| Pirates
lose opener to Valley
The Prairie football team traveled to Middleton for a non-league season opener against Valley of Hazelton and wound up on the short end of a 46-60 score. Valley was playing their second game of the season and the chance to work out their first-game jitters already seemed to make a difference. Valley received the opening kickoff and went 60 years in 9 plays to take a 0-8 lead. 
Prairie couldn’t move the ball on their first possession and punted to Valley after just 3 plays. Prairie got the ball right back when Owen Anderson recovered a fumble at the Valley 41. Prairie was able to move the ball but their drive stalled at the 15 and they turned the ball over on downs. Valley came back with an 85 yard drive in just 8 plays to score their second touchdown. 55 of those yards came on pass plays as Valley quarterback Jason Hardy was 3 for 3 passing. Valley then looked to pile on and recovered an onside kick at the Prairie 49. The defense stiffened though and Prairie took over on downs at the 50. Caleb McWilliams picked up 3 yards on first down. On second down Damian Forsmann managed to sneak behind the defense on a post pattern and caught a deep pass from Spencer Schumacher at about the 15 yard line and took it into the end zone. Schumacher then passed again to Forsmann for the 2-pointer to make it 8-16 as the 1st quarter ended. On the ensuing Valley possession the Vikings went for it on fourth and 15 from their own 28 and Dylan Schumacher was able to bat away the pass as the Pirates took over on down. Cole Martin broke loose from 22 yards to set up first and goal at the 5 and 2 plays later Spencer Schumacher stepped back as if to pass and then tucked the ball and bulled his way into the end zone. The 2-point try came up short but Prairie had pulled within 2 at 14-16. Valley answered right back with another scoring drive as they went 60 yards in 10 plays for their third touchdown. Michael Schwartz deflected the 2-point pass but Prairie still trailed 14-22. Prairie opened their ensuing drive with a 26 yard pass completion from Schumacher to Derik Shears that set Prairie up at the Valley 26. Unfortunately, a holding penalty stalled out that drive and Schumacher’s fourth down pass completion to Sam Mager wound up 4 yards short of a first down. Valley took over at their 18 and used pass completions of 25 and 41 yards to set themselves up for another touchdown. With the 2-point conversion Valley led 14-30 with 2:03 left in the half. Prairie was unable to move the ball and punted back to Valley. The Pirates got the ball right back when McWilliams intercepted a pass by Hardy at the Prairie 45 and returned it to the Valley 36. Again Prairie was unable to move the ball and the half ended as Schumacher’s 4th down pass fell incomplete. Prairie received the second half kickoff with Dylan Schumacher taking the onside kick on the bounce and taking it to the Valley 47. After a false start penalty and an incomplete pass, Martin picked up 14 yards on a pitch to the right to set up fourth and short. Spencer Schumacher converted the first down. Prairie faced another fourth down at the Valley 28 and Schumacher was able to break free on a keeper around right end for 25 yards to the 3 yard line. He scored on the next play and then ran in the 2-pointer to cut the deficit to 22-30. McWilliams’ kickoff bounced into the end zone for a touchback. Valley took over at their own 20 and with the help of a questionable horsecollar tackle penalty moved downfield to a first and goal at the 4 yard line. Dylan Schumacher deflected the first down pass. Hardy was tackled for a 1 yard loss on second down. Hardy’s third down pass fell incomplete and running back Julian  Rocha
was stopped on fourth down for a 1 yard loss.
Prairie took over at their own 6 and proceeded to march 94 yards for the tying touchdown. It appeared they might get it all on the first play as Forsmann got open deep downfield again but couldn’t gather in Schumacher’s pass. Completions of 29 and 11 yards to Shears moved the ball to the 48. 5 straight running plays netted 32 yards to the Valley 20. Prairie converted another fourth down when Anderson picked up 7 yards on a screen pass to give Prairie a first down at the 13. Schwartz picked up 6 yards and McWilliams 4 to set up a first and goal at the 3. On second down Schwartz was tackled at the goal line and the official determined he was inches short of the goal line as the third quarter ended. On the first play of the fourth quarter Spencer Schumacher ran over a Valley defender into the end zone for the touchdown. Schumacher then scored the 2-pointer to tie the game at 30-30 two seconds into the fourth quarter. On Valley’s possession a bad snap cost the Vikings 11 yards and set up a fourth and 13 at the 39. If Prairie could have forced a turnover on downs at that point they stood a good chance to take their first lead. Instead Hardy threw the ball deep to his favorite target, 6’6” Zane Mussman, for 36 yards and a first down. Hardy then kept the ball around right end for 25 yards and the go-ahead touchdown. With the 2-pointer it was 30-38. Prairie faced a fourth and 13 from their own 28 on the next series and Schumacher’s pass was intercepted by Hardy, who returned the ball 30 yards to the Prairie 16. Hardy passed to Mussman for 16 yards and another touchdown on the next play. The 2-pointer made it 30-46. On Prairie’s first play after the kickoff, Schumacher appeared headed for a big gain but had the ball knocked loose after a 12 yard gain and Valley took over at their 44. 5 plays later Hardy scored another touchdown and after the 2-pointer it was 30-54. After the kickoff went out of bounds, Prairie took over at their 35. The Pirates moved the ball downfield for a touchdown in 9 plays with Schumacher going in from the 5. Schumacher then passed to Shears for the 2-pointer to make it 38-54. Prairie couldn’t get the Valley offense off the field as the Vikings went 54 yards in 7 plays to add another touchdown. The 2-point try failed this time but Valley still led 38-60 with just 26 seconds left. Sam Mager recovered Valley’s onside kick at the Prairie 47. On the sidelines coach Ryan Hasselstrom told Forsmann, “Let’s see how fast you can run.” For the third time in the game Forsmann was able to get loose behind the defense and caught Schumacher’s deep pass for the second time in 3 tries for 52 yards to the 1 yard line. Schumacher scored on the next play and then passed to Shears for the 2 pointer to make it 46-60 with 11 seconds left. Valley recovered Prairie’s onside kick attempt and was able to run out the clock. Schumacher provided much of the offense for the Pirates with 114 yards rushing on 15 attempts and completed 11 for 24 pass attempts with 1 interception for another 219 yards. Schwartz added 42 yards rushing on 9 attempts with Martin adding 36 on 8 carries and McWilliams 21 on 9 carries. Prairie had 207 yards rushing on 45 attempts. Shears caught 5 passes for 94 yards with Forsmann catching 2 for 99. McWilliams had 2 receptions for 7 yards, Mager 1 for 10 and Anderson 1 for 7 yards. For Valley Rocha had 142 yards on 23 carries as Valley had 249 yards rushing on 51 attempts. Hardy completed 21 of 27 passes with 1 interception for 316 yards. Rawlin Godfrey was 1 for 2 for 4 yards. Mussman caught 11 passes for 169 yards. Each team had 2 turnovers but the difference was that Valley scored after both of Prairie’s touchdowns while Prairie didn’t score after either of Valley’s turnovers. Anderson led the defense with 19 tackles with Dylan Schumacher recording 15 tackles. Anderson had a fumble recovery while McWilliams had an interception. Hayden Uhlenkott had 1½ sacks, Shears had 1 sack and Mager had ½ a sack. Prairie is 0-1 on the season and open league play this Friday against Troy. The game will start at 7:30 p.m. so that officials can make it after calling the Lewis County game at Nezperce that afternoon., Prairie 8 6 8 24 -46 Valley 16 14 0 30 -60 V-Hardy 3 run (Rocha run) 10:05 1st V-Hardy 5 run (I. Godfrey run) 1:54 1st P-Forsmann 47 pass from S. Schumacher (Forsmann pass from S. Schumacher) 0:00 1st P-S. Schumacher 5 run (pass failed) 8:48 2nd V-Rocha 4 run (pass failed) 4:54 2nd V-Rocha 11 run (Rocha pass from Hardy) 2:03 2nd P-S. Schumacher 3 run (S. Schumacher run) 9:10 3rd P. S. Schumacher 1 run (S. Schumacher run) 11:58 4th V-Hardy 25 run (Rocha pass from hardy) 9:30 4th V-Mussman 16 pass from Hardy (Rocha pass from hardy) 8:17 4th V-hardy 5 run (I. Godfrey pass from Hardy) 6:42 4th P-S. Schumacher 5 run (Shears pass from S. Schumacher) 4:24 4th V-Korom 25 run (pass failed) 0:26 4th P-S. Schumacher 1 run (Shears pass from S. Schumacher) 0:11 4th
The Prairie home football game against Troy set for this Friday, Sept. 7, will start at 7:30 p.m. instead of the usual starting time of 7 p.m. The later start is so the officials, who will also be doing an afternoon game at Nezperce, can have time to get to Cottonwood once their earlier game is done. PIRATES BOYS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2018 7-Troy*, here, 7:30 p.m. 14-Salmon River, there, 6 p.m. 21-Genesee*, here, Homecoming 29-Potlatch*, there, 12 noon 12-Kamiah*, here 19-C.V.*, there 27-Wallace* there, 2 p.m. 8 or 9-State Semifinals 16 or 17-State Championship *League Game PIRATES JV FOOTBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2018 17-C.V., here 24-vs. Potlatch @ Lapwai 8-C.V., there PIRATES JR. HIGH FOOTBALL 13-C.V., here 20-Kamiah, there 25-vs. Lewis County @ Highland 11-Lapwai, here 18-Timberline, there, 5 p.m. |
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