| Pirates
win opener
The Prairie football team picked up where they left off last year as they scored a 46-0 win over Lewis County at Craigmont Friday, Sept. 4 in a game that ended in the third quarter on the 45-point mercy rule. 
Prairie scored every time they had the ball in the first half while their defense bent some but stiffened when it counted. Lewis County was forced to punt on their first possession with Prairie taking over at their own 32. After a first down play was stopped for no gain, Branden Waller found a big hole on the left side and ran the ball 48 yards to the Eagles 20. On the next play quarterback Kyle Holthaus faked a pitch to the right and carried himself through the same hole on the left side for 20 yards and the first touchdown of the game. Tyrell Langston took a pitchout to the right and scored the 2-pointer to make it 8-0. Lewis County came right back with drive of their own, starting at their own 24. Mixing the run with some passing from quarterback Chris Riggers, the Eagles picked up 3 first down and moved down to the Prairie 18 where they faced a fourth and inches. The Eagles decided to try and pass for the first down and Riggers’ pass attempt to Anthony Small was low as they turned the ball over to the Pirates. The Eagles were flagged for pass interference on Prairie’s first pass attempt of the game, giving the Pirates a first down at the 33. Waller ran up the middle for 7 yards on the next play and Devin Schmidt followed with a run around right end. Schmidt got past the line of scrimmage and broke into the open, going 60 yards for the touchdown. Waller ran in the 2-pointer to make it 16-0. On the ensuing kickoff Lewis County tried a reverse but Prairie covered it well and the Eagles had to start at their own 16. The Eagles put together another long drive, mostly on running plays as Damon Leitch had gains of 20 and 10 yards and Small picked up 16 on another carry. An 18 yard pass play from Riggers to Sawyer Wahl gave the Eagles a first down at the Prairie 12. Leitch gained 3 yards on the next play to put the Eagles inside the 10 but 2 incomplete passes and a fourth down run that gained only 1 yard turned the ball back to the Pirates at the 8 yard line. Two running plays netted 8 yards for the Pirates and then Holthaus attempted to pass. He got forced out of the pocket and scrambled out to the right and found David Sigler open about 10 yards downfield. Sigler turned and ran up the right sideline and picked up a key block from Conner Rieman at about the 40 that sprung him for the rest of the yardage on an 84 yard scoring play.  Holthaus
passed to Rieman for the 2-pointer to make it 24-0 early in the second
quarter.
Prairie got the ball back rather quickly as the Eagles went for it on fourth and 5 from their own 34. Justin and Devin Schmidt blew up the play as they tackled Leitch for a 4 yard loss giving Prairie the ball at the Lewis County 30. A penalty pushed Prairie back but on third and 15, Sigler made a spectacular 1-handed catch that gave Prairie a first down at the 15 yard line. After two 1 yard gains, Holthaus tossed a screen pass to Waller on the left side. There were no defenders there and Waller took the ball 13 yards to the end zone. Devin Schmidt ran in the 2-pointer to give Prairie a 32-0 lead with 5:09 left in the half. Lewis County picked up a couple of first downs on their next possession but a holding penalty forced them to punt from their own 31. Prairie took over at their own 36. Langston ran 7 yards on first down and Waller picked up the first down with a 5 yard burst up the middle. Holthaus then connected with Sigler for a 4 yard gain and on the next play Sigler ran a fly pattern down the left side and Holthaus hit him with a perfect pass at about the Eagles 30 with Sigler outracing the defenders to the end zone on a 48 yard scoring play. The extra point try failed as Prairie led 38-0 with 1:05 left in the half. Prairie took the opening kickoff of the second half and started at their own 21. Sigler took over at quarterback and Cody Schumacher was put in at tailback. Sigler’s third down pass was too high for Holthaus and Prairie had to punt for the only time in the game. Sigler showed why he was named all-state punter last season as he got off a 60 yard punt putting the Eagles back at their own 15. The Eagles were forced to punt after just 3 plays and Prairie took over at the Eagles 34 as Prairie gained 41 yards of field position on the exchange of punts. Schumacher gained 14 yards on 2 running plays then Sigler rolled out to the right as if to pass and wound up running the ball down to the 4 yard line for a first and goal. Waller went up the middle but was stopped just short of the goal line. Sigler ran it in around the left side on the next play and Schumacher scored the 2-pointer to end the game with 5:43 left in the third quarter. Waller wound up with 70 yards on 7 carries while Schmidt added 61 yards on 3 carries. Prairie totaled 195 yards rushing on 19 attempts. Holthaus completed 5 of 6 passes for 169 yards with Sigler catching 4 passes for 156 yards and 2 touchdowns. Waller caught the other pass for a 13 yard gain. Sigler was 0 for 1 passing. Lewis County had a big edge on time of possession as they ran 47 offensive plays to just 26 for Prairie. However they gained just 187 total yards, 71 rushing on 27 attempts and 116 passing as Riggers was 11 for 19 passing and Leitch was 0 for 1. Waller led the Pirates in tackled with 8½, while Devin Schmidt had 7 tackles. Langston had 5½ tackles, Rieman 5 tackles plus a sack, Sigler 5 tackles and Derek Schaeffer 4½ tackles. Kyler Shumway drew double and triple teams at his nose tackled position freeing up the others to make the tackles. This week Prairie travels to Kooskia to play Clearwater Valley Friday, Sept. 11, with their home opener coming against a much-improved Potlatch team Friday, Sept. 18. Prairie 16 22 8 -46 Lewis County 0 0 0 - 0 P-Holthaus 20 run (Langston run) 9:10 1st P-D. Schmidt 60 run (Waller run) 2:53 1st P-Sigler 84 pass from Holthaus (Rieman pass from Holthaus) 9:27 2nd P-Waller 13 pass from Holthaus (D. Schmidt run) 5:09 2nd P-Sigler 48 pass from Holthaus (run failed) 1:02 2nd P-Sigler 1 run (Schumacher run) 5:43 3rd, game over.
PIRATES BOYS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2009 11-C.V., there 18-Potlatch, here 25-Timberline, there 9-Genesee, there 16-Troy, here 23-Deary, there 30-Kendrick, here 20-Championship, ISU/BSU, TBA 21-Kamiah, here 28-Timberline, there 12-Genesee, there 19-Troy, here 26-Deary, there Note: JV schedule subject to change as some schools may not have enough turn out to support a JV team. |
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