| Pirates
beat Genesee for State title
Yes, the offense scored 36 points but it was the defense that came through for the Prairie football team as they beat Genesee 36-28 in the state championship game Friday, Nov. 17 at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow. 
The 28 points scored by Genesee was their lowest output all season, second only to the 36 they scored against Prairie the first time these two teams played. Like the earlier matchup, Prairie’s only loss of the season, the Pirates scored first after receiving the opening kickoff. In the earlier game it took just 1 play, this time it took 4. Caleb McWilliams had the big play with a 49 yard run from the Prairie 44 to the Genesee 7. Jake Stubbers went 5 yards to the 2 and Spencer Schumacher then scored on a quarterback sneak. The 2-point try ended with a fumble giving Prairie a 6-0 lead. Also just like the first game, Genesee came right back with a scoring play of their own. Starting quarterback Kolby Moser picked up 16 yards on the first play but apparently broke a finger on his left, non-throwing, hand and had to leave to game to get it taped up. Backup quarterback Hayden Woods came on and converted fourth and 11 with a 42 yard pass to Coy Stout that set Genesee up with first and goal at the 8. Three plays later Woods scored from the 5 to tie the game. Unlike the first meeting, Prairie stopped the 2-point try. Also unlike the first game, Prairie answered right back with another scoring drive. Jayce Huling returned the kickoff from the 5 to the 35. Prairie took 11 plays to travel 65 yards. Prairie converted two third down plays on the drive and on the touchdown they faced fourth and 5 from the 16. Schumacher found Hunter Chaffee open over the middle at the 5 yard line. Chaffee took a shot from Moser, spun away from it and into the end zone to put Prairie back on top 12-6. On the 2-point play Prairie ran a tackle-eligible play to Carson Schmidt, who was unable to hold on to the low pass. On Genesee’s next possession the Bulldogs faced a third and 7 from their own 38 and Moser’s pass was intercepted by Jake Stubbers at the 50 and returned to the 43. Prairie faced a fourth down and 10 from the 43 and ran a hook and lateral play. Schumacher passed to Chaffee who lateraled back to a trailing Stubbers, who went 38 yards for a first and goal at the 5. 3 plays that netted just 1 yard plus a delay of game penalty saw Prairie facing a fourth and goal from the 9. Schumacher passed to Nick Mager in the end zone for the touchdown and Stubbers ran in the 2 pointer to make it 20-6. At that point Prairie was 3 for 3 in the game on fourth down tries. Genesee was able to answer back with Moser connecting with Edward Becker for 48 yards to the Prairie 25 and then keeping it for a 25 yard touchdown. Stout’s 2-point try was stopped short by McWilliams, Owen Anderson and Schumacher, leaving the score at 20-12. Genesee then got the ball right back on a fumble by Stubbers that saw Jon Kopf recover for Genesee at the Genesee 45 yard line. After an incomplete pass, Becker was able to cut back against the grain and avoid a tackle attempt in the backfield to go 55 yards for a Genesee touchdown. Moser then passed to Becker for the 2-pointer that tied the game at 20-20 with 8:25 left in the half. Prairie came right back with the go-ahead score. The Pirates took over on their own 40 after the kickoff. A 21 yard pass play to Chaffee moved the ball to the 39. On third and 7 from the 36, Schumacher connected with Stubbers down the middle for a 29 yard game to set up first and goal at the 7. Schumacher picked up 5 yards on first down and then pushed his way into the end zone on the next play to put Prairie back on top. Stubbers ran in the 2-point try on a sweep to the left to make it 28-20. Genesee twice threatened to score late in the half. A pass interference penalty helped Genesee get a first down in Pirate territory. Stubbers tackled Moser in the backfield for a 7 yard loss which led to a fourth and 10 from the Prairie 21. Moser kept the ball but was pushed out of bounds at the 13, 2 yards short of a first down. Prairie took over with 1:39 left and picked up a first down at the 24. The next 3 plays were incomplete passes and they punted the ball away with Genesee taking over at their own 42 with 38 seconds left.  On
second down Moser connected with Becker deep down the left sideline. It
appeared that Mager had knocked the ball loose and recovered a fumble but
the referees said the play had gone out of bounds and Genesee was given
then ball after a 48 yard gain at the 10 with 10 seconds left.
A pass to Becker missed low on first down and Huling ended the threat by sacking Moser for a 12 yard loss as the clock ran out. With 48 points scored in the first half it looked like it would take at least 50, if not 60 points to win this game but that was not the case as defense dominated in the second half. Genesee received the second half kickoff and were forced to punt. They got the ball right back at the Prairie 14 after a fumble. Schumacher stopped Becker for a 2 yard gain on first down. Jace Perrin tackled Moser for a 4 yard loss on second down. Huling and McWilliams hit Moser in the backfield for a 6 yard loss on third down and Chaffee deflected a fourth down pass aimed for Becker in the end zone. Prairie took over on downs at their own 22. 3 plays netted 8 yards and Chaffee got off a 45 yard punt with no return to the Genesee 25. Genesee picked up 1 first down but were then forced to punt with Prairie taking over at their own 20. Prairie picked up a first down on a 10 yard pass to Anderson but were then forced to punt again. Genesee gained just 4 yards in 3 plays and wound up punting the ball right back on the first play of the fourth quarter. Prairie took over at their own 24 and had an offensive facemask penalty set them back to the 12. Schumacher connected with Stubbers over the middle for 28 yards and a first down at the 40. Stubbers then had runs of 2, 17 and 20 yards to set up a first down at the Genesee 21. The drive stalled out as Stubbers stopped on a fourth and 2 giving Genesee the ball on their own 14. Genesee picked up a first down but 3 plays later Schumacher got a pass rush on Moser forcing a bad pass that Chaffee intercepted at the Genesee 45. Prairie stayed with the run and needed 7 plays to cover 45 yards for an insurance touchdown. Stubbers covered the final 15 yards on a run up the middle. Schumacher then passed to Chaffee for the 2-pointer and a 36-20 lead with 3:12 to play. Genesee took over after the kickoff at their own 38 and going exclusively with the pass were able to move down to the Prairie 9 where they faced a fourth and 4. Moser’s pass was high and Prairie took over at that point with 2:02 left on the clock. Prairie ran 3 running plays but couldn’t pick up a first down and punted from their own 15. Daniel Lindquist took the punt at the Prairie 47 and returned it to the Prairie 15 with Schumacher making the touchdown saving tackle. Two plays later Moser found Becker open for a 15 yard touchdown. Ben Kopf ran in the 2-pointer to cut Prairie’s lead to 36-28 but there were just 5 seconds left on the clock. Everyone in the building knew and onside kick was coming and Genesee’s kick bounced off the first Prairie player it hit and Stubbers wound up covering the ball after the scramble at the Prairie 44. Prairie was then able to run out the clock for their third state football championship in the last 10 years, second in 4 years. This was Prairie’s fifth championship game appearance in 10 years and the first in which they were not undefeated. Also this year’s seniors are the first to be on two state championship teams and have appeared in 3 state championship games in their 4 years. Huling, Chaffee, Mager and Dereck Arnzen are the 4 seniors who have been on the team all 4 years. Stubbers came over from Summit last year and Jace Perrin apparently didn’t play his freshman year. Prairie had 209 yards rushing on 47 attempts led by Stubbers who had 121 yards on 26 carries. Mcwilliams added 62 yards on 6 carries. Schumacher had 21 yards on 12 carries and Anderson had 5 yards on 3 carries. Schumacher completed 12 of 19 pass attempts for 190 yards. Mager caught 4 for 51 yards, Chaffee 3 for 75, Stubbers 2 for 57, Anderson 1 for 7 yards and McWilliams 2 for 0 yards. Genesee had 114 yards rushing on 34 attempts with Becker picking up 73 yards on 9 carries. Moser completed 11 of 23 passes with 2 interceptions for 201 yards. Woods completed his only pass attempt for a 42 yard gain. Becker had 5 receptions for 127 yards with Stout catching 4 for 97, Woods 2 for 14 and Lindquist 1 for 5 yards. To show how the defense took over for Prairie in the second half, Genesee had 260 total yards at the half and just 97 more in the second half with 73 of those coming on the final two possessions when they went exclusively to the pass. Prairie meanwhile had 256 yards in the first half and 143 in the second. Anderson led the defense with 9 tackles, 3 for loss. Schumacher had 7 tackles. Stubbers had 6½ tackles and an interception. McWilliams had 6½ tackles, 2½ for loss. Huling had 4 tackles, 1 sack and 2 more for loss. Perrin had 3½ tackles, 2 for loss. Nick Mager also had 3½ tackles, ½ for loss. Chaffee had 2 tackles and Schmidt had 1 tackle. Prairie ends their season with an 11-1 record. The seniors end their careers with a cumulative 41-5 record with 2 state championships, 1 state runner-up and 3 league championships. Prairie 12 16 0 8 -36 Genesee 6 14 0 8 -28 P-Schumacher 2 run (run failed) 10:35 1st G-Woods 5 run (run failed) 7:19 1st P-Chaffee 16 yard pass from Schumacher (pass failed) 3:31 1st P-Mager 9 pass from Schumacher (Stubbers run) 10:58 2nd G-Moser 25 run (run failed) 9:52 2nd G-Becker 55 run (Becker pass from Moser) 8:25 2nd P-Schumacher 2 run (Stubbers run) 6:17 2nd P-Stubbers 15 run (Chaffee pass from Schumacher) 3:12 4th G-Becker 15 pass from Moser (B. Kopf run) 0:05 4th
Hunter Chaffee was wide open for the 2-point conversion that gave Prairie a 36-20 lead with just over 3 minutes to play. PIRATES BOYS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2017 11-Salmon River, here, won 52-34 15-Council, here, 6 p.m., won 60-8 22-C.V.*, there, won 64-28 29-Kamiah*, here, Homecoming, won 38-12 14-Wallace*, there, 2 p.m., won 66-14 20-Potlatch*, here, won by forfeit 2-0 27-Lapwai*, there, won 52-14 10-State Semifinals vs Oakley at the Kibbie Dome, 7 p.m., won 42-36 17-State Championship vs. Genesee at the Kibbie Dome, 7:00 p.m., won 36-28-State Champions!! *League Game |
 |
