Pirates win big 58-38 at Potlatch
The Prairie football team traveled to Potlatch Friday, Oct. 10 and defeated the Loggers 58-38.
If they weren’t in already, the win likely clinched a state playoff berth with possibly a first round home game.
The opening kickoff left Prairie starting on offense from their own 11 yard line. On second and 4, Chris Schumacher picked up 21 yards around right end for a first down. On second and 8 from their own 40, Levi Gehring carried the ball to the left side and raced 60 yards to the end zone for the game’s first touchdown. Kade Quintal ran in the 2-pointer for an 8-0 lead.
Potlatch answered back by going 66 yards in 9 plays to score their first touchdown on a 2 yard run by Connor Carpenter. Prairie stopped the 2-point run short of the end zone to hold on to the lead at 8-6.
Potlatch squibbed the ensuing kickoff with Schumacher recovering at the Prairie 39.
Gehring picked up 7 yards then Quintal passed to Payton Stamper for 9 and a first down. On the next play a holding penalty wiped set the Pirates back to their own 45. However Quintal connected with Stamper down the left side for 33 yards and a first down at the Potlatch 22.
Prairie then ran the ball on 5 straight plays with the final one being an 8 yard sweep to the left by Gehring for his second touchdown of the game. Quintal then passed to Lane Mader for the 2-point conversion to give Prairie a 16-6 lead.
Potlatch again answered back with a 9-play, 70 yard drive that ended with a 17 yard pass from quarterback Jay Marshall to Trey Magallon. Those same two hooked up for the 2-point conversion to put Prairie’s lead to 16-14.
Prairie started their next possession at their own 40 after an 11 yard return by Cooper Riener. On the first play of the possession Quintal connected with Levi McElroy for 35 yards to the Potlatch 25. After a 1 yard run, Quintal tossed a short pass to the left to Schumacher who took the ball 24 yards to the end zone. Quintal then passed to Gehring for the 2-pointer for a 24-14 lead.
Potlatch’s next possession started at their own 26 after a holding penalty on the kickoff return. It took Potlatch 5 plays to move the ball to their own 48. On the next play they ran a reverse to Magallon who went 52 yards down the left sideline to the end zone. Riener tackled the runner short of the end zone on the 2-point try leaving the score at 24-20.
To this point neither defense had slowed down, much less stopped the other team’s offense.
Prairie had a holding penalty on their kickoff return as they started at their own 30. A 16 yard pass to Gehring and a 26 yard keeper by Quintal moved the ball to the Potlatch 28. At that point the offense started to sputter. Quintal was sacked for a 10 yard loss and on the next play his pass was intercepted by Carpenter at the Logger 33 and returned to the 47.
However the Prairie defense had their best series as they force Potlatch to punt from the 47 after gaining nothing in 3 plays.
Prairie took over at their own 22 and a 36 yard pass to McElroy moved the ball to the Potlatch 30. On fourth and 12 at the 32, Quintal was intercepted again by Carpenter.
However on the next play Gehring intercepted Marshall’s pass at the Prairie 45.
With under 20 seconds left in the half Quintal passed to a wide open Gehring in a crossing pattern. Gehring managed to take the ball and broke a couple of tackles and jumped over another Logger on his way to the end zone for a 55 yard scoring play. Gehring then ran in the 2 pointer to give Prairie a 32-20 lead with 2.5 seconds left in the half.
Potlatch received the second half kickoff and a holding penalty on their first play forced them to punt the ball from their own 33. Prairie took over at their own 40 after a 5 yard return by Gehring.
Quintal completed a screen pass to the left to Schumacher who went 34 yards to the 6 yard line. Gehring scored on the next play for his fourth touchdown of the game. For the first time in the game, Prairie came up short on the 2-point try but now led 38-20.
On Potlatch’s next possession, the Loggers went for it on fourth and 6 from their own 37 and Marshall was sacked for a 10 yard loss by Mader.
Prairie took over on the Potlatch 27 and 4 plays later Quintal passed to Schumacher for a 10 yard touchdown. Gehring appeared to score the 2-pointer but Prairie was called for holding and Quintal’s pass from the 13 fell incomplete. Prairie now led 44-20.
Potlatch showed they weren’t done though as Marshall passed to Magallon for 61 yards and a touchdown on their next possession. The Loggers then recovered an onside kick at the Prairie 45 and Marshall connected with Magallon for another touchdown on the next play. Potlatch was unable to score the 2-pointer either time but now trailed just 44-32.
Trajan Elven recovered another onside kick attempt by the Loggers at the Prairie 48. 2 runs by Gehring netted 11 yards and a first down. A holding penalty was called on the next play but a 23 yard pass from Quintal to McElroy converted another first down at the Logger 24. Schumacher picked up 6 and Gehring 13 on the next 2 plays to set up first and goal at the 5. Gehring then scored on the next play. Stamper caught the 2-point pass from Quintal to put the lead back at 20 at 52-32.
On Potlatch’s next possession, Mader picked up his second sack of the game on third and 9, costing the Loggers 8 yards and forcing a punt. Magallon was hurt on the punt play and wound up missing the rest of the game.
Quintal picked up 6 yards and Gehring followed with a 5 yard run for a first down at the Logger 26. Gehring appeared to have scored on the next play but a holding penalty negated the score and set Prairie back to the 34. Quintal passed to Gehring for 19 yards to the 15.
A keeper by Quintal moved the ball to the 10 and Schumacher carried to the right side for 10 yards and a touchdown. The 2 point pass failed but Prairie was now up 58-32 with 11:21 left to play.
Potlatch answered back with a 5-play 60-yard scoring drive to pull within 20 again at 58-38. Marshall scored on a 27 yard run.
Potlatch again recovered an onside kick at the Prairie 49. The Loggers moved the ball down to the Prairie 13 thanks in large part to 23 yards worth of penalties against Prairie.
At the 13 Prairie forced a fumble with Schumacher recovering at the 12.
Prairie went for it on fourth and 3 from the 19 and completed a 40 yard pass to Schumacher. 3 plays later a 27 yard completion to Schumacher moved the ball to the Potlatch 13. A quarterback sneak for 3 yards on third and 2 set up a first and goal at the 3. However that first down enabled Prairie to run out the clock on a couple of kneel downs.
Gehring had a huge game for the Pirates with 145 yards rushing on 19 carries and 90 yards pass receiving on 3 catches with 5 touchdowns. Schumacher also had a big game with 121 yards receiving on 6 catches and 36 yards rushing on 8 carries with 3 touchdowns.
Prairie had 209 yards rushing on 39 attempts. Quintal completed 18 of 25 passes with 2 interceptions for 375 yards. The 584 yards of offense was Prairie’s best output of the year.
McElroy caught 5 passes for 104 yards, Stamper 3 for 51 and Riener 1 for 9 yards.
Potlatch had 210 yards rushing on 37 attempts led by Marshall who had 102 yards on 23 carries. Marshall completed 7 of 19 passes with 1 interception for 167 yards. Magallon caught 4 passes for 136 yards.
On defense Schumacher had 4 solo tackles, 12 assists, 1 interception and 1 fumble recovery. Stamper had 6 solos and 5 assists. Elven had 4 solos and 7 assists. Mader had 3 solos, 6 assists and 2 sacks. Ashton Martin had 3 solos and 7 assists. Gehring had 2 solos, 7 assists and 1 interception. McElroy had 1 solo and 4 assists. Ben Secrest had 5 assists. Riener and Quintal each had 1 solo and 1 assist.
Prairie is now 5-2 on the season and 3-2 in league play. Their next game is Senior Night this Friday at 7 p.m. against Troy.
Prairie 16 16 20 6 -58
Potlatch 6 14 12 6 -38
Pr.-Gehring 60 run (Quintal run) 10:52 1st
Po.-Carpenter 2 run (run failed) 6:03 1st
Pr.-Gehring 8 run (Mader pass from Quintal) 2:44 1st
Po.-Magallon 17 pass from Marshall (Magallon pass from Marshall) 10:37 2nd
Pr.-Schumacher 24 pass from Quintal (Gehring pass from Quintal) 9:32 2nd
Po.-Magallon 52 run (run failed) 6:47 2nd
Pr.-Gehring 55 pass from Quintal (Gehring run) 0:02.5 2nd
Pr.-Gehring 6 run (run failed) 9:47 3rd
Pr.-Schumacher 10 pass from Quintal (pass failed) 6:07 3rd
Po.-Magallon 61 pass from Marshall (run failed) 5:41 3rd
Po.-Magallon 45 pass from Marshall (pass failed) 5:29 3rd
Pr.-Gehring 5 run (Stamper pass from Quintal) 3:27 3rd
Pr.-Schumacher 10 run (pass failed) 11:21 4th
Po.-Marshall 27 run (pass failed) 8:58 4th