| Pirates
struggle in opener
The Prairie football team struggled to score in their season opener as they lost at Genesee 8-36 Friday, Sept. 2. 
They got off to a slow start as they couldn’t generate any offense at all in the first quarter. The only time they managed to pick up a first down they picked up a holding penalty on the next play which killed off any momentum generated by the first down. Meanwhile Genesee scored the first two times they had the ball sticking exclusively to an option running attack. After those first two possessions Prairie’s defense started to settle down and was able to stop the Bulldogs on their next two possessions. Meanwhile Troy Lorentz was starting to break loose for some occasional big gainers for the Prairie offense but couldn’t sustain anything. Lorentz had runs of 12, 25 and 45 yards in the second quarter. The 25 yarder put the Pirates on the Genesee 21 but penalties on 2 of the next 3 plays killed that drive. Prairie got the ball right back 3 plays later when Dakota Wilson recovered a Genesee fumble and Lorentz broke loose 2 plays later for his 45 yarder. He got tackled at the Genesee 28 but the drive sputtered after that as Genesee took over on downs at the 24. Genesee then broke a big play as Sam Druffel completed an 81 yard touchdown pass to his brother Ben to put Genesee up 0-22 late in the half. Prairie came out fired up in the second half as they stuffed Genesee’s first drive with Josh Roeper sacking Sam Druffel for a 7 yard loss on fourth down to give Prairie the ball at the Genesee 44. Prairie picked up a first down to move down to the 32. 2 plays later Marcus Higgins connected with wideout McCoy Hale out toward the left sideline at about the 25 yard line. Hale was able to juke his way past defenders all the way to the end zone for Prairie’s first touchdown of the season. Higgins ran in the 2 pointer to cut the deficit to 8-22. Prairie’s next scoring opportunity came after Hale stepped in front of a Genesee receiver and intercepted a pass to give Prairie the ball at their own 27. The Pirates were able to move into Genesee territory before the drive stalled and they turned the ball over on downs. They got the ball right back though as Tim Frei intercepted a pass on Genesee’s next play. Prairie couldn’t move the ball though and down by 2 touchdowns with 6:30 to play, went for it on fourth down and came up short.  Genesee
took over at the Prairie 27 and punched in a touchdown 5 plays later.
Prairie looked to answer right back as Higgins connected with Lorentz on a short sideline pass that Lorentz turned into a 38 yard gain. A missed handoff in the backfield on the next play though turned into a fumble that Genesee recovered and the Bulldogs added another touchdown to turn what had been a close game into a rout. Lorentz wound up leading the Pirate offense with 105 yards rushing on 17 carries and added 35 yards on 2 receptions. Garrett Schmidt added 42 yards on 7 carries as Prairie totaled 168 yards rushing. Levi Lustig had 14 yards on 9 carries and Damian McWilliams had 13 yards on 2 carries. Hale had 3 receptions for 42 yards and a touchdown. Higgins was 5 for 19 passing for 77 yards. Genesee piled up 427 total yards, 319 on the ground as Sam Druffel had 188 yards on 24 carries and Garrett Jones added 95 on 20 carries. Druffel also completed 2 of 8 passes for 108 yards with 2 interceptions. Ryan Kneale was 1 for 2 for 0 yards passing. It didn’t hurt Genesee’s cause that it was their second game while it was Prairie’s first of the year. The Pirates looked nervous as well as a step slow in the first quarter. The Pirates were whistled for 11 penalties in the game which sure didn’t help. Several of those were delay of game penalties as they have some kinks to work out in their playcalling where they shuttle in the running backs. Wilson led the Pirates’ defense with 13 tackles and a fumble recovery. Roeper had 9 tackles plus a sack. Hale had 8½ tackles and an interception. Schmidt had 8 tackles. Lorentz and Lustig had 4½ tackles each. Tim Frei had ½ a tackles plus an interception and a sack. Torin Dalgliesh had 2 tackles and McWilliams had 1. With the loss Prairie is 0-1 on the season. This week is their home opener as they face Deary Friday, Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. Prairie 0 0 8 0 -8 Genesee 14 8 0 14 -36 G-S. Druffel 4 run (A. Jones run) 8:24 1st G-G. Jones 9 run (pass failed) 4:02 1st G-B. Druffel 81 pass from S. Druffel (S. Druffel run) 1:02 2nd P-Hale 32 pass from Higgins (Higgins run) 6:48 3rd G-S. Druffel 9 run (S. Druffel run) 6:08 4th G-B. Druffel 7 run (pass failed) 2:24 4th
PIRATES BOYS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2011 9-Deary, here 16-Potlatch, here 23-Timberline, there 30-Kendrick, here 14-Lewis County, here, Homecoming 21-C.V., there 28-Troy, here 11 or 12-Kibbie Dome, TBA 18 or 19-Championship, TBA 19-Lewis County JH & JV at Craigmont 28-Timberline, JH only there, 6 p.m. 29-Kamiah, JV, there, 6 p.m. 10-Lapwai, JH & JV, here 17-Lewis Co., JH & JV, here 24-C.V., JH & JV, there |
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