Grace ends Prairie's season
For the second year in a row, the Prairie Pirates’ football season was ended by the Grace Grizzlies. This time it was 16-40 at Pocatello in the state quarterfinals Friday, Nov. 7.
Defensively, the Pirates held the Grizzlies running game in check but struggled with the Grizzlies passing game.
Grace received the opening kickoff and needed 10 plays to go 62 yards for the opening touchdown. That came on a 19 yard pass from quarterback Gavin Draper to running back Bryant Moss.
Prairie wasn’t able to move the ball on their first possession and were hurt by a false start penalty. They punted and Grace took over at their own 39.
The Pirates’ defense gave up a first down and then had Grace facing fourth and 7 at the Prairie 44. They went for it and Draper found Kade Kimball wide open for a 44 yard touchdown. They added a 2-point run for a 0-14 lead.
Prairie picked up a first down on their next possession as Levi Gehring picked up 2 yards on third and 1. However that possession ended when Grace intercepted Kade Quintal’s pass at the Prairie 45 on the first play of the second quarter. They returned the ball 18 yards to the Prairie 27.
Three plays later Grace scored again, this time on a 3 yard run. Lane Mader’s tackle stopped the 2-point play as Grace now led 0-20.
Prairie had to punt again after facing and fourth and 20. Grace took over at their own 29.
What followed was a bizarre possession where a penalty was called on 5 consecutive plays. 3 of those were on Grace which backed them up to their own 5 where they had a first and 34. Prairie then got flagged twice which moved the ball back out to the 25.
Grace then had 2 incomplete passes and an 8 yard run that set up fourth and 6 from the 33. Grace decided to go for it and were stopped 1 yard short by the defense.
Prairie took over at the Grace 38 and put together their first scoring drive. After an incomplete pass, Quintal picked up a first down on a 10 yard run. On second and 5 from the 23, Quintal passed down the left side to Cooper Riener for 20 yards to set up first and goal at the 3 yard line. Prairie tried running the ball 3 straight times setting up fourth and goal just inches from the goal line. Chris Schumacher was able to dive across the goal line on fourth down to put the Pirates on the scoreboard. Quintal passed to Gehring for the 2-pointer to make it 8-20.
Grace answered right back with a 2-play 59 yard scoring drive. The touchdown came on a 48 yards pass from Draper to Parker Yost, their 6’5” tight end. Grace kicked the extra point to make it 8-27.
Grace tried an onside kick with Payton Stamper recovering at the Prairie 47.
Prairie picked up a couple of first downs as Quintal passed to Gehring for 9 yards to convert a second and 6. Schumacher then picked up 6 yards and Quintal passed to Levi McElroy for 7 yards for another first down at the Grace 27.
Quintal picked up 4 yards on first down and after an incomplete pass, Grace was called for encroachment to set up third and 1. Prairie was unable to convert and turned the ball over on downs at the 18.
Grace went for it again on fourth and 10 from their own 18. Schumacher batted the pass away and Prairie took over on downs with just seconds left in the half. Gehring was unable to gather in Quintal’s hail mary pass into the end zone as the half ended.
Grace kicked off to start the second half and tried an onside kick. The ball only went 3 yards and Prairie took over on the Grace 43.
The Pirates were unable to move the ball and turned it over on downs after gaining just 1 yard.
Grace took over and picked up 4 first downs. The last set up first and goal at the 10. A holding penalty followed by a sack for a 6 yard loss by Trajan Elven set Grace back to the 26. They managed to get the ball down to the 12 before their fourth down pass was dropped.
Prairie took over at the 12 and picked up a first down on a 10 yard pass to Riener. A third down sack for a loss of 7 led to a punt.
Grace took over at the Prairie 44 and needed just 3 plays to score. Carter Kimball caught a 26 yard pass for the touchdown and Bradley Schiele kicked the extra point for an 8-34 lead.
Prairie took over after a 19 yard kickoff return by Isaiah Warren at their own 32. Gehring caught a pass for 13 yards and then ran for 15 to move the ball to the Grace 40.
Grace intercepted Quintal’s pass on the next play and returned it to the Prairie 43. 3 plays later Grace scored again with Carter Mecham scoring from 24 yards out on the first play of the fourth quarter. The kick failed making it 8-40.
Warren again returned the kickoff 19 yards this time to the Prairie 29.
Prairie picked up a first down on a 7 yard pass to Riener followed by a 15 yard pass to Gehring.
An offensive interference call set them back. On that play McElroy got called for the penalty as he prevented another interception.
Prairie picked up another first down on a 30 yard screen pass to the left to Gerhing. Gehring ran 4 yards on first down. After 2 incomplete passes, Prairie converted a first down on an 8 yard pass to Schumacher.
After 2 runs netted 0 yards, Quintal passed over the middle to Gehring for 22 yards and a touchdown. Quintal then passed to Mader for the 2-pointer to make it 16-40 with 7:21 left to play.
Prairie got a chance to get closer when Gehring intercepted Draper’s pass at the Prairie 40 and returned it to the 46. However a sack and then Quintal’s third interception ended that chance.
Grace took over at their own 35 and was able to pick up a first down which allowed them to run out the clock.
Prairie’s running attack was stifled as they picked up just 38 yards on 25 attempts. Gehring had 39 yards on 13 carries.
Quintal completed 13 of 29 passes for 149 yards with 3 interceptions. Gehring caught 6 passes for 88 yards. Riener caught 3 for 37. McElroy caught 2 for 11. Schumacher caught 1 for 8 and Stamper caught 1 for 5.
Grace had 75 yards rushing on 25 attempts. Their big damage came in the passing game as Draper completed 22 for 34 passes with 1 interception for 324 yards.
On defense Mader had 5 solo tackles, 5 assists and 2 sacks. Schumacher had 6 solos and 4 assists. Gehring had 4 solos, 4 assists and an interception. McElroy had 5 solos and 2 assists. Stamper had 3 solos and 3 assists. Quintal had 2 solos. Elven had 1 solo, 1 assist and 1 sack. Ben Secrest had 2 assists and 1 sack. Ashton Martin had 1 assist and 1 sack. Riener and Oliver Kauffman-VanHouten each had 1 solo.
Prairie ends their season with a record of 7-4. Their 4 losses were to the 4 teams that are in the state semifinals: Kendrick, Logos, Kamiah and Grace.
Prairie  0   8  0 0 -  6
Grace 14 13 7 6 -40
G-Moss 19 pass from Draper (pass failed) 7:15 1st
G-K. Kimball 44 pass from Draper (C. Kimball run) 2:25 1st
G-Smith 3 run (run failed) 10:34 2nd
P-Schumacher 1 run (Gehring pass from Quintal) 3:46 2nd
G-Yost 48 pass from Draper (Schiele kick) 3:23 2nd
G-C. Kimball 26 pass from Draper (Schiele kick) 1:56 3rd
G-Meacham 24 pass from Draper (kick failed) 11:54 4th
P-Gehring 22 pass from Quintal (Mader pass from Quintal) 7:21 4th