| Pirates
edged by Oakley
The Prairie football team came up short in their quest for back-to-back state championships as they lost to Oakley 22-26 at Pocatello Friday, Nov. 9. Turnovers and penalties hurt the Pirates effort while the defense did a good job containing the Hornets. 
Prairie received the opening kickoff and moved the ball into Oakley territory before having to punt. The defense forced Oakley to punt but then Prairie had to punt it back with Oakley taking over on their own 40. The Hornets got a 26 yard pass play from Chandler Jones to Jake Pulsipher to move deep into Prairie territory. The Pirates defense stiffened though and stopped Oakley on fourth down as Owen Anderson tackled Jones for a 4 yard loss on fourth and 6 at the 12. A false start penalty set Prairie back to the 11 and on third and 15 Spencer Schumacher threw a low line drive of a pass out to the right that Oakley’s Austin Bedke intercepted at the 10 and took in to the end zone for the game’s first points. Jones passed to Pulsipher to make it 0-8. Prairie fumbled the ball right back to Oakley on the fifth play of their ensuing possession with the Hornets tacking over at their own 47. Oakley moved the ball downfield and scored again to make it 0-14 as Prairie stopped the 2-point try. Michael Schwartz returned the kickoff 27 yards to the Prairie 39. A loss of 3 yards was followed by a false start penalty. Facing second and 18 Schumacher connected deep down the field to Damian Forsmann for a 50 yard gain to the Oakley 19. Schwartz netted 4 yards on a pair of runs and then Schumacher found Forsmann open over the middle for a 15 yard scoring play. Schumacher then passed to Schwartz for the 2-pointer to cut the deficit to 8-14. Prairie got hit with a personal foul penalty after the 2-point play as a Prairie player got caught retaliating to something an Oakley player did to him. That forced Prairie to kick off from the 25 instead of the 40. Oakley’s Josh Nyman took the kickoff at the Oakley 45 yard line and was able to return it all the way for a touchdown, breaking several tackles along the way. That put Oakley back on top by 12 at 8-20. Derik Shears returned the ensuing kickoff 20 yards to the Prairie 28. After a short pass to Anderson, Schumacher again connected with Forsmann for a 54 yards gain to the Oakley 15. A false start penalty and a 4 yard loss set Prairie back to the 24. On the next play, Schumacher connected with Shears down the left side for a 24 yard touchdown the pulled the Pirates within 6 at 14-20. On their next possession Oakley came up short on a fourth and 16 play at the Prairie 43 with the Pirates taking over on downs. Prairie picked up a first down to move into Oakley territory. On third and 10 from the 47 Schumacher completed a screen pass to Anderson for a 17 yard gain and a first down at the 30. On third and 13 from the 33, Schumacher threaded a pass deep over the middle to a double-covered Forsmann for a touchdown that tied the score. Caleb McWilliams bulled his way into the end zone for the go-ahead 2-point conversion with 51 seconds left in the half. Prairie had a chance to extend the lead when Shears intercepted an Oakley pass at the Prairie 35 and returned it to the 42. Schumacher picked up 16 yards on a scramble but was then sacked for a 4 yard loss. On the final play of the half his pass fell incomplete.  Oakley
received the second half kickoff but had to punt right away.
Prairie took over at the 50 after a 32 yard return by Schwartz and then moved the ball down to the 35 where things started misfiring. 20 yards worth of penalties had Prairie punting from their own 35. Oakley took over at their own 48 and moved to the Prairie 15 where they faced a fourth and 2. Dylan Schumacher tackled Bedke a yard shy of the first down and Prairie took over at the 14 on downs. On third and 7 Schumacher connected with Forsmann for a 26 yard gain but Forsmann fumbled at the end and Oakley recovered at the Prairie 47. The defense forced Oakley to punt and Prairie took over at their 20 after the punt went into the end zone. Schumacher was sacked for an 8 yard loss and then was intercepted at the 10. Oakley scored the go-ahead touchdown on the next play on a quarterback keeper by Jones. Prairie stopped the 2-point try and Oakley led 22-26 with 11:46 left in the game. Prairie took over at the 35 after 22 yard return by Shears. Schwartz then picked up 47 yards on a run to the right to put Prairie at the Oakley 18. That opportunity was thwarted by a holding penalty and then Schumacher was intercepted for the third time in the game. It was Prairie’s fifth turnover as Nyman intercepted at the 15 and returned it 13 yards. Prairie gave up a first down on a facemask penalty but then forced Oakley to punt and took over at their own 17. The Pirates picked up just 6 yards and had to punt with Shears shanking the punt as it went just 10 yards. Oakley looked to extend the lead as they converted a fourth and inches at the 14. A chop block penalty set them back and they wound up lining up to punt at the 39 after a delay of game penalty. You would have figured Oakley would try to coffin corner the punt and set Prairie back deep but instead ran a fake with Bedke being stopped at the 34 after just 5 yards on a fourth and 35. Prairie misfired on a fourth down pass but got the ball back with 2:10 to play when Bedke fumbled and Shears recovered at the Prairie 17. Prairie again misfired on a fourth down play and Oakley was then able to run out the clock. Yardage-wise Prairie outgained the Hornets 355 to 229. However the Pirates had 10 penalties to just 2 for Oakley and lost the turnover battle 5 to 2. Prairie had 99 yards rushing on 32 attempts led by Schwartz who had 72 yards on 13 carries. Schumacher was 16 for 38 passing for 256 yards with 3 interceptions. Forsmann caught 7 passes for 185 yards and 2 touchdowns. Shears had 5 catches for 61 yards and a touchdown. Anderson caught 3 passes for 16 yards. McWilliams led the defense with 11 tackles including a sack. Sam Mager had 9 tackles. Dylan Schumacher had 8.5 tackles. Schwartz and Anderson each had 7 tackles. Shears had 4.5 tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery. Dean Johnson had 4.5 tackles including a sack. Hayden Uhlenkott had 4 tackles and Garrett Bunce had a tackle. Prairie received a third place trophy at the end of the game as they ended their season with a 9-2 record. Prairie 0 22 0 0 -22 Oakley 8 12 0 6 -26 O-Bedke 10 interception return (Pulsipher pass from Jones) 2:29 1st O-Barnard 17 pass from Jones (run failed) 9:19 2nd P-Forsmann 15 pass from S. Schumacher (Schwartz pass from Schumacher) 7:02 2nd O-Nyman 55 kickoff return (run failed) 6:46 2nd P-Shears 24 pass from S. Schumacher (pass failed) 5:11 2nd P-Forsmann 33 pass from S. Schumacher (McWilliams run) 0:51 2nd O-Jones 10 run (run failed) 11:46 4th
PIRATES BOYS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2018 7-Troy*, here, 7:30 p.m., won 88-6 14-Salmon River, there, 6 p.m., won 54-6 21-Genesee*, here, Homecoming, won 78-0 29-Potlatch*, there, 12 noon, won 62-0 12-Kamiah*, here, won 62-0 19-C.V.*, there, won 54-8 27-Wallace* there, 2 p.m., won by 2-0 forfeit 9-State Semifinals vs. Oakley at Holt Arena, Pocatello, 5:30 p.m. MST., lost 22-26, end season third in state at 9-2 *League Game PIRATES BOYS BASKETBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2018-19 JV games start at 6 p.m., varsity to follow unless indicated *indicates league game DECEMBER 4-Kamiah, here* 5-JV vs. Grangeville, here, 7:30 7-Grangeville, there, Idaho County Shootout, V only, 7:30 p.m. 8-Troy Quad, here*, 4 & 5:30 13-Lapwai, there* 15-Genesee, here* 20-22-New Plymouth Tourn. 4-Moscow, here, (C,JV,V) 4 p.m. 8-C.V., there* 11-Potlatch, there* 15-Kamiah, there* 19-Troy Quad, there*, 1 & 2:30 22-Lapwai, here* 26-Ambrose @ Riggins, 3 & 4:30 MST 2-Genesee, there* 5-C.V., here* 7-Moscow, there, (C,JV,V) 4 p.m. 11-20-District at LCSC 21-State Play-In at Post Falls 23-State Play-In at McCall Feb. 28-March 2-State at Caldwell PRAIRIE JUNIOR HIGH BOYS BASKETBALL NOVEMBER 15-Orofino, here 20-Kamiah, there 27-Orofino, there 29-Grangeville, here 6-Grangeville, there 11-Kamiah, here 18-Kamiah, here |
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