the punt was fumbled but Sam Rehder recovered for the Pirates.
Prairie put together a drive. Stamper gained 4 yards on third and 4 for a first down. 2 plays later, Weber gained 22 yards to move to the Deary 39. On second and 6, Weber picked up 8 yards for another first down at the 22. The drive stalled there as Quintal’s fourth and 7 pass fell incomplete.
Deary took over and moved the ball out to the 44. On Second and 10, Deary scored on a 56 yard pass play. This time they added the 2-pointer for a 0-14 lead with 8:51 left in the half.
On Prairie’s next possession they wound up facing third and 17 at their own 25 after a holding penalty. Quintal passed down the right side to Riener who came away from an interception attempt with the ball and went 75 yards for Prairie’s first score of the game. Quintal then passed to a wide open Rehder in the middle of the end zone for the 2-pointer to make it 8-14.
Deary then muffed the kickoff and Riener recover at the Deary 29 yard  line. 2 runs by Stamper netted 6 yards then Quintal changed up his count and got Deary to jump offsides for a first down. Quintal ran for 2 then passed to Rehder for 5 to move the ball to the 11.
Then disaster struck as the snap was mishandled and Deary recovered at their own 8. The Mustangs then went 92 yards in 7 plays with the big play coming on a 64 yard pass completion. The touchdown came on an 8 yard run. Deary added the 2-pointer for an 8-22 lead with 47 seconds left in the half.
A 17 yard run by Quintal and pass completions of 13 and 15 to Rehder moved the ball to the Deary 18. A passed to Stamper gained just 6 before time ran out in the half.
Deary received the second half kickoff and the Pirates forced them to punt from their own 21.
The Pirates took over on the Deary 38 after a 17 yard punt. Stamper converted a third and 6 with an 11 yard run then gained 5 more on the next play. Tate Uhlenkott, who came in after Weber injured his ankle, picked up 6 yards for another first down at the 12. Stamper went left for 6 yards and then up the middle for 3 for third and 1 at the 3. Uhlenkott went up the middle for 3 and the touchdown. Quintal passed to Rehder for the 2-pointer to cut the deficit to 16-22 with 6:56 left in the third quarter.
Deary then put together a 15 play drive from their own 35 down to the Prairie 14 before the defense stiffened. On fourth and 3 at the 14, Deary quarterback Jarrett Keen, who had picked up big yardage running the ball throughout the game, was stopped for a loss of 1 by Quintal.
Prairie took over at the 15 and Stamper gained 18 around right end. Uhlenkott gained 6 and Prairie picked up another first down when Quintal connected with Riener for 11 yards to the 50. The drive stalled and Prairie’s fourth and 8 pass fell incomplete with Deary taking over at their 48.
Deary gained just 1 yard in 3 plays and punted the ball away. Prairie took over at their own 28.
Prairie then put together what turned out to be the game-winning scoring drive. Quintal passed to Rehder for 8 on second and 10 and then picked up the first down with a 5 yard gain on a sneak. On third and 10, Quintal rolled out to the right looking to pass and wound up running for 10 yards and a first down at the Deary 49. A 4 yard run by Quintal and a 7 yard gain by Uhlenkott gained another fresh set of downs at the 38. Quintal passed to Rehder down the left side for 15 yards to the 24. Stamper ran twice for 9 and 7 yards to set up first and goal at the 8. After a loss of 2, Quintal found Rehder open over the middle for a 10-yard touchdown pass that tied the game at 22-22 with 1:25 left to play. On the all-important 2-point try, Quintal found Riener wide open over the middle to give Prairie a 24-22 lead.
Deary took over at their own 20 after the kickoff. The Mustangs had 4 incomplete passes with a false start mixed in as they turned the ball over on downs to Prairie at the 15.
Prairie then had to run 2 snaps to run out the clock as Quintal took the snap and dropped to 1 knee each time.
The Pirates picked up 227 yards rushing on 41 attempts. Stamper led the team with 91 yards on 20 carries. Weber added 64 yards on 6 carries. Quintal added 29 on 10 carries and Uhlenkott had 22 on 4 carries.
Quintal completed 12 of 22 passes with 1 interception for 164 yards. Rehder caught 7 passes for 70 yards. Riener caught 4 for 89 yards and Stamper caught 1 for 5.
Deary had 109 yards rushing on 32 attempts led by Keen, who had 46 yards on 14 attempts. Cooper Dammerman added 36 on 15 carries.
Keen complete 8 of 14 passes for 155 yards. 4 of those 6 incompletions came on Deary’s final possession. Dammerman caught 4 for 32 yards. Blake Clark caught 3 for 59 yards and Alex Giomi caught 1 for 64.
Prairie is now 2-0 on the season. This week they travel to Payette where they will play Valley of Hazelton. The game will start at 6 p.m. Mountain Time, Friday, Sept. 4.
Prairie 0   8 8 8 -24
Deary 6 14 0 0 -22
D-Dammerman 15 pass from Keen (pass failed) 8:38 1st
D-Clark 56 pass from Keen (Keen run) 8:51 2nd
P-Riener 75 pass from Quintal (Rehder pass from Quintal) 7:36 2nd
D-Dammerman 8 run (Keen run) 0:47.1 2nd
P-Uhlenkott 3 run (Rehder pass from Quintal) 6:56 3rd
P-Rehder 10 pass from Quintal (Riener pass from Quintal) 1:25 4th