Pirates win home opener
After a tough opening loss the Prairie football team bounced back with a 68-32 win over Troy in their home and league opener Friday, Sept. 2.  A notable change from last week was basically switching positions for Colton McElroy and Eli Hinds. Also Jake Quintal got a lot of play at fullback after playing very little against Oakley. Prairie received the opening kickoff and need just 4 plays to score their first touchdown of the season. Prairie faced a third and 7 at their own 38 when quarterback McElroy tossed a short pass to the right to Trenton Lorentz who took the ball 55 yards to the Troy 7. On the next play McElroy completed a pass to Hinds for the touchdown. The 2-point try failed as Prairie took a 6-0 lead. Hinds then executed an onside kick. He topped the ball and it bounced off a Troy play with Levi Gehring recovering at the Prairie 48. McElroy picked up 26 yards on a keeper around right end. Then Lorentz netted 19 yards on a pair of runs to set up first and goal at the 7. McElroy again passed to Hinds for a touchdown. McElroy then ran in the 2 pointer to make it 14-0 before the Troy offense got a chance to touch the ball. A facemask penalty against Prairie on the ensuing kickoff allowed Troy to finally go on offense at the Prairie 40 yard line. Another Prairie penalty, pass interference on third and 8 at the 27, set Troy up at the 13. They scored on the next play but McElroy deflected the 2-point pass leaving the Pirates with a 14-6 lead. Troy kicked deep with McElroy fumbling the ball but then recovering for a 17 yard return to the Prairie 35. Quintal picked up 4 yards on first down then McElroy gained 16 to the Troy 45. After an incompletion McElroy passed to a wide open Ben Elven who caught the ball at about the Troy 25 with no defender within 15 yards of him. He took the ball into the end zone for a 45 yard scoring play. McElroy passed to Hinds for the 2-pointer to make it 22-6 with 5:31 left in the first quarter. Prairie forced a Troy punt on the Trojans next possession, taking over on their own 48. The Pirates were able to move the ball down to the Troy 16 before coming up short on fourth down. Troy was again forced to punt with Prairie taking over after a 6 yard punt on the Troy 24. On the first play after the punt Troy’s Joseph Bendel picked off a McElroy pass at the 20 and took the ball 80 yards for a touchdown. The 2-point try failed leaving Prairie with a 22-12 lead early in the second quarter. After the kickoff, Prairie took over on their own 32. A 31 yard run on a sweep to the right by Lorentz moved the ball to the Troy 37. Prairie stayed with the running game and 6 plays later, Lorentz scored from 9 yards out. Blake Bunce scored the 2-point on a wide receiver fly sweep to the right to make it 30-12. Troy got a 49 yard kickoff return to set them up at the Prairie 22. The defense withstood the test though and took over on downs at the Prairie 14. On the next play though Troy got the ball right back on an interception by Braddock Buchanan who caught the ball on the Prairie 23 and returned it for a touchdown. The point after failed leaving Prairie with a 30-18 lead. Prairie’s next possession saw them turn the ball over on downs at their own 45. Troy picked up a first down as they moved the ball to the Prairie 26 but 4 straight incomplete passes enable Prairie to take over on downs at their own 31. Hinds ran up the middle for 11 yards to the 42. McElroy got sacked on the next play for a big loss but one play later connected with Lorentz deep over the middle for a 72 yard scoring play. McElroy then ran in the 2 pointer for a 38-18 lead with 1:50 left in the half. Troy was able to muster one last score before halftime as they faced a fourth and 5 at their own 40 when quarterback Chandler Blazzard connected with Rider Patrick down the left side for a 60 yard touchdown pass. Troy add the 2-pointer to make it 38-26 which is where the score stood at halftime. Prairie tried another onside kick to open the second half but Troy recovered at their own 49. McElroy tackled Patrick for an 8 yard loss on third and 1 forcing a fourth and long. Troy’s pass fell incomplete as Prairie took over at the 50. Disaster almost struck on the first play as Quintal fumbled but Elven recovered the fumble for what turned out to be a 12 yard gain. 3 runs by Hinds resulted in 8 yards worth of gains. On fourth and 1 at the 29, Lorentz took the ball to the left, saw there was no opening and reversed his field back to the right and went 29 yards for the touchdown. McElroy ran in the 2-point to make it 46-26. Another onside kick attempt by Hinds resulted in Dylan Uhlenkott recovering the ball at the Troy 49. Lorentz gained 26 yards on the first play to moved the ball to the 23.  A holding penalty stalled out the drive and Troy took over on downs at the 22.The defense forced a punt on fourth and 9 with Prairie taking over at their own 47. Prairie scored after 5 straight running plays. Hinds picked up 17, Elven 10, Quintal 12, Hinds 2 and finally Lorentz scored on a 12 yard run to the right. The 2-point try came up short as Prairie now led 52-26. Another onside kick try saw Troy take over at their own 44. The Trojans saw Patrick break free on a fly sweep to the right and go 56 yards for what turned out to be Troy’s only second half touchdown. The 2-point try failed as Prairie now led 52-32. Lorentz returned the kickoff 25 yards to the Prairie 47. Prairie then needed 7 plays to score another touchdown with the help of a facemask penalty that gave them a first and goal at the 7. McElroy scored on the next play on a quarterback draw. He then passed to Hinds for the 2-pointer for a 60-32 lead with 24 seconds left in the third quarter. On Troy’s next possession Lorentz sacked Blazzard for a 10 yard loss that led to a Troy punt with Prairie taking over at their own 40. Hinds had runs of 13 and 15 yards to move the ball into Troy territory but the Pirates had an incomplete pass on fourth and 2 at the 25 that gave Troy the ball back. Troy moved the ball down to the Prairie 37 on a 20 yard run by Patrick and a 20 yard pass from Blazzard to Levi McCully. However Blazzard’s 2nd and 10 pass was intercepted by McElroy at the Prairie 36 and he returned it to the 41. Hinds had gains of 19 and 6 yards to moved the ball to the Traoy 24. Lorentz then carried the ball 34 yards for the game’s final touchdown. Gehring ran in the 2-pointer to make it 68-32 with 2:55 left to play. Troy turned the ball over on downs after 4 plays and Prairie was then able to run out the clock. For the game the Pirates the rushing attack piled up 466 yards on 61 attempts led by Lorentz who had 196 yards on 16 carries. Hinds added 132 yards on 19 carries while McElroy had 91 yards on 16 carries and Quintal had 34 yards on 5 carries. McElroy completed 6 of 19 passes with 2 interceptions for 187 yards and 4 touchdowns. Hinds had 3 catches for 15 yards and 2 touchdowns. Lorentz had 2 catches for 127 yards and a touchdown and Elven had 1 catch for 45 yards and a touchdown. Defensively Hinds and Quintal each had 6 tackles. Elven had 5. McElroy had 4 plus an interception. Shane Hanson had 4. Noah Behler and Carter Shears each had 2.5 tackles. Lorentz had 2 tackles including a sack. Gehring, Bunce and Ethan VonBargen each had 1 tackle. Troy had 102 yards rushing led by Patrick who had 105 yards on 12 carries. As you can tell the rest of the team had a net -3 yards on 15 attempts. Makhi Durrett was 2 for 2 passing for 6 yards while Blazzard was 7 for 21 with an interception for 127 yards and a touchdown. Prairie outgained Troy 653 to 235. The Pirates are now 1-1 on the season and 1-0 in league play. This Friday the host Potlatch who scored 90 points in their win over Genesee last Friday. Prairie 22 14 22 8 -68 Troy 6 20 6 0 -32 P-Hinds 7 pass from McElroy (run failed) 10:46 1st P-Hinds 7 pass from McElroy (McElroy run) 9:18 1st T-Durrett 13 run (pass failed) 7:10 1st P-Elven 45 pass from McElroy (Hinds pass from McElroy) 5:31 1st T-Bendel 80 interception return (pass failed) 10:46 2nd P-Lorentz 9 run (Bunce run) 8:24 2nd T-Buchanan 23 interception return (run failed) 5:55 2nd P-Lorentz 72 pass from McElroy (McElroy run) 1:50 2nd T-Patrick 60 pass from Blazzard (Wilson pass from Blazzard) 1:03 2nd P-Lorentz 29 run (McElroy run) 8:54 3rd P-Lorentz 12 run (run failed) 3:35 3rd T-Patrick 56 run (pass failed) 3:15 3rd P-McElroy 7 run (Hinds pass from McElroy) 0:24.3 3rd P-Lorentz 34 run (Gehring run) 2:55 4th  Trenton Lorentz had some amazing runs against Troy. None more so than this one where he started left and then cut back all the way across the field to the right on a 29 yard scoring play.  Eli Hinds is about to make the second of his two touchdown catches in the first quarter.  Quarterback Colton McElroy had quite the power run up the middle as he gained about 20 yards while having tacklers on him throughout the run.  Shane Hanson, 12, and Carter Shears, 42, combine on a sack of the Troy quarterback. #7 was later replaced by #12 at quarterback for Troy.  Quarterback Colton McElroy throws a pass as a Troy defender closes in. This pass went for a touchdown to Ben Elven (pictured at the top of the page).  Trenton Lorentz gained over 50 yards on this play after catching a short pass from Colton McElroy who is in the background.  Ben Elven and Jake Quintal combine to tackle Troy's quarterback.  Trenton Lorentz sacked Troy's quarterback for a 10 yard loss. PIRATES FOOTBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2022 27-vs. Oakley at Middleton, 5:00 p.m. MDT -lost 0-56 SEPTEMBER
2-Troy*, here
, won 68-329-Potlatch*, here 16-BYE 23-Genesee*, there 29-Kamiah*, here, Homecoming, Currently scheduled for Thursday, trying to move to Friday, subject to availability of officals. OCTOBER
7-Lapwai*, there
14-C.V.*, there 21-Logos*, here, Senior Night 28 or 29-Higher Seed host, State NOVEMBER
4 or 5-State Quarterfinals
11 or 12-State Semifinals 18 or 19-State Champ., UI or BSU *League Game JV FOOTBALL
6-Kendrick, there, 6 p.m.SEPTEMBER 12-Lewis County at Nezperce, 4 p.m.--Cancelled 19-Logos, here, 6 p.m. 26-Lewis County, here, 6 p.m. OCTOBER
3-Kendrick, here, 6 p.m.
10-BYE or possible game against Pomeroy More games may be added once teams know how many players they have PIRATES JR. HIGH FOOTBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2022
SEPTEMBER
8-C.V., here 4:30 p.m.
12-Orofino, there, 4:30 p.m. 22-Lapwai, there, 4:30 p.m. 27-Timberline, there, 5 p.m. OCTOBER
6-Kamiah, here, 4:30 p.m.
13-Lewis County, here, 4:30 p.m. 20-#1 South at #1 North; #2 South at #2 North; #3 South at #3 North; #4 South at #4 North; #5 South at #5 North; #6 South at #6 North, all games start at 5 p.m.
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