| Pirates
lose in final seconds at Troy
The Prairie football team erased a 16 point deficit in the final 5 minutes of their game at Troy only to lose on a kickoff return with 22 seconds left as they lost 38-32. 
Prairie took the early lead after Tyler Forsmann recovered a Troy fumble at the Troy 34 yard line early in the first quarter. Four plays later Danny Riener burst up the middle for a 7-yard scoring run. Kyle Holthaus then passed to Jake Holthaus for the 2-point conversion to make it 8-0. On the following kickoff Prairie ran a special kicking play designed to get the ball right back. Kicker Ronnie Chandler lofted a short kick to the right side about 20 yards downfield. David Sigler, the wingman on that side, raced down the sideline and beat the Troy return team to the ball giving the Pirates possession at the Troy 36. After two running plays set up a third and 1, Ryan Daly ran a sweep to the right, broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and headed downfield across the field to the left. He cut back at the 5 yard line and made it into the end zone for a 27 yard scoring play. Riener ran in the 2-pointer to give Prairie a 16-0 lead.  The
teams traded punts the rest of the first quarter With Prairie holding a
16-0 lead at the break.
On Troy’s first possession of the second quarter they picked up a first down but then the Prairie defense came up with a couple of big plays to set up a fourth and 9 at the Prairie 37. J.D. Riener and Brandan Waller had caught Troy’s Roshaun Pesho behind the line for a 5 yard loss and Corey Schaeffer had batted down a pass attempts. Troy then ran a gadget play as they had Pesho take a deep handoff and roll out, Pesho then threw a perfect pass to the end zone for a touchdown. The conversion try failed leaving Prairie with a 16-6 lead. On Prairie’s next possession the Pirates committed their only turnover of the game and it cost them. Troy recovered a fumble at their own 46. A quarterback keeper gained 25 yards to the Prairie 29. Troy picked up another first down at the 15. Waller tackled Matt Bowen for a 5 yard loss and a screen pass attempt where all of Troy’s blockers were too far downfield to do any good cost the Trojans another 2 yards to set up a fourth and 16 at the 21. 
Troy converted another fourth down as Cory Nelson passed into double coverage to Pesho in the end zone. The 6’3” Pesho was able to outleap the two Prairie defenders and score the touchdown. Troy added the conversion to cut the lead to 16-14. Prairie was forced to punt on their next possession and Troy took over at their own 49. After picking up a first down to the 28, Prairie again forced the Trojans to convert a fourthdown. This time on fourth and 2 at the 20, Nelson passed deep. Sigler was there to bat the ball but instead of batting it straight down, the ball stayed in the air long enough for Troy’s Nick Garrison to make the catch for a touchdown that gave Troy at 16-20 lead at the half. Both team’s defenses played it tough in the third quarter but Troy’s special teams helped them add to their lead. Prairie was forced to punt late in the quarter. Josh Holthaus’ 36 yard punt was caught by Riley Nelson at the Troy 28 with David Sigler just missing on tackling him right away. Nelson took off to the right and worked his way all the way to the end zone for a touchdown and a 16-26 lead by the Trojans at the end of 3 quarters. Troy scored again with 5:18 left in the fourth but again failed on the conversion for a 16-32 lead. David Sigler took the ensuing kickoff at the 15 and took off toward the left sideline. 67 yards later Nelson knocked him out of bounds to save the touchdown.  Three
plays later though Ryan Daly took off around right end for an 8 yard scoring
run. Riener added the 2-pointer to cut the lead in half to 24-32.
Prairie tried to steal the ball again on a short kickoff but Troy’s Jake Berglund called for a fair catch at the Troy 40. On third and two though Troy fumbled the ball and David Sigler came up with the ball after the scramble at the Troy 48. Ryan Daly caught a short pass from Kyle Holthaus and converted it into an 18 yard gain to the 30. Two runs by Riener netted another first down at the 19. Waller gained 10 yards to set up first and goal at the 9. Two plays later Riener pounded through the middle for 4 yards and a touchdown. Prairie needed the 2-pointer to tie the game but were called for a false start. Despite the setback, Kyle Holthaus was able to pass to Sigler for the 2-pointer to tie the game with 31.5 seconds left on the clock. Prairie tried to squib the kickoff to avoid a long return but Berglund grabbed the ball at the Troy 40, avoided putting his knee down, and rumbled down the left sideline all the way to the end zone to give Troy back the lead. Troy then kicked off with Sigler taking the ball at the 23 and returning it to the 35. Prairie tried to pass but Holthaus was sacked for a 10 yard loss and with no timeouts left to stop the clock, time ran out before another play could be run. Riener wound up with 126 yards rushing on 24 carries and 2 touchdowns. Daly added 60 yards on 16 carries and also had 2 touchdowns. Prairie gained 208 yards rushing but quarterback sacks knocked the net total down to 161 yards. Troy shut down Prairie’s passing but putting pressure on Holthaus every time he went back to throw. He completed just 1 of 4 pass attempts for 18 yards and was sacked 5 times for 47 yards in losses. Troy gained 164 yards rushing led by Nelson who had 68 yards on 11 carries. Nelson completed 3 of 8 passes for 39 yards and Pesho was 1 for 1 for 37 yards. Danny Riener had 9 tackles and half a sack while Forsmann had 8½ tackles, 1 sack and 1 fumble recovery. Ryan Daly had 7 tackles. Schaeffer had 4½ tackles plus a sack while Waller had 4½ tackles plus a ½ sack. Jake Holthaus had 3 ½ tackles and David Sigler had 3 tackles and 2 fumble recoveries. The loss drops the Pirates to 1-1 on the season and 0-1 in league play. Their next game is Homecoming this Friday, Sept. 8 against Clearwater Valley. Prairie 16 0 0 16 --32 Troy 0 20 6 12 --38 P-Riener 7 run (J. Holthaus pass from K. Holthaus) P-R. Daly 27 run (Riener run) T-Garrison 37 pass from Pesho (run failed) T-Pesho 21 pass from C. Nelson (C. Nelson run) T-Garrison 20 pass from C. Nelson (run failed) T-R. Nelson 72 punt return (run failed) T-R. Nelson 17 run (pass failed) P-R. Daly 8 run (Riener run) P-Riener 4 run (Sigler pass from K. Holthaus) T-Berglund 60 kickoff return (pass failed) PIRATES BOYS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2006 15-Lapwai, there 22-Kendrick, here 29-BYE 13-Genesee, here 20-Deary, there 27-Timberline, here |
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