| Pirates
win big over Raft River
In what many saw as a surprising result, the Prairie football team thoroughly dominated the Raft River Trojans, 56-12, in their season opener at Middleton High School Saturday, Sept. 7. Raft River had already played a game, shutting out Idaho City 36-0. 
Prairie set the tone right from the get-go as they forced a 3 and out from the Trojans and took over at their own 26 after a 7 yard punt return by Derik Shears. Prairie ran a simple off tackle run to the right side on their first play and Cole Martin followed a great block by Reid Uptmor into the open field and raced down the sidelines untouched until having to break a tackle at the Raft River 20 for a 74 yard scoring play. Quarterback Cole Schlader passed to Shears for the 2 pointer to make it 8-0 with 10:22 left in the opening quarter. Raft River was able to pick up a couple of first downs on the their second possession but had an incomplete pass on a fourth and seven at the Prairie 38. A 7 yard pass to Owen Anderson and a 7 yard run by Brody Hasselstrom moved the ball to the 46. On the next play Sam Mager made a great catch on a deep pass over the middle for 36 yards to set Prairie up on the 11 yard line. A holding penalty on the next play set the Pirates back to the 18. Schlader scrambled for 7 yards on second down and Anderson picked up 6 to set up fourth down at the 7. Schlader then rolled out to the left and spotted a wide open Shears in the end zone for the touchdown. Schlader then passed to Anderson for the 2-pointer to make it 16-0 with 2:47 left in the opening quarter. The ensuing kickoff by Shears rolled down to the 1 yard line where Raft River’s return man had to pick it up and made it back to the 11. 3 plays later the Trojans were punting from the 15. A holding penalty on the return set Prairie back to the Raft River 45. A fumble on the first play from scrimmage gave the ball right back to the Trojans. 3 incomplete passes later the Trojans had to punt again with Prairie taking over at their own 33 as the punt sailed out of bounds. Martin picked up 14 yards on a sweep to the right on the last play of the first quarter. After the break, Schlader connected with Anderson for 10 yards on a screen pass. 3 more runs by Martin netted 17 yards. Anderson picked up 4 to move the ball to the 16. Martin appeared to score on the next play but a holding penalty called back the touchdown. Two plays later Anderson took a handoff out of the shotgun from Schlader and burst through the middle for 22 yards and the touchdown. The 2-point run was stopped just short of the goal line as Prairie took a 22-0 lead with 9:11 left in the half. Raft River had the ball for only 2 plays after the kickoff as Anderson stepped in front of a pass and picked it off at the Raft River 41. He returned it all the way to the 9 yard line. Raft River stuffed 3 straight run plays for just 3 yards total setting up fourth and goal from the 6. Schlader then connected with Shears who made a great diving catch in the end zone for Prairie’s 4th touchdown of the game. Schlader then passed to Shears for the 2-pointer to make it 30-0 with 6:44 left in the half. Raft River completed a pair of passes to set up a third and 1 on their next possession but Dean Johnson and Mager stuffed quarterback Bodee Spencer for a 2 yard loss. Shears then put a rush on Spencer on fourth down that led to an errant pass giving Prairie the ball back on their own 47. Schlader converted a third and 7 with a 10 yard screen pass to Anderson. Two plays later Schlader connected with Mager down the right side for a 15 yard gain to the 24.  Anderson
picked up 6 the Martin went left for 15 yard to set up first and goal at
the 3. Hasselstrom pushed down to the 1 and on the next play Schlader ran
a quarterback sneak for the touchdown. Hasselstrom ran in the 2-pointer
to make it 38-0 with 1:40 left in the half.
Prairie got the ball back just before half after a sack by Johnson for a 10 yard loss forced Raft River to punt again. Prairie took a 38-0 lead into halftime. Raft River’s lkickoff to start the second half went out of bounds but a personal foul penalty on the play set Prairie back to the 20 yard line. Just like the start of the game, it took Prairie just 1 play to score. Schlader threw the ball deep down the middle to a streaking Martin who took the ball in for an 80 yard scoring play just 10 seconds into the third quarter. The 2-point pass fell incomplete but Prairie now led 44-0 and the 40-point running clock rule was invoked. Raft River finally got on the scoreboard on their next possession. When they faced a second and 12 on their own 49 they had 52 total yards of offense in the game. They nearly doubled that on the next play as Spencer connected with Seth Tracy, who had got behind the Prairie defenders, for a 51 yard scoring play. Prairie stopped the 2-point try to make it 44-6. Raft River kicked the ball out of bounds and Prairie made them kick it again from the 35. Tayden Hibbard returned the short kickoff to the Prairie 42. Prairie converted a third and 4 when Schlader connected with Mager for a 10 yard gain. Anderson then gained 7 to put the ball on the 35. Martin then scored his third touchdown of the game on a sweep to the left to make it 50-6 as the 2-point try failed. Raft River turned the ball over on downs at the Prairie 47. At that point JV quarterback Zach Rambo went into the game. He completed a pair of passes but both went for losses as Prairie had to punt for the only time in the game. Raft River took over at their only 40. Against a lot of subs on the Pirates defense, Raft River was able to go 60 yards in 6 plays for their second touchdown. Prairie then made one final scoring drive. After an out-of-bounds kickoff set them up at the 35 they picked up a 5 yard penalty to set them back to the 30. Martin converted a 2nd and 15 with a 16 yard run to the 46. After a pair of 1 yard runs Hasselstrom picked up 13 for another first down. On Second and 7 from the Raft River 36, the Trojan defense bit hard on a play-action pass and Rambo connected with a wide-open Mager at about the 15 and Mager took the ball in for a touchdown to make it 56-12. The 2-point pass fell incomplete. After the kickoff Prairie called a timeout to insert their second unit defense. Raft River stuck exclusively to running plays and picked up 42 yards on 7 plays before the clock ran out. Martin had 260 yards of offense in the game, 180 on 15 carries running the ball and another 80 on 1 pass reception. He also had 3 touchdowns. Anderson added 43 yards rushing on 6 carries and Hasselstrom had 38 yards on 6 carries as the Pirates totaled 281 yards rushing on 35 attempts. Schlader completed 10 of 11 passes for 184 yards while Rambo was 3 for 4 for 29 yards. Mager caught 5 passes for 93 yards. Anderson caught 3 for 27 and Shears caught 3 for 16. Hasselstrom had -3 yards on 1 catch. Raft River had 113 yards rushing on 32 attempts and Spencer was 8 for 18 passing for 88 yards with 1 interception. Anderson led the defense with 6.5 tackles and an interception. Martin also had 6.5 tackles. Hibbard had 5 tackles. Johnson had 4.5 tackles and a sack. Mager had 4 tackles and a sack. Shears had 3.5 tackles. Matt Coppernoll had 3 tackles. Schlader and John Gehring each had 2 tackles. Hasselstrom had 1.5 tackles. Carson Forsman, Jesse Cronan, Rambo and Lane Schumacher had 1 tackle each. Dalton Ross, Hayden Uhlenkott, Uptmor and McElroy each had 1 assist. Prairie is now 1-0 on the season. Their next game is their first league game, at Troy this Friday, Sept. 13, at 7 p.m. Prairie 16 22 12 6 -56 Raft River 0 0 6 6 -12 P-Martin 74 run (Shears pass from Schlader) 10:22 1st P-Shears 7 pass from Schlader (Anderson pass from Schlader) 2:47 1st P-Anderson 22 run (run failed) 9:11 2nd P-Shears 6 pass from Schlader (Shears pass from Schlader) 6:44 2nd P-Schlader 1 run (Hasselstrom run) 1:40 2nd P-Martin 80 pass from Schlader (pass failed) 11:50 3rd RR-Tracy 51 pass from Spencer (pass failed) 8:56 3rd P-Martin 35 run (run failed) 6:12 3rd RR-Schumann 7 pass from Spencer (run failed) 7:29 4th P-Mager 36 pass from Rambo (pass failed) 3:32 4th 
Reid Uptmor, blocking #72, and Hayden Uhlenkott, #23, open up a hole for Cole Martin, #32, who went 74 yards for a touchdown on Prairie’s first play on offense.
Derik Shears was wide open for a 2-point conversion after Prairie's first touchdown. Homecoming opponent changed The Prairie football team will have a new opponent for Homecoming on Friday, Sept. 20. Salmon River had to cancel out of the game and Prairie was able to schedule the Kendrick Tigers for that week. Game time will now be at 7 p.m. instead of 6 with the Homecoming Parade to start at 5:45. 13-Troy*, there 20-Kendrick, here, Homecoming 27-Genesee*, there 11-Lapwai*, here 18-Kamiah*, there 25-C.V.*, here 15 or 16-State Semifinals 22 or 23-State Championship *League Game 10-Timberline, here 24-Timberline, there 30-Potlatch, there 4:30 p.m. 14-Potlatch, here, 5 p.m. 21-Kamiah, here PIRATES JR. HIGH FOOTBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2019 SEPTEMBER 12-C.V., there 4:30 p.m. 19-Kamiah, here, 4:30 p.m. 24-Lewis County, here, 4:30 p.m. 10-Lapwai, there, 4:30 p.m. 17-Timberline, here, 5 p.m. |
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