| Pirates
fall short at Salmon River
The Prairie football team rallied from 12 points down to within 4 in the fourth quarter but couldn’t finish the comeback as they lost 26-30 against Salmon River at Riggins Friday, Sept. 9. 
Prairie got off to a good start as they received the opening kickoff and on fourth and 4 from their own 43, Spencer Schumacher passed to Brandon Anderson on a little flare pattern out of the backfield to the right side. Anderson was wide open and was able to take the ball the distance for the touchdown less than 90 seconds into the game. The 2-point try failed and that would be a recurring theme for the Pirates. Salmon River answered right back on their first possession as Canyon Harper went 42 yards on the Savages’ first play from scrimmage with Hunter Chaffee making the touchdown saving tackle. 4 plays later Salmon River tied the score and then took their first lead with the 2-point conversion. On the ensuing kickoff Anderson wound up recovering the squib/onside attempt but paid for it when he took a helmet in the back that numbed his right leg and put him on the sidelines for the rest of the game. Prairie plugged Jake Stubbers into Anderson’s spot and put together a good drive as they moved down to a first and goal at the 9. Two plays netted 6 yards but Prairie turned the ball over on a fumble on third down at the 3. Salmon River took over and moved out to the 17. A false start penalty led to a fourth and 15 from the 12. For whatever reason, Salmon River decided to go for it with Harper going up the middle for no gain as Caleb McWilliams made the stop. Prairie took over at the 12 and needed just 3 plays to retake the lead with Stubbers going in from the 1. The 2-point try again failed as Prairie led 12-8. Salmon River answered with a 10-play, 65 yard scoring drive with Harper finishing it off with a 1 yard run as the Savages took back the lead. They again added the 2-pointer to make it 12-16. Prairie was stopped on downs and turned the ball over at their 46. Salmon River took over and drove the ball downfield for another touchdown and 2-point conversion as they took a 12-24 lead with 3:16 left in the half. That’s where the score stood at the half. Salmon River got the ball first in the second half and drove to the Prairie 29 before Jayce Huling and Carson Schmidt combined to stuff Harper for a 1 yard loss on fourth and 1. Prairie took over at the 30 and got a 27 yard gain from Schumacher on a quarterback keeper to the left. 3 plays later Schumacher connected with a wide-open Stubbers for an 18 yard gain that set up first and goal at the 7. A penalty against Salmon River moved the ball half the distance to the goal and 2 plays later McWilliams went over the right side for a 4 yard score. Again the 2-point try came up short as Prairie pulled within 6 at 18-24.  Salmon
River got a huge kickoff return of 56 yards by Tucker Boyd that set them
up at the Prairie 20. Huling made the touchdown saving tackle.
Unfortunately it took Salmon River just 1 play to score another touchdown. This time Prairie stopped the 2-point try but now trailed 18-30 with 4:34 left in the third quarter. Prairie was able to move the ball down to the Salmon River 28 before stalling and turning the ball over on downs. Salmon River faced a fourth and 12 from their own 30 and decided to go for it again. A trick, double pass play appeared to give them a huge play but the first pass from Devin Branstetter to Boyd was determined to be a forward pass and not a lateral or backward pass and Boyd’s ensuing pass downfield was an illegal forward pass which is a 5 yard penalty plus a loss of down, which gave Prairie the ball at the 25. Schumacher made runs of 4 and 16 yards to set up first and goal at the 5 and Luke Wemhoff finished off the drive with a 5 yard scoring run. Schumacher then passed to Stubbers for the first successful 2-point try of the game for Prairie as the Pirates pulled within 4 at 26-30 with 11:04 left to play. Salmon River got a big pass play and threatened to expand the lead but Stubbers intercepted a pass at the Prairie 19 and returned it to the 35. Prairie was able to moved the ball with Wemhoff making gains of 11 and 13 yards, to the Salmon River 24. The drive stalled out there as Wemhoff was stopped for no gain on fourth and 3 at the 17. Prairie was able to stop the Savages though and they actually decided to punt this time on fourth and long in their own territory with Prairie taking over at their own 38 with 1:37 left on the clock. Prairie picked up a pair of first downs to get to the 34. A sack of Schumacher for a 9 yard loss set them back but Schumacher then completed a pass for 16 yards to Chaffee to set up fourth and 4 at the 27. Prairie rushed to the line to get the play off as they were out of time outs and with fourth down they couldn’t spike the ball to stop the clock. Salmon River stuffed the play for a loss of a yard and took over on downs. They then ran out the clock. Prairie actually outgained Salmon River 364 to 318 n total yards. Wemhoff gained 112 yards rushing on 20 attempts with Schumacher adding 60 yards on 18 carries and McWilliams 28 on 7 carries. Schumacher completed 11 of 17 passes for 161 yards with Stubbers catching 4 for 66, Anderson 2 for 60, Chaffee 2 for 23, Wemhoff 2 for 10 and McWilliams 1 for 2 yards. Salmon River got 121 yards on 28 carries from Harper. Boyd was 6 for 12 with an interception for 77 yards while Branstetter was 3 for 5 with an interception for 83 yards. Huling and McWilliams each had 10½ tackles to lead the defense. Stubbers and Schumacher had 7 tackles each. Schmidt had 5, Chaffee 4 and Jace Perrin and Wemhoff 2 each. Prairie is now 1-1 on the season, 1-0 in league play. Prairie 12 0 6 8 -26 Salmon River 8 16 6 0 -30 P-Anderson 57 pass from Schumacher (run failed) 10:32 1st SR-Boyd 4 run (Gonzalez pass from Boyd) 8:13 1st P-Stubbers 1 run (pass failed) 2:11 1st SR-Harper 1 run (Gonzalez pass from Boyd) 9:52 2nd SR-Branstetter 10 pass from Boyd (Boyd run) 3:16 2nd P-McWilliams 4 run (run failed) 4:52 3rd SR-Shepherd 20 run (run failed) 4:34 3rd P-Wemhoff 5 run (Stubbers pass from Schumacher) 11:04 4th
PIRATES BOYS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2016 9-Salmon River, there, 6 p.m., lost 26-30. 16-Council, there, 6 p.m. 19-JV vs. C.V., here, 6 p.m. 23-C.V.*, here 26-JV vs. Kamiah, here, 6 p.m. 30-Kamiah*, there 7-Troy*, here, Homecoming 15-Wallace JV, here, 1 p.m. (1/2 game) 15-Wallace*, 15 minutes after JV game 17-JV vs. Potlatch, here, 6 p.m. 21-Potlatch*, there 28-JV vs. Lapwai, 5th Quarter, here, 6 p.m. 28-Lapwai, here 11 or 12-State Semifinals 18 or 19-State Championship *League Game PIRATES JR. HIGH FOOTBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2016 22-Timberline, here 29-Lapwai, there 13-C.V., here 20-Kamiah, there 27-Timberline, there, 5 p.m. |
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