| Lewis
County wins big over Prairie
The Prairie football team could start drives but couldn’t finish them while Lewis County’s speed led to easy scores for them as the Eagles beat Prairie 6-52 at Cottonwood Friday, Sept. 2. The game was ended on the 45 point mercy rule with just 2:09 left on the game clock. 
Prairie took the opening kickoff and immediately picked up 34 yards on their first play, a pass to the left side from Mat Forsmann to Jacob Holthaus. The drive stalled after that and they turned the ball over on downs at the Lewis County 37. It took the Eagles just 1 play to put points on the board as quarterback Ryan Wessels made his only pass completion of the game count as he found Jeff Harris open down the left sideline for a 63 yard scoring play and a 0-6 Lewis County lead. Prairie again started well as another completion to Holthaus gained 29 yards on first down and Danny Riener picked up 26 more on a counter play designed to go outside but he cut back out of an attempted tackle for the big gain. Unfortunately an unsportsmanlike penalty for swearing pushed the ball back 15 yards and since it was a dead ball foul, Prairie faced a first and 25. After 3 incomplete passes Prairie was forced to punt. Lewis County took over on their own 8 but 2 plays later Wessels broke free on a run up the middle for 73 yards. Corey Schaeffer wound up tackling him at the 16. On the next play Weston Bovey took a pitch to the right for the touchdown. Prairie again started the drive well as Forsmann again connected with Holthaus on first down. This time for 29 yards. But Prairie again couldn’t move the ball any further and turned the ball over at the Lewis County 39.  A
couple of losses and a holding penalty had the Eagles facing third an 33
from their own 16 but Bovey took a pitch to the right and took it all the
way for another touchdown.
On their next possession the Pirates saw Forsmann gain 13 yards on first down and then pass for 22 to Phil Henry on the next play. They came up short on fourth down though and turned the ball over at the 23. This time Harris turned in a long scoring play on a run as he burst up the middle for 77 yards to make it 0-30 by the end of the first quarter. The rest of the half saw both teams struggle as Prairie was forced to punt then forced the Eagles to fumble at the Prairie 37 with Tim Russell recovering. Prairie went 3 plays and punt but forced another turnover as Holthaus caught a tipped ball for an interception at the Lewis County 31. Prairie looked like they might get on the scoreboard as they picked up a pair of first downs on running plays to set up first and goal at the 7. That possession ended on a fourth down pass interception at the 4 yard line. Lewis County moved out to midfield before the half ran out. The defense forced another turnover on the Eagles’ first possession of the second half as Holthaus recovered at the Eagles’ 37. Three straight penalties killed any chance Prairie had of scoring as they wound up punting on fourth and 43. Lewis County took over at their own 38 and scored 2 plays later on another long run by Harris, this time for 60 yards. 
Prairie finally got on the scoreboard on their next possession as Shawn Daly set them up with a 39 yard kickoff return that put Prairie in business at the Lewis County 45. On second down Forsmann connected with Holthaus for 38 yards to the 9 yard line. On the next play he flared a pass out to Henry who caught the ball at the 2 and took it into the end zone for a touchdown to make it 6-36. Prairie forced the Eagles to punt but couldn’t move the ball and punted back with the Eagles taking it on their own 35. After picking up a first down at midfield, Harris scored again on another long run to make it 6-44. Prairie was able to pick up a couple of first downs on their next possession but turned it over on downs at the Eagles 42. Lewis County then ground out a drive as they picked up 5 to 9 yards on 6 straight carries to set up first and goal at the 9.  A
holding penalty temporarily set them back but Bovey was able to score from
the 10 and Harris’ 2-point conversion end the game.
Prairie picked up 94 yards rushing on 29 attempts with Riener gaining 51 on 12 carries. Ryan Daly had 32 on 8 carries and Forsmann had 14 on 8 carries. Forsmann completed 10 of 26 pass attempts with 1 interception for 176 yards. Holthaus caught 4 passes for 131 yards with Henry catching 2 for 31 and Ryan Daly 3 for 19. Lewis County picked up 529 yards rushing with Harris gaining 230 on 11 carries and Bovey 163 on 9 carries. Wessels was 1 for 7 passing with 1 interception for 63 yards. Harris had the 1 pass reception. On defense Riener led the way with 20 tackles with Russell making 17 tackles and Schaeffer 14. Eric Lerandeau and Seth Crane had 11 tackles each while Sean Daly had 9, Holthaus and Nick Johnson 7 each and Chris Schumacher had 6. Ryan Daly and Jack Merrill had 5 each. With the loss Prairie drops to 0-1 in league and 0-2 overall. Their next game is at Genesee this Friday, Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. Prairie 0 0 6 0 - 6 Lewis County 30 0 6 16 -52 L-Harris 63 pass from Wessels (run failed) L-Bovey 16 run (Harris run) L-Bovey 84 run (Harris run) L-Harris 77 run (Winner run) L-Harris 60 run (pass failed) P-Henry 9 pass from Forsmann (pass failed) L-Harris 50 run (Bovey run) L-Bovey 10 run (Harris run) 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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