| Pirates
lose in overtime
Second half turnovers hurt the Prairie football team as they lost 18-20 in overtime to Meadows Valley at New Meadows Friday, August 26. 
The Pirates took the opening kickoff and marched right downfield for a score on their first possession. The big play was a 43 yard quarterback draw play out of shotgun formation by Mat Forsmann that gave Prairie a first down at the 13 yard line. Two runs by Danny Riener of 7 and 5 yards put Prairie at the 1 and Forsmann scored on a quarterback sneak for a 6-0 lead 3 and a half minutes into the game. Over the next two possessions Meadows Valley won the punting battle as they punted to the Prairie 9 yard line. A penalty stalled the Pirates possession and Forsmann’s punt made it out to the Meadows Valley 44. The Mountaineers then put on a drive that moved them down to the Prairie 10 yard line. A fumble on fourth and 1 ended the drive with Prairie taking over on downs at the 20 after a 10 yard loss. Prairie picked up a first down but was then forced to punt from the 33. Prairie again stopped Meadows Valley on downs at the Prairie 39. A holding penalty on third down looked like it would stop the drive but on the next play Forsmann passed over the middle to Phil Henry who had to come back for the underthrown pass then picked up another 20 yards before being tackled at the 11 after a 55 yard gain. After 2 runs by Riener netted 5 yards, Forsmann passed to a wide-open Jacob Holthaus in the corner of the end zone to make it 12-0. Meadows Valley looked like they were going to come right back for a score but the Prairie defense forced a fumble at the 18 yard line with Riener recovering at the 20. Prairie tried a couple of long passes but both fell incomplete and the half ended a play later. Prairie opened the second half with a perfectly executed onside kick. Ronnie Chandler’s kickoff went straight down the middle between Meadows Valley’s up front blockers and Riener recovered the ball at the Meadows Valley 41. On the next play Forsmann connected with Henry for 26 yards to put Prairie at the 15. Three running plays gave Prairie a first and goal at the 3 but on the next play Forsmann never got the handoff to Riener and Meadows Valley recovered at the 6. Prairie forced a punt but on their next possession disaster struck. After picking up a first down at the 33, Forsmann tried a bootleg to take advantage of the defensive end who had been crashing in on the previous 3 runs. He picked that play to stay at his position though and forced a fumble which was picked up by Meadows Valley’s Alex Eller at the 40. He raced untouched to the end zone to cut the lead to 12-6. An interception ended Prairie’s next possession and it took just 2 plays for Meadows Valley to tie the game. Their quarterback was successful on a bootleg attempt as he went 51 yards for the tying touchdown.  Prairie
could have easily fallen behind after their next possession as a low punt
snap led to Meadows Valley taking over at the Prairie 21.
The defense held though as Tim Russell batted away a fourth down pass attempt to give Prairie the ball back at their 20. Prairie was able to move the ball out to near midfield but then turned the ball over again on a fumble. Prairie forced a punt and then picked up a first down on pass interference before another turnover, this time an interception. They got the ball right back though as Riener recovered a fumble at the Meadows Valley 42. Prairie moved the ball down to the 22 before turning the ball over on downs. Meadows Valley had a couple of huge gainers as they moved down to the Prairie 10 but time ran out on them. Meadows Valley was then going to settle for the tie as it was a non-league game but Prairie got them to go for the Kansas Tiebreaker. Prairie won the toss and decided to play defense first. Meadows Valley’s bowling ball of a fullback Colton Hotchkiss went 9 yards on the first play from scrimmage and went in for the score on the next play. Quarterback Jason Deasy ran another bootleg for the 2-pointer that wound up being the difference. Prairie started their possession badly as they were hit with a procedure penalty right off the bat. After a run gained nothing and an incomplete pass, Forsmann found Holthaus in the end zone. Holthaus caught the pass despite a pass interference call against the defender. Riener’s 2-point try up the middle was stopped a yard short. Riener gained 90 yards on 23 carries with Forsmann adding 37 on 11 carries. Ryan Daly had 23 yards on 8 carries and Russell had 17 yards on 3 carries as Prairie totaled 167 yards rushing. Forsmann completed 5 of 15 passes for 107 yards with 2 interceptions. Holthaus caught 3 for 26 yards and 2 touchdowns while Henry caught 2 passes for 81 yards. Riener was the leading tackler with 16 tackles. He also had 2 fumble recoveries and recovered an onside kick. Russell had 11 tackles including a couple of pass deflections. Eric Lerandeau had 11 tackles while Seth Crane had 9, Chris Schumacher had 7 and Corey Schaeffer and Holthaus had 5 each. Prairie’s next game is their home opener this Friday against Lewis County. Prairie 6 6 0 0 6 -18 M.V. 0 0 12 0 8 -20 P-Forsmann 1 run (run failed) P-Holthaus 6 pass from Forsmann (run failed) M-Eller 60 fumble return (pass failed) M-Deasy 51 run (run failed) M-Hotchkiss 1 run (Deasy run) P-Holthaus 15 pass from Forsmann (run failed) SCHEDULE FOR 2005 9-Genesee, there 16-Deary, here, Homecoming 23-Timberline, there 30-BYE 14-Clearwater Valley, there 21-Lapwai, here 28-Kendrick, there |
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