JV team loses to Lewis County
The Prairie JV football team kicked off the fall sports season with a 26-44 loss to the Lewis County varsity team Friday, August 28 at Cottonwood.
It was Prairie’s first sporting event since Monday, Feb. 24 when the boys basketball team was eliminated at District.
The Pirates were forced to punt on their first possession but got a break when Lewis County fumbled on their first offensive play with Wyatt Ross recovering the fumble at the LC 35.
Prairie picked up a first down but the drive stalled at the 21 and they turned the ball over on downs.
Lewis County got a couple of big running plays that set them up with a first and goal at the Prairie 7. The defense held though and took over on downs at the 1. On the first play disaster struck as Prairie fumbled with Lewis County recovering in the end zone for the game’s first points. The Eagles added the 2-pointer for a 0-8 lead.
The Eagles had a short kickoff with Prairie taking over on the Lewis County 40 as the Eagles recovered but the ball didn’t go 10 yards as required for the kicking team to recover an onside kick.
Prairie overcame a false start penalty when Jesse Cronan caught a pass from Lane Schumacher for 10 yards and a first down at the 29. 4 plays later Schumacher picked up a first down with a 7 yard gain on fourth and 6.
A 5 yard pass to Cronan was followed by a 7 yard gain by Travis Alfrey. A facemask penalty gave Prairie a first and goal at the 4. Schumacher then passed over the middle to Ross for a Prairie touchdown. Ross then converted the 2-pointer on another pass play to tie the score at 8-8.
Lewis County was able to pick up a first down but then had to punt. Their punter tried a rugby style kick but it went just 10 yards with Prairie taking over a their own 39.
The Pirates converted a fourth down when they ran a fake punt play with punter Cronan picking up 8 yards on a fourth and 4. The Pirates picked up another first down when Alfrey took a screen pass for a 14 yard gain.
A big play on a pass to Cronan got called back on a blocking penalty but a 13 yard gain by Trenton Lorentz followed by a 12 yard gain by Alfrey gave Prairie a first down at the 21. Schumacher then picked up 16 yards on what started out as a pass play but wound up with him running the ball down to the 6 for a first and goal.
Cronan took the ball into the end zone on the next play to give Prairie their first lead at 14-6. The 2-point pass failed.
Lewis County answered right back as their quarterback, Ty Hambley, wound up gaining 39 yards after tracking down a high snap from his center. 4 plays later the Eagles tied the score at 14-14. Prairie stopped the 2 point run to keep the score tied with 1:32 left in the half.
Prairie threatened to retake the lead as they moved the ball down to the 5 yard line before time ran out in the half.
The second half was a different story. Lewis County came out and needed just 3 plays to cover 65 yards to retake the lead. They converted the 2-point try to make it 14-22.
Prairie then turned the ball over on an interception that was returned 26 yards to the Prairie 28. Lewis County needed 4 plays to add another touchdown and 2-point try for a 14-30 lead.
Prairie picked up a couple of first downs on their next possession before fumbling the ball away at the Lewis County 16 yard line.
The Eagles only pass completion of the game went for 41 yards to move the ball to the Prairie 37.  The Eagles then ran the ball the rest of the way for another touchdown. This time Prairie stopped the 2-point run but still trailed 14-36.
Another blocking penalty wiped out a big run by Schumacher and Prairie wound up turning the ball over on downs at their 48.
Prairie forced a punt as freshman Raven Cronan made consecutive tackles for no gain and then blocked the punt with Prairie taking over at the LC 44 yard line.
Alfrey picked up 15 yards on a sweep but then the turnover bug hit Prairie again as a fumble gave the Eagles the ball back at the Lewis County 31.
The Eagles need 5 plays, all runs, to cover 69 yards and add another score. With the 2-point conversion they led 14-44 with 5:07 left to play.
Prairie then put their first clean possession together as Colton McElroy made a juggling catch for a 15 yard gain and a first down. On 4^th and 11 from the 33, Schumacher connected on a pass to the left side to Trenton Lorentz. Raven Cronan escorted him down the field for a touchdown that cut the deficit to 20-44.
Raven Cronan then recovered the onside kick attempt for Prairie at the Lewis County 44.
Prairie moved down to the 21 where they faced a third and 14. Alfrey took the handoff on what looked like a sweep to the right then pulled up for a pass downfield to McElroy who caught the pass for a touchdown. That cut the lead to 26-44 but there was just 38 seconds left in the game.
Prairie tried another onside kick but Lewis County recovered at the 50 and was able to run out the clock.
Prairie wound up with 168 yards rushing on 54 attempts and Schumacher completed 12 of 22 passes for 129 yards with an interception. Alfrey was 1 for 1 passing for 21 yards.
Alfrey gained 62 yards rushing on 20 carries. Jesse Cronan had 47 yards on 9 carries. Schumacher had 35 yards on 10 carries and Lorentz had 20 yards on 11 carries.
Jesse Cronan caught 5 passes for 32 yards. Ross caught 3 for 35 yards. McElroy caught 2 for 30 yards. Alfrey caught 2 for 20 yards and Lorentz caught 1 for 33 yards.
Lewis County picked up 380 yards rushing on 36 attempts led by Dalton Davis with 185 yards on 18 carries. Hambley added 122 yards on 10 carries.
Hambly was 1 for 7 passing for 41 yards with D.J. Antone catching that 1 pass.
Prairie             8 6 0 12 -26
Lewis County  8 6 22 8 -44
LC-Antone fumble recovery in end zone (Webb run) 4:10 1i^st
P-Ross 4 pass from Schumacher (Ross pass from Schumacher) 0:09.9 1^st
P-J. Cronan 6 run (pass failed) 4:33 2^nd
LC-Davis 12 run (run failed) 1:32 2^nd
LC-Davis 41 run (Antone run) 10:39 3^rd
LC-Hambly 4 run (Davis run) 7:04 3^rd
LC-Davis 12 run (run failed) 1:05 3^rd
LC-Davis 1 run (Hambly run( 5:07 4^th
P-Lorentz 33 pass from Schumacher (pass failed) 2:36 4^th
P-McElroy 21 pass from Alfrey (pass failed) 0:38.5 4^th