| Pirates
beat Genesee 46-20
Devin Schmidt rushed for 254 yards and 4 touchdowns to lead the Prairie football team to a 46-20 win over Genesee in their season opener Friday, Sept. 2 at Cottonwood. 
Schmidt averaged nearly 10 yards per carry as he had those 254 yards on 26 carries. Brock Heath added 103 yards on 17 carries and Justin Schmidt caught 5 passes for 156 yards as Prairie rolled up 534 yards of offense. Prairie took little time to score their first touchdown as they went 65 yards on 5 plays on their first possession. Devin Schmidt scored on an option play as Seth Guyer rolled right and pitched out to Schmidt who took it the distance. The conversion try failed leaving the Pirates with a 6-9 lead 2 minutes into the game. They held Genesee on downs and then picked up a first down before fumbling the ball away at the Genesee 41. The Pirate defense held though, forcing a punt. Prairie took over at their own 15 and gained just 2 yards on a pair of runs before Beau Schlader connected with Justin Schmidt, who made a leaping catch, for 11 yards and a first down. Devin Schmidt picked up 22 yards on the next play to move the ball to midfield. A 4 yard run by Schmidt and a 13 yard run by Heath moved the ball to the 33. On the next play Schmidt took a pitch to the right then cut back to the middle of the field and raced 33 yards for his second touchdown. The conversion try failed again as Prairie took a 12-0 lead which stood up as the first quarter score. For the third straight time Genesee failed to pick up a first down and Prairie took over after the punt at their own 38. Five running plays netted 26 yards and set Prairie up at the Genesee 36.  Schlader
then went to the pass and hit a wide open Justin Schmidt at the 8 yard
line and Schmidt took it in for the score. The conversion again failed
as Prairie took an 18-0 lead.
Genesee was finally able to pick up a couple of first downs on pass plays as they moved deep into Pirate territory. They had a first and goal at the 9 but a 1 yard loss and 3 incomplete passes turned the ball over to the Pirates at the 10. Prairie moved out to the 37 where Guyer again moved to quarterback to run the option. He rolled out to the left and faked a pitch to Schmidt then tucked the ball away and went 63 yards for an apparent score. The play was called back though as one of the referees blew his whistle too quickly, negating the play. Prairie was then forced to punt. Genesee took over at their own 11 after Devin Schmidt’s 47 yard punt. The Bulldogs tried 3 straight passes and hit the jackpot with the third attempt as Sam Druffel threw his best pass of the night, hitting Alan Berry in stride deep down the left sideline. Berry had gotten behind the defender and went 84 yards for the touchdown to cut the lead to 18-6 as the conversion try failed. Prairie answered right back though as Schlader connected with Justin Schmidt twice for gains of 40 and 38 yards. Schmidt was wide open on both plays. That set up first and goal at the 3 and 2 plays later Schlader went in from the 1 for the touchdown. He then completed a pass to Devin Schmidt for the 2-pointer to make it 26-6 with 20 seconds left in the half. Genesee’s players must have received an inspiring speech from their coach at the half as they came out fired up and moved the ball down the field after receiving the second half kickoff. They went 71 yards in 10 plays with Berry scoring his second touchdown from 20 yards out to cut the lead to 26-12. Their defense played inspired too as they forced a fumble to get the ball right back at their own 35. They didn’t keep it long though as Justin Schmidt intercepted Druffel on the very next play to give Prairie the ball at the 39. 3 plays later Devin Schmidt took a pitch to the right and broke at least 3 tackles on his way to a 34 yard touchdown run. The conversion again failed and Prairie led 32-12. They didn’t keep it at that margin very long though as Genesee’s Tyler Stout took the kickoff at the 10 yard line and went 90 yards up the sideline for a touchdown. Druffel ran in the 2-pointer to cut the lead to 32-20 with 5:01 left in the third quarter. 
Genesee’s defense then stopped Prairie, forcing a punt attempt. The snap came in high and Devin Schmidt had to scramble with the ball and was tackled well short of the first down as Genesee took over at the Prairie 34. Druffel went back to pass on the next play but was forced to scramble and gained 31 yards to the 3 yard line for a first and goal. Two running plays netted just 1 yard then Genesee got pushed back by a procedure penalty to the 8. Colton Nuxoll got into the backfield to tackle Druffel for a 2 yard loss and on 4th down Genesee tried a pitchout to Berry but Guyer burst through to tackle Berry for a 6 yard loss and give Prairie the ball at the 16. Prairie got out of their own end when Devin Schmidt came back for an underthrown pass, outleaping 3 defenders for a 25-yard gain. 2 runs by Schmidt netted 22 yards and put Prairie into Genesee territory at the 32. Heath gained 5 yards to the 26 and on the next play Schmidt scored his 4th touchdown on a 26 yard run over the right side. Schlader passed to a wide-open Justin Schmidt for the 2-pointer to make it 40-20 with 7:36 left to play. That turnaround, where Prairie stopped the Bulldogs from scoring on first and goal from the 3 and then marched downfield to score their own touchdown seemed to take the fight out of Genesee. They turned the ball over on downs at their own 45 on their next possession and Prairie took just 5 plays to scored another touchdown. Devin Schmidt went 23 yards on the first play from scrimmage. Heath netted 11 yards on the next two plays. Garrett Schmidt went up the middle for 3 and Heath then scored from the 8 on a delay out of the backfield. The 2-point try failed but Prairie had a comfortable 46-20 lead with 4:43 left to play. Prairie had 355 yards rushing in the game on 56 attempts. Schlader was 7 for 7 passing for 179 yards. Genesee gained just 57 yards rushing on 25 attempts. Druffel was 12 for 24 passing for 217 yards with Berry catching 6 passes for 161 yards. Devin Schmidt led the defense with 7 tackles and 2 sacks from his linebacker position. Justin Schmidt had 6½ tackles and an interception. Tim Frei had 5½ tackles and a sack. Garrett Schmidt, Guyer and Nuxoll each had 3½ tackles. Josh Roeper had 3 tackles and 1 sack. David Johnson had 2 tackles and 2 sacks. With the win Prairie is 1-0 on the season and in league play. There next game is this Friday, Sept. 10 at Deary at 7 p.m. Genesee 0 6 14 0 -20 Prairie 12 14 6 14 -46 P-D. Schmidt 32 run (run failed) 9:59 1st P-D. Schmidt 33 run (pass failed) 1:32 1st P-J. Schmidt 36 pass from Schlader (pass failed) 9:07 2nd G-Berry 84 pass from Druffel (pass failed) 1:35 2nd P-Schlader 1 run (D. Schmidt pass from Schlader) 0:20 2nd G-Berry 20 pass from Druffel (pass failed) 8:49 3rd P-D. Schmidt 34 run (pass failed) 5:15 3rd G-Stout 90 kickoff return (Druffel run) 5:01 3rd P-D. Schmidt 26 run (J. Schmidt pass from Schlader) 7:36 4th P-Heath 8 run (run failed) 4:43 4th
PIRATES BOYS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2010 10-Deary, there 17-Potlatch, there 24-BYE 8-Lapwai, here, Homecoming 15-Lewis County, at Craigmont, 3 p.m. 22-C.V., here 29-Troy, there 12 or 13-Kibbie Dome, TBA 19 or 20-Championship, TBA 16-Potlatch, there 23-Timberline, here 12-Lewis County, here 21-C.V., here 28-Troy, there Changes are in italics |
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